XTC C/D S/D

um, basically the first two albums (white music and go2) are period pieces of early newwave/p-punk with rinkydink keyboards and iffy songs. drums & wires is just that (big, echo-y drums & twangin not-quite-"angular" guitars and better songcraft by and large). black sea stretches out a bit, but its a little too hamfisted "political" in places. english settlement is probably their masterpiece (with skylarking close behind), soukous meets kinks meets the knack, or whatever. havent really heard anything past skylarking and i dont think i want to.

Anyway, Drums & Wires was the first record I bought and prolly remains my favorite, altough Black Sea, Skylarking, English Settlement and the Dukes album aren't far behind. Didn't have the energy/desire to buy that Coat of Many Cupboards box set but while Apple Venus was very nice.

My favorite story is how Blur got Partridge to produce their album but sacked him for making it sound too much like XTC... then they go on and release Country House.

"Country House" doesn't sound much like XTC, it sounds more like Madness. There are other Blur songs ("For Tomorrow", "End Of a Century", "Tracy Jacks", "It Could Be You") that are obviously influenced by XTC, but I wouldn't say "Country House" is among them.

However, "The Great Escape" would probably have been an even better album if it had been produced by Partridge rather than Stephen Street.

1. Skylarking
2. Nonsuch
3. Oranges And Lemons
4. Wasp Star
5. Apple Venus
6. Psonic Sunspot

(Those six are all undoubtable classics and I would rank them considerably above the rest)

7. Mummer (Best from their pre-"Skylarking" era - and also sounding a lot like "Skylarking" in places)
8. Black Sea
9. The Big Express
10.English Settlement (Nice attempt, but didn't quite work out, partly because Hugh Padgam did an unusually bad producer's job, but also because some of the tracks are just too weird)
11.Drums And Wires
12.Go 2 (possibly the greatest sleeve ever though!)
13.White Music

Even from the start, they were a great singles band though.

D: nothing really; Drums and Wires and The Big Express are probably the most patchy ones I have heard, yet both have saving graces.

Funny though, while you've all gone all out on the album tipping, nobody's mentioned any songs! So I still can't name one, even if someone puts a gun to my head right now! Gah...

There are other Blur songs ("For Tomorrow", "End Of a Century", "Tracy Jacks", "It Could Be You") that are obviously influenced by XTC

Three of my favourite Blur songs. Things are looking up and up.

XTC are swell. For me, their release of choice is the Transister Blast box set. Nearly everything on it (its all BBC sessions and live shows) bests the album versions as far as I'm concerned.

And the two Dukes of Stratosphear records are fun, addictive workouts of the 60s psych-pop form.

and then two albums circa 2000, seemingly presenting a lush pastoral band app. ven. in vol 1 and a jagged punk band with vol. 2, and the lush pastoral stuff seemingly sounding better

it's like the songwriting well ran dry some time ago -- an excuse to present endless different retrospectives of alternative takes -- this band has made an industry out of issuing the same songs in multiple incarnations -- most bands release one take, two takes at the most of each song, but every XTC song, multiple takes, all these sessions ? do the songs stand up to or deserve so many readings ?

XTC aren't jazz, so i don't see any need for all these different versions -- do the band think everybody is that interested in those songs ? most posters here have referred to the original songs/albums in both threads -- reading them you'd barely know of the existence of all the alternatives, and given that the posters are enthusiastic about the regular albums, you can't help wondering who is interested in all these archives

XTC aren't The Beatles -- their songwriting is good, but not so fantasticly engaging as to deserve this sort of scrutiny -- and they don't play live much less tour -- have the band taken to flogging off their back catalogue in this other way instead ? and doesn't it beg the question of whether the songwriting has dried up ? 1992->2000 results in two new albums followed by more rehashing ? where is the new XTC material ? would XTC rather not admit they've pretty much retired ?

as a fan i'm pissed off with all this dithering with the old songs i already know, when there are the resources to produce new cds, cds that could have been full of new songs from 1992/2000 onwards, unless of course songwriting has stopped (and i hope it hasn't)

Let me defend "The Big Express" here. Surely, those huge drum sounds unfortunately date the album, but there are some significant songs on this record.. Colin's "Wake Up!" and "I Remember The Sun" are just terrifyingly good. "Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her", "You're The Wish You Are I Had", "I Bought Myself A Liarbird", "The Reign Of Blows", "The Everyday Story of Smalltown" and "Train Running Low on Soul Coal" are all really turgent and amazing. A lot of bent guitar noises and Beefhearty sounding stuff going on, which is a bit underrecognized here. I'm still kinda baffled why this record is so universally balked and hated.

Another record that seems overlooked or bashed too often is "Nonsuch". Sure, it has a few non-spectacular moments ("BUUUUUUUUUUUN-GALOW" haw haw), but it's far more solid than "Oranges and Lemons" which sounds so fruity and L.A.

"Apple Venus" is possibly my favorite XTC record actually, and a testament to their arrangement skills. I'm a little disappointed they had to follow this up with their "rock" album.

Otherwise, XTC are best when they indulge in their glam/psych pop costumes, a la Dukes Of Stratosphear and their deleted project which spawned the better songs on "Wasp Star".

"White Music", "Go 2", "Drums and Wires", "Black Sea" all own you, of course.

*groan*

are they still in a bad deal now with TVT ? all those songs up to 1992, then barely two albums worth of new songs to mark ten years, almost immediately heavily re-hashed ? and it seemed that XTC had already decided that volume one and volume two were very different records

i still don't get why they aren't trying to fill that enormous gap suggested by both time and apparatus-for-churning-out-cds to give us some new songs

OK freaking out and not being able to tour anymore must have screwed up a few band obligations and cut off the typical band bread and butter -- maybe what i read a reviewer refer to as a "strike by the band" '93-2000 prevents any songs written from then getting released to any great fiscal advantage to the band, but you don't stop writing songs do you ? in mojo recently Partridge bought into their presentation of him as a songwriter

the prolific '80s, the baren '90s, the now-you-see-them and now-you-don't of this band well into their new deal with a new record label, it's all a great mystery -- anybody read that book "chalkhills and chidren" ? shed any light ?

and Oranges and Lemons the double album should have been a single (but we would have heard all those other songs in some other format anyway, rght ?)

and if Oranges and Lemons .. sounds so fruity then The Big Express runs out of steam

(1) English Settlement
(2) Drums & Wires
(3) Black Sea

I agree with Jess that none of their albums are flawless. I haven't followed them since Oranges and Lemons. I liked that album at the time, but I grew to dislike it. Can't comment much since I haven't heard it in its entirety for years. I would like to hear their newer material but will not take a chance buying it without hearing some of it first. I never heard what others apparently hear in Skylarking. I liked Mummer a bit more, and it always seemed as though it could become a favorite, but I never quite got into it. The Dukes of the Stratosphere stuff left me cold.

Favorites songs (in no order): Making Plans for Nigel [the first one I ever heard, before I really was aware of the group], It's Nearly Africa, Yacht Dance, Senss Working Overtime, English Roundabout, Burning with Optimism's Flames, Towers of London, Json and the Argonauts, Snowman, Ten Feet Tall, When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty, Outside World, Scissor Man, Heaven is Paved with Broken Glass, Down in the Cockpit [I don't care if it's preachy, I still like it], and [dear God!] Dear God [which I don't think anyone else here likes]. But Ball and Chain, No Thugs in Our House, All of a Sudden (It's Too Late), and Complicated Game [which I used to like to fall around to] are also pretty good. (And Generals and Majors is good, too, thanks to Tom's new message--and I like his description!).

But here's a short list:
Summer's Cauldron/Grass
Wrapped in Grey
Mayor of Simpleton
Braniac's Daughter
Pale and Precious
Are You Receiving Me?
Respectable Street
Love on a Farmboy's Wages
Harvest Festival
Your Dictionary
Maypole

...but man there's so many...

This Is Pop
No Language In Our Lungs
Melt the Guns
Snowman
Love on A Farmboy's Wages
Ladybird
Bought Myself A Liarbird
Wake Up
Grass
1000 Umbrellas
Ballet for A Rainyday
Here Comes President Kill Again
Humble Daisy
That Wave
Harvest Festival
I'd Like That

(Actually, that's not all that radical, as it's chronicled again and again in the Song Stories book. But it's more or less true nonetheless.)

My favorite songs are therefore the ones that everyone forgets, the bullshitty ones: "The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul," "Rook," "I Bought Myself a Liarbird," etc. Except yeah, Jess and Sgt. Rockist are right: "Dear God" IS a good song, better than even Partridge knew.

i) the kid.

ii) "a big reduction in amount of tears" makes me wince for some reason.

iii) Bad things happen therefore there is no God seems to me a crass spiritual viewpoint ;)

Pretty tune though.

But now, it's really only critics and Internet goons without our finely-tuned sensibilities who hate on "Dear God." Maybe it's a British ("what are you yelling about?") vs. American ("subtlety my ass") thing.

I think this is compensated for by the "I don't mean a big reduction in the price of beer" line, which is pretty funny.

Tom, I think the enormous amount of suffering that is built into the world is a very good reason for believing that there is no God of a certain sort (all powerful and all good or if "good" is too problematic than "all powerful and moderately merciful").

(I think I'm just going back to Rockist Scientist, since everyone seems to like that. But in many ways I'm not a rockist (though I do like John Lennon's solo work a lot more than most of you apparently), and I'm definitely not a scientist.)

Well clearly there's a god, it's just that it's a *totally insane and unpredictable* kinda god.

Cripes...there are SO MANY to choose from, but my faves:

"Respectable Street"
"Living Through Another Cuba" -- especially a live version recorded at Emerald City, Philadelphia courtesy of a bootleg
"Travels in Nihilon" - XTC practically covering Killing Joke
"Outside World"
"This Is Pop"
"Science Friction"
"No Thugs in Our House"
"Crowded Room"
"Radios in Motion"
"Vanishing Girl"
"25 O'Clock"
"Wake Up"
"Across This Ant Heap"
"Real By Reel"
"When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty"
"Crossed Wires"
....oh, fuck, and loads more.

And then if one were to add omniscience (which would include foreknowledge), that raises even more problems. (Why would God start this thing going, knowing that it would result in so much misery?)

This is Gnosticism, and there was an awful lot of it around when the Bible was being written, it's just that the stuff got excised and increasingly edited out as time went on.

