XTC fans (or non-): possible explanations of their appeal???

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I bet getting XTC on Magpie was Tommy Boyd's doing.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:57 (seventeen years ago) link

What? and all these years I'd been crediting Susan Shranks, or the one that looked like Leo Sayer.

You can see the barry andrews keyboard writing at the end of this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5mys1mhGJA

and this is maybe the Magpie recording (though they either also did Dance Band or its not):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIRKA6y9m7M

Lots of prog going on in those clips too, Crimson or VDGG prog anyway - though the songs are short and fast its still prog.

― Sandy Blair, Monday, 26 March 2007 16:07 (seventeen years ago) link

derail apology. it is stranks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep3rAfPvkrY

Id forgotten about Tony Bastable and his very smooth hair. was he the model for Frank Sidebottom.- wonder what happened to his career.

― Sandy Blair, Monday, 26 March 2007 16:21 (seventeen years ago) link

I was first exposed to XTC in 1984 through "Senses Working Overtime", which I loved as a cartoonish novelty pop tune. I liked it so much that I randomly bought Mummer, 'cuz it was the only XTC cassette at the mall shoppe. I found it extremely dark and oppressive. In its inaccesibility and alienated strangeness the opposite of what I loved about "Senses Working Overtime". I stuck with it, though, and listened to it over and over again on my Walkman (this was during my first exposure to "difficult music", and I was listening to a LOT of both Peter Gabriel and King Crimson at the same time, trying to figure out how this stuff could be so compelling and so unpleasant at the same time).

Eventually, I didn't hear Mummer as "wrong". I just heard it as pop. I felt that I'd accomplished something significant. This wonderful music had rewarded my patience and dedication with something that would never have been available to me if I hadn't been willing to work so hard for it, and the experience colored the way I approached music for years afterwards. From there, I worked backwards, first picking up The Big Express (much easier to relate to). Since I still hadn't found a copy of "English Settlement", I bought Waxworks and that sealed the deal on my eternal love for this band.

Anyway, I can totally see why some would compare the band to King Crimson, Gabriel, etc. -- the more abrasive and/or song-oriented fringes of 80s prog. I certainly saw the parallels at the time, though they make less sense to me now. And I can see why others would see them as a nothing more than a fistful of pop hooks strung together by English whimsy and/or way too much caffeine.

― Pye Poudre, Monday, 26 March 2007 16:28 (seventeen years ago) link

Tim, did you ever get around to Drums and Wires? That's the XTC I like. It's basically smart new wave. It's a bit cute, but also a bit dark, and it's very energetic.

― dan selzer, Monday, 26 March 2007 17:11 (seventeen years ago) link

Agree about Drums & Wires, and the albums that preceded it. I bought Go 2, White Music and Drums & Wires in quick succession during the peak of my XTC crush. Loved 'em then and love 'em still. Smart, catchy, spastic new wave. So immediately accessible and seemingly effortless that when I finally got around to hearing English Settlement the following year, finally closing the loop on "Senses Working Overtime", I was put off by its labored obtuseness (outside the obvious hits, I mean).

If I wanna listen to XTC nowadays, I'm probably gonna reach for Drums & Wires or Skylarking.

― Pye Poudre, Monday, 26 March 2007 17:35 (seventeen years ago) link

Absolutely: Drums & Wires was the first for me, then Skylarking.
The English Settlement is a bit difficult record; I like it but I can understand if someone finds it tiring.

― zeus, Monday, 26 March 2007 18:36 (seventeen years ago) link

I've been curious about The Big Express for years and have never been interested enough to buy it. I started a thread about it too.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 26 March 2007 18:42 (seventeen years ago) link

The Big Express is fantastic. Almost alarmingly varied from song to song, and the production is extremly slick and rhythm-heavy. A lot of the songs have a disorienting edge of clangy paranoia that's unique in the XTC catalog. Wonderful melodies and syncopation though. Search "All of You Pretty Girls", "Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her", "This World Over", "You're the Wish You Are I Had", "Reign of Blows", "Train Running Low on Soul Coal".

