XTC C/D S/D

*groan*

are they still in a bad deal now with TVT ? all those songs up to 1992, then barely two albums worth of new songs to mark ten years, almost immediately heavily re-hashed ? and it seemed that XTC had already decided that volume one and volume two were very different records

i still don't get why they aren't trying to fill that enormous gap suggested by both time and apparatus-for-churning-out-cds to give us some new songs

OK freaking out and not being able to tour anymore must have screwed up a few band obligations and cut off the typical band bread and butter -- maybe what i read a reviewer refer to as a "strike by the band" '93-2000 prevents any songs written from then getting released to any great fiscal advantage to the band, but you don't stop writing songs do you ? in mojo recently Partridge bought into their presentation of him as a songwriter

the prolific '80s, the baren '90s, the now-you-see-them and now-you-don't of this band well into their new deal with a new record label, it's all a great mystery -- anybody read that book "chalkhills and chidren" ? shed any light ?

and Oranges and Lemons the double album should have been a single (but we would have heard all those other songs in some other format anyway, rght ?)

and if Oranges and Lemons .. sounds so fruity then The Big Express runs out of steam

(1) English Settlement
(2) Drums & Wires
(3) Black Sea

I agree with Jess that none of their albums are flawless. I haven't followed them since Oranges and Lemons. I liked that album at the time, but I grew to dislike it. Can't comment much since I haven't heard it in its entirety for years. I would like to hear their newer material but will not take a chance buying it without hearing some of it first. I never heard what others apparently hear in Skylarking. I liked Mummer a bit more, and it always seemed as though it could become a favorite, but I never quite got into it. The Dukes of the Stratosphere stuff left me cold.

Favorites songs (in no order): Making Plans for Nigel [the first one I ever heard, before I really was aware of the group], It's Nearly Africa, Yacht Dance, Senss Working Overtime, English Roundabout, Burning with Optimism's Flames, Towers of London, Json and the Argonauts, Snowman, Ten Feet Tall, When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty, Outside World, Scissor Man, Heaven is Paved with Broken Glass, Down in the Cockpit [I don't care if it's preachy, I still like it], and [dear God!] Dear God [which I don't think anyone else here likes]. But Ball and Chain, No Thugs in Our House, All of a Sudden (It's Too Late), and Complicated Game [which I used to like to fall around to] are also pretty good. (And Generals and Majors is good, too, thanks to Tom's new message--and I like his description!).

But here's a short list:
Summer's Cauldron/Grass
Wrapped in Grey
Mayor of Simpleton
Braniac's Daughter
Pale and Precious
Are You Receiving Me?
Respectable Street
Love on a Farmboy's Wages
Harvest Festival
Your Dictionary
Maypole

...but man there's so many...

This Is Pop
No Language In Our Lungs
Melt the Guns
Snowman
Love on A Farmboy's Wages
Ladybird
Bought Myself A Liarbird
Wake Up
Grass
1000 Umbrellas
Ballet for A Rainyday
Here Comes President Kill Again
Humble Daisy
That Wave
Harvest Festival
I'd Like That

(Actually, that's not all that radical, as it's chronicled again and again in the Song Stories book. But it's more or less true nonetheless.)

My favorite songs are therefore the ones that everyone forgets, the bullshitty ones: "The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul," "Rook," "I Bought Myself a Liarbird," etc. Except yeah, Jess and Sgt. Rockist are right: "Dear God" IS a good song, better than even Partridge knew.

i) the kid.

ii) "a big reduction in amount of tears" makes me wince for some reason.

iii) Bad things happen therefore there is no God seems to me a crass spiritual viewpoint ;)

Pretty tune though.

But now, it's really only critics and Internet goons without our finely-tuned sensibilities who hate on "Dear God." Maybe it's a British ("what are you yelling about?") vs. American ("subtlety my ass") thing.

I think this is compensated for by the "I don't mean a big reduction in the price of beer" line, which is pretty funny.

