I Often Dream of Trains

I Often Dream of Trains is the third album by Robyn Hitchcock, released in 1984. After the break-up of The Soft Boys, Hitchcock recorded two solo albums — Black Snake Diamond Role and the experimental Groovy Decay — before hitting an artistic slump mitigated only by some collaborations with Captain Sensible. He re-emerged in 1984 with this all-acoustic album, the cathartic process of which he later likened to John Lennon's first solo work Plastic... more

I Often Dream of Trains is the third album by Robyn Hitchcock, released in 1984. After the break-up of The Soft Boys, Hitchcock recorded two solo albums — Black Snake Diamond Role and the experimental Groovy Decay — before hitting an artistic slump mitigated only by some collaborations with Captain Sensible. He re-emerged in 1984 with this all-acoustic album, the cathartic process of which he later likened to John Lennon's first solo work Plastic Ono Band, as he shook off the depressing effects of the unsatisfying Groovy Decay sessions. The album was recorded in the space of a few days under the working title Crystal Branches (taken from a line in the song "Winter Love", not originally included in the track listing). Hitchcock plays acoustic and electric guitar and piano and delivers direct with occasional multi-tracked vocals. The vinyl album ran to fourteen tracks, bookended by the 'classical' "Nocturne". In between, Hitchcock's lyrics reference gravestones, the ghosts of derelict... less