XTC : Classic or Dud.

I don't like/get "Oranges and Lemons" -too session slick.

Mark, it's funny how your "left-behind 60s" sentence *is* Skylarking in a nutshell for me, but you say something as perceptive about it from the perspective of someone left unmoved, as I think I ever have from the perspective of someone who's moved by it endlessly, constantly, wonderfully. Interesting.

"Oranges and Lemons" is the only relative dud IMHO.

I guess I should get volume 2.

Skylarking: Best Beatles influenced album ever, by anybody, past or future

Black Sea: So classic

First album: Also classic. Especially with the extra tracks on the CD.
Of special note is the cover of "All Along The Watchtower". Hilarious, unforgettable, and wonderfully funky. Beats the crap out of the original.

There is no need to ask if they were classic or not.

Here's a query: What is the correlation between XTC positivity and Olivia Tremor Control fandom? It seem to me each act reinterpreted 60s pop singles in a different, though sorta similar way.

NEITHER CLASSIC NOR DUD
Nonesvch
Drums and Wires

DUD
Oranges and Lemons
Wasp Star

D: Mummer; Oranges and Lemons; Nonsuch (or whatever that's called)

Also C: Lots of their singles, like "Heaven Is Paved with Broken Glass"; "Blame the Weather"; etc.

Weren't as good after Terry Chambers left, I don't think. Not a band I listen to any more, but always glad to hear individual tracks like "It's Nearly Africa" and esp. "Jason and the Argonauts."

That's the weird thing about XTC.

In 1992 I bought The Compact XTC, listened to it a few times, hated it, and put it away. Over the ensuing weeks, I forced myself to listen to it again and again [usually in the background whilst doing homework], and one day something snapped: I understood the depth of the music, and couldn't stop listening to it.

Having decided this was one of the best albums I'd ever heard, I spent the next couple of years building up my collection. Here's the crucial bit: Every album had the same effect. On the first listen of every album, I hated it, and it took a good 20+ listens before I 'got' each one; but once each album hit that threshold, I couldn't put it down for literally months on end.

Thinking I was nuts, I introduced XTC to several friends, all of whom didn't like it. Months later, most of them had done an about face and were raving about XTC, just as I had done.

So, it's urgent and key to bear this in mind: Repeated listening of XTC will reap rewards. I've not known any other band to produce work of such consistently high quality and enormous depth. It's music that grows and grows and grows, and -- most importantly -- it rewards effort in ways you cannot imagine.

Oranges and Lemons sux, but King For A Day still gets me every time, and Garden Of Earthly Delights isn't so bad.

The live version of Battery Brides on the Transister Blast box set OWNZ.

Oranges & Lemons is fantastic. King for a Day irritates the hell out of me, but there are sooo many gems on that album, and as a piece it works beautifully. Easily one of my favourites. Fox and Thacker are gods.

That's interesting... Why can't music come with a "Guaranteed that you will ultimately twig" sticker, rather than some daft parental advisory thing.

I did buy Waxworks/Beeswax on compact cassette about 1986 based on loving "Making plans for Nigel" and "Senses working overtime", so I have tried pretty hard; maybe it's a bit of concentrated listening I need. As I say though, I love Apple Venus volume 1 now, so perhaps the rest will click.

with the appearance of bands like dogs die in hot cars and the futureheads, maybe we're getting an xtc revival?

Fave track on Oranges & Lemons (their last decent album) = "Across this Antheap".

And you may not like Apple Venus Vol. 1, Alex, but it's at least "decent."

"King for a Day" doesn't remind me of the Police either. It's a fine, pleasant song, but just a little too overproduced for my taste (like much of the Orange & Lemons album, I think).

I listened to Oranges and Lemons for the first time in years recently -- I found a used CD copy for $2, and it's easily worth that. While the production is annoying, what I found interesting is that the track I used to blow past are the only ones I really enjoyed. If you can get past the bad lyrics that infect the entire record, there are a few gems: "The Loving," "One of the Millions," and "Hold Me My Daddy" stand out.

Whatever. It's still all about English Settlement.

Big Express? Ehhhhh......with the exception of a few tracks, it's not their finest. Never cared for Mummer so much, either.

Then, of course....there are THE DUKES OF STRATOSPHEAR,.....who quite thoroughly rock.

Mummer would have been 10 times better had the same tracks been sequenced differently. It's chock full of top tunes, but the running order is just woeful.

O&L's high production really works in favour of the music, I reckon. Apart from King for a Day, which is agony to my ears. The raw power behind Antheap et al really pronounces the strengths in the songwriting. I agree on the relatively weak lyrics though; I think there were a few hassles with Virgin around that time, with the label wanting Partridge to produce hit singles and such.

Anyone heard the Fuzzy Warbles stuff? It's some of the best Partridge has ever done, and it's not overproduced. :)

It was essentially his solo showcase at the TC&I show and it was beauuutiful.

Barry's tunes are like the songs from the first Sparks album that were written by the other dudes. the ones that are really bad and unlike anything else they ever did.