Tom, I think the enormous amount of suffering that is built into the world is a very good reason for believing that there is no God of a certain sort (all powerful and all good or if "good" is too problematic than "all powerful and moderately merciful").

(I think I'm just going back to Rockist Scientist, since everyone seems to like that. But in many ways I'm not a rockist (though I do like John Lennon's solo work a lot more than most of you apparently), and I'm definitely not a scientist.)

Well clearly there's a god, it's just that it's a *totally insane and unpredictable* kinda god.

Cripes...there are SO MANY to choose from, but my faves:

"Respectable Street"
"Living Through Another Cuba" -- especially a live version recorded at Emerald City, Philadelphia courtesy of a bootleg
"Travels in Nihilon" - XTC practically covering Killing Joke
"Outside World"
"This Is Pop"
"Science Friction"
"No Thugs in Our House"
"Crowded Room"
"Radios in Motion"
"Vanishing Girl"
"25 O'Clock"
"Wake Up"
"Across This Ant Heap"
"Real By Reel"
"When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty"
"Crossed Wires"
....oh, fuck, and loads more.

And then if one were to add omniscience (which would include foreknowledge), that raises even more problems. (Why would God start this thing going, knowing that it would result in so much misery?)

This is Gnosticism, and there was an awful lot of it around when the Bible was being written, it's just that the stuff got excised and increasingly edited out as time went on.

I think the problem of evil is an excellent reason for not liking or trusting or worshipping God, I just don't think it's a good reason for not believing he exists.

In Gnosticism, or at least some forms of it, the Creator is a lesser entity than God. The creator isn't really God, and is seen in a negative light.

I like Isaac Luria's account of creation as a botched job, too, though I certainly don't believe in it. (Also, he wrenches a good deal of positive meaning out of it.)

(Tom I still think the problem of evil is a good reason for not thinking that a certain type of God exists, a God with certain specific qualities, including compassion. However, I agree that it's not an adequate reason for denying the existence of any God whatsoever. I'm agnostic about that.

Omniscience still matters, since God would know who is going to suffer eternally in the after life. He would know ahead of time that millions of souls will suffer eternally as a result of His creating Adam and Eve and so forth.)

(I don't believe in God btw)

Oh yeah absolutely - it's impossible to excise these kinds of theological subtleties entirely, and there are all sorts of places where gnostic ideas overlap with traditional scripture. The Romans passage you cite I'm unfamiliar with, but the case you make with it makes sense. It follows the thread of the entire material universe being "fallen" and "corrupt" - with salvation being a transcendence of physicality (this is vaguely neo-Platonist as well...)

"In Gnosticism, or at least some forms of it, the Creator is a lesser entity than God. The creator isn't really God, and is seen in a negative light."

Right - my understanding is that it's a part of the godhead which separated itself (out of vanity, lust for power, etc.) and then positioned itself as God over the material world, with its archons (Yaldaboath, etc.) serving as overlords for humanity, raping Eve, etc. Man, I love this stuff.

ps aft-knowledge = "touch my bum/this is life"

Search:
"Helicopter"
"When You're Near Me, I Have Difficulty"
"Ten Feet Tall"
"Rocket From a Bottle"
"Towers of London"
"Burning With Optimism's Flames"
"Yacht Dance"
"Knuckle Down"
"Love on a Farmboy's Wages"
"This World Over"
"Everyday Story of Smalltown"
"That's Really Super, Supergirl"
"Season Cycle"
"Mayor of Simpleton"
"King for a Day"
"Chalkhills and Children"
"Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead"
"Crocodile"
"I'd Like That"
"Knights in Shining Karma"

(OT: XTC may, for all I know, be bigger in the U.S. than they ever were in the UK, but I hope non-American readers won't come away with the idea that they are a big mainstream hit in the U.S. When I was in high school (in the early 80's) I knew only one or two other people who listened to them. College would have been another matte, entirely. I don't think I've ever heard them on a commercial rock station. I think I know what modern rock station Jess mentioned above and it wasn't around for very long. Anyway, folks who haven't dabbled a bit with college radio and indie aren't that likely to know about them.)

