Senses Working Poll-vertime: The XTC Poll Nominations and Discussions thread

This is happening! Everything released under the XTC moniker is eligible, as is the Dukes of Stratosphear and the entirety of Fuzzy Warbles. I will weight the votes depending on the lengths of ballots, and since this catalog is so huge I will not place a limit on how many tracks you can have on your ballot. E-mail your ballots to:

audiobot at yahoo dotcom

by 5pm EST FRIDAY OCTOBER 10th

off we go!

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"Good Night ... Sucker!"

their finest video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6b3EphV0EI

Waxworks/Beeswax was such massive jolt to my system in 1983.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvOgX5ip738

will be disappointed if Do The Dwarf doesn't make the top ten, don't let me down ilx

Oh Lord, you're trying to fry my brain... I'll make a list of all the obscure B- sides and demos. No, that won't do. Deep album cuts only? But the singles, oh the singles... Gah!

man they were ugly men

shit I'm actually going to have to do this one too aren't I

def torn from the pages of the Big Book of British Smiles

xp

http://rokpool.com/files/artist/xtc_1978_300.jpg?0

I think they all look quite handsome here

http://pulmyears.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/marylouandycolin.jpg

Partridge has a kind of Thom Yorke thing going on in this photo

that's a compliment?

'quite handsome' + 'Thom Yorke thing' were not meant to follow on from one another to be clear, I just saw the second photo immediately after the first

all time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDtVWyxCMAU

Jeez, no limit on # of tracks? I think I can reasonably whittle it down to a top 50 but am not making any promises.

I will weight the votes depending on the lengths of ballots

Could you UNvague this a bit?

In the book XTC - Song Stories, Andy describes Colin circa Drums and Wires as looking like a cross between Chrissie Hynde and Nureyev.

Will probably sit this one out due to busy-with-school-ness, but I would probably only be able to contribute a relatively short, mostly hits-filled ballot anyway.

Οὖτις, are you doing graphics?

You could create hundreds of Dukes of Stratosphear album covers from sites like this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bibliodyssey/sets/ and this: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:PD_Brockhaus%26Efron

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/72/Brockhaus_and_Efron_Encyclopedic_Dictionary_b32_812-1.jpg/640px-Brockhaus_and_Efron_Encyclopedic_Dictionary_b32_812-1.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/Brockhaus_and_Efron_Encyclopedic_Dictionary_b31_217-0.png/378px-Brockhaus_and_Efron_Encyclopedic_Dictionary_b31_217-0.png

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2a/Brockhaus_and_Efron_Encyclopedic_Dictionary_b25_380-0.jpg/548px-Brockhaus_and_Efron_Encyclopedic_Dictionary_b25_380-0.jpg

I will weight the votes depending on the lengths of ballots

Could you UNvague this a bit?

sure. For example currently my default scoring is for a 50-song ballot (from 50 points for no. 1 to 1 point for no. 50). But say someone submits a 100 song ballot, or a 75 song ballot. Then I would adjust the weighting so that it was 75 points for no. 1 and 1 point for no. 75, etc. So the points are going to be dictated, essentially, by whoever sends the longest ballot.

re: graphics - I don't have anywhere to host a bunch of images but if someone wants to help out on that end I would say sure

uh that weighting I mean

you just want us to rank the whole discography you total sadist

haha na I expect the majority of ballots will be in the 10-25 range as with any other poll, but if someone submits a long ballot I'm not gonna just chop it down

but that weighs the balance of polling power with those who've bunged more tracks on for no other reason anyway none of this matters

hmmm love XTC but not sure I can vote as I'm only really familiar with their Fossil Fuels collection and quite biased to the later material on there too. I like 'Poor Skeleton Steps Out' as well though.

yeah i'm a v casual fan, mostly the singles and Skylarking, Black Sea, English Settlement, but I'll spotify the week away & put something together. I like these sort of polls, pretext to direct your listening towards someone you forget to visit much.

but that weighs the balance of polling power with those who've bunged more tracks on for no other reason anyway none of this matters

it probably does a little bit in that they'll have voted for more songs and thus allocated more points, but for a ballot that has 10 tracks the number one spot will still get 50 points, just like the number one spot for the ballot that has 50 tracks. does that make sense?

2 ballots in already!

i listened to a lotta XTC, but really can't do this given baseball

I can't think of many other bands where the last song on the last album they officially released could reasonably be argued to be the best thing they ever did

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuk8Ie8i3Pw

^^^absolute stunner yeah

not many bands with 20-year careers where this could be argued, indeed

but then you could reasonably poll just xtc's closing tracks and we'd have a helluva time

Jesus christ, I'm going to find this one incredibly difficult. Even if I did a Top 100 there'd be some painful omissions!

Was delighted all over again by how equally crude and clever "Pink Thing" is this afternoon.

Hahahahaha yeah, "spit in my eye, I'll love you for it"... and then that guitar solo!

So excited for this

hmmm love XTC but not sure I can vote as I'm only really familiar with their Fossil Fuels collection and quite biased to the later material on there too. I like 'Poor Skeleton Steps Out' as well though.

― Non-Stop Hongrotic Cabaret (dog latin)

That's what threads like this are for. Get yer listenin' hat on!

Excited for this. XTC are one of the few bands with a decent-sized discography about whom I can say I've listened to most of it lots and all of it at least a little, with repeated listenings over a period of many years. Although their quirks have become less charming and more irksome to my ears over time, they'll always be one of the greats as far as I'm concerned.

I might just try to rank the whole discography...

I just made a starter list and I'm already at 45 titles. I'll try to stop at 50.

Οὖτις, is there any chance you would accept an unweighted ballot from me (e.g. in a ballot of 21 tracks each vote would get 40 points and so forth)? I can just about manage to make a list of favourites but trying to rank them is making me sad. If this will screw up the system I'll try and work something out.

