One of my favourite down-time pleasures over the last few months has been re-listening to pretty much everything this un-classifiable band did on their dozen albums from 1978 to 2000, while also dipping into the two essential books, XTC – Song Stories, by the band themselves with Neville Farmer, and Complicated Game – Inside the Songs of XTC, in which Andy Partridge talks to Todd Bernhardt about a selection of his songs while going off on endless fascinating and hilarious tangents. Andy is a very funny guy, who buzzes with enough ideas for a dozen bands. It's a kind of miracle that this one also found room for Colin Moulding, a less prolific but fine songwriter, whose three or four tracks per album I always looked forward to. He was the George Harrison of XTC, with a bit of Paul thrown in, and an exceptional bassist to boot.
With the luxury of hindsight (not to mention presumptuousness) it strikes me now that XTC's work can be divided roughly into four periods. On the first two albums, White Music and Go 2, they sound like a snotty young pop-punk outfit trying to create a retro-futuristic soundtrack for The Jetsons, but with some great tunes. Listen more closely, though, and you could imagine them getting much more interesting over time. Which, of course, they did.
The second period begins with the departure of keyboardist Barry Andrews and the recruitment of Dave Gregory, mainly a guitarist but also a pianist, arranger, and all-rounder with the skills needed for a band growing more ambitious by the day. Now a formidable live gigging machine, they toughened up their sound, while writing songs that were somehow both more solid and more sophisticated, on Drums And Wires and especially Black Sea—a critical and commercial hit and still a lot of people's favourite XTC album.
Their next release, the fascinating and adventurous double album English Settlement, seems to me to have one foot in that second period and one in their third, in which they retired from the road, causing drummer Terry Chambers to quit—from then on, they would use a different drummer on each album (the best, for my money, being Dave Mattacks on Nonsuch). XTC became an ever-more creative studio band, with Mummer showing a more reflective, acoustic, pastoral side, and The Big Express its noisier counterpart. This is their transitional period, and I remember thinking at the time that although there were plenty of brilliant moments, the express might just be running out of steam a bit.
I couldn't have been more wrong, because Skylarking—despite its well-known 'difficult' beginnings with producer Todd Rundgren—turned out to be a masterpiece. It was the start of XTC's mature period, in which they surpassed expectations (well, mine, anyway) to produce work which was no longer just clever and fun but often moving and inspiring. (Skylarking was also probably Colin's finest hour, with five great songs). How do you follow a masterpiece? In this case, with the big, bright, shiny and confident Oranges and Lemons, their second double album, about which I remember thinking at the time: the bastards, they've done it again!
I'm not sure, after that, whether anyone was quite prepared for yet another double album, but Nonsuch, while perhaps less immediately accessible, is a treasure trove to be dipped into again and again. Picking a favourite XTC album feels a bit like having my fingernails pulled out, but if I really, really had to, this would—tentatively, possibly, maybe, perhaps—be it.
Then came a five-year hiatus in which the band dealt with various personal crises while fighting their way out of their unhappy relationship with Virgin Records. They reconvened with an unmanageable pile of songs and, logically enough, decided to split them into two piles. Apple Venus is rather serious and very beautiful, taking XTC's acoustic/orchestral leanings to new heights. Wasp Star (Apple Venus Part 2) is simpler, happier, and more 'back to basics'. Taken together, they stand with XTC's very best work, but I can't help feeling that releasing them as two contrasting albums, a year apart, took something away from each. Though I'm not sure if that's really what's bothering me, so much as the retrospective melancholy of knowing that this project would be their last.
XTC seem to be gone for good, but to quote Spinal Tap (which Andy would probably like): Their Legacy Lives On. There are so many things I love about XTC: their misfit awkwardness, their omnipresent humour, their gleeful mishmashing of irresistible pure-pop catchiness and seriously out-there ideas, their creative ambition, all the clever little references to the music they love, and their Englishness—a very particular timeless, rural and small-town, rather than London-cool, Englishness. I could say much more; I haven't even mentioned any individual songs, because if I started, I wouldn't know where to stop. And like most of what I've written about music, this is just an appreciation, and a signpost for anyone who's interested. Which they should be.
Counterpoint: I stumbled across XTC via a promo RSO cutout of the 1980 album Black Sea from Record Realm. To which the record came in a green paper sack aka In Through The Out Door. This was my introduction to XTC, the quirky Respectable Street and Generals And Majors. At first I disdain the plodding No Language In Our Lungs or Sgt Rock is gonna help us and called it trash. But like Wire 154, there was something so good about the songs and the way they were constructed that they all fit in like a puzzle. The album got better with each play.