Until the phenomenon that was "Dear God". "Skylarking" was a major breakthrough for the U.S. audience, and "Oranges and Lemons" was even huger. It kinda decayed quickly after that, though.. but I think XTC's U.S. fans certainly outweight the UK ones overall, i gather.

In any case, "Dear God" makes me cringe now, but if it weren't for this song, most of us (in the U.S. moreso) probably wouldn't be talking about the band or caring about them today.

And a abridged list of mostly forgotten gems by XTC:

"Desert Island"
"Roads Girdle the Globe"
"Rip Van Reuben"
"Terrorism"
"Neon Shuffle"
"Battery Brides"
"Paper and Iron"
"Snowman"
"Love on a Farmboy's Wages"
"Red Brick Dream"
"The Meeting Place"
"Frivolous Tonight"
"Harvest Festival"
"Standing In For Joe"

Generally (and I know the first one was a Partridge composision) I feel like Colin's composisions are usually underrated. For me, he is the best songwriter AND singer in the band.

i remember hearing "Dear God" a lot on canadian modern rock stations and seeing the video more than a few times on MuchMusic, but then Sarah Maclachlan covered it and the original was never heard round these parts again.

I'm in *HYSTERICS*

I'll have to see if someone I know knows this dude...

I don't think I have the patience to download and process all those files. What's the most critical, previously unreleased stuff from it?

Oh, and if anyone's got these demos, please drop me some ILXmail:

Alan Burston Bop
Am I The Kind Of Girl?
Child's Night
Girl In Water Colours
Life Is Always
Little Lies
New Country Squire
Oh My Brittania
These Voices
Walking To Work
Wyborn Sign

Dude's site is gawn. :(

GAH. I hope all the content's been grabbed.

A lot of it filtered out onto DMND.

There was some really interesting-looking XTC stuff getting posted in the past few days, though. It would have required a real concentrated effort with a lot of spared time and patience spare to grab it all. I think.

I've been in contact with the guy that was bringing it to torrents, we've chatted about doing some mastering for him on the original files that he grabbed, mainly levels and maybe a touch of EQ here an there, nothing drastic.

Sounds promising...

Can anyone zap me the Go2 stuff? I managed to get the Dave Greg Sci-fi tape..

Hey Mark, I sent you an ilxmail the page is acting funny though, let me know if you didn't get anything.

Didn't get it:

I managed to send you one.

On it's way.

What is the Dave Gregory Sc-Fi thing?

Some bit of music that Dave Gregory and this Hans Devende guy 'jammed' in a studio somewhere, it was called 'Music For An Untitled Sci-Fi Film' haven't listened to it yet.

Cool, thanks, was having trouble searching for that

Youtube living-room cover dude nails it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGy1_cHQHcc

Aw, that is nice, I like that

"Dave Gregory is the new boy"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46MllXtIcq0

Ok I may have come around on Smartest Monkeys, aided by my newfound ability to mishear the chorus as some nonsense syllables. That choppy guitar is pretty damn good. Even most bad XTC songs are good (except for "My Weapon").

Listening to the Andy Partridge produced version of Blur's Sunday Sunday and it has a very strong Dukes/Good man Albert Brown feel, it's good!

Where?

Indeed! I've been absolutely dying to hear these sessions for years!

They're on the new Blur Box set, three tracks 'Coping' especially is really great.

So you have a review copy then? HMMMMMM.

a Hmmm Hmmmm?

Nah, nothing sinister, my other half is involved with the project.

ah, that's not sinister enough..

I'm a good scout generally, occasionally I really want to splurge about stuff that I'm told about but can't, not being able to talk about the Pink Floyd reissue stuff was *killing* me all last year.

Can you play it over the phone then?

Oh sure :)