XTC's "Coat of Many Cupboards" Box Set

Cafe Society
1

Anyone else get it yet? I picked it up last night and am listening to Disc 2 right now. It’s a collection of demos, live material (very valuable, considering), unreleased takes, rehearsals, etc. The quality is excellent, considering the variety of source material. And the liner notes are simply outstanding, with a 26-page essay by Harrison Sherwood of the Chalkhills mailing list, and song-by-song notes by Andy Partridge.

It’s really cool to hear the evolution of the band from the simple ska-meets-Buzzcocks early material to the increasingly complex material of the later years. I plan on listening to this a few times to really get it, just like with any XTC recording!

2

I have not gotten that CD. Not because I don’t like XTC (I luv 'em), but because it looked like a lot of rehash type of stuff. I never got into their live material. What I would strongly recommend to hard core XTC fans is to download their unreleased stuff from Gnutella or whatever. I have 3 hours worth of songs that in many cases are superior to their official product. The only song in my bootleg collection that appears in “Cupbords” is “Didn’t Hurt A Bit.” Don’t miss “Young Cleopatra” or “The Ship Trapped In The Ice.”