AP just announced that Black Sea is the next 5.1 reissue
― MaresNest, Tuesday, 25 July 2017 10:55 (six years ago) link
'Living Through Another Cuba' and 'Travels in Nihilon' should sound ace in 5.1
― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Tuesday, 25 July 2017 11:41 (six years ago) link
love you AP but please write some new music
― frogbs, Tuesday, 25 July 2017 13:56 (six years ago) link
Living through another cuuuuueBA!!!
― or at night (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 25 July 2017 14:56 (six years ago) link
Russia and America are at each other's throats, but don't you cry
― Many men scream death (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 25 July 2017 15:04 (six years ago) link
Not sure if this has been posted but I really enjoyed this podcast interview with Andy https://www.sodajerker.com/episode-8-andy-partridge/ - he comes off as a right grumpy West Countryer, kind of adorable
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Tuesday, 25 July 2017 15:25 (six years ago) link
What about the narrator of "my bird performs" kind of bragging about his stupidity the same way the protagonist of "mayor" does. "Shakespeare's sonnets leave me cold" - yeah right
― calstars, Tuesday, 1 August 2017 23:53 (six years ago) link
I always thought 'My Bird Performs' was partly innuendo...
― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Wednesday, 2 August 2017 18:59 (six years ago) link
Andy sure does like his thinly veiled innuendo, cf. "Wonder Annual".
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 3 August 2017 01:28 (six years ago) link
Pink Thing = not so thinly veiled
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 3 August 2017 02:21 (six years ago) link
my bird performs was a colin though
― ciderpress, Thursday, 3 August 2017 02:24 (six years ago) link
LOUDER THAN TANKS ON THE HIGHWAYLOUDER THAN BOMBERS IN FLIGHT
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Friday, 4 August 2017 08:04 (six years ago) link
I'm a stuck record I know, but Mummer *is* the best.
― MaresNest, Friday, 4 August 2017 09:04 (six years ago) link
I just can't stop listening to Mummer this week. I'm in danger of overloading. Favourite bit: 'The only job that I do well is here on the farrrrm / And it's breaking my baaaack' - just this little moment of poignance in an otherwise positive-sounding song, akin to the 'Something tells you that you've got to get away from it' on Madness's 'Our House'
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Friday, 4 August 2017 09:51 (six years ago) link
Just gonna put this out: Not very keen on Supergirl or Ladybird for some reason, even though I presume these are considered highlights on their respective albums
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Friday, 4 August 2017 09:56 (six years ago) link
'Ladybird' rules, it's 'Human Alchemy' that I'm not fond of.
'Love On A Farmboy's Wages' is such a perfect, beautiful song and it just sounds great. Some of the most beautifully recorded 12-string guitar I've ever heard is on Mummer.
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Friday, 4 August 2017 11:50 (six years ago) link
All the more impressive when you think how shoddy a lot of guitar music in the '80s now sounds. '...Farmboy's Wages' is probably my favourite XTC song these days.
― Gavin, Leeds, Friday, 4 August 2017 12:16 (six years ago) link
From the '80s, rather.
― Gavin, Leeds, Friday, 4 August 2017 12:17 (six years ago) link
'the wheel and the maypole' ambushed me on youtube yesterday, properly a classic
― rove mcmanus island (Autumn Almanac), Friday, 4 August 2017 12:18 (six years ago) link
LOAFBW is the song that's got me back into the band I have to say.. Despite having it on a compilation, I never took notice of it. I'm enjoying quite a few cuts off the slightly-maligned Oranges & Lemons too, with its Skeletons and Scarecrows and warpy basslines
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Friday, 4 August 2017 12:38 (six years ago) link
xpost:
'The Wheel and The Maypole' is one of their best ever songs! It's the last song on their last album and it's fantastic... even more remarkable given Wasp Star is one of their patchiest records.
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Friday, 4 August 2017 14:24 (six years ago) link
yeh cosign, tw&tm rules
― nxd, Friday, 4 August 2017 14:25 (six years ago) link
pissed off that the Apple Venus / Wasp Star albums aren't on Spotify. At least get Maypole up on there.
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Friday, 4 August 2017 14:27 (six years ago) link
I know Andy hates all their videos but I've always found this one eerily evocative/perfect for the song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VSFU0jKVYs
― Οὖτις, Friday, 4 August 2017 15:45 (six years ago) link
I love that Terry plays on "Beating of Hearts," where he's essentially just playing a drum loop. Did he play on Love on a Farmboy's Wages and then quit, or was the song introduced and he threw his sticks up in the air and walked out?
