XTC (2008 REPRINT)

Drums And Wires - ***1/2
Black Sea - ****
English Settlement - ***1/2
Mummer - ****
The Big Express - ****
(Chips From The Chocolate Fireball - *****)
Skylarking - *****
Oranges And Lemons - ***1/2
Nonsuch - ****
Apple Venus - *****
Wasp Star - **1/2
(Fuzzy Warbles Box Set - ****)
(Chalkhills And Children Book - ****)

Swindon's XTC managed to achieve a fair bit of commercial success and press intrigue, if not necessarily adulation, during the late 1970's. In true 'me' fashion, i don't actually own the first two albums, but from the odd single that's passed my way and the gist of the reviews i've seen, 'White Music' is cartoony, melodic punk with some fun tracks but not one that's gonna stick around on your turntable. Follow-up 'Go 2' is generally seen as a mis-step, its forays away from the tried-and-tested formula falling flat on account of weaker songs and most people by now getting a bit sick of Barry Andrews' unusual but rather tiresome screeching Bontempi organ. From what i've read anyway - should really hear the damn things for myself!

'Drums And Wires' from 1979, however, got things back on track, being strengthened by the presence of David Gregory, a new guitarist and musical foil for main songwriter Andy Partridge. Oddly enough, it's the songs by bassist Colin Moulding which hit hardest here - the classic 'Making Plans For Nigel' with its radio-friendly melody and innovative drumming approach from resident jack-the-lad Terry Chambers, and the Motown stomp and (again) immediate melody of 'Life Begins At The Hop'. The Partridge songs, whilst generally more melodically adventurous, do have a tendency to grate at this point, although i must confess to a soft spot for the awkward 'When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty'.



Iconic artwork for 'Drums And Wires'.



Splendid TOTP performance of 'Making Plans For Nigel'.


Things tighten up and toughen up generally on the following year's 'Black Sea' (trust me, these guys were pretty prolific during their early period). Although the guitars carry a bit more weight, the sheer classicism of Partridge and Moulding's songs, along with smart production from a young Steve Lillywhite, keep it all very focussed. Although the writing would get more adventurous in later years, this stands as one of the most consistent XTC albums, from the witty 'Respectable Street' to the skittering 'Generals And Majors' and 'Love At First Sight'. Actually, this might be a pretty good starting point for more rock-oriented newcomers.



Black Sea - "a pretty good starting point" apparently. Great artwork too.


The next album, 'English Settlement', has often been hailed as the group's finest early achievement. Personally, i actually consider it a rather less consistent affair than 'Black Sea', being an album dotted with some glorious compositions but a victim of its own diversity. I'm all in favour of bands stretching out a bit and trying new things, but for me, the songs don't quite manage to back up these dalliances. The strongest material seems to appear at the two ends of the album, the first few songs being among XTC's very best. 'Senses Working Overtime', for instance, should be played to the likes of Coldplay and U2 as an example of how to write a song that can be truly life-affirming without ramming its self-importance down our throats with empty gestures. 'Runaways', 'Ball And Chain' and 'Jason And The Argonauts' all display a band fully capable of using traditional 60's pop songcraft to genuinely unique ends. Closing double-shot 'English Roundabout' and 'Snowman' stand as the best of the more stylistically ambitious tracks, seamlessly adopting ska/reggae influenced rhythms. There are a couple of other winners, but there's are vast swathes of this double-album which pass me by pleasantly but fail to be truly involving. Perhaps a concise single album would have been a wiser bet.



More impeccable pop with 'Senses Working Overtime'.


