Just like Biffy, my Oranges and Lemons is also the 3" CD version. I took it along with me when XTC was doing an in-store promotion and got it autographed by the band. Andy even held it up to show Colin, commenting that he heard about the mini CD version, but hadn’t seen it yet. It was probably my best brush with rock and roll greatness.
Amen! One of my favorite bands. In addition to the recommendations, check out Mummer, which is symbolic as Partridge’s sort of home-coming masquerade party after deciding not to tour… first English Settlement then Mummer… the album, as a whole, is sheer genius.
Just want to pop in and add my voice as an XTC fan, and as a defender of their later albums. Nonsuch was the album that got me started on them, and I still love it to this day. I went forward from there, and backward to Skylarking. I haven’t gotten around to picking up the stuff earlier than that (short of funds, listening to other stuff, etc.) Love both Skylarking and Oranges and Lemons. The Dukes of Stratosphear stuff is hit or miss for me, though I concur that “Vanishing Girl” is one of the best songs ever. I was somewhat disappointed with Apple Venus 1, though it has grown on me in recent times. Loved Wasp Star (AV 2) from the start. Those later albums are very good; I think folks here are damning them only from exceedingly high expectations. I would hope that anyone who’s truly a fan would give them a chance.
Having thought about it for a bit, I think what I dislike about the later albums is the level of ornateness. This can work sometimes, and for some bands, but not here IMO.
I think XTC were at their prime around the time of Drums and Wires and Black Sea. Really great 4 piece band, and while there were some embellishments, they were kept to a minimum as they were still playing the songs live.
After they stopped touring, Partridge got a bit crazy with the machinery and that is when I somewhat lost interest (I admit that I have never listened to Big Express; that and the last album are the only ones I don’t have–and honestly don’t want) . A reason I continued to like most of what Colin Moulding did was because his songs remained fairly straight-forward.
Despite all of this, Skylarking worked–and I think a lot of credit must go to Todd Rundgren’s production…he must have reeled Partridge in quite a bit (I heard he was quite the control freak in those sessions–so, there you go.) There were embellishments, and gimmickry but the songs were so good that it didn’t matter ( one of the few cases where I believe sound effects were essential in creating a mood). The songs on the later albums got more layered and more dense and you can tell that they spent 3 days on, like, a 20 second segment of a song. I am a big fan of “first take” recordings, so this bugs me a lot.
I heard a few of the Nonsuch songs performed live (can’t remember where…maybe that MTV thing they did) and quite enjoyed the stripped down versions.
I really don’t like that album at all. Ugh. There is nothing I hate more than when a band gets into, say The Beach Boys, and does a shitty imitation/interpretation of what they heard. That is Nonsuch. Blargh.
I would have had less of a problem with Apple Venus if it had been an Andy Partridge solo album. It was completely wankified and was nothing like a “coherent” album from a “band”. I pull that album out occasionally ONLY to listen to Moulding’s two songs—oh, how I love Frivolous Tonight!
wow. this feels long. I will stop for now.
Hmmm. I don’t know. Anyone who can’t listen to “Playground” or “We’re All Light” (both from Wasp Star, for those unfamiliar)–that’s someone I’d likely ask, “You do like music, don’t you?”
Regardless, as long as everyone has some XTC to listen to and like, early or late, I’ll consider all of us to be ahead of the game.
We’ve discussed Partridge and Moulding’s songcraft in this thread, but how do y’all rate Dave Gregory and Terry Chambers as sidemen? I think the decision to replace Barry Andrews not with another kooky keyboardist but with the mostly guitar but also synth god Dave Gregory was a masterstroke. I’m amazed at that guy’s virtuosity.
Terry Chambers - the dude is such an enigma. It sounds as if Partridge and Moulding knew him only slightly better than the rest of us did. Sort of an idiot savant drummer. I seem to remember a quote from Andy that simply said that Terry didn’t want to write songs, discuss philosophy, or world events. He just cared about footy, drumming, and getting a pint. But man, what power and precision! Respectable Street, No Thugs in Our House, Smokeless Zone, English Roundabout… transcendent drumming.
They also had excellent producers, namely John Leckie, Steve Lillywhite, Hugh Padgham, and Paul Fox. (I know Skylarking was a hugely successful album but I can’t say it’s at the top of my list, and Andy always complained about working with Rundgren. Anybody else hear that Blur’s second album, Modern Life is Rubbish, was originally recorded and produced by Partridge, but the band and he didn’t get along, and they ended up scrapping the project, recording the songs with Stephen Street instead?
[QUOTE=Hippy Hollow]
We’ve discussed Partridge and Moulding’s songcraft in this thread, but how do y’all rate Dave Gregory and Terry Chambers as sidemen? QUOTE]
I never bought “Drums and Wires” or “Black Sea” on CD (I think I might remedy that soon), but I put on the vinyl versions yesterday while I was working around the house, and I was really struck by some of Gregory’s loopier guitar parts. The oddly restrained “thumb piano” solo on “Life Begins at the Hop.” The weird “falling ball bearing solo” on “Love at First Sight.” His stuff on “Complicated Game” … I think the later records really miss his input.
As an aside, I have the full CD, but the vinyl version of “English Settlement” that I bought in 1982 was a single LP that edited the double version down by 6 songs or so, leaning on the more acoustic side. I think I kind of prefer that version.