XTC : Classic or Dud.

if *they'd done

Mismanagement is a recurring, almost compulsory, theme though.

― Return of the Flustered Bootle Native (Tom D.), Wednesday, March 8, 2017 2:33 PM (five minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

absolutely, and i think the fact that XTC never made a dime off of any of their touring (allegedly) because of their shit managers is a big part of AP's reluctance to play live at all - and also now he says that he doesn't want to get onstage and "be the old guy," music is a young man's game, he hates seeing old rockstars, etc. reading that book, there were so many times that XTC were on the verge of success/fulfillment, and it got cut off at the pass for some stupid reason.

Tom D's absolutely correct, even some of the biggest bands like Fleetwood Mac, Queen and even The Rolling Stones all have horror stories of mismanagement at some point in their career.

The story of Badfinger probably one of the saddest I can think of right now.

Yeah the Stretch (fake Fleetwood Mac) story is some amazing management chicanery. xp

Can I just mention Moby Grape here.

would probably be harder to come up with a list of bands that *weren't* screwed over by their management at some point

This syllabically awkward couplet from "the Loving" drives me crazy:

"Babies at the breast / those in power and those oppressed"

would probably be harder to come up with a list of bands that *weren't* screwed over by their management at some point

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, March 8, 2017 10:10 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

U2?

Yeah the Stretch (fake Fleetwood Mac) story is some amazing management chicanery. xp

― You're going to see a lot of love. Okay? Thank you. (Dan Peterson)

link plz

aw :(

@xtcfans Just heard re documentary, that BBC aren't interested in showing it. Ha ha. I knew it. Not famous enough for them.

The story of Badfinger probably one of the saddest I can think of right now.

Yeah that's tough to beat.

They'll show it at some point. Graham Parker isn't more famous than XTC, to name but one act who has had a documentary I've fallen asleep to on BBC4 (xp).

BBC4 ran a Sun Ra documentary, so yeah, "not famous enough" likely wasn't the reason.

Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing... obviously it would have no chance of being shown on BBC 1, but I can't see why it wouldn't get shown on BBC 4.

Is Guy Garvey in it? becuase that could be problematic if not.

Yeah, I imagine they turned it down on the basis that it doesn't feature Guy Garvey saying something insightful like "eeeeeee, listening to vinyl records is like being by a warm, crackly fire"

A petition has been made to show interest to the BBC, can't hurt to sign, I guess:
https://www.change.org/p/bbc-bbc-please-air-the-xtc-documentary-this-is-pop?recruiter=129880795

Yeah the Stretch (fake Fleetwood Mac) story is some amazing management chicanery. xp

― You're going to see a lot of love. Okay? Thank you. (Dan Peterson)

link plz

― sleeve, Wednesday, March 8, 2017 5:37 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://www.jonkutner.com/why-did-you-do-it/

should we poll "Most Depressing Musician Bios"?

Careless Love is right up there. The last 100 pages or so read like a Stephen King story.

As much as I love XTC, I really can;t see them ever making it much bigger than they already were, esp. without touring. And, the more popular they got, the more their records suffered. Enormous drop in quality from Skylarking on.

Hmmyeah, I don't agree with that.

Mostly because their most popular period in the UK was roughly from 1979 to 1982, but also because Nonsuch and Apple Venus are two of their best ever records.Skylarking was a massive commercial flop here.

Like, it made it to number 90 on the album chart for one week. An astonishingly poor commercial performance given how highly the record is rated today.

XTC could've kept touring 5,000+ cap venues through the 90s, obviously that would've helped their career and the public's awareness of them massively. It's pretty easy to go through this life having never heard a single XTC song ime. thank god a good friend of mine turned me onto them last year.

QUICK! CALL THE GUINNESS BOOK OF RECAWRRRDS!

I think 500 seats is more accurate but what do I know

what happened to the trailer for this? it seems to have vanished from the internet and it's not even on the page linked above. documentary cancelled?

even more frustration and anticlimax!

http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2017/03/11/xtc-this-is-pop-documentary-petition/

http://68.media.tumblr.com/65cd1a8c4b92c1488f0ac88065edaaca/tumblr_oodkmu8V5B1rp9p7do1_500.jpg

ok

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

https://youtu.be/ne35P7kbucs

Mentioned upthread, this is the band recording Towers of London at an estate with a chain smoking Steve Lilly white.

It is and it isn't - this was pretty much staged for the cameras and isn't actual footage of them recording the song as it appeared on Black Sea, which had already been done by the time this was shot.

AP: I'm not sure whether it's a fire extinguisher making that initial clank. It's certainly one in the fake "re-recording" that we did at the Manor studios -- you know, in that BBC film, "XTC at the Manor." I've got a funny feeling it may have been a dinner plate and something else on the actual version we recorded on Black Sea, at the Townhouse studios. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a dinner plate and something like the bottom of a heavy mic stand, or a section of pipe or girder or something. I think the fire extinguisher was the only thing laying around at the Manor that sounded vaguely right.

Hahaha

AP just announced that Black Sea is the next 5.1 reissue

'Living Through Another Cuba' and 'Travels in Nihilon' should sound ace in 5.1

love you AP but please write some new music

Living through another cuuuuue
BA!!!

Russia and America are at each other's throats, but don't you cry

Not sure if this has been posted but I really enjoyed this podcast interview with Andy https://www.sodajerker.com/episode-8-andy-partridge/ - he comes off as a right grumpy West Countryer, kind of adorable

What about the narrator of "my bird performs" kind of bragging about his stupidity the same way the protagonist of "mayor" does.
"Shakespeare's sonnets leave me cold" - yeah right

I always thought 'My Bird Performs' was partly innuendo...

Andy sure does like his thinly veiled innuendo, cf. "Wonder Annual".

Pink Thing = not so thinly veiled

my bird performs was a colin though

LOUDER THAN TANKS ON THE HIGHWAY
LOUDER THAN BOMBERS IN FLIGHT

I'm a stuck record I know, but Mummer *is* the best.

I just can't stop listening to Mummer this week. I'm in danger of overloading. Favourite bit: 'The only job that I do well is here on the farrrrm / And it's breaking my baaaack' - just this little moment of poignance in an otherwise positive-sounding song, akin to the 'Something tells you that you've got to get away from it' on Madness's 'Our House'