Fans will be all too familiar with what happened next. Andy developed severe stage fright, resulting in an end to XTC as a live entity and eventually the departure of Terry Chambers. Partridge's recovery is captured on 1983's transitional 'Mummer'. Now, some fans will want me arrested for saying something so absurd, but i actually prefer this to 'English Settlement'. I'm fully aware that the best songs are on that album, but as a complete listening experience, i just find this more... welcoming seems appropriate. It feels very 'small', whatever that means, possibly due to the low-key production. Having said that, both songwriters contribute some truly lovely melodies here. 'Love On A Farmboy's Wages', 'Great Fire' and 'In Loving Memory Of A Name' all just scream out 'XTC' with their intricate sturctures, engaging chord changes and unpretentiously evocative instrumentation (is it just me or does the bass on 'Farmboy' imitate a cow at one point?!). Admittedly, there's the small matter of the dire 'Me And The Wind' to get past, but the closing 'Funk Pop A Roll' pulls things back with exhilirating style and passion.



Don't want to seem gratuitous, but here are the final moments of XTC as a touring band.


Another oft-dismissed member of the XTC family is 1984's 'The Big Express'. I'm not going to argue for a second with accusations that the production is distinctly overcooked at times. On the other hand, i must declare this to be one of the finest albums in terms of lyrical content that i have ever heard. Partridge is simply on fire, with the likes of 'Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her' (think the Beach Boys relocating to a drizzly Bognor Regis), the Kinks-with kazoos 'Everyday Story Of Smalltown' and moving cautionary tale of 'This World Over' not just packing considerable melodic punch, but also saying so much more with breathtaking eloquence than virtually any other artist at the time or since. To be honest, i'll never be able to get on board with the ridiculous 'Shake Your Donkey Up' or 'Reign Of Blows', but some of the other more overblown moments, such as the sea-faring 'All You Pretty Girls', can't help but pull you in with their audacious charm. Another impressive closing one-two win over any doubts, Moulding's 'I Remember The Sun' displaying a disarming wistfulness and Partridge's 'Train Running Low On Soul Coal' making fascinating use of locomotive metaphors and a previously largely-concealed Captain Beefheart fixation.



'Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her' from the under-rated Big Express, 1984.



Another Big Express number, this time a mimed performance of 'This World Over'. Seemingly on a rather misty day.


Yes, 'Mummer' and 'The Big Express' are well worth sticking with, but if you want something that's going to grab you by the shoulders and whisk you away, back to a world that possibly never quite existed, 'Chips From The Chocolate Frireball' is indispensible. Compiling two John Leckie-produced EPs recorded under the pseudonym The Dukes Of Stratosphear, this album is both a total novelty and a total gem, openly paying tribute to psychedelic classics by, for example, The Beatles, Syd-era Pink Floyd, The Hollies and The Beach Boys. The plaigirism is shameless, the enthusiasm and deftness of touch almost unbearably convincing. I honestly can't think of another album that's so much fun to listen to. 'Bike Ride To The Moon', for instance, takes the Barrett template and sends it into surreal singalong hyperspace, whilst 'The Mole From The Ministry' openly yet triumphantly mimicks 'I Am The Walrus', right down to the joyous video (try YouTube). The real reason this works so magically, though, is the sheer quality of the songs and clarity of vision. I mean, the space-rock mid-section on '25 O'Clock' - well, for me, that groove's pretty damn close to genius. 'Vanishing Girl' stands as one of the most melodic songs in the enitre back catalogue of a band that trades very heavily in melody. Things get hard to believe by the end on 'Pale And Precious', a mid-to-late-60's Beach Boys replica which not only rivals a lot of the subsequent, admittedly wonderful Wilson and Co. efforts, but even gives the transcendent beauty of 'Pet Sounds' and 'SMiLE' a serious run for its money. Tellingly, there are a lot of people out there who don't really rate XTC but can't help but appreciate what they managed to achieve as The Dukes.



The acceptable face of pastiche - collage for the first Dukes Of Stratosphear EP. You just can't go wrong with their artwork can you?



The exquisite 'Pale And Precious' - just a taste of the fun to be had with the Dukes.


