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

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XTC never really did concept albums. Skylarking is the obvious exception, and Oranges and Lemons is clearly a baby boy's introduction to the world, but ultimately each album's just a mash of songs.

― The Ghost at Number Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 01:42 (twenty years ago) link

To sum up thread: They are good.

― Sansai, Tuesday, 29 June 2004 03:15 (twenty years ago) link

Teh best evar, in fact.

― The Ghost at Number Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 05:11 (twenty years ago) link

yeah what Nabisco said, took the words right of my mouth (it must have been while you were kissing me).

My favourite XTC moment is the first 4 songs from English Settlement. You'd be hard pressed to find an album which starts off with 4 better and more appropriately programmed songs.

― mentalist (mentalist), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 05:24 (twenty years ago) link

Terry Chambers's departure perhaps had a subconscious (?) origin in the band's near co-option by the early 80s Steve Lillywhite sound.

Although he recorded "Drums and Wires" perfectly nicely, you can hear Lillywhite's increasingly bad sonic habits (cf. "War", "Steeltown") coming to the fore on "Black Sea".

Although "English Settlement" documents the band's recovery from drums-far-too-loud syndrome, full recuperation (or abreaction) resulted in the genius Chambers losing his essential place within the XTC gestalt.

Which is a bit less gestalty than it used to be. Obviously.

― Neil Willett (Neil Willett), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 05:59 (twenty years ago) link

This thread could serve as a band obituary.

― The Ghost at Number Almanac (Autumn Almanac), Tuesday, 29 June 2004 06:09 (twenty years ago) link

seven months pass...

Heard Peter Gabriel's "Games Without Frontiers" on the radio today AND IT SOUNDS EXACTLY LIKE XTC.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 5 February 2005 04:10 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh Pshaw!

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Saturday, 5 February 2005 04:50 (nineteen years ago) link

I get the feeling that if I read this thread it its entirety (or at least since my one paltry post) that it's going to make me very mad indeed, so I am not going to.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 5 February 2005 05:40 (nineteen years ago) link

Hahaha I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, really.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Saturday, 5 February 2005 05:57 (nineteen years ago) link

"XTC non-fans watch sports.

XTC fans go shopping!

*lift hands in confusion*

Guys! What's up with THAT?"

= summary of this thread.

― donut christ (donut), Saturday, 5 February 2005 08:19 (nineteen years ago) link

I once loved them; I still think "Drums and Wires" is pretty great, and I still love "Jason and the Argonauts." At the time, seemed like a good way out of prog-rock with their use of watered-down Captain Beefheart guitar moves, and Terry Chambers was a great drummer. But now, when I think about it (not often) it all seems like that typical prog-rock progression, from stuff that was complex, just complex and "heightened" enough (considering their sources, just like you'd say Yes derives from the Byrds) to stuff that was all dependent on overstatement, just like Yes on "Close to the Edge" and "Topographic Oceans." Just that XTC were "new wave" therefore "more grounded in reality and cool music like the Magic Band" than Yes. I find "Mummer" and "Big Express" quite annoying records; I like "Skylarking" but never listen to it. The "Wasp Star" records aren't bad. But viewed as pure how-they-play, they were pretty great, it's just for me that generally ain't enough no more.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Saturday, 5 February 2005 22:29 (nineteen years ago) link

one year passes...

I've had drums and wires for a while and liked it okay. Then today I bought Skylarking on vinyl and was struck repeatedly on its inaugural spin that it could possibly be the most beautiful album I've ever heard. I want to play it again, but have to wait until tomorrow, and I fear it won't live up to the HYPE I've decided it deserves. I'm particularly digging the very subtly wrought tempo shifts and theme changes, which are often an about-face mid-song, yet don't necessarily disturb the flow or the mood of the song. Even the album as a whole seems to maintain some coherent mood (which I somehow associate with a cold summer day after rain) despite the restless invention that occurs. I can hear the beach boys, but it's as though they've been bottled and left to mature. To pursue that metaphor: I can't wait to pour shiraz in my ear tomorrow.

Anyways, it was one of those rare first listens that vindicates the time and money that is put towards finding and buying dozens (hundreds?) of lesser musiks in the hopes that there is something like this somewhere out there. Any suggestions as to where to turn next? I suppose more 80's xtc would be a good place to start, but other bands/albums?

Merci.

― thrwice (The Giant Mechanical Ant), Wednesday, 17 May 2006 03:51 (eighteen years ago) link

ten months pass...

Results 1 - 10 of about 23,100 for Mummer pastoral. (0.21 seconds)

I've been relistening to [i] Mummer[i] lately. It's the first XTC album I actively anticipated at the time, after falling in love with [i]EnglishSettlement, and I still love it, but why "pastoral?" Yeah, there's the rural setting of "Farmboy's Wages" and a few more acoustic guitars here and there, and "Wonderland" is a more conventionally pretty song than they've written previously, but are "Great Fire" or "Deliver Us From The Elements" really that different-sounding than anything on the previous two records?

Did the "pastoral" descriptor originate with some record company press release and get taken as gospel by writers 'round the world? Trouser Press Record Guide even says "music for picnics" -- which I find ludicrous applied to "Human Alchemy."

― Dan Peterson, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:10 (seventeen years ago) link

oo great fire--must listen to that right now

― cutty, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:14 (seventeen years ago) link

_Mummer_ was my least favorite album before _Wasp Star_ (which I feel is half-baked, "I'm The Man Who Murdered Love_ is particularly dire). But the demos found on the Fuzzy Warbles series, particularly of the two aforementioned "Great Fire" and "Human Alchemy" are revelatory. Too much production sheen has consistently been a problem for the lads since _Mummer_ and the demos are more fun to listen to.

― Mr. Odd, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:18 (seventeen years ago) link

they are my favorite band that is not al green or prince

― strongohulkington, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:20 (seventeen years ago) link

I guess that's another question: does "too much production sheen" not negate "pastoral?" Mummer wasn't exactly recorded in a barn direct to 2-track.

― Dan Peterson, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:21 (seventeen years ago) link

I would like to hear XTC covering Whitesnake's rock anthem "Here I Go Again."

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:24 (seventeen years ago) link

3.2/10

― strongohulkington, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:26 (seventeen years ago) link

I wouldn't mark Coverdale's piteous pharynx quite that highly.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:30 (seventeen years ago) link

dull.

― strongohulkington, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:32 (seventeen years ago) link

null.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:33 (seventeen years ago) link

Since this thread is resurrected, there was a few comments circa 2004 about XTC being prog, which was pretty much dismissed, at least until the later albums.

I first heard them doing the 3D ep (pre first album) tracks on a kids TV show called Magpie right at the start and immediately thought of the non-intrumental tracks from the mid 70s King Crimson albums, compare the flurry of falling over themseleves notes in Dance Band with Crimosn's 'Great Deciever' as an example. Though they toned this down a wee bit with the Beatlesish pop of White Music, it was back by Go2 and Drums and Wires did even better by seamlessly adding it to the beatles ish pop. By which time King Crimson had reformed and were also adding that herky jerky sound to their 80s recordings. (to quote Craw above)

Incidentally on that Magpie slot, Barry Andrews had 'All human life is here' spray painted on his keyboards, but I thought for some reason he had written 'All human life is hole' and wrote that on the back of my jacket.

― Sandy Blair, Monday, 26 March 2007 15:45 (seventeen years ago) link

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

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