My first pass was exactly 50 songs. I think its a sign.

I pretty much used my iTunes "most played" list and then shuffled some things around

is there any chance you would accept an unweighted ballot from me (e.g. in a ballot of 21 tracks each vote would get 40 points and so forth)?

I think in that case I would add up what the max available amount of points for the ballot would be (for example, a 50 song ballot with the number one song getting 50 points and the number 50 song getting 1 point would have a total point count of 1,275) and then divide that evenly across how ever many tracks were submitted. In the 50 ballot example that would mean each song would get 25.5 points. Where this gets messy is where there's fractions/decimals left over cuz I'm not going to get into that hairsplitting level of detail on the results, so I'd have to do some rounding.

I dunno - it would be sort of annoying but not impossible.

oh no, that's why I picked 21- because it would be 840 points altogether, divided by 21 for 40 per song, unless I've screwed up the maths. If it's any trouble just allocate points based on the order they're listed since it will be as good as any other ordering. I'm excited about the poll!

well that will all work out then

I am really finding it difficult to predict what tracks will show up in the results with the exception of one or two things, I kind of get the impression that there is going to be less overlap on people's choices than most ilm polls? I guess it depends as well on the extent to which people who take part favour the earlier or later incarnation of the band, Fuzzy Warbles are another wildcard.

main reason I wanted to do this poll is that opinions about their catalog are all over the map. Unlike a lot of other artist-polls I expect this to be pretty unpredictable.

like people were saying, they do seem somewhat unusual for a band who released so many albums over so long a period of time that the last third of their catalogue is not post peak mediocre stuff that gets described as 'surprising good' in reviews, REM in the '00s type stuff

I felt I maybe shouldn't vote for any Fuzzy Warbles stuff because I still haven't actually heard all of them (I wanted to! but, god, he just kept releasing those things and I ran out of money), there are a couple of songs from the early volumes that I'm going to have to include though. For those who have heard all of the Fuzzy Warbles albums, did the quality stay consistent or were they front loaded with the good stuff in your opinion?

I got them all (eventually) and then there's gems scattered throughout. The way the volumes are assembled with no rhyme or reason, no chronology, etc. is kind of irritating. These days I just have them all as a single album and sort them by year recorded in iTunes.

11. REM Producer Enquiry – 2:36

^intrigued by this track title from vol 8

Best/recommended listening Fuzzy Warbles tracks that are not demos of officially released songs:

Ship Trapped in the Ice
Young Marrieds
Young Cleopatra (maybe Partridge's most er troubling lyric but damn what a tune)
Wonder Annual
Dame Fortune
Everything'll Be Allright (ridiculous but great children's song)
It's Snowing Angels
This is the End
I Don't Want to Be Here
Sonic Boom
I'm Unbecome
Autumn Comes Around

REM Producer Enquiry is a clattery mostly-instrumental track (there's some chattering about REM from Andy that sounds like its from a phone message or something) with a bunch of overdubbed jangly guitar parts

oo forgot When We Get to England from Fuzzy Warbles

Fuzzy Warbles is definitely worth it for fans of Andy's songwriting. I'd say each volume has about 5 or 6 great completely unreleased songs. The demos are fun but admittedly not something I listen to often.

X-post
Also the Bland Leading the Bland, Obscene Procession, Through Electric Gardens, Tiny Circus of Life, lots more...

yeah I'm not particularly fond of any of those (Obscene Procession has its virtues)

Also "The End", "The End Of The Pier" and "My Land Is Burning".

And the b-sides like "Chain Of Command", holy crap. Or "Extrovert". Or "Red Brick Dreams". Or or or...

main reason I wanted to do this poll is that opinions about their catalog are all over the map. Unlike a lot of other artist-polls I expect this to be pretty unpredictable.

― Οὖτις

I was really active on the XTC forum while it lasted and I was always amazed by the diversity of the forumites. People who came from the punk/indie underground world, people who came from the 10CC/Steely Dan muso axis, pop fans, rock fans... even people who weren't much into music but were really into XTC.

Senses might make my ballot, but it won't be near the top.

Yeah, I never understood the adoration of "Senses", it's not even in top songs on English Settlement. It's so much more restrained.

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― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, September 29, 2014

I don't really like 'Senses' very much at all.

I'd like to stan for 'Wrapped In Grey' though. Beautiful song that just manages to rescue itself from mawkish sentiment via sublime execution.

Think I'll end up with a 20 or 25 song ballot - no 'Senses' for me
Probably end up repping for the goofy numbers

per Senses non-voters, I rest my case re: total lack of consensus

Jason is the Big Pop moment for me on English Settlement

I like Senses, but I can't imagine Nigel not being at least top 2.

I've always been meh on nigel

Hey I voted!

5 ballots in already, would seem to indicate this is gonna be a p high turnout

Just sent you number 6; this was the hardest artist poll to sort by far. 3 of my top 5 songs sound like completely different bands and it's so hard to compare - I've never before thought about which one I liked best. I could have spent all day shifting rankings around but I'm pretty happy with what I landed on.

if anyone votes for "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" you'll make an enemy of me.

aaaaany kind of love is alllriiiight

dw soto its like the worst track on nonsuch

there's competition

u dissing nonsuch!! o lord

I literally don't think I've heard PP in about a decade, I always just skip straight to My Bird Performs. I remember it felt like it had about 12 verses

'omnibus' has more ham on its fist than mike tyson but i can't think of any other disasters

there are things I like about it but it's def not their best. terrible video too

worst on Nonsuch is an unpleasant battle. The hamfisted bookends are both contenders.

booksareburningepicguitarsolo.wav, also gasface

it's the 90's' answer to hotel california

but there was no question asked

I like "Dear Madam Barnum"

yh apart from PP and omnibus it's a gr8 album & I will vote for loads of its trax

I do wonder if other people have a de facto 15 track Nonsuch that begins with MBP and ends with Bungalow

did gangsta andy partridge really just give me the gasface

my version of Nonsuch is 11 tracks - sorry Omnnibus, That Wave, Books are Burning, Bungalow and whatever else I've forgotten and didn't like

that was pato haha

the one I get into big trouble with is The Smartest Monkeys aka Colin's Best Song *fucking flees*

you hate That Wave????!

