XTC : Classic or Dud.

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (1335 of them)

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.

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 17:40 (eight years ago) link

'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.

Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 17:45 (eight years ago) link

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

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

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:01 (eight years ago) link

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.

Dominique, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:05 (eight years ago) link

eh those are both fine

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:06 (eight years ago) link

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

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:06 (eight years ago) link

ick

Dominique, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:07 (eight years ago) link

smartest monkeys is gr8

odysseus (imago), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:12 (eight years ago) link

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.

Dominique, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:14 (eight years ago) link

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

odysseus (imago), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:22 (eight years ago) link

xpost

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

Dominique, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:22 (eight years ago) link

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

Dominique, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:26 (eight years ago) link

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

the 'major tom guy' (sleeve), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:27 (eight years ago) link

Bungalow on the other hand

agreed on this one

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:31 (eight years ago) link

And Standing In for Joe is a straight rip of Steely Dan's "Barrytown."

I love the ridiculous drawn-out ending of "Melt the Guns"! And the bassline throughout is frankly nuts.

Totes OK with "Dear God" and "The Man who Murdered Love."

"It's nearly Africa," "knuckle down," "Blue Overall" and "leisure" are his very worst ever, IMO.

hardcore dilettante, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:33 (eight years ago) link

leisure is brilliant, let's fight

odysseus (imago), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:41 (eight years ago) link

I said it on another thread I think, the main problem with English Settlement is the sequencing, it opens with two CM songs and then you have 9 or 10 AP songs in a row, including some irksomely tendentious ones, I'm begging for mercy by the end of that run.

Demeraray & Essequebo (Tom D.), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:46 (eight years ago) link

thread inspired me to play AP's Hello Selection tracks (basically a solo EP) -- Prince of Orange, a tune I never cared much for prior to not, sounding like a perfect encapsulation of what I like about his songwriting. Antsy rhythm, like an even more wound-up version of motorik, but paired with classic pop chorus, and of course an atonal piano solo.

Dominique, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:48 (eight years ago) link

I quite like all of Colin's songs on Nonsuch, and 'Boarded Up' is one of my favourites. I was going to mention the 'Standing In For Joe'/'Barrytown' thing but hardcore dilettante got there before me... 'Standing In For Joe' was already an old song by the time it appeared on Wasp Star, it was meant for that "bubblegum" side project which didn't come to fruition, which was meant to be another "XTC in another guise" things, like the Dukes...

The Dave Grohl of ILX (Turrican), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:54 (eight years ago) link

glad someone else likes Boarded Up - was one of my favorites on the disc really

"Leisure" on the other hand I can't stand, probably the one song on the album I'd do without

If you take some of the B-sides and non-album singles into account - "Punch and Judy", "Tissue Tigers", "The World is Full of Angry Young Man", "Change the Weather" - you could definitely make a flawless double out of English Settlement

frogbs, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:56 (eight years ago) link

Two great XTC songs that hardly anyone ever talks about: 'Extrovert' and 'Happy Families', plus 'Spiral' which I think is wonderful.

The Dave Grohl of ILX (Turrican), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:57 (eight years ago) link

"Leisure" on the other hand I can't stand, probably the one song on the album I'd do without

Yeah, I loathe 'Leisure' too, always have.

The Dave Grohl of ILX (Turrican), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:58 (eight years ago) link

have never noticed the Barrytown/Standing in for Joe thing! will have to A/B them

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 18:59 (eight years ago) link

Put it this way, it's so close that I'm surprised Becker/Fagen don't have songwriting credits on the thing!

The Dave Grohl of ILX (Turrican), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 19:00 (eight years ago) link

hmm yeah those melodies are really close. there's some slight differences in the turnarounds/refrains at the end of each verse but man

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 19:05 (eight years ago) link

Andy's voice is not nearly interesting enough to pull off what he's trying to pull off.

All that repetitious yelping and shrieking is what makes the song for me. I can't imagine what would make a voice "interesting enough" for "Melt the Guns." He's like a skapunk Urszula Dudziak.

Retro novelty punk (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 19:30 (eight years ago) link

I like the yelpiness - DOODLE ANG DANG!!

frogbs, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 19:41 (eight years ago) link

Yoko or (especially) Sainkho Namtchylak could've made that outro something special. Andy just sounds like he's aimlessly dicking around.

I love "Complicated Game" and "Travels in Nihilon" -- he was obviously capable of doing that sort of thing well. I think he misses the mark on "Guns."

Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 19:44 (eight years ago) link

'Melt the Guns' is my joint least-favourite Andy song along with 'All You Pretty Girls'

Colin's worst is 'War Dance'.

Gavin, Leeds, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 20:45 (eight years ago) link

was wondering what Colin was up to recently, didn't realize he'd been progging out:
Moulding made vocal contributions to a Billy Sherwood Progressive Rock album (The Prog Collective, August 2012), combining forces with Rick Wakeman on "Check Point Karma". He performed a lead vocal for the song "The Man Who Died Two Times" from the album "In Extremis" by the Progressive Rock band Days Between Stations (released 15 May 2013) and appears in the video for the song, released in June 2014.[6]

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 20:56 (eight years ago) link

I used to dance around my college radio station to "All You Pretty Girls", such a joyous racket.