If you stripped away the dissonance and punchiness, you'd have something very similar to Skylarking.

― Pye Poudre, Monday, 26 March 2007 19:03 (seventeen years ago) link

"All You Pretty Girls" made me nauseous. "Seagulls..." is psych-rock pedantry. But I love "This World Over" – it's all the best parts of a Police and Rush song combined.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 26 March 2007 19:05 (seventeen years ago) link

There you go then. Agree about the "This World Over" - very reminiscent of Ghost In the Machine era Police.

― Pye Poudre, Monday, 26 March 2007 19:08 (seventeen years ago) link

But I'd still love to hear it.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 26 March 2007 19:11 (seventeen years ago) link

If I had a copy...

― Pye Poudre, Monday, 26 March 2007 19:12 (seventeen years ago) link

I think Tim's comment about them not being "energetic" is funny...I've been reading a lot of press from back then and XTC was like THE group to reference if a band's music was angsty and frenetic.

― dan selzer, Monday, 26 March 2007 19:20 (seventeen years ago) link

Depends on the record/era. Early stuff is extremely buzzy and antic. Increasingly less so after Drums & Wires. By the time you get to Skylarking, "energetic" is probably the last word you'd use to describe their sound.

― Pye Poudre, Monday, 26 March 2007 19:23 (seventeen years ago) link

I saw their bit in Urgh! A Music War doing "Respectable Street" the other night on VH1C and they were awesome live, tons of energy and stage presence, with Andy doing all these theatrical gestures and facial expressions. I was a little shocked.

― marmotwolof, Monday, 26 March 2007 19:39 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah, watching XTC live videos on youtube has definitely made me appreciate them even more -- "All Along the Watchtower", in particular, is utterly brilliant insanity.

― bernard snowy, Monday, 26 March 2007 19:42 (seventeen years ago) link

gee, i always thought the reason i liked them was that they had catchy, memorable songs

― latebloomer, Monday, 26 March 2007 19:58 (seventeen years ago) link

yeah fuck it I'm putting on Fossil Fuel RIGHT NOW

― marmotwolof, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:21 (seventeen years ago) link

i could listen to black sea every day

― strongohulkington, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:22 (seventeen years ago) link

that's the strongest album for sure

― cutty, Monday, 26 March 2007 20:31 (seventeen years ago) link

i dont think ive ever been as confused as when i heard that song "the loving" off of the supposedly really recommended album "oranges and lemons".

"is this supposed to be..?"
"what is this?"
"whaaa?"
i dont get it

― davedestroybox, Monday, 26 March 2007 21:22 (seventeen years ago) link

Just for the record, Martin Newell, mentioned in the original thread, is basically sort of an XTC protege, with Andy Partridge producing his most famous albums.

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 26 March 2007 21:47 (seventeen years ago) link

I've experienced more frustration trying to get into XTC then any other band I can remember. I have English Settlement and Skylarking, and I've given them both at least a dozen spins each in the past month, with little success. I wouldn't put so much work into it except that so many people here and elsewhere whose musical opinions I normally respect love them. I'm put off by the cheeseball factor of XTC, which is at times overwhelming and always seems to at least linger in the background. I can't get into Andy Partridge's voice. The way he growls "...and the Devil too" in Dear God. Listening to them gives me a faintly nauseous feeling that reminds me of when I was trying to undertand the appeal of Squeeze a few years ago. I don't mind the instrumental aspect of them too much (I particularly like the playing on Summers Cauldron), although in general it just seems bland.

I'm 23. Maybe this is one of those things where you had to be there. I know a few younger XTC fans, but in general it's my slightly older friends who were buying the releases the day they came out that always seem to sing their praises the loudest.

― Z S, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 23:54 (seventeen years ago) link

(Squeeze the band, not Squeeze the VU album, although getting into either seems equally difficult to me)

― Z S, Tuesday, 27 March 2007 23:55 (seventeen years ago) link

I will say that what I love most about XTC, what I continue to be inspired is not the performances, but the songs themselves. The chords, the melodies, the words -- the basic elements of the songs. I think those are the things that make XTC interesting, really unlike any other band.