*continues fleeing*

yeah I hate the vocal effect on That Wave, the wandering melody, the ugly chords, pretty much everything about it

I do like the Fuzzy Warbles outtake of Andy doing funny voices to it tho

forgot "The Art Song (Something Good With Your Life)" from Fuzzy Warbles in my recs list upthread. lyric is a bit over the top but good tune overall imo.

Before buying Nonsuch I knew XTC as the guys who recorded "King For a Day," "Dear God," and "Making Plans for Nigel." It horrified me: "Smartest Monkey," "War Dance," "Then She Appeared," "Holly Up on Poppy," these not particularly winning attempts at Beatles and Rundgren-esque pop.

Ugh war dance and smartest monkeys...

I like then she appeared tho

yea Smartest Monkeys fucking SUCKS

one poll to divide them

Only kidding, but I don't think it's worthy of that epic breakdown that you wrote LJ :)

haha oh god there turned out to be like 16 reasons why it was a great song, none of which anyone else agreed with :D

Well, not all 16 at least

think i lost everyone at SIREN

Moulding's writing is my biggest problem with Nonsuch - My Bird Performs is fine, but his other three songs are sub-par. I like the solo on Smartest Monkeys though; that partly redeems it for me.

first 40-entry ballot received do I hear 50, 50...?

What would win a worst-of poll? Fruit Nut?

NO

Fruit Nut is great

i'm the man who murdered love, probably. not my worst but it drives everyone sick with loathing

I really dislike Church of Women

it's a gorgeous song, even if the lyrics are a biiiiiit embarrassing

like/love all these songs

see what I mean?

these poll results are going to enrage so many lol

The one about hairy backs

the bridge between the verse and the chorus is pretty, but yes it's more about the lyrics, esp as they put more bluntly something present in other XTC songs that I like more where this sentiment is maybe easier to ignore/go along with? xp

Nonsuch is their first record to be 50% clunkers, it was hella dispiriting at the time. But I mean fuck it my man Robyn has made so many 50% bad 50% awesome albums by this point.

I'm willing to relisten to everything except wasp star for this poll...

there is some great stuff on Wasp Star, as noted already

I did think, while clicking Submit, that someone will love Fruit Nut. Your [Angel Brain's) "less overlap on people's choices than most ilm polls" remark is holding up…

The utterly heart melting middle eight in Harvest Festival makes up for a lot of the awkward middle age music, but only just.

most of apple venus 1 is awesome

I like all of those Colin songs on the the last two albums about being a boring middle aged person, they are a nice contrast with stuff like Greenman and I Can't Own Her on Apple Venus vol 1 especially

harvest festival is one of partridge's best lyrics

boarded up is one of the best songs on wasp star and proof that colin could still do it when he got pissed off enough

xp ha, I wrote that before i saw MaresnNest's ref to 'awkward middle age music'

I think maybe soref and I have crossed swords about this before, but to me Moulding's quotidian preferences ruined the last couple of records. XTC music isn't supposed to be brown, in my humble.

I think In Another Life might be my favourite song on Wasp Star, maybe even above The Wheel and the Maypole

harvest festival is one of partridge's best lyrics

agree on this one

Partridge can be as equally middle agey, but at least he makes the effort to sound like a Move B-side while he does it.

I will retain my usual passive-aggressive, over compensating Mummer stan for this poll.

partridge wasn't all boxes of fireworks! cf 'the somnambulist'

self consciously quotidian? isn't there something in one of the books about Moulding finding the idea of being a 40 something rock musician horribly embarrassing, and the style he adopted on the last two records a result of him trying to find an age-appropiate schtick?

at this point, xtc are forgiven their sins, just wish dave gregory had been allowed to write a song (did he?)

a kind of mortal terror of coming across like Mick Jagger in the Dancing in the Street video xp

Moulding was moving in that direction as far back as 'Dying', maybe further

some other Fuzzy Warbles gems I forgot to nominate

Where Is Your Heart
Was a Yes
Everything
I Can't Tell What Truth is Anymore
Cherry in Your Tree
Candymine
Visit to the Doctor

(these last 3 part of an aborted "bubbleglam" album)

it was always in him

songs about smoking bans and civic demolition programmes in his early twenties i mean

xp

Did he write Smalltown and Washaway I wonder

I love 'Everything'

-former 11 O’Clock Show and RI:SE host Iain Lee
-Daniel 'sister of Charlotte Raven, husband of Julie Burchill' Raven

Are there any other celebrity XTC fans?

just makin sure everyone knows this one and remembers to vote for it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVU-clPr_kY

that should say 'brother of Charlotte Raven', obv

Iain Lee played bass in a Cardiacs-y band called Magnilda so no surprise there.

Οὖτις am I right in thinking we are just voting tracks, not tracks and albums?

i have an mp3 somewhere of Iain Lee interviewing Partridge and Moulding on his xfm show around the time Wasp Star came out, he is surprisingly bearable when not doing his comedy persona/talking about something he's enthusiastic about

Count me in with the Moulding-lost-it group. Yes, Andy's lyrics can be more than a bit silly but I can forgive him almost anything in the face of "Smartest Monkeys", "War Dance" and the godawful "Bungalow".

But "The Man Who Murdered Love" is absolutely, positively the worst thing XTC put their name on.

Andy's plain-spoken heart-on-sleeve approach to stuff like "Melt The Guns", "Omnibus" and "Dear God" works for me only because I share his sentiments.

oh shit, dear god is fucking abysmal lol

that's the worst one

About 3 years ago a friend of the band and rather infamous taper called H@ns D3 V3nt3 leaked a lot of really nice bootleg stuff.

