(Merged) XTC Thread

[Rob Dean]

I have always loved XTC , but while sorting my (rather too large) collection of CD's I came across something that I haven't played for years and its their album they released in 1987 under the name of the 'Dukes' as a pseudo 60's band , the whole album is rather damn good , but for BB's fans it has one of the best BB's songs that the BB's never wrote (if you know what I mean) in 'Pale and Precious' ,

Enjoy

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRcXWGLummo&feature=related

[Alex]

I love Vanishing Girl!

[phirnis]

The Dukes of Stratosphear stuff is pretty consistent, as far as I'm concerned this may be XTC's finest hour.

If I remember correctly "Pale and Precious" even genuinely appealed to Brian Wilson himself.

[B-Rex]

It is fantastic!  Pale and Precious is certainly in the top few BW tributes out there.  It actually manages to capture the musical essence of Pet Sounds, no small feat.

Another fine ode to psychedilia is Andrew Gold's Greetings from Planet Love by the Fraternal Order of the All.  He hits the sounds of Beatles, Left Banke, Beach Boys, Byrds, Doors and others.

[Rerun]

I the best BB's songs that the BB's never wrote (if you know what I mean) in 'Pale and Precious'

I say almost the exact same thing about that song.  You know when that organ kicks in California Girl style, its just heavenly.

[vintagemusic]

Quite a few of the songs remind me of Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, And the BBoys Brian Wilson
tribute Pale and Precious is nice as well.

I rather like the second songwriter Colin Moulding, the contrast between he and Partridge is
one of the things that made it good for me. Although Moulding only wrote a few of the "Dukes"
songs.

[alf wiedersehen]

So, this is a band I've recently fallen under the spell of.

It started about a year ago, when I was working in a record store and came across a band with a name that had been bouncing around in my head, but had no idea why. So, as any well-meaning person with easy access, I decided to investigate.

This was the first album of theirs I bought:


Now, at this time, I had to downsize my record player and assorted attachments due to space, so I also picked up one of those new fancy, shmancy record players that will transfer your vinyl to MP3s - which just never worked out well for me. I agonized over the smallest pops and clicks and eventually gave up.
Anyway, this is one the records I distinctly remember transferring. I remember being fooled by the "Respectable Street"'s intro and thinking that the record was in terrible condition. Once I figured it out (read: it kept playing), I fell in love with this song and the next one, "Generals and Majors." I went to YouTube a few times to watch the music videos and really enjoyed them. The first side finished transferring and I decided that was far enough for that night.

Later, I decided that I also wanted English Settlement, so I bought that, too. Little did I know it was supposed to be a double album, and I got the bastardized "rest-of-the-world" version.
Then, I discovered their alternate identities, The Dukes of Stratosphear, which appealed to me greatly. I bought their first album/EP, 25 O'Clock, and attempted to transfer that, too. Didn't work out, just couldn't fix the clicks. When I finally listened to it, I remember being unimpressed.

I promptly forgot about them.

Cut to a year later, and I'm walking around in a music store. I come across the XTC section which didn't have much, but it did have one album I had read about: Oranges & Lemons. I bought it and went home excited to listen to it. When I finally did, I was unimpressed once again. The sound just totally turned me off of the album.

Once again, I took a small break from the band. However, for some reason, I held onto the hope that I would love them. So, one fine day, I decided to listen to Drums & Wires. Oh my gosh, I loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove that album. It's a great new wave record filled with so many fantastic ideas, I'm surprised they didn't sputter out and give up on the follow up. My favorites including "Making Plans for Nigel", "Helicopter", "When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty", and "Complicated Game". I also recently turned Hypehat and Judd onto this album, who seem to be head-over-heels for it.

Then, I decided to give 25 O'Clock another chance, and guess what, I love it. It's a nice record, sounds like it could have come straight out of 1967, and is sort of fun to pick out the influences on each track. Lennon on "The Mole from the Ministry"; Syd Barrett on "Bike Ride to the Moon"...
They sink their hooks deeper into me.

