The Soft Boys

The Soft Boys formed in 1976 in Cambridge, UK. The songwriting style of their leader, Robyn Hitchcock, leant heavily towards 60s psychedelia and pop and as a result they failed to find favour with the mainstream music press. That said, their music soon gathered a keen local following and their albums are today hailed as cult classics.Managing to keep the flame of Dylan, Barrett and the Byrds burning through the frosty punk years guarantees them a place in pop legend. They split in 1981, reuniting for a few gigs in 1994 and again in 2001 to tour and record the 2002 album "Nextdoorland" which built further on their past glories.They remain a hidden gem in the vast catalogue of rock, although their seminal second LP "Underwater Moonlight" from 1980 crops up regularly in the favorite album lists of the best-informed of today's more enlightened groups.

ALBUM DISCOGRAPHY

A Can Of Bees (1979)

Underwater Moonlight (1980)

Two Halves For The Price Of One (1981)

Invisible Hits (1983)

Live At The Portland Arms (1983)

The Soft Boys 1976-1981 (1993)

Nextdoorland (2002)

Side Three (2002)

Read Kimberley Rew's band history at his website. Please note that the official Soft Boys website is currently offline, though may pop up again once Yep Roc release the long-awaited Soft Boys box set in late 2008 / early 2009.Here's a rare archive recording of the Softs live in Leeds in 1980: