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Hitchcock released his solo debut, Black Snake Diamond Röle in 1981, which included instrumental backing by several former Soft Boys.

He followed it in 1982 with the generally critically maligned Groovy Decay, a record which he would ultimately disown.

Following his solo acoustic album I Often Dream Of Trains in 1984, he formed a new band, The Egyptians, comprising former members of The Soft Boys ( Andy Metcalfe and Morris Windsor, supplemented at first by early keyboardist Roger Jackson ), resulting in their 1985 debut Fegmania !, which featured typically surrealist Hitchcock songs such as " My Wife and My Dead Wife " and " The Man with the Lightbulb Head ".

( A live album, Gotta Let This Hen Out !, was released at the end of that year.

) Their popularity grew with the 1986 album Element of Light and they were subsequently signed to A & M Records in the U. S. The album Globe of Frogs, released in 1988, further expanded their reach, as the single " Balloon Man " became a college radio and MTV hit, followed in 1989 by " Madonna Of The Wasps " from their Queen Elvis album.

In 1989 they also teamed up with Peter Buck of R. E. M.

and Peter Holsapple of The dB's, playing two gigs as Nigel and the Crosses, mostly covers.

The Crosses also had their cover of " Wild Mountain Thyme " included on a Byrds tribute album, though Hitchcock always alluded to the Bryan Ferry version when performing it live with the Egyptians.