I think the problem of evil is an excellent reason for not liking or trusting or worshipping God, I just don't think it's a good reason for not believing he exists.

In Gnosticism, or at least some forms of it, the Creator is a lesser entity than God. The creator isn't really God, and is seen in a negative light.

I like Isaac Luria's account of creation as a botched job, too, though I certainly don't believe in it. (Also, he wrenches a good deal of positive meaning out of it.)

(Tom I still think the problem of evil is a good reason for not thinking that a certain type of God exists, a God with certain specific qualities, including compassion. However, I agree that it's not an adequate reason for denying the existence of any God whatsoever. I'm agnostic about that.

Omniscience still matters, since God would know who is going to suffer eternally in the after life. He would know ahead of time that millions of souls will suffer eternally as a result of His creating Adam and Eve and so forth.)

(I don't believe in God btw)

Oh yeah absolutely - it's impossible to excise these kinds of theological subtleties entirely, and there are all sorts of places where gnostic ideas overlap with traditional scripture. The Romans passage you cite I'm unfamiliar with, but the case you make with it makes sense. It follows the thread of the entire material universe being "fallen" and "corrupt" - with salvation being a transcendence of physicality (this is vaguely neo-Platonist as well...)

"In Gnosticism, or at least some forms of it, the Creator is a lesser entity than God. The creator isn't really God, and is seen in a negative light."

Right - my understanding is that it's a part of the godhead which separated itself (out of vanity, lust for power, etc.) and then positioned itself as God over the material world, with its archons (Yaldaboath, etc.) serving as overlords for humanity, raping Eve, etc. Man, I love this stuff.

ps aft-knowledge = "touch my bum/this is life"

Search:
"Helicopter"
"When You're Near Me, I Have Difficulty"
"Ten Feet Tall"
"Rocket From a Bottle"
"Towers of London"
"Burning With Optimism's Flames"
"Yacht Dance"
"Knuckle Down"
"Love on a Farmboy's Wages"
"This World Over"
"Everyday Story of Smalltown"
"That's Really Super, Supergirl"
"Season Cycle"
"Mayor of Simpleton"
"King for a Day"
"Chalkhills and Children"
"Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead"
"Crocodile"
"I'd Like That"
"Knights in Shining Karma"

(OT: XTC may, for all I know, be bigger in the U.S. than they ever were in the UK, but I hope non-American readers won't come away with the idea that they are a big mainstream hit in the U.S. When I was in high school (in the early 80's) I knew only one or two other people who listened to them. College would have been another matte, entirely. I don't think I've ever heard them on a commercial rock station. I think I know what modern rock station Jess mentioned above and it wasn't around for very long. Anyway, folks who haven't dabbled a bit with college radio and indie aren't that likely to know about them.)

Until the phenomenon that was "Dear God". "Skylarking" was a major breakthrough for the U.S. audience, and "Oranges and Lemons" was even huger. It kinda decayed quickly after that, though.. but I think XTC's U.S. fans certainly outweight the UK ones overall, i gather.

In any case, "Dear God" makes me cringe now, but if it weren't for this song, most of us (in the U.S. moreso) probably wouldn't be talking about the band or caring about them today.

And a abridged list of mostly forgotten gems by XTC:

"Desert Island"
"Roads Girdle the Globe"
"Rip Van Reuben"
"Terrorism"
"Neon Shuffle"
"Battery Brides"
"Paper and Iron"
"Snowman"
"Love on a Farmboy's Wages"
"Red Brick Dream"
"The Meeting Place"
"Frivolous Tonight"
"Harvest Festival"
"Standing In For Joe"

Generally (and I know the first one was a Partridge composision) I feel like Colin's composisions are usually underrated. For me, he is the best songwriter AND singer in the band.

i remember hearing "Dear God" a lot on canadian modern rock stations and seeing the video more than a few times on MuchMusic, but then Sarah Maclachlan covered it and the original was never heard round these parts again.

I'm in *HYSTERICS*

XTC have always been good, but it is only from "Skylarking" onwards (and I mean all the time, until present) that they have been absolutely excellent.

Those albums all suffer from bad production (even for me, it's not all about melodies, even those melodies are more important than anything else), although "Black Sea" does contain a lot of truly ace songs.

They sounds fine to me. Maybe it's all that tar in your ears.

although "Black Sea" does contain a lot of truly ace songs.

Mighty big of you.

is there a Clear Channel outlet in Norway, Geir?

Those albums all suffer from bad production (even for me, it's not all about melodies, even those melodies are more important than anything else) ...

alright now, Geir, some of yer statements (like the one above about Beefheart) i can chalk up to taste. but saying that Drums & Wires, Black Sea, or English Settlement suffer from "bad production"? i mean really -- are you from Pluto and have therefore have a totally different auditory process than Earthlings or something?

though one thing i wonder about -- how those here (who shall remain nameless) who slag elvis costello, yet love the "Drums & Wires/Black Sea/English Settlement" troika. i mean, at that stage of their careers they were definitely influenced by this year's model-EC (to my ears, anyway). but what's up with that, i wonder?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/

I absolutely hate Steve Lillywhite! Worst producer ever!

Did he finally accomplish his life goal to be the sole dictator and member of the band? Is he finally happy?

Aren't all the (ex) band members friends now?

Aw, please don't! "Battery Brides" and "Beatown" are so so so good.

Don't they come together in a box or something?

Yeah, a 4CD box with Apple Venus, Wasp Star and those albums in demo form.

you know, for freestylin'.

Apologies if this was addressed earlier -- but are the remasters for the CDs that good? I only have the Skylarking remaster mainly to have to original track listing, segues and all, and I don't think the original Geffen issues sound bad at all. But do the Caroline remasters "take them to the next level" and all that? The back cover art restoration is nice, sure, but...

I haven't bought any of the remasters but there's no question my 80s CD versions of Mummer and English Settlement sound like shit. And the Dukes CD is like half as loud as other CDs in my collection - its weird.

The Geffen ones of the later stuff sound OK (the earlier editions, I mean), but as for the earlier stuff, they earned a lot from the remastering. More than most late 70s/early 80s recordings usually tend to do, in fact.

what do you mean by "later" - from Skylarking on...?

The Virgin '80s releases sound pretty good. English Settlement is too loud though.

I love XTC, but I don't think they've ever made a truly consistent start-to-finish album though they have got fairly close at times - it seems that for every 5 songs that they put out, there's always one or two which do absolutely nothing for me and (in my opinion) seem to spoil the album. So, I would search absolutely everything but destroy the following songs...

White Music: 'I'll Set Myself On Fire', 'I'm Bugged' (the bonus tracks improve this album)

Go 2: 'My Weapon', 'Super-Tuff' (the Barry Andrews tracks aside, this is a very underrated album)

Drums & Wires: I wouldn't destroy anything.

Black Sea: 'Living Through Another Cuba' (the rest of the album is sublime)

English Settlement: 'Melt The Guns', 'Leisure', 'It's Nearly Africa' (the most overrated album)

Mummer: 'Wonderland', 'Human Alchemy'. (as with White Music, the bonus tracks improve this album - 'Jump', 'Toys' and 'Gold' all should have been on there - and I quite like 'Desert Island').

The Big Express: all of side two (except 'The Everyday Story Of Smalltown' and 'Train Running Low On Soul Coal'. This album features some of XTC's most underrated music).

Skylarking: 'Another Satellite', easily. (both Dear God *and* Mermaid Smiled should have been included).

Oranges & Lemons: 'Here Comes President Kill Again', 'Scarecrow People', 'Merely A Man', 'Cynical Days', 'Hold Me My Daddy' (this, to my mind, is XTC's worst album - and the production is terrible).

Nonsuch: I'd only destroy 'War Dance' (the rest of the material is brilliant).

Apple Venus: I wouldn't destroy anything - I even like 'Fruit Nut'.

Wasp Star: On the other hand, I'd destroy everything on this one except 'Playground', 'Church Of Women' and 'The Wheel And The Maypole', two of XTC's most underrated songs.

English Settlement: (the most overrated album)

Really? It may be my favorite, but don't most usually rate the herky-jerk stuff circa "D&W" or the sophisto Skylarking more? I always thought Settlement was kinda slept on.

it's a transitional record

Skylarking: 'Another Satellite', easily. (both Dear God *and* Mermaid Smiled should have been included).

why don't you like this one? I love that spacey production, it's very fun to sing too! IMO the only flaw with Skyarking was totally pointless removing of "Mermaid Smiled" on the USA edition of the album. A Skyarking without it is not a Skyarking.

*Skylarking, dammit

Well, "Drums & Wires" tends to be the choice of most UK critics (it's certainly a record that got brought up a lot when bands like Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand appeared several years ago), and "Skylarking" tends to be rated most highly by American fans/critics, because it was essentially their breakthrough record there. For the UK fans, though, especially the ones that were around at the time of its release, "English Settlement" is the one that usually gets pointed to.

I tend to think most of the praise that gets levelled at "Drums & Wires" is justified, it's definitely a record that's influenced more than its fair share of bands. The praise that "Skylarking" gets is mostly justified too - it's a thoroughly strong collection of songs, and I think Todd Rundgren really did XTC well on that record (even though Partridge was critical of the record at the time).

I've never felt any of the praise that "English Settlement" gets is justified... sure, it features a quota of outstanding tracks (this is before we even get to the evergreen 'Senses Working Overtime'), but I never felt there was enough great stuff there to justify a double album. "Nonsuch" is the only time that they had enough great material to make an album over an hour long, in my opinion.

one thing I have learned from XTC threads is that when it comes to specific songs, nobody ever agrees

which is kinda why they would make a good poll tbh

Skylarking: 'Another Satellite', easily. (both Dear God *and* Mermaid Smiled should have been included).

why don't you like this one? I love that spacey production, it's very fun to sing too! IMO the only flaw with Skyarking was totally pointless removing of "Mermaid Smiled" on the USA edition of the album. A Skyarking without it is not a Skyarking.