American labels couldn't figure out XTC. By the time Black Sea was issued, RSO was ready for the history books and Epic came along to chop English Settlement in half and basically they picked the best songs for that album but English Settlement worked better as a double album. To my ears, when Barry Andrews left and David Gregory joined up, XTC made their best work beginning with Drums And Wires through English Settlement. When Andy Partridge decided to stay home and not tour, Terry Chambers, their drummer moved on. Which led to the confusing Mummer and so so Big Express, to which Geffen replaced Epic for the American releases. Getting back to Barry Andrews, with him on the first two albums, showed XTC more art pop weirdness. White Music was the better of the two albums he was on. He later would become the de facto leader of Shriekback, which was more into a dance type rock with Dave Allen (Gang Of Four). And was better suited for him.
XTC found something special with Skylarking, which some have claimed to be their over all best. To me, it's a distance fourth compared to the trio of albums they did with Drums And Wires, Black Sea and English Settlement. While Partridge was the main songwriter, Colin Moulding's contributions cannot be overlooked; in fact I found his songs to be a bit of relief compared to Partridge's songs at times. King Of Simpleton from the 1989 Orange And Lemons is damn near perfect power pop UK style, but I found the album to be quite overlong. With Nonesuch, Dave Mattacks played drums, Gus Dudegon produced and was a small rebound. For best ofs, Some Singles has less filler than Upsy Daisy Assortment, which is the better overview. But, the song selection is different than the CD version. The Dukes Of Stratsofear albums shows XTC in their Psychedelia 60s freakbeat best.
In a nutshell, XTC turned out to be one of my better liked bands of the 80s, tho Partridge's stuffiness gets to be too quirky. Drums And Wires seems to be more of a go to album for me, but I'll swear by Black Sea and English Settlement as well.
XTC albums (Incomplete)
White Music (Virgin 1977) B+
Go 2 (Virgin 1978) B-
Drums And Wires (Virgin 1979) A-
Black Sea (Virgin 1980) A
English Settlement (Virgin 1981) A-
Some Singles (Virgin 1982) A-
Mummer (Geffen 1983) B-
The Big Express (Geffen 1984) B
Chips From The Chocolate Fireball (Caroline 1986) B+
Skylarking (Geffen 1987) A-
Orange And Lemons (Geffen 1989) B
Nonesuch (Virgin 1992) B-
Upsy Daisy Assortment (Geffen 1998) B+
Apple Venus vol 1 (Cooking Vinyl 1999) B
Wasp Star (Apple Venus 2) (Cooking Vinyl 2000) B-
https://www.loudersound.com/features/xtc-albums-ranked-from-worst-to-best-the-ultimate-guide
John Helm-Beaker Street Warmup (KCCK)
Boogie Music-Canned Heat
You Don't Love Me-Allman Brothers
Nick Danger-Firesign Theater.
Beaker St. Playlist (From Tyler Vincent)
9 p.m. – 10 p.m.
1. The Allman Brothers Band “True Gravity”
2. Flow “Arlene”
3. The Neville Brothers “Fire On The Mountain”
4. Blind Faith “Do What You Like”
5. Mickey Hart “Only The Strange Remain”
6. Renaissance “Kiev”
7. The Alan Parsons Project “(The System Of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether”
10 p.m. – 11 p.m.
1. Within Temptation “In Perfect Harmony”
2. Savoy Brown “Troubled By These Days and Times”
3. String Cheese Incident “Birdland” (Live – Carnival ’99)
4. The Doors “Five To One” (Live In Pittsburgh)
5. Paul Jones, Bobby Tench, Max Middleton, Bob Jenkins and Pete Brown “Albatross” (From the Album “This Is The Blues Volume 2”)
6. The Band “King Harvest (Has Surely Come)”
7. Grateful Dead “I Know You Rider” (Live- Europe ’72)
8. R. Michael Thomas “Pray For The Captain”
9. The Steve Miller Band “Wild Mountain Honey”
11 p.m. – Midnight
1. Wishbone Ash “Ballad Of The Beacon”
2. Steppenwolf “The Pusher”
3. Oingo Boingo “No One Lives Forever” (1988 Boingo Alive Version)
4. Alice Cooper “Second Coming> Ballad of Dwight Fry> Sun Arise”
5. The Rolling Stones “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking”
6. Pink Floyd “Run Like Hell” (Live- Delicate Sound of Thunder)
7. Frank Zappa “Joe’s Garage”
8. Jefferson Airplane “Volunteers”
9. Evanescence “Anywhere”
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