So after all that wonderful mucking about, what happened with the next album proper? Well, Todd Rundgren was brought in to produce, which may sound like a serendipitous meeting between masters of the form, but the relationship was extremely strained, Rundgren's uncommunicative approach baffling the band and Andy's by now notoriously uncompromising attitude towards production leading to a virtual impasse (Partridge brilliantly comparing the situation to having "two Hitlers in the same bunker"). When 'Skylarking' emerged in 1986, though, such controversies took a back seat. Although commercially it initially failed to build upon the weak performance of the last two LPs (at least until the infamous 'Dear God' single came out), crtitcs and loyal devotees were stunned by the childlike wonder contained within. From the evocative splendour of 'Summer's Cauldron' to the aquatic dream world of 'Mermaid Smiled' (criminally left off some pressings), from the spy-theme jazzy meander of 'The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul' to the plain-astonishing pop hook-a-thon of 'Earn Enough For Us', the album seemed to combine the finest elements of their two previous attempts at a pastorally-themed work, 'English Settlement' and 'Mummer', whilst simultaneously taking the songwriting to a whole new level. As ever, some tracks may seem a little over-eager at first, but they should work their way into your heart soon enough!



Skylarking - maybe their finest album, undoubtedly their dullest cover art!



Skylarking's euphonic opening - 'Summer's Cauldron'.


Could they keep this run going? In my opinion, no, they didn't quite manage it. 1989's 'Oranges And Lemons' is another album heavily praised in some quarters, but part of me thinks some listeners have been overly distracted by the awe-inspiring technicolour artwork. All of XTC's production over-indulgences across the years are swiftly put into perspective by the absolute mess that greets you on this double LP. Don't get me wrong, there are several great songs hiding under all the creaking chandeliers and buttresses, but you'd think the band didn't want you to find them! The unashamedly sugary pop of Moulding's 'King For A Day', the satirical fanfares of 'Here Comes President Kill Again', the winding chords and sycnopations of 'Scarecrow People'... these are all great XTC songs, but any flow the album hopes to build up is scuppered by such offenders as 'Merely A Man' and 'The Loving'. I mean, SERIOUSLY, did these sound like a good idea in the studio? Personally, i simply can't listen to them. Maybe if i heard an acoustic version or something, but in this form, they're pretty much unbearable to my ears. It's all a bit of a shame, especially when the closing song is so wonderful. 'Chalkhills And Children' rivals 'Pale And Precious' in the Beach-Boys-come-to-Wiltshire stakes, almost recalling (remarkably) that Scott Walker beauty 'Plastic Palace People' in its "floating over strange lands" metaphors and elegiac atmosphere. Here, though, such poetic images are used to effortlessly describe the "fickle fire" of fame. Seriously, it's really beautiful and makes sitting through the rambling chaos which precedes it all worthwhile.



'Chalkhills And Children' - the clear highlight of maybe the most over-produced album in history. Still, the artwork was back on track!


Perversely, 'Oranges And Lemons' was their biggest commercial success for years (especially in the US), so the pressure was on for follow-up 'Nonsuch'. Of course, as living proof of the cautionary tale behind 'Chalkhills And Children', the album flopped, although it now stands today as a significant improvement from its predecessor. I've just realised that i've barely mentioned Dave Gregory in all of this. Well, he'd always been a more-than-capable decorator for the lavish fantasies of Partridge and Moulding's songs, but here he really excels himself, especially in his wonderfully delicate piano and organ contributions. Two songs stand out from the rest - the haunting, mournful, yet impossibly heavenly 'Rook' and the latest, overwhelmingly successful attempt to superglue together all the gorgeous bits of peak-period Brian Wilson and Burt Bacharach, 'Wrapped In Grey'. How Andy constructed these toweringly beautiful edifices of sound and emotion is frankly beyond me, some of the harmonic and lyrical twists (especially on the chorus of 'Rook') proving almost too much for this poor sap. Away from these masterpieces, there's plenty of more standard XTC fare, with several songs creating an almost medieval feel to complement the sleeve art. 'Humble Daisy' touches the emotions in a way only Partridge can, 'Omnibus' clatters through your synapses with a thrillingly lolloping groove, and Moulding's 'My Bird Performs' and 'Bungalow' find the band's second songwriter reaching new levels of eloquence and creativity. Yeah, there's a few duds in there ('War Dance' being the weakest on offer), but there's enough prime pop cuts like The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead' and 'The Disappointed' to compensate.