― V79, Tuesday, September 6, 2011 9:50 PM (2 minutes ago)

It's just one of those instances where a tune just doesn't do anything for me, and there's no other reason than that, really. I've often felt that it sticks out like a sore thumb on the album and disrupts the flow, but I guess I'd feel that way even if I liked it!

one thing I have learned from XTC threads is that when it comes to specific songs, nobody ever agrees

which is kinda why they would make a good poll tbh

― I can feel it in my spiritual hat (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, September 6, 2011 9:53 PM

I completely agree. I think one of the best things about the XTC catalogue is that their music is such that people can be heavily into certain aspects of the band and not others. For example, 'Leisure' is one of my most loathed XTC tracks of all time but I've spoken to people who really love its drawling vibe.

xp hmm, I think I see your point now, though I don't really agree with it

btw Andy tweeted today that the BBC are interested in making a TV documentary about XTC, I'm curious to see how it turns out!

http://twitter.com/#!/xtcfans/status/111145102256246784

I kind of think of XTC in terms of albums rather than specific songs. The American, single LP "English Settlement" was the first one I got heavily into by them, which may be why it remains my favorite, and I think this tracklist/sequencing is pretty much perfect:

Side 1
Runaways
Ball and Chain
Senses Working Overtime
Jason and the Argonauts
Snowman
Side 2
Melt the Guns
No Thugs in Our House
It's Nearly Africa
English Roundabout
All of a Sudden (It's Too Late)

I get why some people don't like Andy's attempts at "worldbeat" like Melt The Guns and Africa, though I do.

That's great news - I'd be very interested in watching something like that. They're one of those bands that most music fans seem to know, but even less have actually heard them. If a BBC documentary gets more kids buying XTC records, then it can't be a bad thing.

Sorry, xpost!

would totally watch a doc, such a strange story

I kind of think of XTC in terms of albums rather than specific songs. The American, single LP "English Settlement" was the first one I got heavily into by them, which may be why it remains my favorite, and I think this tracklist/sequencing is pretty much perfect

I get why some people don't like Andy's attempts at "worldbeat" like Melt The Guns and Africa, though I do.

― Hey T-Paw, mow my lawn! (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, September 6, 2011 10:14 PM

Yeah, I've never actually tried listening to it in that configuration - but being used to the double set I really can't hear 'Snowman' as being anything other than the album closer! Those wouldn't have necessarily been my choices for side 2 either, it's seriously missing some 'Yacht Dance', 'Fly On The Wall' and 'Down In The Cockpit'! Although they seem to have (in my opinion) had the good sense to leave 'Leisure' off!

This may be the third or so XTC thread where I've 'fessed up to never having heard the "extra" English Settlement tracks. I really need to buy the expanded edition.

Is the whole thing not up on Spotify? I'm sure it is. I'm going to have to check that out.

I've never felt any of the praise that "English Settlement" gets is justified... sure, it features a quota of outstanding tracks (this is before we even get to the evergreen 'Senses Working Overtime'), but I never felt there was enough great stuff there to justify a double album.

I used to think that way but it grew on me slowly over time. It's one of my favourites now, and I don't skip anything. 'Leisure' isn't exactly brilliant but it fills a nice place in the album.

A documentary would be incredible. The Chalkhills and Children book is really quite entertaining (once you get past all the "Andy was born in blah and went to school at blah" guff), and the Song Stories book that does what it says on the tin is more interesting than I thought it would be. There was talk of turning Partridge's recent MySpace song descriptions into another book but I don't know where that ended up.

btw I was all ready to run an XTC megapoll but the hivemind got all butthurt about poll threads.

? there's tons of poll threads going on right now

yeah I noticed

I've never read any of those XTC books - quite possibly because I've found them so difficult to get hold of! I have to take the opportunity to say just how much the Chalkhills website "helped me out" while getting into this band, though... the wealth of material on offer on that website is just staggering and I found it an invaluable resource of information when I started listening to this band for the first time. Those Myspace interviews with Andy about certain songs have been great as well, and I always enjoy reading about what Andy has to say about his songwriting. He seems to have a sense of humour about his lack of commercial success, even though you can tell it does rankle him slightly!

Yeah, I think he sees what it takes to win the game (selling out etc) and counts his lucky stars he was only ever moderately successful. There'll always be residual anger about bad contracts and mismanagement ('I Caught Myself a Liarbird' is a great song) and he'll always come to loggerheads with his peers and overlords Terry Gilliam style, but on the whole it sounds like his personal life is stable and he's just enjoying himself.

APE records, on the other hand...

Yeah, 'I Caught Myself A Liarbird' is great - only Partridge could write about mismanagement in that particular way! I always have a little chuckle whenever I read the quotes on the songs in the booklet that comes with the "Apple Venus"/"Wasp Star" boxset, especially when he's talking about 'Your Dictionary': "I tried and tried not to write a divorce song..." - hehehehe...

That's an amazing song. It captures perfectly the weird ferocious entitlement of being dumped, ending with a determination to get on with it that's really just part of the turbulence.

Yeah, that's exactly it! I think 'I Can't Own Her' captures something similar also. A bit of a breakthrough lyric for Andy, that one. I'm going to have to give "Apple Venus" a listen now!

In the mid '90s I was given that collection of demos that was going around, clearly written during his divorce because there's SO MUCH bitterness and misery in those songs, mixed with some very positive and uplifting fantasy stuff ('Green Man', 'Easter Theatre', 'Harvest Festival' etc). He was all over the place.

Was 'Wounded Horse' one of them by any chance? I know a lot of the "Apple Venus"/"Wasp Star" material came from around the same period of time... apparently Dave Gregory wanted to put what he considered to be the best of the "Apple Venus"/"Wasp Star" stuff together in one album and make a kind of "Nonsuch" part two... and although I'm glad XTC didn't do that (if only because "Apple Venus" is pretty much perfect in my opinion), I would have been very interested to hear what Dave Gregory's own song choices would have been!

'Wounded Horse' wasn't on my tape but I think it might have been out there at the time.

Shame about what was vetoed btw, because 'Wonder Annual' is one of the best songs Partridge ever wrote (despite its lol premise).

Hehehehehehe! Yes, some of Partridge's most carnal lyrics in that song. "If lust equals knowledge, then I side with the snake"! Hehehehehehe! The one that tickles me every time from the ones that he actually properly released has to be the one from Omnibus: "Ain't nothing in the world like a black skinned girl, make your Shakespeare hard and make your oyster pearl". Oh dear!

Oh god yes, I don't know where his head was that day. I still cringe when I hear that.

White Music: 'I'll Set Myself On Fire', 'I'm Bugged' (the bonus tracks improve this album)

Agree with the bonus tracks comment, but "I'll Set Myself On Fire" is great, though admittedly the live version released as a b-side DESTROYS the studio take and is what I think of.

Go 2: 'My Weapon', 'Super-Tuff' (the Barry Andrews tracks aside, this is a very underrated album)

I can understand your view, though I adore Barry's work.

Drums & Wires: I wouldn't destroy anything.

Agreed.

Black Sea: 'Living Through Another Cuba' (the rest of the album is sublime)

Again, there's a live medley with "Generals And Majors" which pummels you into submission.

English Settlement: 'Melt The Guns', 'Leisure', 'It's Nearly Africa' (the most overrated album)

These are the more vocally challenging tracks - I love them but can understand your view.

Mummer: 'Wonderland', 'Human Alchemy'. (as with White Music, the bonus tracks improve this album

Yup, the bonus tracks are great. I find this album the least of their canon but "Human Alchemy" is just so wonderfully strange.

The Big Express: all of side two (except 'The Everyday Story Of Smalltown' and 'Train Running Low On Soul Coal'.

This is my all-time favorite album so this is where we disagree. Side two is every bit as awesome as side one, there's not a weak track on this, but my opinion is completely compromised as this was my first XTC album.

Skylarking: 'Another Satellite', easily. (both Dear God *and* Mermaid Smiled should have been included).

Yeah, that's a weak track. And I managed to get a Canadian CD which DOES have both "Dear God" and "Mermaid Smiled"!

Oranges & Lemons: 'Here Comes President Kill Again', 'Scarecrow People', 'Merely A Man', 'Cynical Days', 'Hold Me My Daddy' (this, to my mind, is XTC's worst album - and the production is terrible).

This is a mixed bag with awful production, true. "President Kill" is a sentimental fave and I like the heavy-handed "Scarecrow People".

Nonsuch: I'd only destroy 'War Dance' (the rest of the material is brilliant).

You didn't go far enough - kill all the Colin songs. "Bungalow" - good lord, AWFUL!

Apple Venus: I wouldn't destroy anything - I even like 'Fruit Nut'.

Agreed.

Wasp Star: On the other hand, I'd destroy everything on this one except 'Playground', 'Church Of Women' and 'The Wheel And The Maypole'

I always forget this album - "I'm The Man Who Murdered Love" is Andy's worst composition, by far. Colin redeems himself with "Boarded Up", which I like, and the tracks you mentioned are alright. But honestly I could just destroy the whole thing - it took me years to even deign to buy a physical copy!

"Sacrificial Bonfire" snuck up on my during a recent listening. I really had no idea it was such a great song despit hundreds of listens to Skylarking over the years.

I think "Sacrificial Bonfire" is probably my favourite XTC song that Colin Moulding wrote - I just love the whole vibe of the song, it's so evocative. And of course, the magnificent string arrangement gets me every time - when it kicks in on the second verse, it's a great moment in itself, but when the whole arrangment bursts open on the second chorus... oh man!

Wasp Star: On the other hand, I'd destroy everything on this one except 'Playground', 'Church Of Women' and 'The Wheel And The Maypole'

I always forget this album - "I'm The Man Who Murdered Love" is Andy's worst composition, by far. Colin redeems himself with "Boarded Up", which I like, and the tracks you mentioned are alright. But honestly I could just destroy the whole thing - it took me years to even deign to buy a physical copy!

― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, September 7, 2011 2:38 AM (37 minutes ago)

Oh, I forgot about "Boarded Up"! Yeah, I'm fond of that one... the arrangement of that track is perfect and conveys its subject matter perfectly. There's a village near where I live that could have had that song written about it! Partridge's worst composition? Hmm. "Blue Overall" would probably get my vote as his ultimate low point.

Re: The Big Express

This is my all-time favorite album so this is where we disagree. Side two is every bit as awesome as side one, there's not a weak track on this, but my opinion is completely compromised as this was my first XTC album.

I forgot to mention that I wouldn't destroy 'I Bought Myself A Liarbird', which I also think is great (as I mentioned somewhere upthread), but I've never been too fond of 'I Remember The Sun' (I've always found it a bit on the dull side) or 'You're The Wish You Are I Had' (it's one of the few moments in the XTC catalogue that I can say is just TOO damn cheesy for me). 'Reign Of Blows' is decent, I guess, but I don't think they got the best out of it.

