Spooked (album)

Spooked is a 2004 album by Robyn Hitchcock in collaboration with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. It was recorded at Woodlands Studio in Nashville, TN.

The Set comprises twelve new recordings, all self-composed with the exception of "Trying To Get To Heaven Before They Close The Door", a cover of a very recent Bob Dylan song.

The tracks revisit Hitchcock's 1980s style, containing in their lyrics portrayals of several eccentric characters, surreal situations and scenarios, and several references to death, one of Hitchcock's most enduring themes. The packaging too is retrospective, its green and yellow packaging falling in line with previous solo-acoustic albums such as Eye and Moss Elixir. The painting on the front is a detail from one of Hitchcock's own, featuring an enlarged cat-like creature looming from behind a wall.

The original compositions are sharply observed, commencing with a bizarre love song to Hitchcock's television set. "Demons And Fiends" catches him between humour and terror as he runs through a litany of macabre sounding and yet absurd ogres, whilst "Welcome To Earth" is a spoken piece with vocalised sound effects from his collaborators.

"Sometimes A Blonde" is perhaps the key track, its lyric comprised of several illogical yet exotic juxtapositions, which formulate a vocal rhythm and sound patterning similar in method to Lennon's "Come Together" (although pitched in an entriely different mood). Further Beatles inspiration may be gleaned from the sitar on "Everybody Needs Love", and the employment of electric guitar passages spooled backwards on "Full Moon In My Soul".

Hitchcock dedicates the set to 'The Dark Princess', utilising the title of an earlier track (from Jewels For Sophia) as a pseudonym for his partner Michele Noach.