A Less Nutty Robyn Hitchcock

Love Tractor “I Broke My Saw” – Love Tractor tends to be more known for their instrumental stuff, since that’s how they started out, that is, if they’re known much at all these days. But listening to their songs with vocals, I can’t understand why they never hit it totally huge. Mike Richmond, who I actually worked with for a year or so without making any kind of connection, was described in the Trouser Press guide as the title of this post, and he is all yelpy and great. This song kicks off Themes from Venus and is based on a poem by the late John Seawright, another Athens notable. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but their lyrics never do; i.e., they make a sort of dream sense in the way words get played around with sonically, but there’s not usually a coherent narrative.

Love Tractor “Satan” – Here’s another track from the same album. As far as I can tell, it seems to be anti-New Wave and pro-metal, but then, it might also be a big joke, since it’s certainly not Motorhead-esque in sound or anything. Both of these make me think of parties in Athens, parties that involve a lot of hanging out on the porch of an old house bedecked with Xmas lights and feeling the stillness of the air in the summer (breezes are a rare thing) and the condensation from a beer bottle trickling slowly down your arm. This town can be very cliquish, but it can also be pleasingly laid back in a way that I think of as very Southern. If you hit the magical moment, you could go right from talking about them silver britches into Wordsworth’s “emotion recollected in tranquility.” Basically, I wasn’t around when Love Tractor was playing shows. My college days were way after that time. And yet, these songs come with built-in nostalgia, even when you’re hearing them fresh. They also make me want to dance, which is something I don’t do in public. Looks like it’s not available new from Amazon (or anywhere else), but there are some used copies for purchase.