He obviously used good taping equipment, but as well as live stuff he also leaked a lot of demo material, possibly all of which is now legally available. I remember getting a thing that was an unused AP soundtrack to some short film from the mid-eighties, will dig it out.

Trouble with the leaks, they were just big side-long files with no separation, so I'm not sure what's there exactly.

Οὖτις am I right in thinking we are just voting tracks, not tracks and albums?

I wasn't planning on an albums tally (we have button polls for that)

I think one ballot came with albums so far, but yeah I was only asking for tracks

I have a vague feeling that there might be a UK/US divide on the question whether Bungalow is fantastic or mot, but I may be totally wrong

Everybody listen to Red Brick Dream if they haven't heard it for a while, plz

The Big Express has the biggest stretch between good and whack tracks imo.

feelin like I should have asked for "worst" votes too

then I could've posted both "best" and "worst" results and let people guess which was which

I don't hate Dear God but I prefer Skylarking with Mermaid Smiled, mostly because the boy's vocal on DG seems out of place.

I'm wondering how people feel about GO2?

I shall revisit before I submit, I think it was a shame that the two Barry tracks they left off were miles better than the ones that made the cut.

XP - I Think that's a girl on DG.

go2 has a couple of really brilliant weird/slow numbers

I haven't listened to the entirety of Go2 or White Music in at least 20 years. Felt obligated to check them out but couldn't find them readily downloadable for free so said fuck it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3cw9h2AQX4

LOL, rip themselves off much?

Just found a really good German language cover of Things Fall To Bits on YT, how random!

Du bist mein Lieblings-Liebling (Wie wahr, wahr)
Mag die Parfum-Duftschwade, kommst du an die Bar
Mag deine Glanzfassade und dein saubres Haar
Ich träum, mit dir die Esplanaden langzufahrn, ist es nicht schade, dass

And he has a German cover of Pulsing Pulsing on his channel, dude!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRrzGNxzbT8&index=11&list=UUlXbwRHskRiljzxsJIxWrog

I Think that's a girl on DG.

So it is; I may have been misled by the video!

The first verse and closing line are sung by the then eight-year-old Jasmine Veillette, the daughter of a friend of producer Todd Rundgren. In the video a boy lip-syncs her vocals. (Wikipedia)

This is the soundtrack thing I was talking about, it's really good, kinda like AP does 'Olias Of Sunhillow'.

I'll make a link to it for the 10th.

http://i61.tinypic.com/aff28x.jpg

Ooh tantalizing!

Dear God is indeed my personal worst XTC track, in the same sense that Fight Club is my personal worst movie ever made.

Thinking about what to put together for my ballot now... probably won't be voting for 'Senses Working Overtime', 'Making Plans For Nigel' and 'Dear God', although I love all three.

Is "Funk Pop a Roll" their lamest major period single?

Is it too late to tack on a worst tracks poll? It would be pretty interesting, even if it might be harder to reach consensus. Though it sounds like a lot of you hate Ballad of PP, so that would probably win, so screw y'all

yeah people have already turned in ballots I'm not gonna change the rules at this point

Is "Funk Pop a Roll" their lamest major period single?

Not a single.

I'm wondering how people feel about GO2?

I was waiting for this. It's an very good record that seems to be misunderstood by many. It's shares a certain frantic nature with White Music but it also was a bridge to the more poppier XTC that was evident in Drums and Wires, which follows it.

"OH WE GO dmm dmm dmmm dm!"

Not a single.

― Mark G,

Weird. It's included on Upsy Daisy Assortment.

It is perhaps their first compilation to be considered a Best of as it includes album tracks "Funk Pop a Roll", "Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her", "Earn Enough for Us" and "Chalkhills and Children" in addition to their better-known singles.

Not being smartie, went to the Wiki to see about this album, didn't know it.

Go 2 has "Battery Brides" which would be my #1 if I vote in this; I've just engaged so shallowly with the xtc oeuvre that I don't know if I will vote

the more the merrier sez I

IMO, a poll benefits from a broad range of engagements.

In the spirit of advocacy, I'd suggest everyone who hasn't done so check out the "Transistor Blast" boxed set, which frees a lot of the early material from the shackles of its production and releases Muh-Muh-Muh-MAGIC.

The brits who engage in the early stuff will balance the yanks that engage with the 'dear pumpkinhead' era

zero ballots received today get on it people

I'm listening.

I'm trying to put a ballot together, but finding it superfuckingdifficult!

afraid to vote coz I like Peter Pumpkinhead

peter pumpkinhead was too good

hooray for Peter Pumpkinhead

For what it's worth, I like 'The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead' a fair amount... unsure at this stage as to whether it'll appear in my ballot, though.

did Partridge ever write a more literal set of lyrics -- ick.

when i found out you'd been riding another man

PP was high on my ballot, questionable lyrics notwithstanding

I can't believe how evenly spread my votes are across the albums. I love these guys:
WM: 1
GO2: 1
D&W: 6
BS: 6
ES: 5
M: 1
BE: 1
S: 4
O&L: 6
N: 2
AV: 4
WS: 1
Other: 2

I feel sort of bad that most of what I've posted to this thread is about XTC songs I don't like when they makes up such a tiny proportion of the bands catalogue, I guess I'm saving my paeans for the results thread though? There really are very few XTC songs I dislike, there is a type of mid-tempo rockin' mode some of Partridge's songs on the later albums slip into which is probably my least favourite side of the group (Merely a Man, Peter Pumpkinhead, quite a few songs on Wasp Star etc)

though I first heard Merely a Man on Fuzzy Warbles and the Oranges and Lemons version was a pleasant surprise, I wonder if I'd like Wasp Star more if it had received the full The Seeds of Love style production overload

so does "No Language in Our Lungs" into a skank-y variant on The Beatles' "I Want You"?

