XTC C/D S/D

yeah the production on oranges&lemons is really unfortunate, the instruments all feel like sharp points sticking into your head

funny, cuz that describes my sense of the big express, but there an abrasive sharpness works in the music's favor. my reservations abt oranges and lemons have to do with the combination of distracting density and a sound palette that often evokes fusion and prog, all tight, smooth and fussy. oddly though, i do like "the garden of earthly delights", the song that best fits that description.

yeah I dig Garden of Earthly Delights a lot too and actually think that one *should* be overproduced

"kid, stay and snip your cord off" was one of my favorite introductions of all time
the whole first verse really

Wow, don't know what I thought the first line was, but it wasn't that!

"Can't all think like Chekov, but you'll be okay" is kind of the quintessential Andy Partridge lyric

Also love "Don't hurt nobody, unless of course they ask you"

it was like my real parents were finally talking to me

"Hold Me My Daddy" is fairly middling until it gets to the coda, which is fantastic - the best afropop homage Andy ever pulled off

yeah that singlehandedly redeems the song (though I love the guitar tone the whole way)

Meh. The coda is my least favourite part of the song, which isn't really one of my favourite XTC tracks to begin with.

guitar lines in the coda are wonderful, but it's just a nice piece of mood music tacked on the end of a rather middling song.

I can't clearly recall "Chalkhills and Children," but as I was slowly growing to appreciate most of Oranges & Lemons I came to believe that the album wouldn't have suffered much by losing the last four songs. (Hold Me My Daddy, Pink Thing, Miniature Sun and C&C.)

Oh my god, 'Miniature Sun' is another fantastic set of lyrics. That was another one that blew my mind with its lyrics when I first heard it.

the synth horns great but there is something good in there

er grate

lol

i like Miniature Sun, especially the moment where the uneasy circular chord progression from the verses briefly collapses into a cute pop thing in the middle eight

i like Miniature Sun, especially the moment where the uneasy circular chord progression from the verses briefly collapses into a cute pop thing in the middle eight

― ciderpress, Friday, June 1, 2012 4:29 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, that's a magic moment, because when it returns to the uneasy chord progression it makes the following verse feel even more 'uneasier'. Which of course fits with the lyrical content perfectly!

Are those synth horns, or Mark Isham's trumpet treated? Or is that the same thing? At any rate, relistening and reading the words to "Miniature Sun," which I've never done (did all my listening to this one in the car.) Good lyrics, but the music is still a bit "fusion and prog" as noted above. Just kinda not my thing, and I do think the album starts to lag by the end of its 60 minutes, or my attention starts to wane.

Even I never know where I go when my eyes are closed -- Chalkhills and Children is all about dreaming and floating over strange lands. Dreamy and slow. I like it.

Maybe the best use of the saw lead ever

On the contrary, 'Chalkhills And Children' is about keeping oneself grounded(!)

Ha, I guess I'm not very good at that or I would have realized that myself. I only focused on the dreamy parts. Oops.

i like miniature sun for the reason noted upthread, not as good as i remember the sun but a similar vibe

Yes, "Chalkhills and Children" is all about HOW AWESOMELY AWESOME DREAM LIKE IS LIFE IN...SWINDON.

It's also the only really good song on the second half of Oranges & Lemons. (By the way, O&L has my favourite XTC album cover art for all none of you who were wondering.)

bosh. "merely a man" is all-time and "across this antheap" comes close (too bad about that last minute). would love to hear the latter done as it might have been circa the big express. and i just love "pink thing", o_0 lyrics and all.

"Across this Antheap" is so goddamn good it can reduce me to tears.

"across this antheap" comes close (too bad about that last minute)

what god no that last minute is the best part!