― Dominique, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 00:35 (seventeen years ago) link

There's a reason "Dear God" wasn't supposed to be on Skylarking.

― nabisco, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 02:05 (seventeen years ago) link

the bass line in 'mayor of simpleton' is majestic!

― calstars, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 02:13 (seventeen years ago) link

Dominique OTM. It's about the tunes. If you don't get that, you're probably not going to get it. The point is that many of their songs are hummable, will stick in your head, etc. If you're not looking for music that does that, forget XTC.

Barring that, forget Skylarking and English Settlement and try the albums Black Sea or Drums & Wires. Folks who can't stomach the later stuff should at least catch a glimpse of the best of their earlier stuff.

― Bimble, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 04:28 (seventeen years ago) link

Alright, I'll give Drums & Wires a go. If that doesn't stick after half a dozen listens, I QUIT, wink wink.

I don't know, I certainly understand the songwriting over performance thing, and I feel like I definitely respect some artists who have the same schtick, namely Dylan and Cohen (although I enjoy their voices, actually), but I just don't feel the same way about XTC, at least not yet.

― Z S, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 05:43 (seventeen years ago) link

But Dylan and Cohen are very much about lyrics, while XTC (in spite of some very great lyrics) are mainly about melodies and harmonies.

― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 08:26 (seventeen years ago) link

"There's a reason "Dear God" wasn't supposed to be on Skylarking.

nabisco on Wednesday, 28 March 2007 02:05 (7 hours ago)"

Don't agree. 'Dear God' is much better than 'Mermaid Smiled', which was clearly the only weak track on Skylarking

― zeus, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 09:38 (seventeen years ago) link

who sings at the beginning and end of Dear God? I often wondered.

I suppose XTC are a band composed of English eccentrics and if you like English eccentricity, then you'll like XTC. I remember Andy Partridge being interviewed around the time of Nonsuch and he said that "Americans like us coz they see us as three Robert Morleys"

― Grandpont Genie, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 11:12 (seventeen years ago) link

Jasmine Veillette

― Mark G, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 11:17 (seventeen years ago) link

who sings at the beginning and end of Dear God? I often wondered.

Judging from The Mojo Collection, Andy Partridge doesn't even know himself. He was apparently "just some American kid Todd Rundgren brought into the studio".

― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 15:04 (seventeen years ago) link

"Americans like us coz they see us as three Robert Morleys"

especially funny considering probably 90% of Americans have no idea who Robert Morley is (including me!). But I do have an inexplicable soft spot for English eccentricity, its true.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 15:50 (seventeen years ago) link

sigh..

[Removed Illegal Link]

― Mark G, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 16:03 (seventeen years ago) link

http://chalkhills.org/reelbyreal/s_Dear.html

― Mark G, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 16:03 (seventeen years ago) link

just wondering, if I do this, does it work?

― Mark G, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 16:05 (seventeen years ago) link

Agree about "Dear God" not belonging on Skylarking. Bought that album and the accompanying E.P. when they first came out. I loved the album from front to back the first time I heard it. And I had a really hard time with "Dear God" (E.P. b-side). Don't get me wrong: I liked the song. It's almost overwhelmingly powerful and instantly unforgettable. But it's also cheesy and overstated and ham-fistedly obvious. Still, I was totally blown away and couln't for the life of me see how it had failed to make the final cut, especially given semi-filler like "Mermaid Smiled".

Then they went ahead and put in on the album after all, and I finally understood why they'd left it off in the first place. As a weird gift from the margins of the band's career, "Dear God" is tremendous. But as an album track that you have to listen to every time you play the record, it's too much. It doesn't belong there, and it throws the whole thing out of whack. It's a single, a song made to stand on its own.

― Pye Poudre, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 16:29 (seventeen years ago) link

thanks RSM!

― Dominique, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 16:30 (seventeen years ago) link

there are a LOT of people who only bought skylarking for dear god, so, you know, it made sense from that angle. it was a phenomenon at the time. radio played the hell out of that song. and the video was on mtv forever.

