New on DVD

Robyn Hitchcock

Sex, Food, Death . . . and Insects | A+E

By JEFF TAMARKIN | May 20, 2008

3.0 Stars

Robyn Hitchcock, in one of many illuminating moments of reflection during this 53-minute documentary, posits that his songs “don’t appeal to meatheads.” But then he adds that his music is “not particularly intellectual or pretentious or arty.” It’s taken the British singer-songwriter the better part of his three-decade career to put himself and his work into honest perspective and find the comfort level to open up, but we’re the beneficiaries. John Edginton’s film catches Hitchcock in the process of creating his sharpest set of songs in years, 2006’s Olé! Tarantula, both in rehearsals and on tour with his makeshift band Venus 3 — whose line-up includes R.E.M.’s Peter Buck vacationing from his day job. Collaborators like Led Zep’s John Paul Jones and singer Gillian Welch weigh in on why Hitchcock remains so underappreciated, a sentiment borne out by live footage of him running through older tunes like “My Wife and My Dead Wife” and “Queen Elvis.”

Related: Reality bites, Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3, Boxed and ready, More

Topics: New on DVD , Led Zeppelin, R.E.M., John Paul Jones, More

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