XTC C/D S/D

Geir likes The Smartest Monkeys as well

I can't find my own defence of that song, so here's a renewed breakdown, Aeroboot-on-Ignition-(remix)-style, of everything I think is ace about it:

- The panned echo guitar opening
- The perfect chiming-glass keyboards
- The space in the production
- The bassline in the chorus
- The keychanges between verse and chorus
- The drum-thump into the second chorus
- The backing vocals in the second chorus
- The perfectly-placed siren in the second chorus
- The lovely guitar-solo at the start of the bridge
- The EPIC treated-guitar/keyboard solo
- The organ drone underneath the solo
- The third chorus with even cooler harmonies
- The way the whole thing BUILDS!
- The descending bass part before the 4th chorus
- The guitar slide during the 4th chorus
- The syncopated drum-part during the 4th chorus
- The fractured bass soloing in the outro
- The syncopation returning in the outro

Colin's best song might be What In The World?? though (are TDOS songs permitted in an XTC poll? I'd vote)

Anything else I'd like to say this week? I've been getting into Justin K Broadrick's various projects, although he's like the moon to Partridge's sun (both English pastoralism in some sense, but instead of summer-drenched light-social-commentary idyll we have combine harvesters chewing up the hearts of doomed picnickers). In more XTC-friendly (ish) news, the second Swirlies album is godhead and I'd like you to imagine I just posted a 900-word screed about it, even though I didn't

(are TDOS songs permitted in an XTC poll? I'd vote)

I'm not voting if they're not.

It's the lyrics in "Smartest Monkeys" that puts it in the ground for me. Appalling.

here's a renewed breakdown, Aeroboot-on-Ignition-(remix)-style, of everything I think is ace about it:

here's a breakdown of everything I think is crap about it:

- the tune
- the lyrics
- the banal horrible lyrics
- the inconsistent number of syllables jammed into at least one line
- the whole song
- the fact that it made the album and 'didn't hurt a bit' didn't
- the mystery kazoo (assuming it's a kazoo)
- 'quick!! call the guinness book of rec-rrrrds'
- having to think about it just to write this post

yeah it's awful

I've never been keen on the lyrics to 'The Smartest Monkeys', and Almanac is pretty much otm when he singles out the "quick!! call the Guinness Book Of Rec-rrrrds' line as a particularly cringeworthy moment. But I love the the echoing guitar chords, the bass work and the synth solo in the middle!

i support the XTC polling party. i plan to vote for all of the big express.

and nothing after skylarking

watch it sunshine

although I heartily support all enthusiasm for the big express

But I love the the echoing guitar chords, the bass work and the synth solo in the middle!

the bass work is really colin bass work, which tbh is always exceptional (e.g. one of the millions)

Yeah, "Apple Venus" was so wonderful, sandwiched between two sub-par albums. And inglorious end for a great band, though I like to think of the best of Fuzzy Warbles as their real finale.

definitely

one can make an excellent partridge studio album from lightheaded, wonder annual, goosey goosey, i don't want to be here, i defy you gravity, bland leading the bland etc etc

btw, anyone else find Mr. partridge's twitter musings a bit on the annoying side?

"Standing In For Joe" was Colin's last greatest song. A lot of the good songs on Wasp Star were rescued from the aborted alter-ego bubble-gum pop album that Partridge tried to pitch in 1995 to Virgin, where each song would be by a different artist -- a bit like the Dukes Of Stratosphear. Acc. to Andy, the Virgin executives were silent and horrified after Andy made his pitch.

The more I read about the history of XTC, the more it becomes really clear that, in spite of other Virgin success, that label never got XTC from the get-go. Their choices for XTC singles became terrible from Black Sea onward.

..replace Black Sea with Mummer in that last post. With that substitution in mind, it makes more sense why Virgin chose the worst songs as singles from 1983 on... the band weren't making them money at the time.

I would add this track to AA's Warbles material list, so lovely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBpV_Kf-e5U

ah yeah, his giant peach work was patchy but that song is ~art~

Killer middle eight in his best tradition too.

Rag & Bone Buffet drove me nuts (so many awesome outtakes during the English Settlement era that really should have at least made Mummer) but some of these Fuzzy Warbles releases are insane. This man's *outtakes* make up a pretty enviable career.

nuts/insane.. in a good or bad way?

In a good way; I always assumed that stuff like "Leisure" or "The Smartest Monkeys" were included because they didn't have enough good tunes to go around (before realizing that some people actually liked those songs)

ah yeah, his giant peach work was patchy but that song is ~art~

ugh I hate that song, so cheeseball. the other Peach songs are goofier but also better imho.

every XTC fan wants different things from this band, I've learned.

