are xtc the secret bond that unites us all?

re XTC -- i like 'em well enough. don't listen to them an awful lot, though.

(ps - why is one of these answers not "new"?)

BLAKC SEA-era XTC were much burlier sound-wise than to be compared to the likes of TMBG and the Barenaked Ladies.

But I's still digs the bassline of Respectable Street & everything through The Big Express. .. White Music is still probably their best record though ...

''I just got my first XTC CD, the Fossil Fuel 1977-92 singles comp. They sound great on the first disc, then not so great on the second.''

that and the apple venus vol 1 are the only things I heard by them as it happens.

That first CD is so damn fucking great that I haven't even played the second one yet and I listened to that CD solid for two weeks (well I had to give it back to the rec library).

If what curt says is true then it's kind of like the Betales 62-66 comp. solid rocking singles with some duff 'experiments' (and the odd good one too).

mark- you picked this up from the oasis vs blur thread: the point I was making is that XTC, as a singles band, were more enjoyable than oasis, blur and slade (but of course you tie yr liking to slade, as I do with my liking of oasis, to when you start listening to music though its still 'good').

Good gawd, no.

Agreed, and on the plus side of the answerability ledger, you can enter Burning Airlines' burly Mission: Control!, definitely Sugarplastic's catchy as hell first two albums, and Sunset Valley's giddyBoyscout Superhero. All of these bands manage to capture the poppy spirit of vintage XTC without resorting to birdbrained wackiness.

"This is a RECORD COVER. This writing is the DESIGN upon the record cover. The DESIGN is to help SELL the record. We hope to draw your attention to it and encourage you to pick it up. When you have done that maybe you'll be persuaded to listen to the music - in this case XTC's Go 2 album. Then we want you to BUY it. The idea being that the more of you that buy this record the more money Virgin Records, the manager Ian Reid and XTC themselves will make. To the aforementioned this is known as PLEASURE. A good cover DESIGN is one that attracts more buyers and gives more pleasure. This writing is trying to pull you in much like an eye-catching picture. It is designed to get you to READ IT. This is called luring the VICTIM, and you are the VICTIM. But if you have a free mind you should STOP READING NOW! because all we are attempting to do is to get you to read on. Yet this is a DOUBLE BIND because if you indeed stop you'll be doing what we tell you, and if you read on you'll be doing what we've wanted all along. And the more you read on the more you're falling for this simple device of telling you exactly how a good commercial design works. They're TRICKS and this is the worst TRICK of all since it's describing the TRICK whilst trying to TRICK you, and if you've read this far then you're TRICKED but you wouldn't have known this unless you'd read this far. At least we're telling you directly instead of seducing you with a beautiful or haunting visual that may never tell you. We're letting you know that you ought to buy this record because in essence it's a PRODUCT and PRODUCTS are to be consumed and you are a consumer and this is a good PRODUCT. We could have written the band's name in special lettering so that it stood out and you'd see it before you'd read any of this writing and possibly have bought it anyway. What we are really suggesting is that you are FOOLISH to buy or not buy an album merely as a consequence of the design on its cover. This is a con because if you agree then you'll probably like this writing - which is the cover design - and hence the album inside. But we've just warned you against that. The con is a con. A good cover design could be considered as one that gets you to buy the record, but that never actually happens to YOU because YOU know it's just a design for the cover. And this is the RECORD COVER."

(i don't know xtc so well either)

XTC is in many ways a microcosm of all rock music. I don't of course have time to elaborate on that bullshit concept.

much of "Oranges and Lemons" bores me to tears
*cry* Oranges and Lemons is my favorite! :)

I should add that "Chalkhills and Children" is so perfect to me that it's almost beyond music.

it appeals to my sense of humour alex.

Andy Partridge actually considered "Dear God" a failure. Here is an interview excerpt:
Well, personally I think it's one of my better failures. I think it's such an enormous subject, a subject that was really important for me to try and grasp personally or to try and wrestle with and to get rid of - you know, to purge the last bits and pieces out of me on that subject. I think I failed terribly. I mean how do you put a subject as big as human belief into 3-1/2 minutes? I mean you just can't do it. So I thought it was a lovely failure.

Modest, isn't he? Anyway, great song. Considering XTC have been around for 25 years, I think they've been extraordinarily consistent. I don't have Wasp Star yet, but all of the others range between good (Nonsuch being a bit patchy) and incredible (Skylarking).

"River Of Orchids" is the most musically interesting thing they'd done in over a decade.

Agreed. I was expecting Apple Venus vol. 1 to be a retread of Skylarking territory, from what I had read. Of course my expectations were dashed, in a good way.

Does anyone have the Coat of Many Cupboards boxed set? Worth the dough?

..."Ballet for a Rainy Day"/"1000 Umbrellas"/"Season Cycle" from XTC's Skylarking is one of the best-orchestrated song triads in the pop canon.

Those uninformed, take note; this album was lovingly produced by the ever-crystalline Todd Rundgren, which may prod otherwise uninterested parties to try a taste.

