The Wheel and the MayPOLL: The XTC Poll Results Thread

53. Roads Girdle the Globe (613 points, 8 votes)
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/53-RoadsGirdleTheGlobe.jpg

52. The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead (615 points, 8 votes)
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/52-BalladOfPeterPumpkinhead.jpg

TIE 51. Runaways (640 points, 9 votes)
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/51-Runaways.jpg
TIE 51. Greenman (640 points, 8 votes)
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/51-Greenman.jpg

50. Beating Of Hearts (644 points, 9 votes, 1 No. 1 vote))
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/50-BeatingOfHearts.jpg

ok that's it for a little bit

"Runaways" one of the first of mine to make it.

hooray for Peter Pumpkin so low

hooray for Roads Girdle the Globe placing, I wasn't sure if that would make it

I know RGTG is a dry-run for No Language On Our Lungs but it's still p spectacular :)

Pale And Precious is if anything too perfect, enters the uncanny valley imo

I haven't heard the Dukes albums.

how do you feel about ridiculously on point pastiche efforts

I did vote for Pale and Precious, but imo, they hadn't quite figured out how to mimic Beach Boys backing vocals yet (though AP's Carl impression is pretty great)

imo if you like British 60s psych at all they are a treasure trove of clever lolz

xp

ok I guess "Pale and Precious" ranking that low is a shock, that's one I thought would get a lot of top 10 votes

that's why: I'm not a fan of either the BB or psychedelia generally, which is why I included few latter-day cuts.

Dukes EP is magnificent on its own terms & you might like it

from Psionic Sunspot onwards the last song of each album (with the exception of 'Books Are Burning imo) feels like it should be a strong contender for top 10, I was also surprised by how low Pale & Precious is

sold

the last song of most of their albums from any period u mean (with a very few exceptions)

Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead and Runaways are my first 2 top 10 songs taken out (5 & 7). I find the Dukes stuff just way too precious,
though I'm aware that when many of the same idiosyncrasies show up on Oranges & Lemons, I'm delighted.

I tend to think English Settlement is the sleeper in the catalog.

would've thought Mummer and Nonsuch were

I love English Settlement for being this baggy, rambling double album that is also consistently brilliant all the way through

the world music moments on ES drag it down imo. Never really XTC's strong suit, bar a few moments here and there, but they sure went back to that well a lot. It was the 80s I guess.

ok next 10 comin up

49. Statue of Liberty (648 points, 9 votes)
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/49-StatueOfLiberty.jpg

I always got the impression that Mummer and The Big Express where their most overlooked, this transition period between mk 1 XTC and their canonical best album (and also between their early modest UK success and later modest US success), but there are a lot of XTC narratives, I guess xp

ES is my favourite despite the missteps coz the good songs are earthshattering

o a white music song made it, how cute

I found the relatively high placement of this next one sort of befuddling

48. Sgt Rock (Is Going To Help Me) (654 points, 8 votes)
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/48-SgtRock.jpg

47. Sacrificial Bonfire (656 points, 8 votes, 1 No. 1 vote))
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/47-SacrificialBonfire.jpg

xp 1984?!

Very happy to see Roads Girdle the Globe make it. I never thought of it as one my favourites but when I was going through some of their albums before voting I really fell in love with it. The guitars on it sound really amazing.

I think Sgt Rock was one of their bigger UK hits? not as big as Nigel or Senses Working Overtime, but still xp

love the crackling fire sound effects in Sacrificial Bonfire. on relistening I noticed that Skylarking really lays these little details on thick. I assume this may have more to do with Rundgren than the band, those little meticulously crafted weird sounds that run through tracks like Summer's Cauldron/Grass with the buzzing cicados or The Meeting Place with its wheezing steam sounds and ratchets turning. I dunno how they resisted rain/thunder sound effects on Ballet for a Rainy Day lol

xp

Sgt Rock maybe works as satire in retrospect but Andy didn't half like pushing his luck

46. My Bird Performs (718 points, 10 votes)
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/46-MyBirdPerforms.jpg

think it was a bigger hit than Nigel

I always got the impression that Mummer and The Big Express where their most overlooked, this transition period between mk 1 XTC and their canonical best album (and also between their early modest UK success and later modest US success), but there are a lot of XTC narratives, I guess xp

I love Big Express, Mummer never quite clicked with me though I love the first three tracks and the bonus tunes. I always found it weird that Mummer felt like a weaker one to me as judging by the bonus tracks and all the stuff on Rag & Bone Buffet from that era they had a wealth of really really good tunes then.