I used to love the hell out of The Big Express but recently it's been sounding way too dated for me. 'You're the Wish' is the highlight for me.

'Man Who Murdered Love', yeah, bloody awful. It had me deeply worried until I heard some of his brilliant 21st century work in the Fuzzy Warbles set.

some of

Yeah, Wasp Star could have been one of XTC's all time best had Partridge not shitcanned some of his best songs. Young Marrieds, I Don't Want To Be Here, Wonder Annual, Ship Trapped in the Ice, My Land is Burning, Sonic Boom, Through Electric Gardens, The Bland Leading the Bland...mix in some of these songs with the best songs that did make the cut and it'd be an instant classic!

I do enjoy the released album but feel like it has some of XTC's weakest tracks. And the gap between the quality of the two songwriters' output never sounded so huge.

agree that the track selection for that album is quite odd/inscrutable. it does have some high points though. I like the Man Who Murdered Love allright.

I mean, i really can't blame Moulding for wanting to retire from music. It's been all downhill for him since My Bird Performs (his last great song IMO) while Partridge, in many ways, got even better...

I've always been quite fond of "Bungalow", myself, although I can understand why people wouldn't like it. I think "War Dance" is his big dud from "Nonsuch". You're right in a way about "My Bird Performs", though - it's a fantastic track. Love the vocal harmonies and the ringing guitar lick. Another one of my absolute favourite Colin songs (although I don't think he ever wrote ANYTHING that moves me as much as "Sacrificial Bonfire" does).

I think "War Dance" is his big dud from "Nonsuch".

Monkeys. Monkeys Monkeys Monkeys. Worst song he ever wrote. War Dance is not far behind but just eugh.

Yeah, Wasp Star could have been one of XTC's all time best had Partridge not shitcanned some of his best songs.

The band would select the material as a group iirc, which is why a lot of the really great stuff never ended up on albums. Also, the flow of the album might actually have been better serviced (at least in their minds – remember the whole 'electric' theme they were pushing) by the songs that did end up on the album.

'Through Electric Gardens' opens with some stuff inspired by my local heritage-listed theme park, which is just awesome.

'The Bland Leading the Bland' is probably my favourite Partridge song ever, purely for the sentiment expressed and the drudgery it injects into the music.

remember the whole 'electric' theme they were pushing

the funny thing is the album does not sustain this theme at all.

It really doesn't. I think by "electric" they just meant amplified guitars.

but like half the songs don't even have that! Boarded Up?

Yeah. Who knows what was going on back then.

Shame, because AV1 was sooo focused.

You can peel a few songs off Wasp Star (as per Turrican's post e.g. 'The Wheel and the Maypole' alone is worth having the album for) and enjoy them in isolation, but god is it hard to play from start to finish.

Also, 'I'm the Man Who Murdered Love' was the first single! What. were. they. thinking.

Played AV1 this morning, forgot just how incredible it is and how well it works as a single piece. Kicking off AV2 now, mainly to challenge my opinion.

Monkeys. Monkeys Monkeys Monkeys. Worst song he ever wrote. War Dance is not far behind but just eugh.

I'll admit, I've never liked the lyrics to 'The Smartest Monkeys', but I love the echoing guitar chords, the drumming and the synth solo in the middle redeems the entire track for me!

I was lucky enough to get the huge "Fuzzy Warbles" box set for stupidly cheap, a few years ago.

He's a bit good, inne, really?

I've never felt any of the praise that "English Settlement" gets is justified... sure, it features a quota of outstanding tracks (this is before we even get to the evergreen 'Senses Working Overtime'), but I never felt there was enough great stuff there to justify a double album

I listened to this album for the first time in YEARS (as in a seriously long time) recently. My big problem with this album is the way it's sequenced, opening with two Colin Moulding tracks and then sticking the other two Mouldings near the end, meaning there's an unbroken sequence of NINE Andy Partridge tracks and, I know you guys worship him + I like him too, but that is just too much to bear. And did he start getting all self-righteous and priggish on this album or was he always like that?

(xp) I cannot imagine sitting down and listening to an entire album of Andy Partridge!

Ha, try nine! Plus 'extras' and 'best-tracks-from'!

(It's not as bad as it sounds: I was working away on a 'drive-commute' so I played them all)

It's funny, the band seemed to like his "You are all xxxxx" type aggro songs, whereas his "OK, maybe it's me" seemingly got the knock-back and stayed unrealised apart from these demo versions.

As a set, only Pete Townshend's demos are comparable.

Can you imagine anyone else in XTC saying to Andy Partridge, "I don't like that song, I don't want to play it"? 'cos I can't.

Bear in mind, APartridge is somewhat prolific, so yes I can.

Past tales: The drummer in our band used to be an engineer at a studio where XTC would demo/practice songs, one time Colin went in to do a bunch of his songs for consideration. None were chosen, so our drummer had carte blanche to use them if we liked.

Problem was, we didn't.

the Big Express is really an odd album. I don't like a lot of it. Was this a deliberate attempt to return to their earlier/noisier/louder/faster post-punk roots...? It's so harsh and shouty, and it seems like quite an anamolous bump in the road of their trajectory, it bears little to no resemblance to the several albums before and after it.

Don't know how deliberate it was, but I agree with every word of this.

From the Chalkhills site:

Andy: “If Mummer was a gentle chug through the countryside, then The Big Express is a loco derailing itself in the rusty goods yard. An altogether more industrial affair. Slashing electric guitars, sheets of steel bass and diesel oil drums. An iron opera, steam powered and brick encased.”

Andy: “Call me stupid, but these were good records. If you bastards don't want to buy 'em, what can I do? I had faith in my art.”

I listened to this album for the first time in YEARS (as in a seriously long time) recently. My big problem with this album is the way it's sequenced, opening with two Colin Moulding tracks and then sticking the other two Mouldings near the end, meaning there's an unbroken sequence of NINE Andy Partridge tracks

I understand what you mean, and especially on a long album - I personally like ALL of the Colin songs on the record, so would keep them all if I had to condense this down to a single record. I would spread them out a bit too, but I'd definitely leave the opening three songs well alone. That opening salvo of 'Runaways', 'Ball And Chain' and 'Senses Working Overtime' is one of the best openings of any XTC album, in my opinion!

the Big Express is really an odd album. I don't like a lot of it. Was this a deliberate attempt to return to their earlier/noisier/louder/faster post-punk roots...? It's so harsh and shouty, and it seems like quite an anamolous bump in the road of their trajectory, it bears little to no resemblance to the several albums before and after it.

I didn't like "The Big Express" at first when I heard it. My immediate reaction was that there was way too much going on that I found it overwhelming at first. It grew on me, though - 'Train Running Low On Soul Coal', 'Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her' and 'The Everyday Story Of Smalltown' are three of my favourite ever XTC tracks.

can't believe they left red brick dream off big express, it fits the vague theme of the record, it's short and so pretty. guess it wasn't "loud" enough

Yeah, 'Red Brick Dream' is probably the best of the "Big Express" bonus tracks. 'Washaway' and, ESPECIALLY 'Blue Overall' represent some of the lower-tier XTC stuff though. 'Blue Overall' in particular, I feel being Andy Partridge's worst ever song.

you know, this band made great videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCW6Kte2o1A&feature=related

Partridge wouldn't agree though.

Nowt wrong with a bit of 'Blue Overall'.

I'll admit, I've never liked the lyrics to 'The Smartest Monkeys', but I love the echoing guitar chords, the drumming and the synth solo in the middle redeems the entire track for me!

― Turrican, Friday, 9 September 2011 00:32 (7 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

agh really? Every single thing about the song sounds self-conscious to me, like he'd lost faith in his own ability to do anything at all and just sort of forced out this thing.

the Big Express is really an odd album. I don't like a lot of it. Was this a deliberate attempt to return to their earlier/noisier/louder/faster post-punk roots...? It's so harsh and shouty, and it seems like quite an anamolous bump in the road of their trajectory, it bears little to no resemblance to the several albums before and after it.

― you will always be wrong (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 9 September 2011 03:19 (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

When they stopped touring, Partridge got all studio and chucked his creativity into that. That's why there's a succession of theme albums after 1984 – Big Express is all Swindon railyard, 25 O'Clock is psychedelia pastiche, Skylarking is a walk through the seasons and life/death etc.

btw Mummer has excellent songs but the running order is wrong imo. It starts upbeat, drops into delicate numbers and ends abruptly with a savagely cynical three-minute pop song.

Re the Colin thing and the band collectively vetoing songs, I always found it odd that some of Colin's best work was relegated to B sides. 'Washaway', 'Smokeless Zone' (that song actually converted a friend of mine), 'Heatwave', 'The World is Full of Angry Young Men' off the top of my head.

Easily one of the best b-sides bands ever. You could make a monstrously good double album from the best of them. Looking forward to the sequel to "Rag & Bone Buffet" which will be called "Bric-A-Brac Breakfast".

That seems to have stalled along with all the Ape Records dramas.

'Instant Tunes' is my favourite of all the Colin B-sides, easily! Should have made the cut for "White Music", in my humble opinion.

What IS going on with Ape? What's stalling things? There's a Partridge/Blegvad album on that list, too, that I can't wait to hear.

Financial collapse iirc. I'll try to find something.

Can't find anything.

Re the Colin thing and the band collectively vetoing songs, I always found it odd that some of Colin's best work was relegated to B sides. 'Washaway', 'Smokeless Zone' (that song actually converted a friend of mine), 'Heatwave', 'The World is Full of Angry Young Men' off the top of my head.

― Autumn Almanac (Schlafsack), Thursday, 8 September 2011 22:41 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

When Col's songs were good, they were great. When they weren't....

Even Andy's bad songs were at least entertaining. "WOOoooOOounded Horse" always makes me laugh (even if that's far from the point)

Yeah, I've often felt there was a bit of humour in 'Wounded Horse', even if the song is quite a serious song about trying to get over a failed relationship. I don't think they got the best out of that one when they recorded it, though.

another entry into the "how did this not get released????" sweepstakes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEXLTYgub3E

yeah that's a good one.

I don't like Wounded Horse, too plodding

Yeah it's almost as though he's written it one night in a drunken stupor, woken up the next morning, realised how corny it is and just decided to play it up.

I'm Unbecome is great.