After giving these some time, I decided to listen to Black Sea. After a first listen, I didn't love it as much as I thought I would. It seemed like the first two tracks promised too much, and the rest of the record was in their shadow. However, some repeated listening has proven me wrong and the other songs are just as great: "Rocket from a Bottle", "Towers of London", "Paper & Iron", and "Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)" being some of my current favorites. I also recently re-discovered that I had purchased Black Sea and English Settlement on vinyl, which must have been sitting on the bookshelf for a great while now.

I've been slowly making my way through their discography, not really in any rush, and I plan on getting to English Settlement next, which I am looking forward to.

In the meantime, I've also gone back to Oranges & Lemons, a lot of which I like now; I've been checking out the Fuzzy Warbles series, which has some great stuff on it, too; and I recently bought the deluxe versions of 25 O'Clock, Psonic Psonspot, and the new, polarity-corrected Skylarking. I don't know what it is, but I'm totally transfixed with this band.

Anyway, now that I'm done with my rambling, I saw quite a few of you who named XTC as one of your favorite bands.
What's your experience with them? What's your favorite album?

[Dudd]

25 O'Clock and Drums and Wires were both good fun, although I remain less than impressed with Oranges & Lemon. I'd be interested in listening to Skylarking and that other DOS album though.

And as you pointed out to me the other day, their singles have some rather inventing packaging:


we should totally play this

[Mark H]

Love XTC

I first heard 'Pale & Precious' as someone recommended it to me as a Beach Boys fan.  After that I heard Mayor of Simpleton and those 2 songs were enough for me to commit to just buying all their albums I could find!  Got Skylarking first and that is one of my fave albums for any band now.  After absorbing the discography I bought Andy's Fuzzy Warbles series of unreleased/demos etc.

Then had a period of mourning for a great band who sat out a lot of the 90's on strike and may now never record as XTC again.  Shame.

Bit peeved that the new awesome looking reissues on Andy's own APE label have the bonus tracks on a blu ray disc.  Keeps costs and disc number down but I can't listen to em/burn em   All the Nonsuch album as instrumentals would be amazing to have.

My faves?  Skylarking/Nonsuch/Apple Venus 1 & 2 but love em all really. 

[feelsflow]

Okay, let's begin...

Hopefully by now you've discovered chalkhills.org - The xtc site with all the Ape and Andy news fit to print.  And Colin, Dave and the rest on those rare times they are willing to share their thoughts.  ...not too often.  Though I read the other day Colin is thinking of sticking a toe back in.  maybe.  He actually makes statements like, "I don't even like or listen to music anymore."  Well, happy monkey you are then.

There you will find answers to burning (with optimism's flame) questions such as, just what is this polarity corrected Skylarking of which you speak.  I have not heard it yet, but fingers are wagging over on Amazon, and around the dial.  Some say it's not that different, it's just another re-master, others say unequaled.  The new re-do was started back in 2011, when they released a version on two 45rpm vinyl discs.  Too late if you don't have one yet, as they now sell for hundreds of dollars, if you can find one.  I couldn't, even though I knew about them on release.  The Ape site had 'em, but I didn't act quick enough.  You had to be very quick!  Also when I first started seeing vinyl commanding sums like $40-to-$50 per disc, I stepped back.  Now it's just the way it is - if you want vinyl, it costs.  Andy says:  the polarities were reversed on the master tapes when they went to press, so what was supposed to push the speakers out - were pulling them in.  Still, what I have sounds great.  I'm going to wait and see if they can find the source tapes, so that a 5.1 surround Blu-Ray can be made.  Damn you Virgin Records for misplacing them.  They don't like Andy and Colin much.  If Andy can get any more Bly-Rays together, he'll be a richer man for it.  The fans will come running.  I already have both of the vinyl versions, with and without "Dear God" and the Japan MLPS from 2001, the year all the albums were last re-mastered.  They sound fantastic, and include bonus tracks.  I have all but the first two, more on that later.  

