The Daily Deep Cut

The editors at JamsBio like to think of ourselves as music fans first, not critics, and that’s the sensibility we strive for at JamsBio and that we seek in other sites as well. That’s why we’re so jazzed about Damn Fine Day, a site that each day profiles a deep album cut that’s been overlooked, but deserves a place in everybody’s collection. In the name of spreading the gospel about great music, we present “The Daily Deep Cut,” where we add our two cents about the songs featured on Damn Fine Day. Once you read our unique take, we’ll send you over to Damn Fine Day so you can stream the full track and download it if you like. Sometimes we might even suggest another deep track from the same album or present some other novel twist on what their hawking.

It’s two days in a row now that Damn Fine Day has selected an artist that proved to be pivotal in my early days of musical exploration. I remember discovering the joys of Robyn Hitchcock in 1988 when Globe of Frogs was released. I was sixteen. Of course, my reason for giving it a spin in the first place was solely because R.E.M.’s Peter Buck played on it. This was during my height as a fan of R.E.M. and it’s safe to say that I made it a point to purchase everything even remotely associated with the four lads from Athens (Remember Hugo Largo?). And that’s saying a lot since every band with a jangly guitar was compared to R.E.M. at that time (Grapes of Wrath anyone?). But I digress. My love for Robyn Hitchcock blossomed as a result of Globe of Frogs and I immediately grabbed his entire back catalog, both as a solo artist and as a member of the Soft Boys. I also faithfully continued my support of the charmingly off-kilter British songster, enjoying later albums such as the demented pop (and now frustratingly out of print) Queen Elvis and the sublime acoustic Eye.

For much of the mid-1990’s I took a break from Hitchcock as I indulged a little to much in the Britpop sensation sweeping the globe. But I came back to old faithful for 1999’s Jewels for Sophie, a diverse collection of his typically skewed songs. “The Sweetest Thing” is a seemingly straightforward love song, albeit with enough surreal imagery to make Dali proud. But you can’t get much more simple and sublime than a line like “I feel beautiful because you love me.” In fact, next to Eye’s “Beautful Girl,” “The Sweetest Thing” stands as one of my favorite Hitchcock love songs. Both would make perfect candidates for a mix-tape for your sweetheart and are sure to make you smile.

Before heading over to Damn Fine Day to listen to “The Sweetest Thing,” sample Hitchcock’s ode to his beautiful girl.

“Beautiful Girl” by Robyn Hitchcock (from Eye, 1990)

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