Haha I admit I never noticed that before. The guitar tone and fingerpicking pattern are p similar. Different chord progression tho.

Re: "No Language in Our Lungs" from the Song Stories book:

"The guitars remind me of 'Rain'-period Beatles," says Andy, who now admits the similarity of the slow arpeggio guitar sound to the Beatles' "I Want You (She's So Heavy)." "I didn't realize it at the time, but is sounds just like it."

http://cdn4.pitchfork.com/albums/9997/homepage_large.fc58f240.jpg

I'm curious what other people think of Monstrance, especially people who listen to a lot of improvised music? I like it, but this is not a genre I'm that familiar with

Curious but was never able to hear it

how do you guys rate Partridge as guitarist vs Gregory? It's hard to distinguish their lines.

I always attributed the crunchiness I love so much on Black Sea to Gregory but I guess I have no basis for that

Gregory is missed a lot on Wasp Star - it sounds a lot thinner without him adding instruments, keyboards as well.

I cant distinguish their guitar playing with any certainty. Would have to look at some credits.

Partridge has a few solo credits on Nonsuch iirc

Gregory is definitely the technically superior guitarist of the two... a lot of the flashier solos and stuff are his, stuff like the solo in 'Real by Reel', 'That's Really Super, Supergirl', 'Pink Thing', 'That Wave', his parts of the 'Books Are Burning' outro etc. His guitar playing is more studied. Partridge comes at playing the guitar from a much less studied angle, but an angle that's led him to blunder upon weird chord inversions and odd tunings that have people attempting to transcribe their songs scratching their heads. Don't get me wrong, though, he can turn out a lead guitar solo when he wants to, as his parts of 'Books Are Burning' and 'Easter Theatre' show. There's a video on Youtube of Partridge talking about his playing as well, and demonstrating a few licks.

Which one plays the wonderful ascending skronky sweep on the chorus of burning with optimism's flame?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-ips-W3p7I

Partridge has said that, back when they were touring, he enjoyed playing Colin's songs because he could play more creative things when he wasn't worried about singing lead too.

This poll has made me realize I have no love whatsoever for The Big Express, and I'm not too high on Mummer either (aside from Procession Towards Learning Land, which I love for some inexplicable reason). Someone above was saying the mid-tempo rockers from XTC are their least favorite-personally I adore the Earn Enough for Us-types, and I think that's my problem with those records.

Also, it's tough to listen to the original Making Plans For Nigel after hearing the Transistor Blast version.

A friend of mine used to assist in their demo studio in Swindon, back in the day.

When the original original version of "Nigel" was issued (it's on "Coat of Many Colours"), I rang him up and said "Hey you can tell people "Hey, you hear that version of that? I rewound that!" "

(he laughed and said that that was about right)

xpost "Procession" wasn't even on the original album!

sorry if I missed this, but is Fuzzy Warbles stuff eligible for this?

yes

2 more ballots in over the weekend

Sent, stopped myself at 40, still nearly had an embolism doing it tho'

how do you guys rate Partridge as guitarist vs Gregory? It's hard to distinguish their lines.

Disagree. I think Partidge is a good guitarist, but only in frame of "for a guy who really isn't a lead guitarist". He's like John Lennon with more chops, but still doesn't play like a lead guitarist to my ears (despite that he does play lead lines, esp on later XTC songs). Gregory on the other hand is much more fluid with lead lines and solos -- he's coming from a more technical place, as I recall is huge John McLaughlin fan, etc. Not to mention, Gregory is a lot more informed about music theory, notation -- he plays a lot more "learned" than Partridge.

will send in ballot today!

You know more about the band than I, so this is clarifying. My assumption with singers is their instrumental skills are limited, at least at the beginning.

yeah, I don't know if I would classify it like that exactly -- but I would say one generalization could be that "composers" aren't usually also instrumental (or vocal) virtuosos. As I view it, you can't spend all your time and talent on both creating the entire vision for a song, and also being the best soloist for it. There are exceptions of course, but it seems like it usually skews to one or the other. An example is one of Partidge's heroes, Charlie Parker. He obviously wrote lots of tunes, but imo is primarily known as a genius for his playing, and the way it influenced countless jazz musicians afterwards.

I had assumed that difference as well/read about it I'm sure - but when I listened to Fuzzy Warbles I was kind of struck by how much some of those guitar parts were already fully formed on the demos. But maybe Gregory was playing them there as well, I dunno. Gregory does, in all other respects, appear to have functioned as the stylist/arranger/crafstman of the band in contrast to the two songwriters

Well, it's not out of the question Partridge (or Moulding) would come up with melody lines for Gregory to play -- I'm thinking more along the lines of improvised solos (or at least solos where Gregory was given space to fill, and he came up with whatever ended up on the record). For example, to me it's fairly easy to hear the differences in their playing at the end of "Books Are Burning". Andy tries his hand at a couple of choruses, but Gregory takes the song out during the fade, and it's clear to me which of these guys is a lead guitarist -- who likely spends hours just playing over old records, or practicing scales/licks/solos -- and who is the guy who wrote the song and fancies taking a solo every once and a while. And full disclosure, Partridge's rather dismissive attitude about letting Gregory go has always bugged me, as if even he didn't appreciate what DG brought to XTC.

(All this got me thinking about actual guitar virtuosos who also happen to be really good songwriters/composers, and I thought about Brian May, Eddie Van Halen. Even someone like Jimi Hendrix, I think will go down with more influence as a player than a songwriter. Conversely, I think Frank Zappa will go down more as a composer, though he certainly liked playing solos. haha thank goodness for ILM music nerdery!)

For example, to me it's fairly easy to hear the differences in their playing at the end of "Books Are Burning".

