Over the past three decades, Robyn Hitchcock has built a large and distinctive body of work that's established him as one of rock's most respected and beloved iconoclasts. The prolific English singer/songwriter/guitarist's vivid surrealist songcraft has won him an uncommonly devoted international fan base, and created an ongoing demand for rare and unreleased Hitchcock material. Meanwhile, many of the artist's most popular and influential albums have fallen out of print and become difficult for fans to obtain, changing hands for hefty sums on the collectors' market.

The latter situation is addressed by Yep Roc's release of the five-CD Hitchcock box set I Wanna Go Backwards. The lavish package is the first of two projected archival Hitchcock boxes. It was during the 1980s that Hitchcock established himself as a frequent visitor to the U.S., both solo and with his esteemed backup combo the Egyptians, and built a large American audience.