.

Tonight, 24 May, if you live in the Boston area, a tribute concert will be held at The Iron Horse in North Hampton, MA.  How timely of you Bubbly, to start this thread today!  And catch my attention.

.

Before making any more mistakes, like buying the wrong English Settlement - check chalkhills, and I know you know about discogs.com.  Drums and Wires (August 1979), was a good place to start.  That is when Gregory joined in the fun, and he stayed until the sessions for Apple Venus Volume 1.  It changed everything.  Bringing in guitar sounds, keyboards and string arrangements.  When they want The Brian Wilson Sound, he's in the room to help.  Andy and Colin are the writers, but he adds the "magic" that was not on the first two records.  White Music (January 1978) and Go 2 (October 1978) are best left to 45s and comp. packs.  Andy even did a re-do of the second album - but it didn't help.  There are a few strong tracks.  But they were not the Ramones, and I guess Barry thought they were.  Everything was way too fast.  Listen before you buy.

Support This Band!  Buy the Apple Box.  If you are on a budget right now, it's easy to get the rarities disc Rag & Bone Buffet - it's essential.

I know some of you don't like to read long posts, so I'll go quite for now.  Tomorrow I will post my favorites.

Now let's all be frivolous tonight.

[Moon Dawg]

Skylarking

[Alex]

Dear God is a great song.

[Summertime Blooz]

I go back as an XTC fan all the way to their beginning with the '3D EP' import that preceded their first album (I'm old).  I even got a chance to see them at a nightclub in  DC before Andy Partridge had a breakdown and XTC ceased to exist as a touring entity. Ever since that first album, which I think is fantastic, XTC has been one of my very favorite bands. Go 2 was a major letdown after the sheer brilliance of the debut, but they were a fractured group at this point, and keyboardist Barry Andrews soon left. Enter Dave Gregory to complete the classic XTC lineup. Along with mastermind Andy Partridge and sidekick Colin Moulding, they would go on to create a run of amazing albums that few bands can match. 'Drums and Wires' started the string and is still possibly my favorite album by them (alternating with 'Skylarking', depending on what year it is). 'Black Sea' is just as great. 'English Settlement' is a bit overstuffed to take in at a single sitting, but so many wonderful songs are there too. I find 'Mummer' is the least pleasing album from this era, low key and more pastoral than their earlier work, but is improved upon greatly in it's CD version with great bonus tracks like 'Toys' and 'Gold', originally released on singles. The band rebounded strongly with 'The Big Express' where they regained their rock edge. The Todd Rundgren produced masterpiece 'Skylarking', XTC's most fully realized and cohesive album statement soon followed. By definition, you can't really top your masterpiece, but 'Skylarking' was followed by two more almost-as good albums. By this point, the band was taking advantage of the expanded amount of running time allowed to them by the increasingly popular CD format. The double album 'Oranges and Lemons' offers up 15 mostly excellent tracks and even produced a minor hit 'Mayor of Simpleton'. Three years later they capped off their classic Virgin Records era with 'Nonsuch', a great jam-packed album that showed no evidence that the XTC engine was about to come to a stop for the next seven years. After a lengthy legal battle with Virgin, XTC returned (minus Dave Gregory) with the perfectly fine orchestrally-minded 'Apple Venus', a seeming successor to 'Skylarking'. Alas, 'Wasp Star' (AKA 'Apple Venus Part 2) was an extreme disappointment, unable to recapture the magic that XTC could once conjure so easily. Is this where the story ends? Probably not, but if it is, Partridge, Moulding, and Gregory have still left behind a musical legacy that few recording artists achieve.