I love how people always trot this out as the go to XTC guitar solo song because I can't even get to the end of this song to hear the solo it's so fucking terrible

yeah, it's definitely one of the most heavy handed XTC songs, but it's also one of the only ones with a long guitar solo section. A better song that features DG's style is "That Wave". In a way, it's kind of a generic "guitar solo" type of playing -- but even that is out of range for someone who isn't practicing all the time.

haha and my opinion of that song is also upthread

btw I would just like to reiterate my request for assistance with images for the results, if anybody's able and willing. I don't have anywhere to host a bunch of images, which is the main problem...

haha and that I saw Turrican pretty much said everything I said already. Pshaw upthread. But ugly chords??? Chords can be ugly!!

All this got me thinking about actual guitar virtuosos who also happen to be really good songwriters/composers,

Richard Thompson and Kristen Hersh too.

*Kristin

Bmaj13(#11)

yeah that's an ugly chord

xxp

I'm sure synesthetic Andy would appreciate the visceral reaction that certain sounds can elicit, the chords in the verse That Wave sound nausea-inducing to me

It's great! I love that song because of the harmony, and would go as far as to say Partridge's sense of harmony is what distinguishes him among, say, the McCartneys and B.Wilsons of the world. He's pretty unique in that regard -- and you could also argue that his weird way with notes is a big part of what keeps his music from being super popular. If he'd made that chord just Bmaj7, it'd be about 75% less weird sounding, even though it keeps the basic idea of the chord itself intact.

^this

if I do a ballot, That Wave will be quite high on it

you may dissuade me at yr leisure

Quick! Call the Guinness Book of Records!

:(

couldn't resist

gonna register 19 socks and get a wasp star deep cut into the top 5

*has permanent morgasm*

btw I don't usually go with consensus but Senses Working Overtime is every single bit as astonishing a song as ppl say it is

& & &

I REALLY like Partridge's 'ugly' songs - That Wave is in a continuum that contains Leisure, Life Is Good In The Greenhouse and notable other perversions of melody (including my undisputed number 1)

A lot of his songs from the first couple are pretty ugly, Red is a total racket for instance, be very surprised if that appears on anybody's ballot.

Can I vote for Ballet For A Rainy Day and 1000 Umbrellas as the same song?

coz, like, they are

no they are not, they are different songs

just because they are cross-faded together doesn't make them the same track

:( fine

but they're stronger togetherrrr

haha on a thematically cohesive album they're second to summer's cauldron/grass in the interwoven stakes

Can I vote for the ecstatic high note that connects summers cauldron to grass?

Can I vote for the snare sound on "Earn Enough For Us"?

fwiw it doesn't matter what you vote for, all votes are being counted towards the Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead

aaaaaany kind of vote is aaaaalriiiiiight

IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER WHERE YOU PUT YOUR VOTE
COS SOMEONE ELSE (OUTIS) WILL COME ALONG AND MOVE IT

xp that is a hella awesome snare sound

fwiw if no one wants to help me with graphics prepare for results plus youtubez

when the poll is over, that is. not right now

just find an appropriate GIS result

unless 'my love explodes' makes it

Conversely, I think Frank Zappa will go down more as a composer, though he certainly liked playing solos.

He referred to his soloing as "instant composition," so I think you're on the same page he was on there.

don't sully my XTC poll with Crappa

beggin yr pardon

have compiled a top 40, ordered. only issue remaining is which song takes the suddenly-disputable #1 spot. there are two candidates, and they practically couldn't be more different in outlook, disposition & style :D (although they BOTH begin with the same quiet-to-loud thing. now you know what they are, lol)

biscuit shaped.

Can I vote for the ecstatic high note that connects summers cauldron to grass?

i have very few complaints about iPods but not being able to easily play this bit over and over is one of them

first 100-entry ballot received. step up your game folks

13 ballots so far

votar

Tomorrow, I'm going to knock together an XTC care package (via WeTransfer) with the aforementioned Underwater Film soundtrack and some other rare goodies that I've dug out, anybody who would like the link, mail me on themanwhosailedaroundhisoul at gmail (note the missing 's')

Messaged u

the man who sailed around his owl

The snail who manned his roundy oil

100-song ballot is actually making me REDUCE my ballot only to songs I rly rly rly rly adore, otherwise I'm handing out 60something points to something I threw on just because

let this be a lesson

I guess most ballots are now grossly inflated though, so it doesn't matter

never gonna get my head around this

gonna submit now I think

sent; 35 tracks

been gazing admiringly at my top 10. god it's magnificent

from 7 different albums too

fuck, I've decided to change something & am resending

nah doesn't matter

18 ballots so far - get those votes in folks

I'm working on it.

Only one track from drums and wires makes it for me... it's weird I just don't feel that record. All the ingredients are there but the cake don't rise.

Long as it's the right one ;)

(Mostly agree tbh but I have 4 from it I think)

Voted for 40. Tried to do 20 and couldn't live with leaving Then She Appeared off.

funny seeing votes for songs I never really paid attention to at all, like Paper and Iron

I pray the kids aren't STARRRVING

Voted -- as low-information a ballot as you're going to get, no doubt, but I definitely wanted to give my #1 that extra hundred points.

Oh Christ, I'm going to have to finish my ballot on my lunch hour tomorrow! Damn you endlessly listenable XTC!

Last day for voting!

c'mon we can do better than just 20 ballots people

dude, it's earyl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oiyn0_m2LZQ

I hate that song.

Sent!

I don't really like it either but it seemed appropriate

most dissonant album opener?

Shakey-- I just finished mine on my phone in the Notes app. The songs are numbered with their ranking but are not in numerical sequence-- that is to say, I listed all my must have songs first, and then I went through and put each one's ranking at the beginning of each line. But bc I am on my phone I don't have the ability to sort by number. Can I copy this into an email to send u or is that too annoying? (It's just a top 30 btw)

I can sort by number - just send it in and don't worry about it

Ok just listening to the single disc selections from fuzzy warbles to make sure i didn't forget anything.