― scott seward, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 16:38 (seventeen years ago) link

I've always thought it was a song that seemed way cool when were young and rebellious but rather one-note and stupid now.

Skylarking didn'tn really take off sales-wise in the U.S. until early '87, right? It made the P&J poll for both '86 and '87.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 16:47 (seventeen years ago) link

English Settlement was the first XTC album I ever bought (15 years old, new when it came out). I'm baffled by all the hate: it's my favorite XTC albums and one of my favorites from that era period. Really, "Senses Working Overtime" isn't getting the love?

― mike a, Wednesday, 28 March 2007 18:50 (seventeen years ago) link

Curious whether ZS upthread likes Of Montreal or not

― mitya, Thursday, 29 March 2007 06:15 (seventeen years ago) link

After driving around with the Mummer cassette on repeat in my car a couple weeks ago, I'm currently doing the same with Oranges and Lemons and thinking I dismissed it unfairly when it was first released. The whole first side ("Garden of Earthly Delights" through"Scarecrow People") is well-written, beautifully produced and INSIDIOUSLY catchy pop. I have had the hooks from every one of the songs rattling around in my head for a week. It trails off a bit for me on the second side, but overall I'm loving it enough to maybe re-buy the copy of Nonsuch I got rid of.

― Dan Peterson, Thursday, 29 March 2007 15:49 (seventeen years ago) link

In fact, I love Of Montreal, especially their past couple of albums. That's why my inability to enjoy XTC is sort of baffling to me, and I keep trying and trying.

People keep referring to XTC's "English eccentricity", and maybe that's part of why I like Of Montreal and not XTC. That is, maybe I can relate more to Kevin Barnes' American eccentricity where I don't really "get" Andy Partridge's. That said, my least favorite Of Montreal moments are when Barnes' lets his cheesiness shine through ("I need a lover with SOOOOOUL Power!" on the latest album, for example). I don't like Of Montreal because of his American-ness, I like them because I like the songs/melodies themselves, similar to XTC's main selling points. The difference is, XTC's supposed mindblowing songwriting isn't really obvious to me.

― Z S, Thursday, 29 March 2007 22:52 (seventeen years ago) link

Okay, but didja try Drums & Wires yet? *goofy grin*

Well, I've finally given up my Fuzzy Warbles rebellion. As soon as I get some cash here I'm going to start digging in. I have heard from more than one person that they're spotty, so no one need warn me, but I guess it's just something I have to do, and the time seems right. Anyone want to give me a recommendation as to which one to start with or does it matter? Is there some kind of box set or something? Ah, I see there is...and look at this interesting Monstrance video on this link. Is that his new band or what? It's not like XTC at all, but interesting, as I say:

http://www.amazon.com/Fuzzy-Warbles-Collectors-Album-Partridge/dp/B000ICLTT6/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-7598448-1088122?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1175221226&sr=8-1

― Bimble, Friday, 30 March 2007 02:27 (seventeen years ago) link

"Dear God" makes great sense as a single, because it's essentially a novelty message song: once that sort of thing somehow breaks into radio, half the people who hear it are bound to be really impressed by the sheer seriousness of its having a point. But that's the same reason it doesn't have much replay value, once you've absorbed the idea -- beyond which it just doesn't fit with the tone of the album very well, I don't think. (I.e. Pye OTM, I guess.)

Although OMG screw you, "Mermaid Smiled" is not semi-filler! "Mermaid Smiled" is one of the bestest things on there! I am going to pretend that this is self-evident, and this song was the one swapped out for "Dear God" just based on life-cycle sequencing issues, not because anyone doesn't like it.

― nabisco, Friday, 30 March 2007 02:49 (seventeen years ago) link

not much Nonsuch love yet: there's some good stuff on there! Rook and My Bird Performs for example.

King for a Day is probably my least favourite XTC song - the only song by them that could seriously be described as bland.

― Grandpont Genie, Friday, 30 March 2007 08:29 (seventeen years ago) link

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