― flappy bird, Friday, 4 August 2017 17:17 (six years ago) link
They attempted to run through 'Love On A Farmboy's Wages' with Chambers, but he quit before they could get a decent take, iirc. If Partridge is to be believed there was no throwing up of sticks in the air - it wasn't that kind of departure.
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Friday, 4 August 2017 17:39 (six years ago) link
This is interesting, local public access TV show from 1981 in Lawrence KS featuring XTC playing live and some awesome localised TV ads.
https://archive.org/details/BTABHXTC
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 20 September 2017 11:34 (six years ago) link
Gave a listen to English Settlement for the first time in forever the other day -- first time I'd listened to any XTC album in a long time -- and I was reminded what an engaging success it was. Also how I was listening to it -- it was less the tunes-as-such, more the sheer variety in arrangements, rhythms and so forth.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 September 2017 13:05 (six years ago) link
That's the next one on my list. I'm finding it a little impenetrable so far, but I love Drums and Wires and Black Sea
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Wednesday, 20 September 2017 13:20 (six years ago) link
ES is just so verdant, it and and BS are perfect siblings.
― harbinger of failure (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 20 September 2017 13:38 (six years ago) link
Mummer remains my favourite so far. The first half alone is also so varied in terms of scope. It's stunningly ambitious
― Shat Parp (dog latin), Wednesday, 20 September 2017 13:44 (six years ago) link
Partridge called ES a 'big friendly giant of a record' which is a good descrip
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 20 September 2017 13:47 (six years ago) link
Just seen this from AP's twitter :(
Due to a deep personal loss suffered by my APE label manager, (ie:the man who does it all), BLACK SEA 5.1 will not be released until next year.
― MaresNest, Wednesday, 20 September 2017 13:48 (six years ago) link
Ah, that sucks, but condolences indeed to him.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 September 2017 13:53 (six years ago) link
Black Sea is one of XTC's absolute best records (if not their best) whereas English Settlement is let down by side three.
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Wednesday, 20 September 2017 15:20 (six years ago) link
for years I'd slotted The Big Express ahead of Mummer. At this thread's suggestion, I bought the remastered Mummer and am impressed. The keyboard integration is less frantic than on the later album, perhaps because TBE sounds as if Partridge and Moulding wrote half of the songs for the sake of experimenting with the new technology (a similar thing happened with that year's Hall & Oates album).
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 20 September 2017 15:36 (six years ago) link
Mummer is enhanced by the bonus tracks, but The Big Express is the superior album, IMO. There's more live drumming on The Big Express than people think. All those powerful drum fills on 'Train Running Low on Soul Coal' are live, as is all of 'Wake Up' etc. etc.
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Wednesday, 20 September 2017 15:40 (six years ago) link
Yes, I like "Jump" and "Toys."
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 20 September 2017 15:48 (six years ago) link
'Jump', 'Toys' and 'Gold' should have been on the album proper, IMO... with 'Human Alchemy' removed.
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Wednesday, 20 September 2017 15:52 (six years ago) link
"Human Alchemy" and "Funk Pop a Roll" stink.
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 20 September 2017 15:54 (six years ago) link
I like 'Funk Pop a Roll' - gorgeous 12-string sound!
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Wednesday, 20 September 2017 15:58 (six years ago) link
no one ever agrees about anything re: this band
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 20 September 2017 15:59 (six years ago) link
the Coen brothers of bands
― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 20 September 2017 15:59 (six years ago) link
No one ever agrees and everyone just accepts the differences and lack of consensus!
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Wednesday, 20 September 2017 16:03 (six years ago) link
Funk Pop a Roll is such a strange way to end Mummer. great song, a precursor to the even more sly & vicious I Bought Myself a Liarbird
― flappy bird, Wednesday, 20 September 2017 16:45 (six years ago) link
lyrically it's fairly lazy and uninteresting imo, musically it's fine
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 20 September 2017 16:50 (six years ago) link
While you could say that almost every track on Mummer was in some way building on where XTC had been with the previous record, 'Funk Pop a Roll' strikes me as being the track that would most fit snugly on English Settlement.
― more Allegro-like (Turrican), Wednesday, 20 September 2017 17:00 (six years ago) link
No-one ever agrees about this band yet here I am agreeing with Turrican.
― The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Wednesday, 20 September 2017 17:09 (six years ago) link
Let down by side three, who are you people.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 September 2017 17:18 (six years ago) link
We Are The Majority, Ned.
― The Doug Walters of Crime (Tom D.), Wednesday, 20 September 2017 17:20 (six years ago) link