by Stewart Mason Although a lot of longtime Robyn Hitchcock fans turned up their noses at 1991's Perspex Island , due to Paul Fox ' slick production and the fact that it contains Hitchcock's biggest U.S. hit to date (the uncharacteristically bubblegummy "So You Think You're in Love," a song old enough that the Soft Boys had actually recorded a demo of it back in the '70s), the record doesn't deserve its bad reputation. (Perhaps coming after the stripped-down solo acoustic album Eye , Perspex Island seemed like a cynical bid for mainstream attention, a charge the songs don't support.) Fox ' glossy sound doesn't obscure the typically high quality of Hitchcock's songs, and there are times, as on the churning opener "Oceanside" and the dreamy psych-pop "Birds in Perspex," where the two complement each other perfectly. Not everything works -- "Nail It Down," other than the brief Beach Boys pastiche on the bridge, is entirely undistinguished -- but Perspex Island is a much better record than its reputation might suggest.