Best XTC drummer POLL!

has there ever been a band where the drummer was more irrelevant

Feel a little guilty about it, but voting PP.

Prairie Prince that is, although Pete Phipps is great too.

I'm not entirely sure what some of these guys did (Prairie Prince is on several albums, right? incl Skylarking, which also has Linndrum on it, iirc?)

kinda inclined to go with Ian Gregory since the Dukes drumming is probably the most fun

Prairie Prince narrowly above Ian Gregory. Skylarking has probably the best snare sound of the decade.

I completely disagree about the various drummers being irrelevant to this band. I mean, Terry Chambers was very very important to the bands sound on the records up to English Settlement, for example, and Pat Mastelotto apparently brought a fair share of ideas to the Oranges & Lemons sessions in terms of approach and the way the percussion was arranged.

Yeah, I was gonna say: Irrelevant? Really? After Terry Chambers left my interest in XTC waned dramatically.

Pat Mastelotto talks about the Oranges & Lemons sessions

Prairie Prince talks about the Skylarking sessions

drums are usually the last thing I am paying attention to when it comes to this band's catalog. in most cases I'd say they're functional rather than particularly striking - they're routinely outshone by other elements.

I've never subscribed to either side of the before/after debate re: quality post-Chambers, I pretty much like it all (for different reasons and to varying degrees).

Prairie Prince talks about the Apple Venus sessions

XTC may have been the first math-rock band ever, and it seems like the drums are not small part of that.

Wow, thanks for posting those, Turrican! So cool to read that PP was a huge XTC fan for years before Skylarking.

xpost:

I don't know, man, I think the drums are just as important as any other element with this band - although of course it varies from song to song. Chambers' fantastic drum part on 'Making Plans For The Nigel', or the way he makes the 5/4 time signature on 'English Roundabout' sound like its nothing out of the ordinary, for example. Some of Phipps' parts on The Big Express sound like they're Linndrum when they actually aren't. Dave Mattacks' performance on 'Omnibus'... there's loads of examples!

Wow, thanks for posting those, Turrican! So cool to read that PP was a huge XTC fan for years before Skylarking.

― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Tuesday, January 8, 2013 10:56 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You're more than welcome, man! There's also that great one with Terry Chambers from 2002 on Chalkhills, I'll link it here just in case anybody hasn't read it yet!

XTC may have been the first math-rock band ever, and it seems like the drums are not small part of that.

NO small part. Typo.

did anyone ever volunteer to do an XTC tracks poll? it's funny how there's zero consensus about this band. Omnibus, English Roundabout - these are songs I don't care about at all, for ex.

We really should do an XTC tracks poll at some point, I'd definitely look forward to something like that!

I would expect like a dozen votes but the spread would probably be funny

Well there'd be me, you, Autumn Almanac, Sir McBoing-Boing... I think EZ is big on XTC too? So that's five off the top of my head!

abbott

altho I haven't seen her lately

PP played on "Bush of Ghosts," too, because he was a big Eno fan. If I were a pro, I'd angle for gigs with dudes I like, too.

CHAMBERS

i mean ffs shakey they called the album drums and wires for a reason

voted Prairie Prince -- LOVE the drums on Skylarking. yep, totally not irrelevant, at least for that record. I also like Dave Mattacks' playing on Nonsuch, tho it is comparatively workmanlike.

And has been said, Terry Chambers was a big part of their early sound, even if Andy Partidge didn't necessarily think a ton of his playing. I think the *perfect* drummer for them would have been someone like Stewart Copeland, but then Chambers' muscle (and the big Lillywhite production on Black Sea for example) probably helped them "earn their pretensions", as Christgau once put it.

C'mon, "Omnibus" is so great BECAUSE of the drums, it swings like hell!

This is tough, gonna have to mull it over. While I'd love to just go with Terry, the drumming did become more interesting after he left.

I am astounded anyone can be fan and not think chambers is the best
Yes, prairie prince does good work and I love Mattacks but not really anything after the 70s, his drumming became very ordinary after that imo

have literally never noticed the drums in Omnibus because I couldn't get past how much I didn't like the melodic changes

and the overlabored lyric

probably helped them "earn their pretensions", as Christgau once put it.