Listening to _Nonsuch_ for the first time in years, I think this is their weakest album. The production just does NOT suit these songs, it's so overdone and slick and the drumming is, hrm, too simple? Colin's songs have gotten worse, "Smartest Monkeys" and "Bungalow" still totally suck ass and "War Dance" is even crappier than I remembered, ughhhhh. Demos for this stuff are somewhat better, and I still like the too-clever-by-half 'Peter Pumpkinhead". Andy's writing at this stage is a bit too unsubtle and hamfisted.

War Dance and The Smartest Monkeys are two of their worst songs but I've always rated this as one of my favourite albums of theirs. Love Wrapped In Grey, Books Are Burning, My Bird Performs, Rook and many others. Their weakest album for me is Mummer or maybe Wasp Star?

wasp star was a poor way to go out

Rook is really the only song I like from Nonsuch. My appreciation for it was really enhanced by this 8-bit cover. Like I got into the cover way before the actual song and then some of my feelings transferred.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBhLmwFDW3Y

Nonsuch is one of my absolute favourite albums of theirs, although I have never liked 'War Dance'. Love both 'The Smartest Monkeys' and 'Bungalow', though!

Nonsuch is massively underrated. It pisses all over Oranges & Lemons from a great height height

heeiiiiiight

How can an XTC fan not enjoy 'Bungalow'? It's probably the best thing Colin Moulding ever did. Woo hoo!

otm, bungalow is amazing

smartest monkeys on the other hand

meh, I don't like it, but at least like the groove of smartest monkeys. It's just the phrase "smartest monkeys" that seems beyond the call of decency.

imo something happened to Colin in the later XTC era -- thinking all the years of not having big hits and still having to live super modestly (even having to take part time jobs for extra cash) caused him to not make writing songs the biggest priority. Plus, thinking that his share of XTC song royalties would be we down from Partridge's. When I hear tunes like "I remember the sun" or "grass" or "Wake Up", it's too bad to think he had to go down w/XTC's ship, because as was mentioned earlier in thread, his best stuff is up there with the most creative songwriting of the 80s.

way down, that is

I think he lost confidence after being compared unfavourably with Partridge for 15 years (last I heard he had completely moved on from writing)

ugh totally hate Bungalow

conversations like this make me think an XTC poll would be really interesting, even though it would just be the half dozen of us voting

Colin Moulding wrote about a third of XTC's singles. Even when he had 2 or 3 songs on an album in total, usually at least one would be a single

Did you guys see the "Swindon Local TV" video links I posted a little while ago?

Also, prior to their fallout, he did acknowledge his rate of producing songs just didn't compare to Partridge's

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

Search for "XTC" (obv) and "Helium Kids" (less obv)

Andy Partridge has always claimed that Colin Moulding got a higher percentage of songs that he wrote on XTC albums than Andy Partridge himself did. But that's only because Andy Partridge writes songs as frequently as most people go for pisses.

Moulding's work was stellar in the first few years (Heatwave, Instant Tunes, Set Myself on Fire, Crowded Room, The Rhythm, Ten Feet Tall, Fly on the Wall, Angry Young Men, Wake Up, Generals & Majors, Ball & Chain, Smokeless Zone, Blame the Weather)

also Sacrificial Bonfire

I think his songs for Oranges & Lemons are the best ones on that album. Are people writing them off because they're so Tears For Fears sincere?

Man, I do not get people who don't rate Wasp Star. It might not be the most consisten record, but when it's good, it's great. (In Another Life, The Man Who Murdered Love, even Playground to some extent, a few others that are slipping my mind.)

But "The Man Who Murdered Love" is the absolute wimpiest song Andy ever wrote! Ugh! "Wasp Star" has it's moments but the lows are reaaaaally low.

Wasp Star was one album too many imo (although The Wheel & the Maypole is top five of the entire catalogue)

also Sacrificial Bonfire

― that's not kewell (Autumn Almanac), Tuesday, May 29, 2012 1:04 AM (38 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Rundgren's string arrangement on that is absolutely sublime. I'd say 'Sacrificial Bonfire' was my favourite Colin song, actually!

'The Wheel & The Maypole' is excellent! The easy highlight of Wasp Star for me, and EASILY one of Andy's best-ever songs!

Have XTC been polled yet? They should be. That would be an excellent poll.

not that I'm aware, in the recent megapoll sense at least

I can only (quickly) find a poll for "The Big Express" and "Fossil Fuel", so there's lots of polling options if ye wish it.

it was brought up on the tracks/megapoll thread but I begged off doing it

I think you're right that it'd just be a quiet affair with six people saying "yes, that is also a good XTC song."

yeah, the whole thread would just end up being a difference of opinion over The Smartest Monkeys

iirc the only HUGE stan of Smartest Monkey's was the LJ.

Monkey's

i would vote - i think there used to be more xtc fans around. i like standing in for joe despite the unintentional (?) steely dan rip and also frivolous tonight - very corny and middle-aged but they are well written. i think i remember colin talking about how he was only interested in doing a sort of cole porter-style songwriting at that late point in his career. i think it suits him but yes, they don't really fit the albums they are on or andy's style.

Geir likes The Smartest Monkeys as well

I can't find my own defence of that song, so here's a renewed breakdown, Aeroboot-on-Ignition-(remix)-style, of everything I think is ace about it:

- The panned echo guitar opening
- The perfect chiming-glass keyboards
- The space in the production
- The bassline in the chorus
- The keychanges between verse and chorus
- The drum-thump into the second chorus
- The backing vocals in the second chorus
- The perfectly-placed siren in the second chorus
- The lovely guitar-solo at the start of the bridge
- The EPIC treated-guitar/keyboard solo
- The organ drone underneath the solo
- The third chorus with even cooler harmonies
- The way the whole thing BUILDS!
- The descending bass part before the 4th chorus
- The guitar slide during the 4th chorus
- The syncopated drum-part during the 4th chorus
- The fractured bass soloing in the outro
- The syncopation returning in the outro

Colin's best song might be What In The World?? though (are TDOS songs permitted in an XTC poll? I'd vote)

Anything else I'd like to say this week? I've been getting into Justin K Broadrick's various projects, although he's like the moon to Partridge's sun (both English pastoralism in some sense, but instead of summer-drenched light-social-commentary idyll we have combine harvesters chewing up the hearts of doomed picnickers). In more XTC-friendly (ish) news, the second Swirlies album is godhead and I'd like you to imagine I just posted a 900-word screed about it, even though I didn't

(are TDOS songs permitted in an XTC poll? I'd vote)

I'm not voting if they're not.

It's the lyrics in "Smartest Monkeys" that puts it in the ground for me. Appalling.

here's a renewed breakdown, Aeroboot-on-Ignition-(remix)-style, of everything I think is ace about it:

here's a breakdown of everything I think is crap about it:

- the tune
- the lyrics
- the banal horrible lyrics
- the inconsistent number of syllables jammed into at least one line
- the whole song
- the fact that it made the album and 'didn't hurt a bit' didn't
- the mystery kazoo (assuming it's a kazoo)
- 'quick!! call the guinness book of rec-rrrrds'
- having to think about it just to write this post

yeah it's awful

I've never been keen on the lyrics to 'The Smartest Monkeys', and Almanac is pretty much otm when he singles out the "quick!! call the Guinness Book Of Rec-rrrrds' line as a particularly cringeworthy moment. But I love the the echoing guitar chords, the bass work and the synth solo in the middle!

i support the XTC polling party. i plan to vote for all of the big express.

and nothing after skylarking

watch it sunshine

although I heartily support all enthusiasm for the big express

But I love the the echoing guitar chords, the bass work and the synth solo in the middle!

the bass work is really colin bass work, which tbh is always exceptional (e.g. one of the millions)

Yeah, "Apple Venus" was so wonderful, sandwiched between two sub-par albums. And inglorious end for a great band, though I like to think of the best of Fuzzy Warbles as their real finale.

definitely

one can make an excellent partridge studio album from lightheaded, wonder annual, goosey goosey, i don't want to be here, i defy you gravity, bland leading the bland etc etc

btw, anyone else find Mr. partridge's twitter musings a bit on the annoying side?

"Standing In For Joe" was Colin's last greatest song. A lot of the good songs on Wasp Star were rescued from the aborted alter-ego bubble-gum pop album that Partridge tried to pitch in 1995 to Virgin, where each song would be by a different artist -- a bit like the Dukes Of Stratosphear. Acc. to Andy, the Virgin executives were silent and horrified after Andy made his pitch.

The more I read about the history of XTC, the more it becomes really clear that, in spite of other Virgin success, that label never got XTC from the get-go. Their choices for XTC singles became terrible from Black Sea onward.

..replace Black Sea with Mummer in that last post. With that substitution in mind, it makes more sense why Virgin chose the worst songs as singles from 1983 on... the band weren't making them money at the time.

I would add this track to AA's Warbles material list, so lovely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBpV_Kf-e5U

ah yeah, his giant peach work was patchy but that song is ~art~

Killer middle eight in his best tradition too.

Rag & Bone Buffet drove me nuts (so many awesome outtakes during the English Settlement era that really should have at least made Mummer) but some of these Fuzzy Warbles releases are insane. This man's *outtakes* make up a pretty enviable career.

nuts/insane.. in a good or bad way?

In a good way; I always assumed that stuff like "Leisure" or "The Smartest Monkeys" were included because they didn't have enough good tunes to go around (before realizing that some people actually liked those songs)

ah yeah, his giant peach work was patchy but that song is ~art~

ugh I hate that song, so cheeseball. the other Peach songs are goofier but also better imho.

every XTC fan wants different things from this band, I've learned.

My college station played "Dear Madam Barnum" a fair bit, enough for me to buy the album and...stop listening it to it after a week.

btw, anyone else find Mr. partridge's twitter musings a bit on the annoying side?