Gerald McBoing-Boing, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 20:57 (eight years ago) link

Here is something that Colin did recently, guesting on this guy's track, alright if you desperately miss The Mutton Birds I suppose.

https://vimeo.com/151338216

MaresNest, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 21:02 (eight years ago) link

lol he looks v excited about being involved

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 21:08 (eight years ago) link

Nice to see his old Epiphone Newport getting a dusting down

MaresNest, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 21:10 (eight years ago) link

I mean, he's a great bassist and vocalist. He could easily back any number of adult pop acts along the Sting/Van Morrison/Bob Dylan/Springsteen axis -- and since he seems to have been keeping busy, I'm betting the only reason he isn't doing that stuff is because he doesn't have an "in" to those scenes.

Dominique, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 21:14 (eight years ago) link

he seems kind of cantankerous, I can't see him taking orders from any of those (mostly equally cantankerous) people

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 21:15 (eight years ago) link

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

― odysseus (imago), Wednesday, February 10, 2016 4:52 PM (4 hours ago)

If somebody were to supply me with a list of every XTC middle eight (exc Fuzzy Warbles) I'll happily bust out ProTools and edit together a mad chronological montage, I just can't really be arsed listening through *everything* beforehand, bad I know.

MaresNest, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 21:20 (eight years ago) link

he's a great bassist

Andy might take issue with that:
http://chalkhills.org/articles/XTCFans20070107.html

AP: [chuckles] People do these survey things, and say, "Let's vote for Colin's best bass line" or something, and they don't realize that the two bass lines they vote for -- "Vanishing Girl" and "Mayor of Simpleton" -- it's me playing bass on "Vanishing Girl"...

TB: Oh, I didn't know that.

AP: Yeah. Or "What in the World?" -- that's me playing bass as well.

TB: Get out of here!

AP: That's me on bass -- Colin's on rhythm guitar.

TB: And you came up with that bass line?

AP: Yeah.

TB: That's funny -- I've always thought that was him channeling McCartney.

AP: No, we had to cut it live. He obviously couldn't play the bass and the rhythm guitar, and I didn't know how the chords went, so instead of him teaching me the chords, I said, "Look, you play the chords, I'll play the bass, and we'll get this thing done before lunchtime!"

But the one they mention is "Mayor," and Colin had to work very hard to get that bass line. It's very precise. It took me a long time to work it out, because I wanted to get into the J.S. Bach mode of each note being the perfect counterpoint to where the chords are and where the melody is. The bass is the third part in the puzzle.

Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 21:22 (eight years ago) link

The big falling out they had during Skylarking was over the note choices in the bassline for 'Earn Enough For Us'.

I can't say for sure but I had to learn the song once and I think it's in one or two of the little fills he puts in during the verses and I think Andy might have been right.

MaresNest, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 21:29 (eight years ago) link

I don't think that Andy would deny Colin is a great bassist, come on.

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 21:31 (eight years ago) link

No, I don't think Andy would flat-out deny that Colin's a great player, but he's obviously happy to point out that the most celebrated XTC basslines weren't Colin's.

Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 21:43 (eight years ago) link

i love that their big falling out was over a small musical detail

odysseus (imago), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 21:43 (eight years ago) link

That says a lot about Andy, really -- and just because he wrote the basslines to particular songs, doesn't really say anything about Colin as a bassist at all. I have a feeling Andy would be telling people what he wrote even if Jaco was in the band.

Andy lucked out having Colin and Dave Gregory in the band. These were just Swindon people who happened to have the chops and versatility to play his music.

Dominique, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 21:46 (eight years ago) link

ah here's an Partridge XTC album track I really can't stand, "Human Alchemy". Everything about it feels mismatched - the stiff dub rhythm, the medieval chanting, the clumsy lyrics. I guess the synth sounds are allright. But I basically never want to listen to this song. And it's middle 8 is nothing special.

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 22:29 (eight years ago) link

'The Mayor of Simpleton', 'Vanishing Girl' etc. aren't the only great XTC basslines, though!

The Dave Grohl of ILX (Turrican), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 22:32 (eight years ago) link

Yeah, 'Human Alchemy' has always been the weak link on Mummer for me. In fact, I'd say that Mummer benefits incredibly from its bonus tracks on the CD. That's not to say that Mummer is in any way a bad record - far from it - I just think it could have been so much better with some of those B-sides/additional tracks included.

The Dave Grohl of ILX (Turrican), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 22:35 (eight years ago) link

yeah, Gold and Jump especially

Οὖτις, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 22:36 (eight years ago) link

absolutely, I'm not big on Mummer but the B-sides from that 82-84 era were terrific

frogbs, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 22:56 (eight years ago) link

Desert Island is pants tho

MaresNest, Wednesday, 10 February 2016 23:47 (eight years ago) link

Yeah, 'Jump' would be my favourite of all the Mummer-era B-sides, that one really should have been on the album itself. Possibly 'Gold' and 'Toys', too (which I'm sure is one of the last XTC tracks to feature Terry Chambers on drums) - I don't think 'Desert Island' is as good as the others, but I'd still take it over stuff like 'Blue Overall' or 'Wounded Horse' etc.

The Dave Grohl of ILX (Turrican), Wednesday, 10 February 2016 23:58 (eight years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.