It feels so cool now to be able to say I stopped buying XTC albums after the 70s.

If I were to call any of their albums rotten, it would be The Big Express, but since it has "Seagulls Screaming", "This World Over", and "Smalltown", I can't rightly call it that.

We chose the boxed set as the soundtrack for our Easter brunch this morning. So it's salmon, challah, eggs and bacon, cantaloupe, watermelon, champagne, and XTC. Very very tasty combination.

Love that story behind 'Lets Make A Den' - Todd Rungren fell out with them because he reckoned The Kids wouldnt be able to handle the fact it was not in 4/4, and they wouldnt change it, so (I think)it only exists as a hissy demo now.

Skylarking is not the unimpeachable gem that everyone would have you believe. I would recommend Oranges and Lemons as a better place to start.

"Oranges And Lemons" and "Nonsuch" are also great though, and the two comeback albums aren't too bad either.

Got a used copy of "Fossil Fuel" a few weeks ago and I'm sold. A few tracks I don't care for (Wait till Your Boat Goes Down, Mayor of Simpleton, a couple of others) but they were a remarkably consistent singles band, quality-wise anyway.

Also, "Dear God" rocks.

But man, when they're on!!! Muppets dancing wildly with strings!

I love the "is he or isn't he?" duality of "Pink Thing," though.

i like the lure of salvage though.

geir not otm -- most underrated xtc track ever is RIVER OF ORCHIDS

hahahaha wait how the fuck did we forget XTC for the canon-off

river of orchids is AMAZING

This band, man... I may stray but I always return. Andy feels he's over the hill, too, but I dearly hope he keeps churning out wonderful music!

Nonsuch should probably be considered with Skylarking as one of their best albums.

― dleone (dleone), Sunday, 7 December 2003 17:55 (6 years ago)

DOMINIQUE KNOWS (although I'm not such a big Skylarking man...much prefer DoS from that era)

can I just

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNvWWJ6YAOI

river of orchids is pretty much the prettiest ever

^Gerald sums up exactly how I feel about XTC, like my life is better somehow for having them in it so-far.

Not "so far" - better forever!

tbh don't think xtc would have a chance in the canon-off

neil young would take down a bunch of the stuff thats in there though

just got into these guys! for me the hook was "Battery Brides", which I thought sounded like a spazzier OMD (a win in my book). I listened through the whole oeuvre recently; the only letdown was Wasp Star. Mummer was a highlight of the later albums; but anyway I'll be listening to these guys a lot more in the near future.

xtc and neil young both were on my scratch list, would have made it if it had been 64. I agree on neil young, I think he could have made it to the quarterfinals with the right draw, but there was so much classic rock and I didn't think he would ultimately beat most of it 1v1.

"Wasp Star" was, indeed, a tremendous let-down. "I'm The Man Who Murdered Love" is particularly egregious, though "Boarded Up" is Colin's last gasp of greatness.

I always found "Mummer" to be the weakest of their 80s albums, though. I think it just pales compared to "English Settlement" which came right before and "The Big Express" which came right after.

Andy's putting together a new compilation of rarities and whatnot, a follow-up to "Rag & Bone Buffet" (which is excellent) called "Bric-A-Brac Breakfast".

Wasp Star is underrated - cut it down to the following tracklist

Playground
Stupidly Happy
In Another Life
Boarded Up
We're All Light
Wounded Horse
Church Of Women
The Wheel And The Maypole

and it doesn't look HALF so bad. admittedly the album suffers for backloading by FAR its best two tracks - can't think of ANY other album where this happens

admittedly, while there are some strong songs, the album's very STYLE is reactionary, for probably the only time in XTC's career

(until those last two tracks)

Playground
Stupidly Happy
Boarded Up
Church Of Women
The Wheel And The Maypole

^^^killer EP

"in another life" is actually my favorite of colin's campy musical-theater-sounding songs

it's better than the two on Apple Venus, which was as great a tragedy for him as it was a triumph for Partridge

aw that's harsh, they're not THAT bad

i tried quite hard to like xtc. really love skylarking as both a collection of songs and an aesthetic, english settlement i'm fond of as a set of grooves and a continuous sound, i find it hard to find a way in with lots of the rest. like they're not quite interesting enough writers or soundmakers to get there.

possibly i like them so much in theory they'd need to be impeccable + amazing in practice

obviously 'making plans for nigel' and 1 or 2 other obvious classix are obviously classic and c.

I would make a playlist but for all that they've been one of my favourite bands for 15+ years, I still haven't heard the first two albums, mostly because of a stubborn subconscious insistence that they only got good with D&W

um

I'll do it anyway

here have a listen to some of these http://open.spotify.com/user/louisjagger/playlist/1pQrOPOIMkNQP6B7isLQHt

v limited but I'm keeping it to a select few albums you haven't mentioned

you are urged towards the latter end of the tracklist for most interesting results - xtc's closing tracks are nigh-on universally brilliant

Well, they certainly took a quantum leap with "Drums & Wires" but I've got a soft spot for "Go 2" in part because of Barry's loopy stuff like "My Weapon".

