TS: Andy Partridge Vs. Colin Moulding

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Most people would pick Andy Partridge, but I am not sure I would.

Sure he wrote the most of XTC's material, and a lot of it has been really, really strong. But I feel that whatever Moulding has come up with has almost always been among their best moments; "Grass", "The Meeting Place", "The Smartest Monkeys", "War Dance", "Wonderland". All of them are among my favourites. And then, I tend to prefer the later material by XTC in general, but he also came up with some of their better and most well-known earlier songs, such as "Generals And Majors" and "Making Plans For Nigel".

I also like his voice better (always had a thing for those very broad English accents), and while Partridge is sometimes a brilliant singers, there are also cases of him overdoing his "not hitting the notes on purpose" thing a bit.

So, as a matter of fact, I think I'll go for Moulding although both are great.

― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 14 February 2006 19:44 (nineteen years ago)

I like Moulding's voice better, too.

― owen moorhead (i heart daniel miller), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 19:47 (nineteen years ago)

"War Dance" is not good, and don't like "Wonderland" either, and in any case, whatever you say about his older stuff, his songs on the Apple Venus records are enough to kill his chances in this debate.

You know what's a good underrated Moulding tune is "I Remember the Sun". It's like the best Yes song of the 80s that wasn't by Yes.

― Dominique (dleone), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 19:50 (nineteen years ago)

"The Smartest Monkeys" and "War Dance" are godawful.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 19:52 (nineteen years ago)

"The Affiliated" is probably my favorite of his. Genius Kinks pastiche, that one.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 19:52 (nineteen years ago)

"TS: Pete Townshend vs. John Entwistle" to thread.

― Mitya (mitya), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 20:06 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think you can disqualify Moulding for two uninteresting songs on Apple Venus. It's not like those songs were embarrassing.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 21:32 (nineteen years ago)

If that was the case, the entire "Go 2" album would kill Partridge's chances all on its own.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 21:34 (nineteen years ago)

don't forget about wasp star. "boarded up" is probably the best, but it almost sounds like he

x-post

― Dominique (dleone), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 21:36 (nineteen years ago)

...like he lost interest in writing altogether

― Dominique (dleone), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 21:36 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not disqualifying Moulding - he's got great tunes (I like both his songs on Apple Venus a LOT) - just remarking that what Geir appreciates about him must be different from what I appreciate about him (what a surprise) if he's going to list Smartest Monkeys and WarDance as primary examples of his craft.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 21:46 (nineteen years ago)

Well, what I like about Colin Moulding is the exact same things that make me like Madness a lot, and the same things that make me consider "Country House" Blur's best ever moment.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 21:55 (nineteen years ago)

That is: I love twee music!

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 21:56 (nineteen years ago)

haha Country House is like the only Blur song I dig.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 21:58 (nineteen years ago)

Good thread. I also like Moulding's songs - especially on the best XTC LP, 'Drums and Wires'. The three singles were written by him: 'Making Plans For Nigel', 'Ten Feet Tall' and 'Life Begins At The Hop' - all are fantastic songs.
'Generals and Majors' also a big XTC classic, but afterwards he seemed a bit slowed down.
So 'the new wave' XTC - my choice is Moulding, and the 'studio project' XTC from 'Mummer' - my choice is Partridge.

― zeus (zeus), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 22:12 (nineteen years ago)

I think a key part what makes (made?) XTC so great was the fact that they have (had?) two guys with contrasting but complimentary styles.

Compare and contrast: Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle - or maybe even Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

The whole can sometimes be more than the sum of the parts.

― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Tuesday, 14 February 2006 22:22 (nineteen years ago)

Again... Townshend and Entwistle to thread (sort of). I think bands always come out better when there is more than one writer, keeps a little creative tension and competition in there.

― Mitya (mitya), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 00:27 (nineteen years ago)

The old saw about prolificacy probably applies here. They're both thoughtful craftsmen, but Partridge has written SO MUCH material (cf., Fuzzy Warbles) that it's almost inevitable that he'd produce greater hits - and therefore also a higher proportion of misses, which are easier to overlook given the sheer quantity of both.

Moulding has noted on several occasions that he's much less prone to writing than Partridge, which explains his ever-decreasing role in the authorial partnership, but the balance is that Moulding is also responsible for some of the best aspects of Partridge's songs - vocal counterpoints, incredibly melodic and fluid bass lines, more grounded song structures - that we take for granted by simply considering the songs apart from the arrangements.

Arguably, Partridge has done less (audibly) to enhance Moulding's songs than vice versa, if we take it on good faith that they applied equal creative measure to the final products.

And on the personal opinion front, I do honestly find many of Moulding's actual songs to be hopelessly dippy, but at least he never wrote a song about his penis.

― Myke. (Myke Weiskopf), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 02:52 (nineteen years ago)

his bass playing is amazing... which makes me think of a funny TS for bass players (Colin vs. Pete Thomas)

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 02:54 (nineteen years ago)

great post, myke.

― kanye twitty (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 02:57 (nineteen years ago)

wait, which one is the penis song - Pink Thing? I seem to recall him saying (albeit perhaps disingenuously) that that was about his newborn.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 03:00 (nineteen years ago)

what an awful thing to do to your newborn!

― kanye twitty (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 03:02 (nineteen years ago)

haha. yeah I hate that song too.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 03:03 (nineteen years ago)

I wouldn't want to take sides, and some of my favorite XTC songs (and the ones that got me into the band) came from Moulding - "Runaways," "One of the Millions," etc. And a lot of his stuff sneaks up on me later. I always took "English Roundabout" for granted as a nice little song, but after dancing around with my 10-month-old a bunch of times I'm realizing I love the shit out of it.

But lyrically? Partridge by a mile.

― save the robot (save the robot), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 14:04 (nineteen years ago)

three years pass...

I have to choose Moulding because he also wrote "Vanishing Girl" when XTC were the Dukes.

― late adopter, Friday, 8 May 2009 03:23 (sixteen years ago)

Moulding's fine, but he's no Andy Partridge.

― Alex in NYC, Friday, 8 May 2009 12:14 (sixteen years ago)

Moulding's best stands up to APartridge's best, but his 'least good putitthatway' doesn't pass muster.

(we were offered some Col songs that were rejected for XTC, and we said noh)

― Mark G, Friday, 8 May 2009 12:51 (sixteen years ago)

Another great (single even) song by Moulding is "Ball & Chain, anthemic, fun lyrics, that cool synthesizer before the chorus hits. It's probably my favorite by him, its definitely got his best bridge. Should have been a bigger hit!

― ColinO, Thursday, 14 May 2009 04:25 (sixteen years ago)

Another one from that same album is "Fly on the Wall" (guess what I'm listening to?). Just a really cool, electro-sounding song. Sounds ahead of its time to me.

― ColinO, Thursday, 14 May 2009 04:29 (sixteen years ago)

five years pass...

I actually have to think about this. My gut says Partridge, but hit-miss ratio? Maybe Moulding.

― Poliopolice, Sunday, 8 February 2015 06:57 (ten years ago)

Also, Moulding has to be one of the most underrated bass players of all time.

― Poliopolice, Monday, 9 February 2015 20:30 (ten years ago)

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