Maybe we should have just balloted every single XTC song but only presented everything above Fruit Nut.

Fuck it I can't listen anymore. Sent!

Fruit Nut almost made mine!

there's a single disc Fuzzy Warbles...?

Fruit Nut is great

mine is a gloriously savage ballot with one b-side and no fuzzy warbles at all, also I neglect the fabled forgotten midperiod

Xpost I downloaded it off a blog maybe 5 years ago, it may have been that bloggers distillation of the best of fuzzy warbles or it may have been an official promo, I can't recall. Anyway it's the only fuzzy warbles I have.

24 ballots in - is that it? any stragglers need more time?

not included on Fuzzy Warbles for some reason, later turned into a Beach Boys homage by the Cleaners from Venus:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWFnDr_Hdlc

Finishing mine now.

I just sent mine. Hope it's not too late!

Just checking the order of mine right now.

Voted!

Reading through this thread, I think my number one might upset a few people.

I feel like everyone's #1 will upset every other person. That's the kind of band XTC is.

Can you give me a little more time? I can send it within the hour

I feel like no one hates my #1 but it is probably no one else's #1 (unless LL voted)

Could I have a little time to get a ballot in? It's been a bit of a busy week! Should have one in in about an hour or so!

I feel like everyone's #1 will upset every other person. That's the kind of band XTC is.

― Dominique

True. I was just going on some of the comments on here though. Had no idea people hated this song so much but hopefully it has some other big fans too.

dear...christ ;)

keep the ballots comin folks

for all the varying opinions oddly the top 10 has been pretty stable ever since ballots started coming in - consensus!

Everyone will hate my #1

Who hates 'Mayor of Simpleton'? You did all vote for that, right?

28 ballots so far, lookin good

I don't believe I've received Naive Teen Idol's yet. Anyone else still workin on theirs?

I'm nearly done... beginning to think I put my ballots together better when under pressure!

60 song ballot sent.

I'm on the road today, let me send it in tomorrow, please!

Sent!!

Just sent mine. Hope I made it!

Is there time for straggling? I drove my family nuts by listening to the entire discography up to O&L on the drive to my parents' place for thxgvg - still need to put a bit of time in with the last 3 albums & misc trax (no Warbles, they're just not canon AFAIC)... What's the drop-deadline?

Its....... now

👍

All right, threw it together. Hope it makes it in. Thanks for doing this!

I've just realised that The Big Express will be a 30 year old puppy on Wednesday!

Such a weird album

Hammer goes down
Brakes all scream
Me and a couple of empty carriages
Slide down hill still
Next stop bad dreamsville

Ouch, bet Colin and Dave felt that one.

Train Running Low has one of those lovely self-contained middle eights that could have been the basis of a fantastic song on it's own right.

AP: (imitates whiny reporter) "And you've got to tell us, are Dave and Colin the 'empty carriages'? That's what we want to know."

TB: (laughs) Well, you know, quite frankly that question is justified, because I was listening today to the demo on Fuzzy Warbles, Vol. 3, and one of the few differences in the lyrics between the demo and the finished product is that on the demo you say "me and bunch of empty carriages." On the finished product, you say, "me and a couple of empty carriages." Given that there were three of you in the band at that point, the interpretation is understandable.

AP: At the risk of sounding like a real shit, I must have thought that I was pulling Dave and Colin along, or that we're all on the same ride together. If I go off the rails, so does their career!

http://chalkhills.org/articles/XTCFans20090614.html

And yeah, 'Train Running Low On Soul Coal' has an incredible middle eight... I'm sure I've said this before, but Andy Partridge really knows how to use the middle eight. There's so many XTC tracks where the middle eight just kicks the song up a gear.

I don't know to what extent Wasp Star is Pro Tooled -- parts of it sound like it -- but is it heretical to say I prefer this pop album to Nonsuch and the beloved Skylarking? "Wounded Horse" is painful though.

I mean, "Playground," "Stupidly Happy," "The Wheel and the Maypole" -- three of Partridge's best hooks, melodies, and lyrics

I've never been a fan of 'Wounded Horse'. Wasp Star has its moments (a couple of which made my ballot), but to me (on the whole) it definitely doesn't compare to Nonsuch or Skylarking.

Skylarking is spotty. They don't have a perfect album -- not that it matters.

All of their albums have their supporters and critics... for example I understand that there's a fair amount of XTC fans that don't rate The Big Express, but quite a fair amount of the album made my ballot!

Skylarking without "dear god" is p much perfect

Yeah, I always listen to Skylarking in its original configuration, with 'Mermaid Smiled' on it instead of 'Dear God'. Although, on the US version, the transition from 'Dear God' into 'Dying' is kinda nice, if I recall.

My #1 will be Respectable Street, but beyond that I'm clueless. I need to sit down with all of these albums and do some homework.

One thing that will be interesting about this poll for me is the placing of the Colin tracks.

I never understood why they took off Mermaid Smiled from Skylarking, it's such a beautiful song and one of my favourites on the album. Big Day is probably my least favourite song on there.

'Mermaid Smiled' is sublime when the percussion kicks in. I love the lyrics to 'Big Day', but it's far from my favourite track on there.

Yeah I love that bit too. It could be their prettiest song.

Without doing an actual statistical analysis, my impression was that O&L had the highest percentage of songs that made my ballot. Listening to it in sequence with the others, it felt to me like the brightest, most fluid realization of all their intentions to that point.

Shit, I just realized I didn't even consider the Dukes tracks for inclusion. "Vanishing Girl" would have been top 20, for sure.

I was surprised to find that Oranges & Lemons had the most on my ballot with 6 out of 50 tracks. My 2 favorites, English Settlement and Skylarking, only had 5 each in the top 50, but 3 from each made the top 20--the highest O&L track placed at #21.

