(Editor’s Note: This post marks the debut of another new feature, Now Playing, in which we here at Shaking Through World Headquarters highlight whatever we’re listening to at the moment. Enjoy.)

Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians’ 1991 effort Perspex Island supposedly has something of a “bad reputation,” at least according to the All Music Guide, perhaps because of its unapologetic pop ambitions. Rubbish. Sure, producer Paul Fox buffs some of the songs here until they’re sparkling with studio perfection, but so what?  All the better to enjoy the breezy, rollicking “Oceanside,” the the horn-fueled sugar rush of “Child of the Universe,” the bubblegum melodicism of “So You Think You’re in Love” and the subtly insinuating “Vegetation and Dimes” with the clarity they deserve.  (more…)