For more than 40 years, Nashville-via-London guitarist/vocalist Robyn Hitchcock has been one of rock’s wittiest and wiliest surrealists. Starting with the short-lived Soft Boys, Hitchcock achieved summits of strange and hook-wise psych-rock, especially on the 1980 classic Underwater Moonlight. A long career leading the Egyptians and as a solo eccentric ensued, with songs veering from whimsical to sinister to absurd to morbid. Hitchcock has taken the twisted aesthetics of Syd Barrett’s “Bike,” John Lennon’s “I Am the Walrus,” and Frank Zappa/Kim Fowley’s “Help, I'm a Rock” to shape his own eldritch catalog. Robyn Hitchcock, his most recent album, is robust sexagenarian rock that proves the man’s lyrical and melodic chops remain exceptionally sharp. by Dave Segal