Anby Partridge annoying? Whouldathoughtit?

compared to whom?

you

*hugs*

Oh yeah, don't want to forget all the great unreleased stuff from Coat of Many Cupboards

I didn't remember "Smartest Monkeys." Just listened, and while it's certainly not among their greats, I don't hear it as being as awful as y'all are on about at all.

it gets worse everytime you hear it

Maybe I just have low standards re: XTC.

nonsuch is great generally (i mean come on, humble daisy, then she appeared, ugly underneath, holly up on poppy, that wave) but dudgeon's production lets it down

also it was my proper introduction to the band (bought it in queenstown, played it nonstop while being driven through the nz countryside) so there's a soft spot

humble daisy, then she appeared, ugly underneath, holly up on poppy, that wave

was with you up until That Wave, which is like a nausea-inducing tune to my ears

YEAH that makes a huge difference; sometimes I think it's a real blessing to fall in love with a band by first hearing one of their worst albums as then you'll never have a grudge against it. Oranges & Lemons was my intro to them – I found a cassette in a thrift store in a box along with a surprising influx of bands I already liked (Siouxsie, the Cure, Zorn, other goffy bs) and it had a cool cover so I took a chance on it. And so I have a soft spot for it.
xp

Nonsuch is nearer the top of the XTC pile imo

every single xtc album (apart from big express, I think) took seriously 20–30 listens before it bedded down in my brain. nonsuch was definitely the result of high rotation in the back of a car for a week. the compact xtc was the next album I bought, and that took a few months to bed in. skylarking literally took ~years~.

for ages I've maintained that the best music is that which you need to work at; xtc fits that definition like a glove. it doesn't come easily, but when it does it consumes you.

btw I discovered nonsuch (and therefore xtc) when triple j (our local yoof radio station) gave it huge amounts of air time for 3–6 months

I think Nonsuch is one of their best albums, even though a lot of it's really slow and subdued and Colin's writing went down a level here (and IMO never really came back). But most of the Andy songs are fabulous.

All this talk about their albums made me try and rank them. Pretty happy with this order.

1. Skylarking
2. Drums & Wires
3. Black Sea
4. The Big Express
5. Nonsuch
6. Apple Venus
7. Go 2
8. English Settlement
9. White Music
10. Oranges & Lemons
11. Wasp Star
12. Mummer

every single xtc album (apart from big express, I think) took seriously 20–30 listens before it bedded down in my brain. nonsuch was definitely the result of high rotation in the back of a car for a week. the compact xtc was the next album I bought, and that took a few months to bed in. skylarking literally took ~years~.

funny, cuz my experience has beeb very different. the first XTC albums i bought/heard were mummer and the big express. i found them quite difficult at first, as i was in my teens and just starting to experiment with "weird-sounding" music, but sufficiently interesting to stick with. i eventually warmed to both, especially TBE, and they prodded me to explore the rest of the band's catalog.

the following year, i picked up go 2, white music and skylarking in fairly quick succession. i immediately adored all three, and for years would have called them my favorite XTC albums by a substantial margin. at this point, though, it's hard to for me to pick favorites (or least favorites) among their first 8 albums. i love them all in different ways and at different times. this week i'm all about the big express, but that could change tomorrow.

nonesuch and oranges and lemons, however, i've never entirely warmed too, despite repeated attempts with the latter. O&L gets better every time i drag it back out, but still contains only a few songs i care deeply about. the combination of vertical complexity, lightness of tone and whimsical fussiness keeps me at a distance. i guess i tend to like my XTC a little simpler and tuffer.

beeb lol

= been

at this point, though, it's hard to for me to pick favorites (or least favorites) among their first 8 albums.

this is otm. i tried off the back off kitchen person's ranking and just couldn't do it – the bottom half is easy but the top half depends on so many factors.

Aw, I have to resist the urge to get my giant 'Mummer' foam hand out and start up with my ra ra ra.

dudgeon's production lets it down

I disagree - the album is supposed to have a very slick, professional sound. But I'm curious to know what your issue is.

Personally I feel that Nonsuch would be better if "Wrapped in Grey" were the last song. I like "The Ugly Underneath" fine but the album is long and the last two songs do nothing for me. Moulding lets the album down quite a bit (in fact, outside of "One of the Millions" and "My Bird Performs" his post-Dukes material has kinda sucked)

wasn't "King for a Day" a Moulding? i think that one's great. and i'll rep for "In Another Life" too, though you're generally right otherwise

It is and I like it too, but I feel he only deserves half a writing credit for that

his two songs on Apple Venus are great. but agree it was generally downhill post-Dukes for some reason

Skylarking=overrated. White Music=Underrated.

half of that is otm

yeah I think White Music is great
and Moulding's songs on Apple Venus are really the only reason why that album as a whole isn't their absolute best

Skylarking has misled many XTC neophytes. It's a good album, but completely misrepresentative. I think English Settlement, Black Sea, or Drums and Wires would be much better ways to get into XTC.

It's certainly the one with the biggest influence by the producer. Rundgren was really important to that album and yes it don't really have the "XTC sound". It's still one of the best albums of the entire decade. IMO English Settlement is the one you want for an XTC first purchase

Depends what you want from XTC. English Settlement represents the decadent end of their herky-jerky sound.

I think it covers both sides of their spectrum well

I concur with poliopolice above, those 3 albums are the band's high watermarks and the most representative of their true sound, also the best place for folks to dip their toes into.

^^^

like I said upthread, everyone wants something different from this band. Skylarking is the midway point (and the peak, imo) between their (for lack of a better term) angular post-punk jangle period and their pastoral grownup "pop" period

I mean come on "true sound" gtfo

this band's catalog is all over the place, they don't have a true sound

to clarify - this is not one of those bands who had a formula like, say, the Ramones, from which they only occasionally deviated, resulting in one or two truly unrepresentative albums. This was a band with a pretty broad range of interests, that changed very, very radically over a long period of time.

You're right. I shouldn't have said "true sound." Those are the three records that I find superior and tend to define the band's sound by them but, you're right. They started out wheezy and frenetic, then went into the true pop period, which I love to this day.

Black Sea and Skylarking are my favorites, with The Big Express not far behind. When I want more I play the singles comp.

i guess i get to eat my words, cuz i hauled out nonsuch today and gave it a spin. hadn't heard it in a decade or so. though it's not their best work, i like it quite a bit. to my ears, it's better than oranges and lemons, overall. i even like the colin songs, though the lyrics to "the smartest monkeys" are still a problem.

Is Oranges and Lemons generally considered to be crapulent? That's when I got off the bus, but I didn't know if most XTC fans felt similarly.

there's plenty of good stuff on it - Chalkhills and Children, both singles, Merely a Man, the Loving

This says a lot more about me than the song, but when I first heard Pink Thing, I thought it was really shocking!

wish I could find the Hanle y post where he exclaims it is NOT ABOUT A BABY

Oranges & Lemons is such a mixed bag, I think it's their most dated sounding album. Chalkhills & Children is obviously classic, Cynical Days and Hold Me Daddy are quite moving, Mayor of Simpleton and The Loving are good singles but really I can't remember much else about it. I've really only kept that album in my collection for the amazing artwork. Nonsuch is so much better all round.

Can't say I'm a fan of the record. At that point, there was no record I anticipated more eagerly -- Skylarking was all-time for me -- but Oranges and Lemons sounded (and still sounds) to me like a jingle-writer's demo.

Really the only one I *hate* on O&L and skip every time is the embarrassing and stupid "Here Comes President Kill Again," which I would probably be more tolerant of if it had less grating lyrics. "Hold Me My Daddy" is pretty lousy, too.

There are a lot of really good tracks on it, though! I had "Across This Antheap" on in my car and my friend asked, "WHAT IS THIS AMAZING MUSIC?" I was like "damn straight."

"Miniature SUn" is not so great either, I think I can't handle the synth horns.

See, now I think "Oranges & Lemons" is damn solid all around. To my ears the production isn't as much of a problem as it is on "Nonsuch". I'll echo the comment above - "One Of The Millions" is Colin's last gasp at greatness. I like everything on it though I find "Pink Thing" a bit of a tired joke after 20+ years. You can find demos for 12 of the 15 tunes and that solves the production problems.

O & L was the first XTC album I ever bought, and my mom's car cassette player ate it so I bought it again shortly afterwards. Such was my <3 for O & L.

Why did I buy it (at age 12)?
I heard "Scarecrow People" and "Poor Skeleton Steps Out" on tv (still don't know what I was watching at the time) and I was like I LOVE THIS MUST FIND and then I figured out what it was (no internet, this is the 80s) and felt so proud of myself. The album really appealed to my young political inclinations too, so there was that too.

I love the whole thing, but "Cynical Days" and "Chalkhills and Children" are still v v good aside from the stuff I liked when I was a kid. My dad found "Pink Thing" really embarrassing, which I used to my advantage by singing it around the house constantly. He didn't think I understood it. I did.

I bought the 2lp EngSett, its a broad thing and wonderful.

Even the b-sides are stunning! Punch&Judy, Heaven/broken glass, etc

1. Black Sea
2. Nonsuch
3. Skylarking
4. Apple Venus
5. Drums And Wires
6. English Settlement
7. Mummer
8. The Big Express
9. Go 2
10. White Music
11. Oranges & Lemons
12. Wasp Star

I'm not a fan of the O&L production either - dunno where I heard this but someone had written that it sounds like the band is full of wind-up musicians clattering away at their instruments, and I think that sounds pretty accurate. Also it's smashed with treble. Still, some of the material is top-notch and I find myself listening to a lot of the individual tracks quite often.

btw the best English Settlement B-side is "Tissue Tigers" - one of my favorite XTC tunes, actually

I remember reading that both Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory were very critical over the way the production was handled on Oranges & Lemons. Andy Partridge much, much less so, but I imagine that's because he enjoyed the experience of making it and had a lot more of a say in the making of it compared to his experience of making Skylarking.

I can understand why the production on Oranges & Lemons may not be everyone's cup of tea, and certainly a lot has been written about it in the past. For me, the album was a bit of a grower compared to the albums released on either side of it; Skylarking and Nonsuch, both of which I liked pretty much immediately. I found it a bit of an overwhelming listen at first. Take the opening track, 'Garden Of Earthly Delights', for example: as a song its the usual XTC mix of the catchy and the unorthodox, but its coupled with production overload - there's so much going on and parts of it, like the guitar solo, can be very disorienting at first.

Listening to it now, I'm not convinced the production treatment suits all of the songs; but when it works, like on 'The Mayor Of Simpleton', it really works.

I'd also like to confirm that I'm another member of the 'Across This Antheap' fan club. Absolutely love that song. Great set of lyrics. That track was a contender for Skylarking originally, wasn't it? Along with Little Lighthouse and Shiny Cage and a few others that ended up being put out on other things?

yeah the production on oranges&lemons is really unfortunate, the instruments all feel like sharp points sticking into your head

funny, cuz that describes my sense of the big express, but there an abrasive sharpness works in the music's favor. my reservations abt oranges and lemons have to do with the combination of distracting density and a sound palette that often evokes fusion and prog, all tight, smooth and fussy. oddly though, i do like "the garden of earthly delights", the song that best fits that description.

yeah I dig Garden of Earthly Delights a lot too and actually think that one *should* be overproduced

"kid, stay and snip your cord off" was one of my favorite introductions of all time
the whole first verse really

Wow, don't know what I thought the first line was, but it wasn't that!

