XTC C/D S/D

Those albums all suffer from bad production (even for me, it's not all about melodies, even those melodies are more important than anything else), although "Black Sea" does contain a lot of truly ace songs.

They sounds fine to me. Maybe it's all that tar in your ears.

although "Black Sea" does contain a lot of truly ace songs.

Mighty big of you.

is there a Clear Channel outlet in Norway, Geir?

Those albums all suffer from bad production (even for me, it's not all about melodies, even those melodies are more important than anything else) ...

alright now, Geir, some of yer statements (like the one above about Beefheart) i can chalk up to taste. but saying that Drums & Wires, Black Sea, or English Settlement suffer from "bad production"? i mean really -- are you from Pluto and have therefore have a totally different auditory process than Earthlings or something?

though one thing i wonder about -- how those here (who shall remain nameless) who slag elvis costello, yet love the "Drums & Wires/Black Sea/English Settlement" troika. i mean, at that stage of their careers they were definitely influenced by this year's model-EC (to my ears, anyway). but what's up with that, i wonder?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/

I absolutely hate Steve Lillywhite! Worst producer ever!

Did he finally accomplish his life goal to be the sole dictator and member of the band? Is he finally happy?

Aren't all the (ex) band members friends now?

Aw, please don't! "Battery Brides" and "Beatown" are so so so good.

Don't they come together in a box or something?

Yeah, a 4CD box with Apple Venus, Wasp Star and those albums in demo form.

you know, for freestylin'.

Apologies if this was addressed earlier -- but are the remasters for the CDs that good? I only have the Skylarking remaster mainly to have to original track listing, segues and all, and I don't think the original Geffen issues sound bad at all. But do the Caroline remasters "take them to the next level" and all that? The back cover art restoration is nice, sure, but...

I haven't bought any of the remasters but there's no question my 80s CD versions of Mummer and English Settlement sound like shit. And the Dukes CD is like half as loud as other CDs in my collection - its weird.

The Geffen ones of the later stuff sound OK (the earlier editions, I mean), but as for the earlier stuff, they earned a lot from the remastering. More than most late 70s/early 80s recordings usually tend to do, in fact.

what do you mean by "later" - from Skylarking on...?

The Virgin '80s releases sound pretty good. English Settlement is too loud though.

I love XTC, but I don't think they've ever made a truly consistent start-to-finish album though they have got fairly close at times - it seems that for every 5 songs that they put out, there's always one or two which do absolutely nothing for me and (in my opinion) seem to spoil the album. So, I would search absolutely everything but destroy the following songs...

White Music: 'I'll Set Myself On Fire', 'I'm Bugged' (the bonus tracks improve this album)

Go 2: 'My Weapon', 'Super-Tuff' (the Barry Andrews tracks aside, this is a very underrated album)

Drums & Wires: I wouldn't destroy anything.

Black Sea: 'Living Through Another Cuba' (the rest of the album is sublime)

English Settlement: 'Melt The Guns', 'Leisure', 'It's Nearly Africa' (the most overrated album)

Mummer: 'Wonderland', 'Human Alchemy'. (as with White Music, the bonus tracks improve this album - 'Jump', 'Toys' and 'Gold' all should have been on there - and I quite like 'Desert Island').

The Big Express: all of side two (except 'The Everyday Story Of Smalltown' and 'Train Running Low On Soul Coal'. This album features some of XTC's most underrated music).

Skylarking: 'Another Satellite', easily. (both Dear God *and* Mermaid Smiled should have been included).

Oranges & Lemons: 'Here Comes President Kill Again', 'Scarecrow People', 'Merely A Man', 'Cynical Days', 'Hold Me My Daddy' (this, to my mind, is XTC's worst album - and the production is terrible).

Nonsuch: I'd only destroy 'War Dance' (the rest of the material is brilliant).

Apple Venus: I wouldn't destroy anything - I even like 'Fruit Nut'.

Wasp Star: On the other hand, I'd destroy everything on this one except 'Playground', 'Church Of Women' and 'The Wheel And The Maypole', two of XTC's most underrated songs.

English Settlement: (the most overrated album)

Really? It may be my favorite, but don't most usually rate the herky-jerk stuff circa "D&W" or the sophisto Skylarking more? I always thought Settlement was kinda slept on.

it's a transitional record

Skylarking: 'Another Satellite', easily. (both Dear God *and* Mermaid Smiled should have been included).

why don't you like this one? I love that spacey production, it's very fun to sing too! IMO the only flaw with Skyarking was totally pointless removing of "Mermaid Smiled" on the USA edition of the album. A Skyarking without it is not a Skyarking.

*Skylarking, dammit

Well, "Drums & Wires" tends to be the choice of most UK critics (it's certainly a record that got brought up a lot when bands like Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand appeared several years ago), and "Skylarking" tends to be rated most highly by American fans/critics, because it was essentially their breakthrough record there. For the UK fans, though, especially the ones that were around at the time of its release, "English Settlement" is the one that usually gets pointed to.