Yea! Just before the end section, that part when most of the instruments fall away and AP sings 'as we crawl on and on..' is some lovely.

that's really super, supergirl

what god no that last minute is the best part!

yeah, no. i like everything else abt the song, especially the clattering, driving verses w/ that awesome guitar riff. the comparatively static "soldiers, workers, slaves and farmers" bit works fine as a middle eight, and i love the way the chaos and tension suddenly evaporate at the near-end for "on and on past widows who'll weep" (etc), clearing us some breathing room after all that propulsive percussion, emphasizing the sad futility of the condition described.

that's all GREAT, and i think i understand why partridge wanted to drag that quiet moment out and noise it back up. it makes sense, thematically: there is no respite from the noisy chaos of animal life, not even in sorrowful awareness. when the "on and on and..." part kicks in, however, building to all the crazy panning and those big boom drums, i just want out. there's no tension, no motion, no rhythmic or melodic appeal. it's just an irritating, insistently yearning mess (which may be the point, but i don't enjoy it).

catching up

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

I didn't mind it so much, but dudgeon's production is a bit too slick for the material, and partridge wasn't impressed either

btw antheap is one of my favourite songs off o&l, which is one of my favourite albums off xtc, unpopular paul fox production be damned

I just really wish "Here Comes President Kill Again" was booted, what a miserable excuse for a song, and it's not as though Partridge didn't literally have three dozen better tunes in his archives

O&L is one of my least favourite XTC album (just behind Wasp Star), but I have a lot of time for Mayor Of Simpleton, Poor Skeleton Steps Out, The Loving, Here Comes President Kill Again, Merely A Man and Chalkhills And Children. Otherwise I don't think it holds a candle to the two albums either side of it

Garden of Earthly delights stands among their best songs.

Also, the line "this is your life and you do what you want to do / just don't hurt nobody / unless of course they ask you" is about the best line ever written.

...and you can hear his sardonic smile as he delivers it!

Also, the line "this is your life and you do what you want to do / just don't hurt nobody / unless of course they ask you" is about the best line ever written.

― Poliopolice, Tuesday, 5 June 2012 15:02 (43 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

As good as the entirety of 'No Language In Our Lungs' (especially the middle section)!?

hm. that track doesn't strike me as particularly inspired, actually

I would have made this instrumental
but the words got in the way

love this line from "no language", but it's not a lyrical standout, overall

Oh, and the song "Tissue Tigers" from the album Rag & Bone Buffet-- what an amazing track. I have no idea what the time signature is; it's almost presaging math-rock, but it's really poppy and eccentric. It's brilliant, frankly. Who throws a song like that away? That's better than 95% of bands best songs.

oh, it's in 4/4, but it sounds like it's in 17/6 or some shit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ut5xh6ZGfA

People will always be tempted to wipe their feeeeeeeet
On anything welcome written on iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit - a timbalambla timbalamba toodamatoodama

No one's mentioned "Life Begins at the Hop"? It didn't come up on a find-search. I don't really have any feeling for this group, and just own the matched compilations, but "Life Begins at the Hop" is undoubtedly one of my ten favourite new wave songs. "Senses Working Overtime" is good too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yiknQ9xyJk

Yep "Life Begins" is the beginning of many XTC tunes that seemed to be absolutely pitch-perfect. That "tell me, what do you say" chorus is really something.

A bunch of my all-time favorite XTC songs come from the beginning of their career*, and I'm always surprised by the indifference of many fans to their first couple albums and associated singles. They changed a hell of a lot over the course of their career, but they were on fire right out of the gate.

* "Are You Receiving Me?", "Mekkanik Dancing", "Science Friction", "This Is Pop?", "Neon Shuffle" (most of White Music, really)

love their early singles, I just think the albums themselves are uneven

Waxworks blew my mind when I first heard it.

go2 is iffy, but i like white music almost all the way through. few of their albums strike me as perfect from front to back, tbh, but i've always been more interested in songs than albums.

Waxworks blew my mind when I first heard it.

yeah, i knew a bunch of those songs beforehand, but waxworks is an amazing collection of tunes. beeswax too!