"Can't all think like Chekov, but you'll be okay" is kind of the quintessential Andy Partridge lyric

Also love "Don't hurt nobody, unless of course they ask you"

it was like my real parents were finally talking to me

"Hold Me My Daddy" is fairly middling until it gets to the coda, which is fantastic - the best afropop homage Andy ever pulled off

yeah that singlehandedly redeems the song (though I love the guitar tone the whole way)

Meh. The coda is my least favourite part of the song, which isn't really one of my favourite XTC tracks to begin with.

guitar lines in the coda are wonderful, but it's just a nice piece of mood music tacked on the end of a rather middling song.

I can't clearly recall "Chalkhills and Children," but as I was slowly growing to appreciate most of Oranges & Lemons I came to believe that the album wouldn't have suffered much by losing the last four songs. (Hold Me My Daddy, Pink Thing, Miniature Sun and C&C.)

Oh my god, 'Miniature Sun' is another fantastic set of lyrics. That was another one that blew my mind with its lyrics when I first heard it.

the synth horns great but there is something good in there

er grate

lol

i like Miniature Sun, especially the moment where the uneasy circular chord progression from the verses briefly collapses into a cute pop thing in the middle eight

i like Miniature Sun, especially the moment where the uneasy circular chord progression from the verses briefly collapses into a cute pop thing in the middle eight

― ciderpress, Friday, June 1, 2012 4:29 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, that's a magic moment, because when it returns to the uneasy chord progression it makes the following verse feel even more 'uneasier'. Which of course fits with the lyrical content perfectly!

Are those synth horns, or Mark Isham's trumpet treated? Or is that the same thing? At any rate, relistening and reading the words to "Miniature Sun," which I've never done (did all my listening to this one in the car.) Good lyrics, but the music is still a bit "fusion and prog" as noted above. Just kinda not my thing, and I do think the album starts to lag by the end of its 60 minutes, or my attention starts to wane.

Even I never know where I go when my eyes are closed -- Chalkhills and Children is all about dreaming and floating over strange lands. Dreamy and slow. I like it.

Maybe the best use of the saw lead ever

On the contrary, 'Chalkhills And Children' is about keeping oneself grounded(!)

Ha, I guess I'm not very good at that or I would have realized that myself. I only focused on the dreamy parts. Oops.

i like miniature sun for the reason noted upthread, not as good as i remember the sun but a similar vibe

Yes, "Chalkhills and Children" is all about HOW AWESOMELY AWESOME DREAM LIKE IS LIFE IN...SWINDON.

It's also the only really good song on the second half of Oranges & Lemons. (By the way, O&L has my favourite XTC album cover art for all none of you who were wondering.)

bosh. "merely a man" is all-time and "across this antheap" comes close (too bad about that last minute). would love to hear the latter done as it might have been circa the big express. and i just love "pink thing", o_0 lyrics and all.

"Across this Antheap" is so goddamn good it can reduce me to tears.

"across this antheap" comes close (too bad about that last minute)

what god no that last minute is the best part!

Yea! Just before the end section, that part when most of the instruments fall away and AP sings 'as we crawl on and on..' is some lovely.

that's really super, supergirl

what god no that last minute is the best part!

yeah, no. i like everything else abt the song, especially the clattering, driving verses w/ that awesome guitar riff. the comparatively static "soldiers, workers, slaves and farmers" bit works fine as a middle eight, and i love the way the chaos and tension suddenly evaporate at the near-end for "on and on past widows who'll weep" (etc), clearing us some breathing room after all that propulsive percussion, emphasizing the sad futility of the condition described.

that's all GREAT, and i think i understand why partridge wanted to drag that quiet moment out and noise it back up. it makes sense, thematically: there is no respite from the noisy chaos of animal life, not even in sorrowful awareness. when the "on and on and..." part kicks in, however, building to all the crazy panning and those big boom drums, i just want out. there's no tension, no motion, no rhythmic or melodic appeal. it's just an irritating, insistently yearning mess (which may be the point, but i don't enjoy it).

catching up

I disagree - the album is supposed to have a very slick, professional sound. But I'm curious to know what your issue is.

I didn't mind it so much, but dudgeon's production is a bit too slick for the material, and partridge wasn't impressed either

btw antheap is one of my favourite songs off o&l, which is one of my favourite albums off xtc, unpopular paul fox production be damned

I just really wish "Here Comes President Kill Again" was booted, what a miserable excuse for a song, and it's not as though Partridge didn't literally have three dozen better tunes in his archives

O&L is one of my least favourite XTC album (just behind Wasp Star), but I have a lot of time for Mayor Of Simpleton, Poor Skeleton Steps Out, The Loving, Here Comes President Kill Again, Merely A Man and Chalkhills And Children. Otherwise I don't think it holds a candle to the two albums either side of it

Garden of Earthly delights stands among their best songs.

Also, the line "this is your life and you do what you want to do / just don't hurt nobody / unless of course they ask you" is about the best line ever written.

...and you can hear his sardonic smile as he delivers it!

Also, the line "this is your life and you do what you want to do / just don't hurt nobody / unless of course they ask you" is about the best line ever written.

― Poliopolice, Tuesday, 5 June 2012 15:02 (43 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

As good as the entirety of 'No Language In Our Lungs' (especially the middle section)!?

hm. that track doesn't strike me as particularly inspired, actually

I would have made this instrumental
but the words got in the way

love this line from "no language", but it's not a lyrical standout, overall

Oh, and the song "Tissue Tigers" from the album Rag & Bone Buffet-- what an amazing track. I have no idea what the time signature is; it's almost presaging math-rock, but it's really poppy and eccentric. It's brilliant, frankly. Who throws a song like that away? That's better than 95% of bands best songs.

oh, it's in 4/4, but it sounds like it's in 17/6 or some shit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ut5xh6ZGfA

People will always be tempted to wipe their feeeeeeeet
On anything welcome written on iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit - a timbalambla timbalamba toodamatoodama

No one's mentioned "Life Begins at the Hop"? It didn't come up on a find-search. I don't really have any feeling for this group, and just own the matched compilations, but "Life Begins at the Hop" is undoubtedly one of my ten favourite new wave songs. "Senses Working Overtime" is good too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yiknQ9xyJk

Yep "Life Begins" is the beginning of many XTC tunes that seemed to be absolutely pitch-perfect. That "tell me, what do you say" chorus is really something.

A bunch of my all-time favorite XTC songs come from the beginning of their career*, and I'm always surprised by the indifference of many fans to their first couple albums and associated singles. They changed a hell of a lot over the course of their career, but they were on fire right out of the gate.

* "Are You Receiving Me?", "Mekkanik Dancing", "Science Friction", "This Is Pop?", "Neon Shuffle" (most of White Music, really)

love their early singles, I just think the albums themselves are uneven

Waxworks blew my mind when I first heard it.

go2 is iffy, but i like white music almost all the way through. few of their albums strike me as perfect from front to back, tbh, but i've always been more interested in songs than albums.

Waxworks blew my mind when I first heard it.

yeah, i knew a bunch of those songs beforehand, but waxworks is an amazing collection of tunes. beeswax too!

White Music is a great album. Very jerky New-Wavey but also it seems to parody that genre at the same time. It's almost Zappa-esque in the way it's very self-consciously stupid but also brilliant.

otm

stick to music threads ;)

"Life Begins At The Hop" is so sweet; I especially like that it's an upbeat pop song about a church dance social. c-c-c-cola on tap

I've got something like 75 officially released non-lp tracks and it's almost all great. Best b-side band ever? Got my vote!

Yeah most of the CDs I have are the ones with B-sides as binus tracks they shoved right in the middle of the normal tracklist but tbh it took me years to figure that out because they never sounded like a drop in quality or out of place. Can't imagine Black Sea w/out No Language In Our Lungs in the middle.

you're australian now?

???

binus

jk

Can't imagine Black Sea w/out No Language In Our Lungs in the middle.

this is utterly otm, so much so that I thought it was part of the normal track list until this post

thought forgot

I'm pretty sure "Language" was part of the original track listing, unless it was some US-only dealie. The only copy of Black Sea I had was an 80s Geffen cassette (minimal artwork/info, no bonus tracks), and "Language is on it.

ha I see I am wrong! nevermind.

Yeah mine has "No Language" but the bonus tracks are "Smokeless Zone", "Don't Lose Your Temper", and "Somnabulist"

I think "Best B-side band ever" is actually OTM when you consider all the Fuzzy Warbles stuff; a 30-track "best of" of that stuff would be fantastic. Trouble is they're a great A-side band too :)

This floored me when I saw it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8htYS8mf8iY

ah yeah, 'no language' is on the original pressing, not sure what I was thinking tbh

See it's gotten to the point where it's somewhere in the middle of an XTC album, I think of it as a b-side, thanks weird Geffen CDs.
Thread has inspired me to pull out my LP of Black Sea

"I felt just like a crusader"
Towers of London might be my faves off Black Sea, all the Colin tracks are A+ fun, too, Black Sea was the album of theirs that really got me head over heels for this band.

xp me too! I've been playing mandopop nonstop for exactly a month (tuning my brain for exams), will break the run with this lp

Colin's really just my favorite bassist, ever, the end. Bass is totally the giddy heart of "Rocket From a Bottle."

my xtc-hating flatmate (c. 1997) found his way in through smokeless zone, then cuba, which he sang in the house for *weeks*

not to tread on your lovely bass post

Smokeless Zone is an improbable entry point imo!

when I played it to him, it was like the top of his head came off

xpost That clip of Freaks & Geeks is so great, I had the same reaction the first time I saw. Love that show and really love that song.

Did anyone check out Andy's "Powers" sound collage album?