My college station played "Dear Madam Barnum" a fair bit, enough for me to buy the album and...stop listening it to it after a week.

btw, anyone else find Mr. partridge's twitter musings a bit on the annoying side?

Anby Partridge annoying? Whouldathoughtit?

compared to whom?

you

*hugs*

Oh yeah, don't want to forget all the great unreleased stuff from Coat of Many Cupboards

I didn't remember "Smartest Monkeys." Just listened, and while it's certainly not among their greats, I don't hear it as being as awful as y'all are on about at all.

it gets worse everytime you hear it

Maybe I just have low standards re: XTC.

nonsuch is great generally (i mean come on, humble daisy, then she appeared, ugly underneath, holly up on poppy, that wave) but dudgeon's production lets it down

also it was my proper introduction to the band (bought it in queenstown, played it nonstop while being driven through the nz countryside) so there's a soft spot

humble daisy, then she appeared, ugly underneath, holly up on poppy, that wave

was with you up until That Wave, which is like a nausea-inducing tune to my ears

YEAH that makes a huge difference; sometimes I think it's a real blessing to fall in love with a band by first hearing one of their worst albums as then you'll never have a grudge against it. Oranges & Lemons was my intro to them – I found a cassette in a thrift store in a box along with a surprising influx of bands I already liked (Siouxsie, the Cure, Zorn, other goffy bs) and it had a cool cover so I took a chance on it. And so I have a soft spot for it.
xp

Nonsuch is nearer the top of the XTC pile imo

every single xtc album (apart from big express, I think) took seriously 20–30 listens before it bedded down in my brain. nonsuch was definitely the result of high rotation in the back of a car for a week. the compact xtc was the next album I bought, and that took a few months to bed in. skylarking literally took ~years~.

for ages I've maintained that the best music is that which you need to work at; xtc fits that definition like a glove. it doesn't come easily, but when it does it consumes you.

btw I discovered nonsuch (and therefore xtc) when triple j (our local yoof radio station) gave it huge amounts of air time for 3–6 months

I think Nonsuch is one of their best albums, even though a lot of it's really slow and subdued and Colin's writing went down a level here (and IMO never really came back). But most of the Andy songs are fabulous.

All this talk about their albums made me try and rank them. Pretty happy with this order.

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

every single xtc album (apart from big express, I think) took seriously 20–30 listens before it bedded down in my brain. nonsuch was definitely the result of high rotation in the back of a car for a week. the compact xtc was the next album I bought, and that took a few months to bed in. skylarking literally took ~years~.

funny, cuz my experience has beeb very different. the first XTC albums i bought/heard were mummer and the big express. i found them quite difficult at first, as i was in my teens and just starting to experiment with "weird-sounding" music, but sufficiently interesting to stick with. i eventually warmed to both, especially TBE, and they prodded me to explore the rest of the band's catalog.

the following year, i picked up go 2, white music and skylarking in fairly quick succession. i immediately adored all three, and for years would have called them my favorite XTC albums by a substantial margin. at this point, though, it's hard to for me to pick favorites (or least favorites) among their first 8 albums. i love them all in different ways and at different times. this week i'm all about the big express, but that could change tomorrow.

nonesuch and oranges and lemons, however, i've never entirely warmed too, despite repeated attempts with the latter. O&L gets better every time i drag it back out, but still contains only a few songs i care deeply about. the combination of vertical complexity, lightness of tone and whimsical fussiness keeps me at a distance. i guess i tend to like my XTC a little simpler and tuffer.

beeb lol

= been

at this point, though, it's hard to for me to pick favorites (or least favorites) among their first 8 albums.

this is otm. i tried off the back off kitchen person's ranking and just couldn't do it – the bottom half is easy but the top half depends on so many factors.

Aw, I have to resist the urge to get my giant 'Mummer' foam hand out and start up with my ra ra ra.

dudgeon's production lets it down

I disagree - the album is supposed to have a very slick, professional sound. But I'm curious to know what your issue is.

Personally I feel that Nonsuch would be better if "Wrapped in Grey" were the last song. I like "The Ugly Underneath" fine but the album is long and the last two songs do nothing for me. Moulding lets the album down quite a bit (in fact, outside of "One of the Millions" and "My Bird Performs" his post-Dukes material has kinda sucked)

wasn't "King for a Day" a Moulding? i think that one's great. and i'll rep for "In Another Life" too, though you're generally right otherwise

It is and I like it too, but I feel he only deserves half a writing credit for that

his two songs on Apple Venus are great. but agree it was generally downhill post-Dukes for some reason