Eye (Robyn Hitchcock album)

Eye
Studio album by
ReleasedMarch 12, 1990
Recorded1989–90
StudioHyde Street Studios, San Francisco
GenreFolk rock
Length63:57
LabelTwin/Tone
Robyn Hitchcock chronology
Queen Elvis
(1989)
Eye
(1990)
Perspex Island
(1991)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Tribune
Entertainment WeeklyA−
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Select4/5

Eye is the eighth studio album and fourth solo album by Robyn Hitchcock. It was released in 1990 on Glass Fish (UK) and Twin/Tone Records (US). This was Hitchcock's only solo album released between 1985 and 1995, a period in which he recorded most of his music with his backing band, the Egyptians.

Hitchcock wrote in 2025, "Eye was my attempt to be personal, and vulnerable, inasmuch as my uptight English carapace would allow. ... I was in the throes of breaking up with two people at once ... On Eye I did my best to capture those ugly feelings and bottle them raw, like acid fireflies, forever flaming in my repertoire."

Eye was recorded acoustically in the style of I Often Dream of Trains (1984) with which it shares a similar green/gold sleeve design, and could therefore be seen as a sequel piece. Eye is entirely self-composed and ran to fourteen songs (vinyl) and eighteen (CD). Hitchcock plays all instruments (mostly guitars), and sings all the vocals.

Eye was reissued in 1995 by Rhino and added the tracks "Raining Twilight Coast (demo)", "Agony of Pleasure (demo)", and "Queen Elvis (demo)". A third CD edition saw the previous demo bonus tracks dropped, along with "College of Ice", while adding yet more.