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

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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

"Nonsuch" is their second best album ever. Only beaten by "Skylarking". An absolutely marvellous album!

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 30 March 2007 08:48 (seventeen years ago) link

Bimble: There is a fine "Fuzzy Warbles" thread on the sandbox.

Jump in point: Any except for number eight (starting to barrelscrape)

But it's all good. Spotty? ach what isn't?

― Mark G, Friday, 30 March 2007 09:20 (seventeen years ago) link

Yes, Nonsuch is a masterpiece as well. It was the third XTC album I've heard, but then it was a disappointment 'cause I was young and I would have liked new wave stompers like "Helicopter" or "Outside World". But in the last few years Nonsuch has grown on me, a truly great album.

Nabisco: I bought the original Skylarking first with 'Mermaid Smiled' and I don't know why, but that was the only track I liked to skip.

― zeus, Friday, 30 March 2007 09:55 (seventeen years ago) link

Nabs & Zeus:

I don't have any special dislike for "Mermaid Smiled". I just never loved it. Sounds mushy and undecided to me -- more vague genre pastiche than anything with real meat on its bones. I wouldn't have been any sadder to lose "That's Really Super, Supergirl" *, "Season Cycle", or "Big Day". But for thematic reasons, I can see why "Mermaid" went on the block first.

* Imagine a lot of folks would argue with me here. "Supergirl" always made my teeth hurt. Similar stuff on 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot is much more successful (esp. "Vanishing Girl").

― Pye Poudre, Friday, 30 March 2007 16:39 (seventeen years ago) link

I like "Supergirl," agree with you about "Season Cycle," and see what you mean about "Big Day," though I'm pretty fond of the r&b flourishes in that last. (Like the twangy backing on the "deafened by the bells" lines, which I think is pretty much the sort of thing that blew up into the aquarium Scritti sound on Oranges & Lemons.)

― nabisco, Friday, 30 March 2007 16:43 (seventeen years ago) link

the weird disparity of opinion on specific XTC songs is always interesting to me. for ex., stuff other posters find treacly or too slick or whatever may be another poster's favorite song on the album. A lot of stuff people have noted as their favorite tracks on Nonsuch or A&O are things I hate! (Rook? ew.) But it says something about their range as songwriters, being able to appeal to a strange variety of aesthetics.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 30 March 2007 16:48 (seventeen years ago) link

Nonesuch was the first I owned, and I thought at the time that if this was XTC I wanted nothing to do with them. "Dear Madam Barnum" and ""Books are Burning" are cool, but you have to endure cranky, didactic piffle like "The Smartest Monkey" and "...Peter Pumpkinhead."

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, 30 March 2007 16:52 (seventeen years ago) link

see I think "Books are Burning" is total "didactic piffle" (although yes so is "Smartest Monkeys" - I hate both songs). "Peter Pumpkinhead" is pretty good, but really stupid JFK video wtf.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 30 March 2007 16:53 (seventeen years ago) link

"That Wave", "Humble Daisy", "Omnibus" are some of my fave XTC songs

― Dominique, Friday, 30 March 2007 17:02 (seventeen years ago) link

Just listened to "Big Day". It's better than I'd remembered. Not a knockout, but the mood is gorgeous. Better than a lot of stuff on Oranges & Lemons, which I didn't like then and don't like now. Can see how the one anticipates the other, even though the Scritti (Politti?) reference goes right over my head.

Why is Nonesuch so much better than Oranges & Lemons, when they sound so similar? I ask 'cuz I suspect there's no real difference except that the songs on Nonesuch are simply more catchy, more immediately appealing to my ear. The difference is critic-proof: there's no non-music-theory-based way to explain it. You either hear it or you don't.

― Pye Poudre, Friday, 30 March 2007 17:03 (seventeen years ago) link

"That Wave", "Humble Daisy", "Omnibus" are some of my fave XTC songs

I skip all those. Never understood the love for "That Wave", which just sounds so ugly and unformed to me... my favorite Nonesuch stuff is probably "Then She Appeared", "Ugly Underneath", "Holly Up On Poppy"

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 30 March 2007 17:13 (seventeen years ago) link

P.S. Agree about the crappiness of "Books are Burning", "Smartest Monkeys" -- hell, even "Peter Pumkinhead" annoys me. But "Humble Daisy", "The Disappointed" and "Omnibus" are great. Not a great record, but it's got moments.