Not a lot from Oranges & Lemons or English Settlement made it onto mine.

Only 1 track from Apple Venus made my list, which is probably tantamount to heresy on ILM.

I don't know to what extent Wasp Star is Pro Tooled -- parts of it sound like it -- but is it heretical to say I prefer this pop album to Nonsuch and the beloved Skylarking? "Wounded Horse" is painful though.

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, October 12, 2014 2:18 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I would say that's pretty heretical...

Moulding's Skylarking songs especially are so much better than his contributions to Wasp Star.

The thing I love about the polls is the chance to revisit a catalog. It would have been interesting to rate the albums. I had never warmed to The Big Express or Mummer, and while I came away with a greater appreciation of Mummer, I'm now convinced The Big Express is nothing more than a transitional record and the only all-around dud in the catalog.

I had the most tracks from English Settlement and the Dukes (5 each) with Skylarking, Black Sea and Mummer just behind at 4 each. The others all got 2 or 3 except for drums and wires and nonsuch which only got 1 and white music, go 2 and wasp star which got 0 (I just haven't heard those records in too long and wasn't motivated to revisit.)

Albums that changed in my estimation because of this poll revisit:

I like Mummer a lot more than I thought. I like apple Venus a lot LOT more than last listen-- before, I was hung up on the use of sampled orchestral instruments pretending to be real, now it doesn't bother me anymore and one of the tracks which does this most blatantly made my top 10.

Nonsuch still dud for me, the dead compressed guitars, the second string lyrics, the mid-tempo-itis.

Black Sea and English Settlement have now switched places as my #1 and #2 XTC LPs. I have to just own the fact that I'm one of those corny English settlement people.

Still need to hear transistor blast someday.

I guess I missed the deadline; that's fine, I really just wanted to vote for "Battery Brides" because it's a fun OMD prototype.

If its any consolation Alfred my wife's favorite is also Wasp Star, altho yeah this is a fairly unusual opinion.

I consider Skylarking their perfect record. Apple Venus is close.

I also consider skylarking their perfect record, but it's my 3rd favorite

Euler if you send me yr ballot before tomorrow morning I will count it

I wanted to try and represent every record but in the end I had to cut my favorites from White Music and Go2 because I couldn't justify keeping them over my 4th or 5th faves from some of the later albums.

^and you had to limit the size of your ballot why?

Guess I didn't have to but 40 was hard enough for me...

OK! 33 ballots in, votes have been tabulated, just have to get the images together and then we will roll out the results

232(!) songs received votes

I take that back, 196 songs received votes (stupid text formatting)

what with the absence of a limit on how many songs you could vote for I was trying to work out how many songs were eligible, I gave up, but it's a lot:

http://chalkhills.org/reelbyreal/i_song.html

slightly disappointed there wasn't at least one indomitable voter who ranked every song on that list

there were a couple 100 entry ballots, most hovered around the 20-40 range

Didn't vote because my favorites are all the obvious songs, but looking forward to the rollout

yeah, me too

I was tempted to do a 50 track + monsterballot, but I found it too hard so I decided to just pick 20 songs I liked and not make any attempt to be comprehensive, aside from the top 3 or 4 there's probably another 16 songs I could have substituted and been equally happy/unhappy with

I cut my ballot off at 100 songs because I was under the gun. Had about 115-120 songs on the list. Ranked them from 0-5 stars while listening on iTunes. Then was ranking from within the star ratings on the fly as I typed up the ballot.

Damn forgot to vote in this. Looking forward to the rollout. My ballot would have been boring and had Nigel at number one anyway.

My ballot would have been the Dukes tracks, with some singles and various Go2/plus/"Take-away" tracks.

'Commerci-alli-TAY!"

ok Hideous Lump is gettin the graphics together, should start the roll out either later today or tomorrow, depending

now taking suggestions for results thread titles

'The Wheel and the MayPOLL'
'Meccanik Dancing (Oh We POLL!)'

why bless my POLL I'm already there

even I never know where I POLL when my eyes are closed

(I'll stop now)

Making plans for My Poll

This is Poll?
The Last Polloon
Ten Feet Poll

Poll Me My Daddy
Summer's Polldron

Tissue Voters (The Arguers)

ApPOLL Venus, vol 1: the songs

When You Poll Me I Have Difficulty.

Also Featuring The Songwriting Talents Of POLLin POLLding

Bless you, Bless You, All of the Pretty POLLS

and just to end the list, everything that could exist, needs the POLLing

^also suggestion for new ilm mission statement

Making plans for My Poll

― Mark G, Tuesday, October 14, 2014 4:44 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^i vote this one

haha 'Summer's Polldron' is good too KP

Life Begins at the Poll

I'm a thirty year old puppy doing what I'm Polled

Last one from me that I just thought of when I was out walking.

Mayor of Simpollton.

oh yeah, that too

^^^ I like it, simpoll and direct.

Train Running Low on Poll Coal.

"WAIIIIT TILL YOUR POLL GOES DOWWWWWNNNN!"

That is an obsceeeeene abomination of a poll.

AND ALL THE KIDS ARE COMPLAINING THAT THE SONGS ARE TO POLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

The Man who sailed around his POLL?

Fuzzy warPOLLs

^should actually do a Warbles poll.

hopefully this is not too much of a spoiler but it is pretty clear most voters didn't bother much w Fuzzy Warbles

:(

my thoughts exactly

AND ALL THE POLLS ARE FOOTBALL SHAPED

I think the best one was the first one, myself... 'The Wheel and The MayPOLL'

Sorry I couldn't get it together for an entry. I would've rep'd for a mess of Fuzzy Warbles.

ok Hideous Lump is gettin the graphics together, should start the roll out either later today or tomorrow, depending

Graphics are ready, let the Funk Pop a Rollout begin! (Well, in about 12 hours or so, seeing as you sensible people are all asleep right now.)