Partridge surpasses himself with 'Wrapped In Grey' from Nonsuch.



The other truly GREAT Nonsuch track, 'Rook'. Apparently a sudden breakthrough following an extended period of writer's block.


Now we reach a real crossroads, as XTC effectively go on strike in response to the raw deal they're getting from label Virgin, having to wait over five years to be fully released from their obligations. During this time, though, Partridge (as well as embarking upon numerous collaborations) managed to take what he'd learnt on songs like 'Rook' and 'Wrapped In Grey' and gather all the messy emotions he was experiencing at this time (he was also going through a divorce), resulting in a set of songs which occassionally dwarfed even 'Skylarking' once they were finally able to record them. It wasn't easy though. During by all accounts one of the most laborious, painful recording processes in rock history (at least among those not fuelled by hard drugs), Dave Gregory finally tired of Andy's incessant demands. He still contributed the odd bit of varnish here and there, but overall, 1999's 'Apple Venus', once finally completed, was the work of a songwriting duo. And it's absolutely glorious. I've no idea why it's not more widely praised, or why it doesn't regularly pop up in all those '100 Greatest Albums' pieces in Q and Mojo. OK, so for an all-time classic, it's a little inconsistent ('Your Dictionary' doesn't quite hold together, 'Green Man' goes on a bit too long and Moulding's songs are fun but not quite up to the standards of his partner's), but that definitely shouldn't stop anyone unaware of its hidden glories from jumping in feet first. Some may be put off initially by the uncomfortable honesty of the lyrics, but you soon realise that Andy has opened up to the listener in an almost incomparable gesture of faith and, on balance, probably gratitude for sticking with the bad for so long. The orchestral flourishes dusted over recent albums give way to full string arrangements, from the cascading pizzicato treasure of 'River Of Orchids' to the tearful, heartbroken swells of 'I Can't Own Her'. It's a very English record which, at its best, transcends all those silly musical boundaries and joins that exalted group of timeless works of art. One song, 'Easter Theatre', genuinely defies any form of categorization. What on earth is going on with those chords, the sawing, building strings, the fragile poetry of the lyrics (a pitch-perfect depiction of the frantic pleasures of Spring)? It's quite simply one of the finest pieces of music i've had the pleasure to hear. Sure, it won't blow your mind in the same way after you've heard it a few times, but that goes for all other revolutionary moments in art. I could go through the rest of the songs in great detail, but frankly, i'm sure i wouldn't do them justice. Just go and buy the damn thing!



The tasteful Apple Venus artwork, 1999.



'Easter Theatre' - Andy's masterpiece?


My introduction to 'Apple Venus' came via the recent 'Apple Box' set, which combines that album with its demos, as well as featuring its follow-up sister album (along with its demos), 'Wasp Star'. Anyone expecting another life-changing epic will be disappointed though. In fact, it's probably my least favourite XTC album. Which is a real shame, given the roll these guys were on. It's the material... it's just not quite up to the usual standard. There's little inherently wrong with it, but it just feels very forced, making it almost impossible to fall in love with. Abandoning the orchestral graces of the previous LP, here we find a very ordinary sounding production, all nice-but-uninvolving guitar riffs and intricate-but-sterile percussion. Yeah, it's listenable - 'Playground', 'You And The Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful' and Colin's 'Standing In For Joe' and 'In Another Life' are all attractive enough - but it sure won't stick around in your memory for long. There's next to no feel, which hurts all the more given the massively empathetic production and songwriting of 'Apple Venus'. Plus there are a few truly appalling songs, 'My Brown Guitar' and 'Wounded Horse' not deserving a place in the XTC discography. It hurts to be like this, but the (seemingly) final album from the Partridge/Moulding world of pop is a whole heap of... average.

