Pop and Jazz Reviews : Hitchcock Pleases His Followers at the Palace

If Robyn Hitchcock, who appeared Friday night at the Palace, were a presidential candidate, he’d be Jerry Brown.

Odd and occasionally too metaphysical to fathom, both men are pursuing goals they probably know they’ll never attain (in Hitchcock’s case, the top of the pop charts) with a single-mindedness others in their field might envy. As if to draw the comparison sharper into focus, Hitchcock even gave out an 800 number during one song in the show.

While Hitchcock tells interviewers he’d like nothing better than to make it big in America, the British singer-songwriter seems to do what he can to prevent that from happening. At the Palace he left out his recent alternative radio smash, “So You Think You’re in Love,” concentrating mostly on unfamiliar selections from almost 15 years’ worth of brilliant, obscure music. And although he has largely given up writing about the three subjects that used to animate much of his material--fish, trains and vegetables--the topics he tackles on his latest album, “Perspex Island,” are by no means mainstream.

The big time may forever elude him, but Hitchcock certainly knows how to please his large cult following. He drew hearty applause when, in his best performance-artist guise, he interrupted “Balloon Man” to rap/babble about cooking tips and Los Angeles-area airports, flailing his arms all the while.

But the marvelous melodies he writes are the star of any Hitchcock show. After a somewhat desultory but well-received first half, Hitchcock and his two longtime band mates, the Egyptians, went acoustic, highlighting melodies, for what turned out to be an electrifying mini-set.