That was actually Dave Marsh in the New Rolling Stone Record Guide. He dug Drums & Wires and Black Sea.

oh yeah! can never get my old rock critics straight

but I also wonder how much one's fave xtc drummer lines up w/one's fave xtc period overall. and am now curious to have some kind of overview of bands as defined by who was drumming w/them at the time...

I also wonder how much one's fave xtc drummer lines up w/one's fave xtc period overall

seems like it's definitely an issue for some - it's a non-issue for me

also is there any band that's gone through more drummers? I can kinda/sorta delineate my appreciation of P-Funk stuff based on who's drumming but they're sort of a different beast.

It has to be said though that only Chambers was ever a member of the band.

I also wonder how much one's fave xtc drummer lines up w/one's fave xtc period overall

Skylarking was my first and far-and-away favorite XTC record, and I played drums along to it probably hundreds of times when I was 14-15, so yeah, I'd say PP being the drummer definitely lines up with that being my favorite XTC period.

Terry Chambers easily, the records without him are mostly complete shite.

chambers is def like paul thompson in that there were skilled drummers who came after, even "better" but the sound of the band lost a big part of what made it genius

Drums irrelevant? Hear the signature XTC drum sound on "Respectable Street" for a kick-off..

Terry Chambers by a light year

Paul Thompson is one of my fave drummers of all time. He was awesome. But Roxy is a good comparison, since they also go the session route with predictably slick results. Which is not to say the parade of XTC session drummers aren't worth the attention, but I wouldn't expect less from dudes just as comfortable in King Crimson or Mr. MIster or whatever. They can play anything. Total pros. Personality-wise, it's harder to pin down their contributions, though those interviews posted above were illuminating.

Love their whole catalog but Chambers is the only one that has a "sound" to me, so let's go with him. It's hard for me to imagine those early records with a different drummer, whereas the rest of these guys were more playing as to what the album needed, and are probably a little more interchangable.

Paul Thompson love seconded. I can't listen to post-Thompson Roxy at all, so I understand the antipathy towards non-Chambers XTC.

I'm sure it has a lot to do with the fact that the first XTC I heard was Skylarking, but Prince never sounded like a hired gun the way other post-Chambers drummers did.

I remember him from The Tubes...

I'm sure it has a lot to do with the fact that the first XTC I heard was Skylarking, but Prince never sounded like a hired gun the way other post-Chambers drummers did.

― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Wednesday, January 9, 2013 3:19 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't think Prarie Prince sounds like a hired gun on that record at all, and when I first got into this band I made a point of listening to mostly the Chambers-era stuff first before moving onto the 'studio-era' stuff.

If I recall, I think I got the XTC albums in this order:

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

Can't remember at which point I picked up the Dukes stuff, but I think I heard the Dukes before I'd heard Skylarking. 'Making Plans For Nigel' and 'Senses Working Overtime' were the big two UK hits, so that's pretty much why I started with the albums that they were part of. At the time, I didn't realise Skylarking was seen as one of their major works.

Voted Terry Chambers, although it could easily have been Prairie Prince or Dave Mattacks.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I guess that's relatively predictable. 21 votes, hrm, is that good, bad or indifferent?

It's a higher turn-out than I thought it would be, actually!

The only proper result. Curious to know who voted for Pat Mastelotto. Wtf?

he's arguably the best drummer in that list (fwiw I didn't vote)

hmm, have to say surprised by this. This is nothing on Terry Chambers, but PP on Skylarking is one of the great pop drum performances I could name. See also Mel Gaynor in Simple Minds "don't you forget about me", jeff porcaro on off the wall/thriller, stewart copeland etc

he's arguably the best drummer in that list (fwiw I didn't vote)

― zero dark thirty 2: zero dark forty five (Autumn Almanac), Wednesday, January 16, 2013 4:12 AM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Technically, Mastelotto probably is the best drummer on the list!