[alf wiedersehen]

Hopefully by now you've discovered chalkhills.org - The xtc site with all the Ape and Andy news fit to print.  And Colin, Dave and the rest on those rare times they are willing to share their thoughts.  ...not too often.  Though I read the other day Colin is thinking of sticking a toe back in.  maybe.  He actually makes statements like, "I don't even like or listen to music anymore."  Well, happy monkey you are then.

Actually, I have found that. Been spending quite a bit of time there lately. I love reading the song-specific interviews with Andy or Colin. They usually have some interesting things to say.

I wish Colin would come back to music. It's nice that Andy's still making albums like Gonwards and such, and I think he could probably do the next XTC album himself. But, it definitely wouldn't be the same. Although, I find Colin's songs can be too political sometimes - I guess I just like Andy's style more..

I'm going to wait and see if they can find the source tapes, so that a 5.1 surround Blu-Ray can be made.  Damn you Virgin Records for misplacing them.  They don't like Andy and Colin much.  If Andy can get any more Bly-Rays together, he'll be a richer man for it.  The fans will come running.  I already have both of the vinyl versions, with and without "Dear God" and the Japan MLPS from 2001, the year all the albums were last re-mastered.  They sound fantastic, and include bonus tracks.

Yeah, I get why you would wait. However, I don't have any copy of Skylarking, so I figured this would be a great version to start with.

Have you heard about the new Drums & Wires they're planning? Apparently, they've got a bunch of demos and a rehearsal sessions, and it's turning out to be about 40 tracks in total. So, I'm definitely looking forward to that. Obviously, I'll have to buy that quickly before they run out. Andy has a twitter where he talks about stuff like this: twitter.com/xtcfans. On one of his tweets, Steve Lilywhite was talking to him and revealed that Andy did the entirety of the "Complicated Game" vocal in one take.

Support This Band!  Buy the Apple Box.  If you are on a budget right now, it's easy to get the rarities disc Rag & Bone Buffet - it's essential.

I know some of you don't like to read long posts, so I'll go quite for now.  Tomorrow I will post my favorites.

Now let's all be frivolous tonight.

I would love to buy the Apple Box to get both albums and the extra tracks in one fall swoop, but it's gotten to be pricey. Oh, well. After just buying three XTC/Duke of Stratosphear CDs, I figure I should take a break from more buying at the moment.

I appreciate the numerous puns throughout your message.

[Summertime Blooz]

So, this is a band I've recently fallen under the spell of.

It started about a year ago, when I was working in a record store and came across a band with a name that had been bouncing around in my head, but had no idea why. So, as any well-meaning person with easy access, I decided to investigate.

This was the first album of theirs I bought:

Looking for this image, I just learned that the seagull, shipmast, and crescent moon on the cover spell out X-T-C in a camouflaged fashion. Always something new to learn. Strangely, my copy of that album came in a green paper bag like this:

[alf wiedersehen]

Today, I bought this pin from a record store.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

Hell of a band! Then they just kinda faded away from my radar and I lost track of them.

[alf wiedersehen]

Well, I listened to English Settlement for the first time.
I really liked the run of "Senses Working Overtime" through "Yacht Dance".

It's a very thick record, I'll probably have to give it a few more listens.
Nothing I didn't like, though.

[feelsflow]

Glad you got that Bubbly.  On CD or vinyl?  English Settlement is on my Top 10 albums list.  The pin looks vintage, hard to tell from a photo.  Nice find!  I don't have the Apple Box either.  By the time it came out, I had already bought the four individual CDs.  Apple Venus Volume 1 is the one to get of those.  I'm trying to find a good price on the Coat of Many Cupboards Box.  I love their demo versions.  But I'm not rich.  Lots of stuff to save up for and fit into the budget.

Your xtc Place has now merged with a thread I had not read before.  Hope that more of the many folks that comment on xtc in their posts will join in.