Colin certainly had share of greatness, even later stuff like "One Of The Millions" showed his talent as a songwriter and his ability to tap into certain feelings.

"The Smartest Monkeys" from "Nonsuch" and "Standing In For Joe" from "Wasp Star" was utter, utter shite, though.

"The Smartest Monkeys" from "Nonsuch"

was brilliant, you were saying? :P

"My Weapon" is the worst XTC song imo.

thanks lj! i warn you, when i last listened to drums and wires (easterish) i got as far as halfway through 'helicopter' thinking 'man, this is such an awesome band: why i do not listen to them more i do not really know' and by the end of it i was thinking 'man, fuck xtc'

lawllll that song is a controversial one - it has inspired literally visceral hate in some people i've played it for - this has perversely made me think it a much better song than i previously thought

i am kind of leery of xtc (apart from river of orchids) because based on one album i think of it as, like, twee english bullshit - lj will your spotify playlist convince me otherwise?

ummmmm

don't listen to 'humble daisy'

in fact, START with 'complicated game' :D

understood!

I love various of XTC's 80s singles so much that it makes me kind of sad I can't get as excited about their albums as the good people of ILM seem to - plus I guess the real XTC stan probably finds the singles distastefully populist or something

but coming from vaguely the same area as them, their mere existence was exciting and encouraging to me during some pretty "wah nobody round here cd ever understand me" times in my youth, etc

I think I love ~95% of everything XTC has done – songles, album tracks, B-sides, all so great.

songles

i'd think most people would enjoy drums&wires, black sea, and english settlement, regardless of what they think of the later flowery pop stuff

^^^this basically

with the caveat that Nonsuch is much, MUCH less twee than Skylarking or O&L

i have attempted to listen to the xtc playlist but although i did enjoy the first track i am far more in the mood to listen to bohren and the club of gore this morning

^^^I need to check that lot out, don't I

"My Weapon" is the worst XTC song imo.

It certainly is in terms of content, but it's just so stoopid I find it very funny! Barry must've been drunk off his ass when he wrote that.

And, c'mon, LJ you're going to defend "The Smartest Monkeys"? Really??

the bassline alone is fucking brilliant - I'm not gonna defend the lyrics too stoutly (although I think they're more than a little sarcastic) - factor in the FX'd lead solo, the lovely pre-middle-eight (how many songs do this?), the steropanned rhythm echoguitar and THEN the syncopated penultimate run-through of the chorus - like, this song is PACKED with delights

oh, it goes syncopated again right at the end JUST TO BE MORE AWESOME

ha yeah i am listening to a band that are trying to do as little as possible whilst still sounding like a band playing music so, yeah, definitely a different mood

i do think gore club might be relevant to yr interests though

I was about to pile in again with "oh and there's so much SPACE in the mix - it's so goddamn crisp, such lovely production" but yeah your BADCDG (ooh, a chord sequence) description sounds p interesting, plus like every art-music enthusiast I know has recommended them

as of track iv yr xtc playlist is doing a good job of reminding me why i like xtc and not reminding me as to why sometimes i am like 'ennnnnh xtc'

*runs around like Iniesta*

hang on. smartest monkeys just started

*buries head in hands*

If there's a bad one, skip it tho

One of the greatest bands ever

nakamura otm

Hell yea.

One of the greatest bands ever (so far)

;)

Ah well, upthread I was referring to my life, so-far. Should have worded that clearer, I blame mojitos.

btw Platypus :)

Haha, just playin'

Oh god that!! Erp. GIMME A MOMENT OR TWO

One day I will edit together every XTC middle-eight inna Stars on 45 fashion.

holy shit I think I would actually die

Andy and Colin get all the love but Dave Gregory is the mf Man.

only reason to get the Cupboards box is the D&W outtake "Sleepyheads", which is the fleshed out fusion of "Looking For Footprints" and "Disco" (old demo)

only reason to get the Cupboards box

Umm, no, there's many other reasons to get that box, not the least are the CD releases of "Find The Fox" and "Terrorism", many other oddities and the gorgeous packaging and book.

Sleepyheads is awesome though, as is Rag & Bone Buffet in parts.

Dave Gregory is cool – he has type I diabetes, which is how I convinced my lil' diabetic brother that XTC = a worthwhile band (the music did the rest).

omg my younger brother has that too - maybe I could do the same!

My bro is way into Diabetes Pride. He works at a diabetes summer camp!

Sorry for derail.

songles

Hurrah for XTC love!

my brother gets all the diabetes magazines but I didn't know there was a Pride! maybe there's a dia-dating service too...

remember when pride was a sin? now we're proud of everything

Don't worry, I'm still ashamed of myself.

http://www.swindonviewpoint.com/video/xtc-science-friction-early-studio-recording

This web site has lots of early XTC in-studio performances (predating Barry Andrews, for goodness sake!)

Also search for "Helium Kids" which was their previous name!

Wow! Andy still developing his herky-jerk vocals. That live clip of "Cross Wires" is just nuts.