''Gotta Let This Hen Out!'' is a live recording of Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians recorded in April 1985, shortly after the group had come together for ''

Fegmania! ''Fegmania!'' is the fourth studio album by Robyn Hitchcock and his first with his backing band The Egyptians. The Egyptians included the former Soft Boys Andy Metcalfe and Morris Windsor. "The Man with the Lightbulb Head" was conceived on ...

''. The set was recorded at the Marquee and the tapes cleaned up for release at Alaska Studios with minor drop-in overdubs. The gig was also videotaped and appeared on VHS with a few additional numbers, interspersed with several studio recordings available through their promo videos. The material selected for this album includes titles ranging through Hitchcock's back catalogue, from Soft Boys songs ("Kingdom Of Love", "The Face Of Death") through his first solo album ("Acid Bird", "Brenda's Iron Sledge") and up to the recently released ''

'' ("Heaven", "My Wife and My Dead Wife"). The live recording captures the new band just it was defining its sound and fairly documents the highlights of Hitchcock's live set and musical focus in the mid-1980s. The cover features a painting by Hitchcock depicting airborne fish, jellyfish and an array of ducks and chickens. As with a number of his albums, Hitchcock handwrote the liner notes. The album title is taken from the lyric of the song "Listening to

the Higsons The Higsons were an English funk-punk band, who existed between 1980 and 1986. History Founded in 1980 at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, Norfolk, England, The Higsons' first recording was on the ''Norwich - A Fine City'' compilatio ...

", the penultimate track on the album. Hitchcock has stated that this lyric comes from mishearing a Higsons song with the lyric "Gotta let this heat out."1 The Midnight CD issue adds "Egyptian Cream", "The Fly", and a staple of his live sets, the Soft Boys' "Only the Stones Remain", as does the 1995 Rhino reissue. The Yep Roc issue adds a further 5 tracks from a June 1989 gig at The Ritz, New York.

Track listing

All songs written by

Robyn Hitchcock Robyn Rowan Hitchcock (born 3 March 1953) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano, and bass guitar. After leading the Soft Boys in the late 1970s and releasing the ...

Side one

# "Sometimes I Wish I Was a Pretty Girl" (2:03) # "Kingdom of Love" (4:04) # "Acid Bird" (4:25) # "The Cars She Used to Drive" (2:44) # "My Wife and My Dead Wife" (3:54) # "Brenda's Iron Sledge" (2:57)

Side two

# "Leppo and the Jooves" (4:52) # "America" (4:08) # "Heaven" (3:40) # "Listening to

" (2:36) # "The Face of Death" (3:13)

1st and 2nd CD issue bonus tracks (Midnight Records 1986/Rhino Records 1995)

# "The Fly" # "Only the Stones Remain" # "Egyptian Cream"

3rd CD issue bonus tracks (Yep Roc Records 2008)

# "The Fly" # "Only the Stones Remain" # "Egyptian Cream" # "If You Were A Priest" # "Freeze" # "I'm Only You" # "Unsettled" # "Egyptian Cream 2" Sleeve erroneously omits last track "Egyptian Cream 2", and as such, lists the 'new' bonus tracks as 14-18 not 15-19.

Personnel

*Robyn Hitchcock - vocals, guitar *Roger Jackson - keyboards *

Andy Metcalfe Andy Metcalfe (born 3 March 1956, Bristol, England) is an English bassist, keyboardist and producer, who played mainly with The Soft Boys (with Robyn Hitchcock, 1976–1979), Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians (1984–1994), and with Squeeze of ...

- bass, vocals *Morris Windsor - drums,

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...

References

Grant Alden, "The Rhino Reissues." {{Authority control Robyn Hitchcock albums 1985 live albums Rhino Records live albums Live albums recorded at The Marquee Club