Mrs. Bixby And The Colonel's Coat Hitchcock

After the stripped-back collection I Often Dream of Trains, Robyn Hitchcock slowly formed a backing band called the Egyptians with ex-Soft Boys Andy Metcalfe and Morris Windsor, and keyboardist Roger Jackson over the course of the next year. Fegmania!, the Egyptians' first album, was a distinct departure from both the Soft Boys and Hitchcock's previous solo work, featuring layered, intertwining guitars and keyboards that created lush and thick sonic textures. Even with the more detailed arrangements, the songs remained twitchy and off-kilter, with melodies that usually went in willfully unpredictable directions, yet remained catchy all the while. Fegmania! was Hitchcock's most consistent work to date, featuring such highlights as the Eastern-tinged "Egyptian Cream", and the creepy "My Wife & My Dead Wife", and the relatively straightforward "The Man with the Lightbulb Head".

An amazing display of expressivity achieved through daring 'prolations' and 'colorations'! There are at least half a dozen parody masses based on the chanson Fortuna Desperata, but Obrecht's is by far the most likely to keep the most secular audiences riveted to the music.

In short, Pipelare’s striking personality becomes apparent through hearing and analysing his masses rather than from the meagre details of his life. It is as if he redefines polyphonic composition with each work, rather than reverting to the tried and tested as say Jakob Obrecht did. There is nothing immediately recognisable, nothing that sounds even vaguely familiar, nothing can be categorised, rather everything sounds new, fresh, lively – wilfully individual!