Post-Annex Analysis
One By One We All Went Back to Mars
Mark Rushton’s Abundant Spare Time is a weekly email on Substack where I talk about my ongoing work as a recording artist and visual artist.
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This week’s topics:
Post-Annex Analysis
Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians - “Winchester”
Post-Annex Analysis
My Saturday, July 19th show at xBk Annex in Des Moines happened. It was nice, although a hot and humid evening. Excellent little venue and professional staff. Let’s try to do it again. Maybe with some light beats.
The whole thing was a kind of “art project”.
I made a “zine” and snail mailed to promote it. One guy who attended found me on Bandcamp. I have since discovered that Bandcamp is affiliated with Songkick, so I got myself added to Songkick.
I made a t-shirt, which my wife, Ann, wore. I should have put “2025 Tour” or something on it. Well, the year’s not over, so maybe I’ll add it.
I made physical media CD-R swag. A free concert means I should be giving away things.
And if you couldn’t attend, I released a free (or pay what you like) 58 minute and 43 second recording of a rehearsal. This is similar to what it sounded like, although not exactly. I love that cover image - a grainy, processed photo of me, printed with a thermal ribbon onto a Tyvek sleeve.
This past week: I took four days off work, mowed the lawn at my mom’s house, picked berries in the country with Ann, got a new release scheduled for August 15th (more about that soon), and caught some sort of buggy bug. I’m a little tired as I write this, so let’s move on.
Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians - “Winchester”
I bought his cassette “Element of Light” back in 1986 when I lived in Kansas City and played the hell out of it.
No idea how I came across his music. It had to be MTV. There were no commercial radio stations playing this kind of music back then. I didn’t live near any college radio stations. I did read a lot of music magazines and took chances.
Winchester is acoustic guitar-driven “English psychedelia” with lively bass guitar, piano stabs, and perhaps brushes on the drums. Fans of Syd-era Pink Floyd might dig it. Mid-80s XTC and their alter egos The Dukes of Stratosphear, too, maybe. The Clientele is a modern band working in this vein and their entire catalog is outstanding.
Winchester, England is an Old World town. Check out that cathedral. I do love the “old world” architecture and consider myself part of that “community”.
Winchester is also a college town.
I never fully understood the lyrics. It seemed like somebody thinking back to their college days in the 70s (“One by one by one they closed the bars…” - “Standing in the Talbot in my flares…”), the old world charm of the town (“One by one by one we heard the bell…”), and wondering if anybody is still around, (“Maybe there's no one there at all”), and, of course, a failed relationship (“And I don't want to hurt you, but I will…”).
It’s so dreamy and beautiful. And that bass guitar - going everywhere!
This song really hasn’t aged in the past 39 years. I appreciate it as much today as I did back then. I hope you like it if you haven’t heard it before. Robyn’s on Substack.
“This is Winchester…”