Fegmania!

Fegmania! (or fegMANIA! as it's written on the cover) was the first Robyn Hitchcock album released in the U.S., and the first album for most of his American fans (including the fan writing this entry). It also marked the debut of his new band The Egyptians, with former Soft Boys Morris Windsor and Andy Metcalfe and keyboardist Roger Jackson. The Egyptians came about in early 1984 at a one-off benefit for London's Hope & Anchor, and stayed together for nearly a decade.

Fegmania! was my first Robyn Hitchcock album, and has many of his best songs, but parts of it sound a little.. dated.. when I listen to it now. It's got clean and shiny 80s production, with lots of bass and keyboards, and sounds like a Mr. Mister album with better songs. As I kick off Egyptians week, I'm wondering if this is going to be a recurring theme with these albums. This next batch of albums are ones that I listened to a lot when they came out, but haven't revisited in a long while.

A few months after Fegmania!, Robyn & the Egyptians put out a live album called Gotta Let This Hen Out! (enough with the exclamation points) that I've enjoyed getting reacquainted with the last few months after downloading it from emusic. From the same Whistle Test show as the "Brenda's Iron Sledge" performance, here are Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians doing "Heaven". Robyn's plaid sportcoat and polka dot shirt combo was pretty wild, even back in 1985.



Note that Katrina & the Waves (Kimberley Rew's band) also played on that show.