Sonambulist is pretty ace
Love Colin

My improbable entry point was "It's Nearly Africa" on the early WOMAD compilation Music and Rhythm.

http://s.dsimg.com/image/R-2513295-1318535035.jpeg

And thanks to the magic of music nerd anal retentiveness, here's how it went from there:

Date of purchase / Title
Aug 6, 1982 Music and Rhythm (Various Artists)
Sep 9, 1982 English Settlement
Oct 7, 1982 Black Sea
Oct 8, 1982 5 Senses E.P.
Oct 8, 1982 Senses Working Overtime/Blame The Weather/Egyptian Solution 12"
Oct 11, 1982 White Music
Oct 11, 1982 Ball And Chain/Heaven Is Paved With Broken Glass/Punch And Judy/Cockpit Dance Mixture 12"
Oct 12, 1982 Take Away/The Lure Of Salvage (Mr. Partridge)
Oct 19, 1982 Go 2
Nov 4, 1982 Beeswax - Some B-Sides 1977-1982
Nov 4, 1982 Waxworks - Some Singles 1977-1982
Nov 30, 1982 Drums And Wires
Dec 2, 1982 3D E.P.
Plus a whole bunch of 7" singles that I didn't keep track of.

...and then the long wait until Mummer was released in September 1983

By the way, on the song "Tissue Tigers," is Andy singing "I've grown immune to your bald pussy"?

lol, "i've grown immune to your claws, pussy...cat"

are you guys just reading off the youtube comments?

...and then the long wait until Mummer was released in September 1983

Mummer was the first one I was eagerly waiting for too. I entered via Drums and Wires, liked parts of it but didn't love it. Missed out on Black Sea (I was broke and not buying much new music in 1980.) But then in 1982 I fell hard for English Settlement, backtracked and bought everything I could get my hands on.

are you guys just reading off the youtube comments?

if lump was, i didn't get it. i was just quoting the lyrics.

Plus a whole bunch of 7" singles that I didn't keep track of.

I hunted down a stack of XTC 45s to collect the b-sides before I knew that Beeswax existed (which itself was pretty hard to find). Nice to have for the picture sleeves, though. "No Thugs In Our House" folds out into a little finger puppet theater (or rather, it would if I chose to destroy it, which I will not).
http://www.shopvinylrevolutions.com/v/vspfiles/photos/VR838-2T.jpg

Cool! I remember that one.

i've got that!

are you guys just reading off the youtube comments?

if lump was, i didn't get it. i was just quoting the lyrics.

Nope, I wasn't.

I had forgotten about Spiral and The Good Things, both are pretty good, would add those to the list of great extraneous XTC tunes.

i've always loved "washaway", a colin b-side from the big express.

all of those big express b-sides were good. "Red Brick Dream" was my favorite; love that low-key wishywashy stuff

For real, that song is so dreamy. Blue Overall and Washaway are super strong, too. That whizzy guitar and barroom piano combo in Washaway is a delight.

Also I think Washaway might be a better everyday story of a small town than the song with that title.

I've been listening to all their b-sides in chrono order today and aside from the fact that there's barely a weak track , one that jumped out at me which hasn't been mentioned: "Chain Of Command". What an amazing, high energy earworm!

that and limelight go perfectly together.

yesterday and thursday I played all the virgin albums. got me through the final two days of a month of hell, and was just lovely.

"Chain Of Command". What an amazing, high energy earworm!

Sometimes it's my favorite thing on Drums and Wires! And you don't often hear songs about the metabolic process.

Bassline for Limelight is all time.

One of the interesting things about XTC is the fans they attract. Not that you can always say "if you like band A you'll like band B", but for XTC it's incredibly unpredictable! I know XTC fans who abhor punk and other noisier genres and only love ultra-melodic acts, other XTC fans who used them as a jumping off point to everything underground from the 70s and 80s and further still fans for whom XTC is their token alternative act. It's like XTC is the locus of many tastes.

utterly otm. in the past I've tried following the tastes of xtc fans to discover xtc-like music, and apart from a few obvious matches (yazbek, sugarplastic) there's rarely anything in common from fan to fan. i think it's because xtc fans are better defined by their personal approach to music than any genre breakdown.

does "personal approach to music" mean extreme nerdity?

lol yes, probably

it's hard to define but it has to do with open-mindedness, perseverance with material, etc. (but probably not even that specific tbh)

most of my favorite people love xtc, so there's that

yes

Just come across this site that appears to have a buttload of XTC goodness, outside of Warbles/Jules Verne etc.

Also some interesting Talking Heads too (Fear Of Music monitor mixes!!)

http://mywalloftapes.blogspot.co.uk/

Whoa, that stuff looks cool, have you sampled any yet?

who the fuck is that guy, random taper dude that hangs out with Brian Wilson and Andy Partridge?!

I'm grabbing a few bits now, did you read his spiel at the bottom? If it's true it's pretty heavy.

whoah

Listening to the Black Sea Live to 2-Track Demos, pretty good! Decent quality, maybe a little heavy on the NR but no complaints.

Also, if you do t0rrents, some guy is putting the XTC content on d3m0n0id.

Oh man, a lovely track called 'Pearl' that I've never seen/heard before, just Andy solo kinda like a precedent to later albums.

A great, lightspeed version of 'Don't Lose Your Temper'!

And a rather unfortunate instrumental called 'Ban The Bomb' that sounds like The Wurzels

If anybody is going after these, ignore the 4 track David Lord/Big Express mixes, they are just premasters of the album versions, but the other collection of BE work in progress mixes are really worth grabbing, mixes are pretty interesting so far.

Black Sea demos is what I went for first too, but it's taking forever to download. In the meantime, I'm watching this -- wish it was a better dupe, but the band is just ripping:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKXqyI8Ec8I

Onto the Go2 outtakes now, a really skronky and great Barry tune called 'Sargasso Sea' that is head and shoulders above 'Super Tuff' and 'My Weapon', what *were* they thinking by putting those on the record instead of his other tracks?

Oops, 'Sargasso Bar' not sea

This pic is in a folder with the Go2 Outtakes.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7233/7362951000_61be17ac41_z.jpg
45tapes by mz_ui, on Flickr

Ulp...

Didn't Andy Partridge work on some crap with the dude from the Verve Pipe (of "the Freshmen" fame)? I seem to remember hearing that about 10+ years ago and getting sick to my stomach.

are you sure you aren't thinking of the Apples in Stereo dude

Listening to the Black Sea Live to 2-Track Demos, pretty good! Decent quality, maybe a little heavy on the NR but no complaints.

Is the NR on the blog links, or just on the torrent uploads?

On the torrent uploads it would seem.

are you sure you aren't thinking of the Apples in Stereo dude

http://wxrt.radio.com/2011/07/01/playlist-cover-me-part-2/5/

wtf

can't really imagine what Andy would see in such a "collaboration"

hard for me to believe that the verve pipe clown would see andy partridge as his hero

I guess both of us need to suspend our disbelief

some factual errors btw ("Blue Array?" rmde)

Listened to a few Go 2 era tracks. Did the guy who torrented these really do the world a service by adding this noise reduction? The original Rapidshare downloads are taking an age to be downloaded, while the NR'd torrent sets took minutes.

I know, I guess I'm going to have to pull them all down from the original site.

Paul, I asked the chap if he would consider uploading his next batch without NR and he kindly agreed, so lets see.

That's great, it's good how he's split the tracks up etc, but the noise reduction thing had me completely baffled.

Wow, I just googled the guy that runs the blog, crazy!

I did the same yesterday. Not the most well-liked dude on the internets, is he?

Hard to tell if he is as big a screwball or if it's some kind of tape-trader beef writ large, he is also credited on English Settlement for backing vocals!

To save me the bother - where are the juicy links, please?

yeah this dude has been around the 'net forever. seems to have some sort of paranoia disorder? lots of great tapes though.

Paul, Google his name and take yr pick of like the first five links.

Ignore the Fear of Music rough mixes d/l btw, it's just a cassette premaster of the finished thing, unless your stoked about hearing a 1/4 machine in rewind before Life During Wartime.

haha, yeah i was excited about that one, but could not discern any difference in the mix other than tape hiss.

Woah. So in what context is he "nearing the end of his life"?

Maybe none at-all?

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_sHL1l5xTOdM/SvhjolWnumI/AAAAAAAAAA0/nsWZheTCc6Y/s1600-h/LonelySurfer.jpg

ffs

I'll have to see if someone I know knows this dude...

I don't think I have the patience to download and process all those files. What's the most critical, previously unreleased stuff from it?

Oh, and if anyone's got these demos, please drop me some ILXmail:

Alan Burston Bop
Am I The Kind Of Girl?
Child's Night
Girl In Water Colours
Life Is Always
Little Lies
New Country Squire
Oh My Brittania
These Voices
Walking To Work
Wyborn Sign

Dude's site is gawn. :(

GAH. I hope all the content's been grabbed.

A lot of it filtered out onto DMND.

There was some really interesting-looking XTC stuff getting posted in the past few days, though. It would have required a real concentrated effort with a lot of spared time and patience spare to grab it all. I think.

I've been in contact with the guy that was bringing it to torrents, we've chatted about doing some mastering for him on the original files that he grabbed, mainly levels and maybe a touch of EQ here an there, nothing drastic.

Sounds promising...

Can anyone zap me the Go2 stuff? I managed to get the Dave Greg Sci-fi tape..

Hey Mark, I sent you an ilxmail the page is acting funny though, let me know if you didn't get anything.

Didn't get it:

I managed to send you one.

On it's way.

What is the Dave Gregory Sc-Fi thing?

Some bit of music that Dave Gregory and this Hans Devende guy 'jammed' in a studio somewhere, it was called 'Music For An Untitled Sci-Fi Film' haven't listened to it yet.

Cool, thanks, was having trouble searching for that

Youtube living-room cover dude nails it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGy1_cHQHcc

Aw, that is nice, I like that

"Dave Gregory is the new boy"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46MllXtIcq0

Ok I may have come around on Smartest Monkeys, aided by my newfound ability to mishear the chorus as some nonsense syllables. That choppy guitar is pretty damn good. Even most bad XTC songs are good (except for "My Weapon").

Listening to the Andy Partridge produced version of Blur's Sunday Sunday and it has a very strong Dukes/Good man Albert Brown feel, it's good!

Where?

Indeed! I've been absolutely dying to hear these sessions for years!

They're on the new Blur Box set, three tracks 'Coping' especially is really great.

So you have a review copy then? HMMMMMM.

a Hmmm Hmmmm?

Nah, nothing sinister, my other half is involved with the project.

ah, that's not sinister enough..

I'm a good scout generally, occasionally I really want to splurge about stuff that I'm told about but can't, not being able to talk about the Pink Floyd reissue stuff was *killing* me all last year.

Can you play it over the phone then?

Oh sure :)