I hate "My Weapon" and "Super Tuff" but think "Biology 2" and "Underground" are very good, and far from outliers in the Sparks universe.

well "Biology 2" definitely is! had no idea "Underground" was the other one, I thought "Saccharin and the War" was the other Mankey tune! "Underground" is one of my favorte early Sparks tunes actually!

"Saccharin and the War" and "Roger" are two of the very few Russell-only songs (both leftovers from the very early days of the band); I am extremely fond of them and think they have more in common with "Biology 2" than they do with the Ron songs. By the next album, the Zappaesque weirdness element has subsided and the songwriting is just slightly more homogeneous from all participants.
I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of XTC but I suspect the worst Andy song is early-era and the worst Colin song is late-era.

Partridge in turgid stating the bleeding obvious finger-pointing mode is my least favourite, and that came later.

I really like, and in most cases love, basically every 90s XTC song except Crocodile

xps "Saccharin and the War" fits in pretty well with the Ron tunes, I think. "Roger" is more similar to "Biology 2," yeah, but it doesn't stick out the way the latter song does. I probably wouldn't mind someone other Russell singing lead if it weren't for the sped-up vocal effect.

On the XTC side, I'm in the pro-"Bungalow" camp. Apart from the organ, it could almost be a song from The Divine Comedy's Promenade, which I love. But I like the organ sound too.

Dunno why anyone would fuss about "Bungalow" when you have the total misfire "War Dance" on the same album. Repetitive, low-energy, music doesn't conjure war or dancing in the slightest

And that fucking oboe!

Both among Colin's very worst songs.

Andy dislikes War Dance. The oboe is a synth clarinet which he says sounds like a 'singing penis'.

Yes, it's rubbish.

Terrible song.

I enjoy it, or the music anyway, but it is sandwiched between two of the best songs they ever ever did

Thought that this thread revival might be about Steven Wilson's 5.1 surround remix + Dolby Atmos mix of The Big Express which is being released on 29 September.

Preview podcast: https://whatdoyoucallthatnoise.transistor.fm/episodes/xtcs-the-big-express-in-5-1-and-dolby-atmos

Haven't heard the new mix yet but I predicted that the segues would be removed, as with the others, and sadly it appears true.

I kinda like War Dance, it's goofy

I like XTC, they're goofy

XTC talk about their legacy in Swindon and possible reunion

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/23994929.xtc-talk-legacy-swindon-possible-reunion/

Man you had me excited there for a minute (SPOILER: reunion not happening)

yeah kind of a lame headline, nothing's changed since the split. I do respect Andy's reasoning a lot, I mean I do think there are plenty of bands from the 70's who still sound great today, and some of them are even recording good albums still, but I don't think XTC would be one of those bands. I wish he would do more solo material though, some of those tracks from the "My Failed Songwriting Career" EPs were quite good, but I feel like he needs to make a full album if he wants people to pay attention. and it's possible that he really doesn't, since Andy is the sort of guy who seems to think about his own legacy a lot.

I finally watched the This Is Pop (2018) documentary that was originally on Showtime earlier this year, and I recommend it for all fans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytc9fv96ZGg

Also highly recommended is the book Complicated Game: Inside the Songs of XTC by Andy Partridge & Todd Bernhardt (2016). Reading about each song while re-listening solidified Black Sea as my favorite album.

Another review of the surround sound version of TBE. When I was digging into the back catalog in '87, critical consensus was dismissive of Mummer and The Big Express, but lately they've gotten more respect. I don't know if it's because of the Steven Wilson remasters, but the prog community has embraced them more than ever the past several years. I always thought TBE had a harsh, brittle sound to match the vaguely industrial revolution theme, and it works for me, just as the progressive chamber folk worked for Mummer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqnmy_wWRMk

Been waiting for Steven Wilson's mix of Big Express because it's the one album where I'm not fond of the original mixing. Wilson goes for a more balanced mix over the harsher original mix which is an obvious improvement imo, though I could see people liking the original mix for thematic reasons as mentioned. I'm pretty happy with the original mixing for the other albums so I don't appreciate the difference in Wilson's mixes as much as I do here

I listened to Nonsuch for the first time in a while and it occured to me how beautiful a song "Wrapped in Grey" really is. always found it a bit corny when I first heard the band back in college but now that I'm in my mid-30s the message really resonates with me. I finally get why Andy was basically willing to stake the band's future on it.

Heh I had a similar change of heart about that song sometime around age 30

Best song ever

Here's something I wrote about The Big Express a few years back

https://jointhedotsreview.blogspot.com/2021/05/xtc-big-express-1984.html

A terrific read.

Thanks Alfred!

nice to see someone point out how strange and creative "Shake You Donkey Up" is, most people just describe it as annoying. I always loved that tune though, it's probably the only post-Barry tune that really captures how wacky they used to be

It's creatively annoying.

Nice write-up (Join the Dots) - thanks for sharing!