Like Me!  Sorry I haven't got around to my favorites post.  I do have it written, just need to tap it in.  Jobs come up.  I've been trying to bring some order to the storage room - boy that's tough and time consuming.  Must be great to have time to hang-out in record stores...ahh, the old days.  Also, as you've noticed, I have joined the discussion on the Kinks.  I'm writing another post for that thread too. Their catalogue is complicated and full of re-issue after re-issue, which makes collecting them difficult to explain.  Days are short.

[Gertie J.]

The Dukes of Stratosphear stuff is pretty consistent, as far as I'm concerned this may be XTC's finest hour.

If I remember correctly "Pale and Precious" even genuinely appealed to Brian Wilson himself.

lol brian would listen to everything with harmonies and or full band.

[alf wiedersehen]

Glad you got that Bubbly.  On CD or vinyl?  English Settlement is on my Top 10 albums list.  The pin looks vintage, hard to tell from a photo.  Nice find!  I don't have the Apple Box either.  By the time it came out, I had already bought the four individual CDs.  Apple Venus Volume 1 is the one to get of those.  I'm trying to find a good price on the Coat of Many Cupboards Box.  I love their demo versions.  But I'm not rich.  Lots of stuff to save up for and fit into the budget.

Well, like I said before, I have the single-album version on vinyl. So, I ended up looking for and getting the album through "less-than-legal" means. After buying three other XTC CDs, I figured I would give the wallet a temporary break. I'll end up buying it sooner or later, along with all the band's other releases. I'd also like to buy Coat of Cupboards - if I can find it reasonably cheap enough.
Also, I'm not sure about the pin, either. That's not an actual photo of it, I just found a photo of the same type of pin and put it up. It's looks a little scuffed and beat up, so it certainly isn't new.

Your xtc Place has now merged with a thread I had not read before.  Hope that more of the many folks that comment on xtc in their posts will join in.

Yeah, it seems it has. I wish it hadn't because that one was about The Dukes, but I don make the rules.
I wish more people would join in, too. It's hard to get a discussion going on bands that are a little more obscure, like XTC. I would be cool to read about people's different takes on the albums, what they thought about them when they were around, if they ever went to a concert...

Sorry I haven't got around to my favorites post.  I do have it written, just need to tap it in.  Jobs come up.  I've been trying to bring some order to the storage room - boy that's tough and time consuming.  Must be great to have time to hang-out in record stores...ahh, the old days.

I look forward to your post about your favorites. I'll venture a blind guess that they are Oranges and Lemons, Skylarking, and English Settlement (this last guess wasn't so hard).
Where you a fan of them when they were still active? I'm curious to know what the average person thought of them, or if they were even aware of them after they stopped touring. Todd's association probably helped to bring them a good bit of attention at the time.

[alf wiedersehen]

The Dukes of Stratosphear stuff is pretty consistent, as far as I'm concerned this may be XTC's finest hour.

If I remember correctly "Pale and Precious" even genuinely appealed to Brian Wilson himself.

lol brian would listen to everything with harmonies and or full band.

Fabulous contribution, thank you.

[Gertie J.]

wha ?

[alf wiedersehen]

While playing "Senses Working Overtime" today (as I am wont to do), my mother told me that she recognized the song (she also remembers "No Thugs in Our House") from my grandmother playing these songs over thirty years ago. I thought that was pretty interesting.

My grandmother and I have very similar taste in music for whatever reason.

English Settlement has really grown on me lately since my first listening. I really love it now.
Mummer is on the horizon.

[The Demon]

While playing "Senses Working Overtime" today (as I am wont to do), my mother told me that she recognized the song (she also remembers "No Thugs in Our House") from my grandmother playing these songs over thirty years ago. I thought that was pretty interesting.

My grandmother and I have very similar taste in music for whatever reason.

English Settlement has really grown on me lately since my first listening. I really love it now.
Mummer is on the horizon.

Mummer is wonderful, very underrated.  "Great Fire," "Wonderland," and "In Loving Memory of a Name" are three of my favorite XTC songs.