Let's not finish on such a bleak note, though. Over seven years down the line, with the band all but consigned to the history books and the odd ill-founded comparison in reviews of the latest posey, new-wave-influenced quartet, out came the 'Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album'. I realise that i was slightly behind most devotees, who will have gathered the numerous slices of demo heaven from the Partridge archives unleashed sporadically over the years. Still, i found the eight-disc behemoth (plus obligatory bonus disc) going cheap and took the plunge... and what a thoroughly involving insight into the processes of an eccentirc pop mastermind it is too! Although by nature inconsistent (some of this material had very little hope of reaching a proper XTC album), you end up loving it for its wild, careering strangeness. Accompanied by wonderfully warm sleeve notes, we get demos of XTC classics, bizarre experiments and genuinely hilarious pastiches/bits of studio nonsense. Then there's a whole bunch of unreleased/rare material. Like i said, it's not all album-quality, but it's never less than charming, and occassionally revelatory (try 'Dame Fortune', 'Wonder Annual', 'Tiny Circus Of Life', 'Rocket', 'Goosey Goosey' and 'Prince Of Orange' for size). Obviously not a starting point, this is still a great investment for those true XTC obsessives who still lurk in their semi-detatched houses out in the darkest corners of some grotty English suburb (?!).



Advert for the Fuzzy Warbles boxset (featuring 'Dame Fortune').


As for extra-curricular material, there aren't any official DVDs out there at the moment, but some super fellas have thrown a whole bunch of rare footage and TV appearances onto YouTube, so get searching! There is a book though, 'Chalkhills And Children' by Chris Twomey, a fine attempt at distilling the band's sprawling history into one, relatively brief read. Although i'm still hoping (perhaps in vain) for a Partridge autobiography, this will more than suffice for the time being.


*******************************

2010 UPDATE

Not much to report i'm afraid. Colin seems to have scarpered for good. Andy joined up with Barry Andrews again for an album of Can-esque experimental improvisation as Monstrance (which i haven't heard but am quite intrigued by). Even more enticing is the prospect of an album-length collaboration with another personal favourite Robyn Hitchcock, although that might be some way from fruition.

In my original excitement, i seem to have omitted the 'Rag 'N' Bone Buffet' rarities compilation (***1/2). As with all such venutres, there's some expendable baggage (a censored version of 'Respectable Street', a few dodgy early B-sides) but you also get a number of non-album tracks which could easily made the cut, such as Andy's 'Heaven Is Paved With Broken Glass' and Colin's 'Blame The Weather'. Then there's harmless fun in the form of two Christmas songs and a great closing summary of the 'History Of Rock And Roll' in 20 seconds.

Another interesting XTC-related discovery i made since pouring this lot out was an album by lo-fi pop specialist (and one-time poet for The Independent) Martin Newell. 'The Greatest Living Englishman' (***1/2) was recorded in Andy Partridge's shed (much like many of the Fuzzy Warbles tracks) and features our man as producer and multi-instrumentalist - being in such close confines probably meant he had to be kept busy. Newell trades primarily in Beatles/Byrds-type melodic jangle, which can get a bit predictable at times, but he's undoubtedly a gifted songwriter with an unsurprising knack for an evocative lyric. Also there are traces of Partridge-instigated experiments with synthesised strings (much better than that sounds) which hint at what was to come on 'Apple Venus'. A very interesting album for fans, and an artist well-worth exploring ('The Wayward Genius Of Martin Newell' (****), though a bit of a misnomer, is a great starting point).



Martin Newell's 'Before The Hurricane'. Shades of Apple Venus?


XTC were always a band who traded more on their charm and good-ole honest songcraft than on any real ties to fashionable scenes or passing fads. If that makes them sound like prosaic dullards then don't be fooled - Andy Partridge deserves to go down as one of the finest pop writers full stop.

PS - In hindsight, i'm not sure why i was quite so harsh on 'Oranges And Lemons'. The production wasn't THAT bad, was it?!