XTC : Classic or Dud.

Agree, agree. The track that got bumped from Skylarking for it — "Mermaid Smiled" — is a real nice early late period tune though.

I've been rocking Black Sea lately. Paper and Iron.

I was lucky enough to have the Mermaid Smiled version of Skylarking growing up, never heard Dear God until I bought the single, and yeah John otm.

cosign to that^

Didn't even know it was on the album! Not on my copy anyway.

Maybe the US issue had "Dear God" on it?

No the US had mermaid smiled when the album first came out.

yeah "Mermaid Smiled" >>>> "Dear God" but the latter seems to fit into the album a bit better in my opinion, I kinda like how Skylarking gets dark in the second half

Proud owner of Mermaid Smiled on wax. Interesting point, though, about the record getting darker at the end. You are definitely right.

That'd be the winter season of the album.

I like 'Dear God', but prefer 'Mermaid Smiled' - I just think it's a really beautiful piece of music.

Skylarking is meant to get darker as it goes along, Todd Rundgren deliberately sequenced the songs that way - from youth to death.

Is it just the lyrics people don't like? I think it's a pretty good tune.

nah

I'm fine with both "Dear God" and "Mermaid Smiled", the tuning/chords in the latter are so odd. They do really different things. I almost never listen to "Dear God" though, since (like most others here apparently) I have the vinyl version with "Mermaid Smiled" on it.

in other news - apparently a song Andy wrote for the Monkees is going to be the single from their new 50th anniversary album

imo it is a stinker every which way and one of maybe...three? that he wrote between go 2 and apple venus 1 inclusive

andy partridge stinkers. go.

I can understand hating the lyrics but... it's pretty catchy

andy partridge stinkers. go.

everyone's gonna have a different list, c'mon

first one to say "Shake You Donkey Up" loses

guess I'll say "Here Comes President Kill Again" and *ducks* "Books are Burning"

disagreement is the whole fun of it!

first one to say 'melt the guns' loses morelike

Indeed, it's not exactly the only AP lyric to consist of meretricious finger-wagging tubthumping shite.

books are burning is probably the corniest song i also rly like lol

"Books are Burning"

yeah, I hate this song, lyrics are way worse than Dear God imo

President Kill lyrics are also lunkheaded but man the bridge is gorgeous

Never particularly liked Dear God either, and do like Mermaid Smiled. As far as Partridge clunkers go, it seems like he's at his worst when he's being straightforwardly (read: unsubtly) political. That's my only real problem with Dear God: it seems a little obvious and simplistic. He doesn't like God or even the idea of God, and in the song, seems unable to articulate that with any kind of humor or irony. Not that he has to, but it might take some of the edge off his vitriol, and allow the song to communicate better to non-believers and non-non-believers alike.

you can't deny the BAB bridge either!

wonder if MaresNest is still stitching all the XTC bridges together, that is one area in which they are the best band ever

it seems like he's at his worst when he's being straightforwardly (read: unsubtly) political

The sort of AP song you can imagine him singing while frowning and grasping his lapels.

to be fair, I think AP hates the song too

I like 'Dear God' and 'Books are Burning', in terms of AP songs I dislike then I'd have 'Blue Overall' down as the one I like the least. I also think side three of English Settlement is front-to-back the worst side of vinyl XTC ever put out.

I always wonder what people would think about "Melt the Guns" if it wasn't about melting the guns. The music seems right in the wheelhouse of what XTC circa 1982 was about, ska influence + post-punk energy + weird jazzy undertones and the usual AP chord shapes. He kind of yelps a bit in there, but he yelps in a lot of early XTC songs. It seems like a really fun to song to play, and other than the fact it's another simplistic political message, I don't get the hate.

'Melt The Guns' is alright, it just needlessly goes on for about a zillion years.

six and a half minutes!

I guess enjoyment depends on you being into that groove (which offhand, I can't think applies to any other XTC song)

are we talking about worst AP album moments? cuz there's a bunch of obvious b- and c-grade material on Fuzzy Warbles, but seems kinda unfair to hold those against him

oh for sure -- also, very curious to hear these new Monkees songs (apparently, one of his tunes will be the first single of their next record)

whoever said side 3 of English Settlement otm - I don't really need to listen to any of those songs. I don't think Andy's really done anything I outright hate (maybe BAB, maybe Omnibus - and Colin def has a few I can't stand)

There's really nothing I outright HATE until "I'm The Man Who Murdered Love". I dig all of Andy's political manifestos, "Melt The Guns" just has this fantastic swing to it, and I can make the trip for the rest of the things mentioned as 'bad'. I think "English Settlement" is pretty much perfect as-is. I've lived with this stuff for a long time, even can look past the production of "Oranges & Lemons" and "Nonsuch".

Colin, though, has lots to answer for. "Smartest Monkeys" my ass.

'Melt The Guns' is alright, it just needlessly goes on for about a zillion years.

― The Dave Grohl of ILX (Turrican), Wednesday, February 10, 2016 12:16 PM (26 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, that drawn-out ending makes me shake with irrational anger. A skronky solo would've been vastly preferable, but Andy's voice is not nearly interesting enough to pull off what he's trying to pull off.

Colin, though, has lots to answer for. "Smartest Monkeys" my ass.

it's mostly just those Nonsuch and O&L songs tbf

And the records after too. I'm not quite sure how stuff like Fruit Nut and Standing In for Joe end up on anyone's records, much less XTC's.

eh those are both fine

even if Fruit Nut is just a lazy rewrite of Autumn Almanac, I'm ok with that, world could use more rewrites of awesome songs about gardening

ick

smartest monkeys is gr8

yeah, I actually like the groove and the solo in that. Bungalow on the other hand...

Some of his stuff on O&L is my favorite on the record -- "I Remember the Sun" is such a weird song, and that Yes-ish keyboard stab comes out of nowhere and floors me every time. It's amazing to me that he went from stuff like that to what sound to me like give-ups on the final records.

boarded up is at least open about having given up, it works better than it has any right to. actually his wasp star songs >>> his apple venus ones

xpost

oops wrong album -- but same disappointment at later Colin songs

xpost -- Boarded Up is probably the song of his from those records I like most. It's so stark, final.

re: ES side 3, "It's Nearly Africa" is awesome, fuiud

Bungalow on the other hand

agreed on this one