I recently got the new "The Big Express" surround edition and totally agree with Vinnie's post. Steven Wilson did an excellent job here, smoothing out the jarring artificial bits while not diluting its rock moments, to the album that needed it the most. Also - in the liner notes, Andy wants to make it clear that not all the drums on the album are from a drum machine, which apparently was a common misconception. Just one quibble: for some reason, they didn't include the music videos for this one, like they did with the others.

Here's a good article about Wilson's process: https://www.soundonsound.com/people/steven-wilson-remixing-classic-albums
This is key: "He sums up his approach as being devoutly faithful to the original mix when he's working in stereo, and creating something fresh when he's working in surround."

It explains why I was not really blown away by the stereo "Skylarking" remix (it sounds exactly like the mix I've heard 100+ times, but maybe just a little cleaner and without the crossfading between tracks) BUT the surround "Skylarking" remix is a whole different experience. I HIGHLY recommend hearing it in surround! Another "you MUST hear this in surround" recommendation for XTC fans is the Dukes of Stratosphear comp "Psurroundabout Ride" - he really goes for it, and it works! And back to "The Big Express," on "Wake Up" (where the intro guitars are hard-panned Left/Right on the stereo version), on the surround version, they bounce around on four speakers, making it even more disorienting.

I have all of the XTC surround editions and honestly love them all and will buy any more they put out - apparently they can't find the multi-tracks for all the songs on "English Settlement" and "Mummer," so that's the hold-up for those.

Audio nerd stuff (in case this is helpful for anyone Googling these issues):
1) Listening to the surround "The Big Express," for some tracks, the first two seconds of some songs would get cut off. I changed the "Audio Format" setting on my player (Playstation 5) from "Bitstream" to "Linear PCM" and that fixed it.
2) "Black Sea" would only play in stereo, not surround. I figured out that changing the "Audio" track setting on the player from "1. English" to "2. English" allowed it to play in surround. I had this exact same issue (and the fix is the same) for the King Crimson "Larks' Tongues in Aspic" surround DVD. (I didn't have this issue with other XTC or King Crimson surround discs, so I guess it's a disc mastering error?)

apparently they can't find the multi-tracks for all the songs on "English Settlement" and "Mummer," so that's the hold-up for those.

They have all but the single a-sides.

Listening to the surround "The Big Express," for some tracks, the first two seconds of some songs would get cut off. I changed the "Audio Format" setting on my player (Playstation 5) from "Bitstream" to "Linear PCM" and that fixed it.

Thanks so much for this tip--I have this issue when hooking my Mac up to my receiver for DTS .wav files in VLC, will try this trick to see if it sorts it out.

xps glad you enjoyed the piece!

I haven't heard any of Wilson's mixes at home as I haven't any good setup for them. But TBE is the one I'm most eager to hear and I'm wondering if it will spotlight slightly buried things in the old mix, like the synth (electric piano?) in This World Over or the cannonballs in Seagulls. Still sad he omits the crossfades though.

listening to Wasp Star for the first time in forever and wow I forgot how late-90s altrock it sounds. it's like a good version of the Fastball album. some moments remind me of Third Eye Blind. hard to believe it's actually XTC sometimes.

pretty weird final album in retrospect, it sounds like a debut somehow. idk of any other artists with long careers who have pulled off something like that. I don't mean albums where they sound young I mean albums that sound like a good band's first set of songs produced to be very of its era

like imagine if this was a new band and the last song on their debut was "Wheel and the Maypole", how exciting that would be

There's a really good, and very candid interview with Haydn Bendall on the XTC Podcast from a month or so ago, lots of info about Apple Venus.

"Stupidly Happy" def sounds like it was inspired by "Never Let You Go"

Although now I'm realizing they might have come out too close to each other to have one inspire the other

I think some of those late 90s bands loved XTC. The glasses guy from BNL imagine very much so. It's All Been Done sounds like his take on it

IRRC he had Wasp Star written, like Apple Venus, in the wake of Nonsuch, so early to mid 90s. His demo, as they tend to, sounds a lot like the final arrangement, released within months of the Third Eye Blind song in 2000
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2RhxrsZI2A

The Wheel and the Maypole is such a fitting and lovely end to the discography of the best band ever

And obviously let's not ruin things with facts obviously (e.g. the 2005 tunes)

otm

according to Wikipedia, most of these songs were originally written between 1994-1996. they indeed are pretty close to the demos but there are certain touches - the vocal distortion on "Stupidly Happy", the drum fills on "We're All Light" - that sound very late-90s altrock.

The glasses guy from BNL imagine very much so. It's All Been Done sounds like his take on it

yes! always thought this song sounded like something on Nonsuch. a bit more obnoxious though.

wonder if not having Dave Gregory on board caused them to farm out more of the process which made it sound more modern. I'm really curious what a follow up album would've sounded like.

also I kinda forgot about the 2005 tunes, they're not bad. the band didnt really make a big deal out of them so I still consider Wheel and the Maypole their 'last' song