45. Travels in Nihilon (720 points, 8 votes)
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/45-TravelsInNihilon.jpg

I think Sgt Rock was one of their bigger UK hits? not as big as Nigel or Senses Working Overtime, but still xp

― soref,

Those are their only three hits in the UK really. Charted higher than Nigel (By one place) but it's no way as well known.

44. (The Everyday Story of) Smalltown (736 points, 9 votes)
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/44-EverydayStoryOfSmalltown.jpg

43. Are You Receiving Me? (743 points, 11 votes)
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/43-AreYouReceivingMe.jpg

42. Wake Up (750 points, 10 votes)
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/42-WakeUp.jpg

41. The Disappointed (758 points, 9 votes)
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/41-Disappointed.jpg

40. Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her (763 points, 10 votes)
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/40-SeagullScreamingKissHerKissHer.jpg

My Bird Performs is such a beautiful song. As others mentioned in the nominations thread, Peter Pumpkinhead seems so long and when My Bird Performs it seems like a relief and the album can really start from there.

should have used the real graphics from the CD booklet for the Nonsuch tracks imo ;)

Travels In Nihilon was my #3 and of COURSE I voted it really high. It's almost as if they knew I existed and decided to make a careening 7-minute avant-garde blowout to keep me happy. One of my favourite air-drum songs, too

"My Beautiful Performs" is beautiful (love how abrupt the chorus is) if I don't have to listen to the lyrics.

*er "My Bird"

Two of my favourite XTC songs there both from Big Express. Seagulls Screaming was in my top 10. Such a strange and catchy song. The Everyday Story of Smalltown is the song of theirs I'll never understand why it wasn't released as a single. If that had been put out as the first single instead of All You Pretty Girls I'm convinced that would have been their 4th top 20 hit. Great song.

I think I read something where Moulding partly attributed Nigel's status as their best remembered song TO Nigel Lawson being chancellor between 1983-89 and 'Making Plans For Nigel' being used as a headline in newspapers

this. thread. rules.

'Empires crumble in / Wedding cake starts to turn and spoil...' yeah it's undeniable. If it hadn't been for this poll I'd never have heard it.

Let's rank my favorites, mm?

I think I agree. As much as I love half of or most of or some of all the other albums, Black Sea is the only one that's really even in terms of songwriting - quality, sound, and style.

Wouldn't put many of the tracks on a personal best of, but it's the album I'd choose to listen to in full over all the others.

I'm one of those must-have-every-note-Andy & Co-produced:

1. Big Express
2. Black Sea
3. Drums And Wires
4. English Settlement
5. Skylarking
6. Apple Venus
7. Oranges And Lemons
7. Mummer
8. Nonsuch
9. Go 2
10. White Music
11. Wasp Star

And if I could include these two they'd place:
4.5 Psionic Sunspot
6.5 Rag & Bone Buffet

I apparently voted in this but never participated -- my ballot (which upon reflection seems a little too simplistic):

1. Jason and the Argonauts
2. Senses Working Overtime
3. Complicated Game
4. Generals and Majors
5. Travels in Nihilon
6. No Thugs In Our House
7. Respectable Street
8. Making Plans for Nigel
9. When You're Near Me
10. Summer's Cauldron
11. Grass
12. Rocket from a Bottle
13. Sgt. Rock
14. Your Gold Dress
15. The Meeting Place
16. Chalkhills and Children
17. Harvest Festival
18. Down in the Cockpit
19. Helicopter
20. Vanishing Girl