― Pye Poudre, Friday, 30 March 2007 17:13 (seventeen years ago) link

ooh the Dissapointed is good yeah

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 30 March 2007 17:15 (seventeen years ago) link

I certainly hear a difference in the production -- Nonsuch has a lot of "modern" touches, like added compression, generally louder overall, deeper bass, higher highs, etc. To my ears, the songs are a bit more straightforward, not always structurally, but with fewer bells and whistles added to the arrangements.

Also, Nonsuch for me represents the "new era" XTC; Partridge's voice sounds a bit different, maybe a bit thinner, but also going for those falsetto lines more.

― Dominique, Friday, 30 March 2007 17:17 (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.

I sometimes chafe at Geir's reductions, but this is kind of OTM, at least in terms of describing why I like XTC and why I don't have a whole lot of use for Dylan and Cohen.

― jaymc, Friday, 30 March 2007 17:20 (seventeen years ago) link

also greatness on Nonsuch is the very end of "Wrapped in Grey", with AP going up that high note

― Dominique, Friday, 30 March 2007 17:24 (seventeen years ago) link

Dominique OTM. Partridge's strained falsetto leaps on the choruses almost never work for me. They often seem to indicate a failure to come up with something compelling, going instead for a dramatic (and frequently awkward) progression/resolution.

Also agree about the "bells and whistles". O&L (and XTC's post-Skylarking output in general) suffers from this overcomplexified frilliness. Not so much in the production, but in the arrangements and the songs themselves. A Sting-like fondness for jazz/R&B strategies filtered through a fussy psych-prog sensibility that too often stands as a baffle between the tunes and their delivery.

― Pye Poudre, Friday, 30 March 2007 17:26 (seventeen years ago) link

Hee. Last post, meet x-post.

― Pye Poudre, Friday, 30 March 2007 17:46 (seventeen years ago) link

but you have to endure cranky, didactic piffle like "The Smartest Monkey" and "...Peter Pumpkinhead."

Not too much of a problem considering both are among the definite highlights on the album.

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 30 March 2007 22:04 (seventeen years ago) link

'Nonsuch' always seemed more organic than 'Oranges and Lemons', the latter had a kind of dated sound, while 'Nonsuch' is timeless. I like almost every song there, but 'Books Are Burning' and 'Peter Pumpkinhead' are preachy and cliched a bit - 'Then She Appeared', 'Humble Daisy', 'That Wave' or 'Ugly Underneath' are my favourites perhaps.

― zeus, Friday, 30 March 2007 23:43 (seventeen years ago) link

I absolutely loved Oranges & Lemons when it came out but it does sound a bit dated today.

Nonsuch is a real mixed bag - the quality of the tracks varies considerably from nearly-unlistenable ("Bungalow") to excellent ("The Disappointed"). I would rank "Wrapped in Grey" up there with the best pop music of the 20th century though. Everything about it is brilliant.

It took me a long time to get into XTC, and I only kept at it because most of my friends were completely nuts about them. Finally, one day I was listening to "Skylarking", it all just clicked, and they became one of my favorite bands.

― The Breadmaster, Saturday, 31 March 2007 00:04 (seventeen years ago) link

I bought Nonsuch when it came out and remember being completely disappointed with it, to the point that I just sold it back and remember nothing at all about it now. But I also remember that my life was going through some major changes at the time and wonder if that might have prejudiced me at all. (I found the same kind of disappointment with another fave artist of mine's album that year, Robyn Hitchcock's Mossy Elixir)

Oranges & Lemons wasn't very good as an album either, but it did have some highlights. "King For A Day" being one of them and I will NOT tolerate any dissing of that song. We will have to step outside if you're going that route, heheh.

Thanks Mark G, I still think the best thing to do is get the big ass box set. (I usually spell it 'arse' but I feel like spelling it the US way in this case) I knew there was a thread about Fuzzy Warbles somewhere here...

― Bimble, Saturday, 31 March 2007 01:45 (seventeen years ago) link

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