I tend to think most of the praise that gets levelled at "Drums & Wires" is justified, it's definitely a record that's influenced more than its fair share of bands. The praise that "Skylarking" gets is mostly justified too - it's a thoroughly strong collection of songs, and I think Todd Rundgren really did XTC well on that record (even though Partridge was critical of the record at the time).

I've never felt any of the praise that "English Settlement" gets is justified... sure, it features a quota of outstanding tracks (this is before we even get to the evergreen 'Senses Working Overtime'), but I never felt there was enough great stuff there to justify a double album. "Nonsuch" is the only time that they had enough great material to make an album over an hour long, in my opinion.

one thing I have learned from XTC threads is that when it comes to specific songs, nobody ever agrees

which is kinda why they would make a good poll tbh

Skylarking: 'Another Satellite', easily. (both Dear God *and* Mermaid Smiled should have been included).

why don't you like this one? I love that spacey production, it's very fun to sing too! IMO the only flaw with Skyarking was totally pointless removing of "Mermaid Smiled" on the USA edition of the album. A Skyarking without it is not a Skyarking.

― V79, Tuesday, September 6, 2011 9:50 PM (2 minutes ago)

It's just one of those instances where a tune just doesn't do anything for me, and there's no other reason than that, really. I've often felt that it sticks out like a sore thumb on the album and disrupts the flow, but I guess I'd feel that way even if I liked it!

one thing I have learned from XTC threads is that when it comes to specific songs, nobody ever agrees

which is kinda why they would make a good poll tbh

― I can feel it in my spiritual hat (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, September 6, 2011 9:53 PM

I completely agree. I think one of the best things about the XTC catalogue is that their music is such that people can be heavily into certain aspects of the band and not others. For example, 'Leisure' is one of my most loathed XTC tracks of all time but I've spoken to people who really love its drawling vibe.

xp hmm, I think I see your point now, though I don't really agree with it

btw Andy tweeted today that the BBC are interested in making a TV documentary about XTC, I'm curious to see how it turns out!

http://twitter.com/#!/xtcfans/status/111145102256246784

I kind of think of XTC in terms of albums rather than specific songs. The American, single LP "English Settlement" was the first one I got heavily into by them, which may be why it remains my favorite, and I think this tracklist/sequencing is pretty much perfect:

Side 1
Runaways
Ball and Chain
Senses Working Overtime
Jason and the Argonauts
Snowman
Side 2
Melt the Guns
No Thugs in Our House
It's Nearly Africa
English Roundabout
All of a Sudden (It's Too Late)

I get why some people don't like Andy's attempts at "worldbeat" like Melt The Guns and Africa, though I do.

That's great news - I'd be very interested in watching something like that. They're one of those bands that most music fans seem to know, but even less have actually heard them. If a BBC documentary gets more kids buying XTC records, then it can't be a bad thing.

Sorry, xpost!

would totally watch a doc, such a strange story

I kind of think of XTC in terms of albums rather than specific songs. The American, single LP "English Settlement" was the first one I got heavily into by them, which may be why it remains my favorite, and I think this tracklist/sequencing is pretty much perfect

I get why some people don't like Andy's attempts at "worldbeat" like Melt The Guns and Africa, though I do.

― Hey T-Paw, mow my lawn! (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, September 6, 2011 10:14 PM

Yeah, I've never actually tried listening to it in that configuration - but being used to the double set I really can't hear 'Snowman' as being anything other than the album closer! Those wouldn't have necessarily been my choices for side 2 either, it's seriously missing some 'Yacht Dance', 'Fly On The Wall' and 'Down In The Cockpit'! Although they seem to have (in my opinion) had the good sense to leave 'Leisure' off!

This may be the third or so XTC thread where I've 'fessed up to never having heard the "extra" English Settlement tracks. I really need to buy the expanded edition.

Is the whole thing not up on Spotify? I'm sure it is. I'm going to have to check that out.

I've never felt any of the praise that "English Settlement" gets is justified... sure, it features a quota of outstanding tracks (this is before we even get to the evergreen 'Senses Working Overtime'), but I never felt there was enough great stuff there to justify a double album.

I used to think that way but it grew on me slowly over time. It's one of my favourites now, and I don't skip anything. 'Leisure' isn't exactly brilliant but it fills a nice place in the album.

A documentary would be incredible. The Chalkhills and Children book is really quite entertaining (once you get past all the "Andy was born in blah and went to school at blah" guff), and the Song Stories book that does what it says on the tin is more interesting than I thought it would be. There was talk of turning Partridge's recent MySpace song descriptions into another book but I don't know where that ended up.

btw I was all ready to run an XTC megapoll but the hivemind got all butthurt about poll threads.

? there's tons of poll threads going on right now

yeah I noticed

I've never read any of those XTC books - quite possibly because I've found them so difficult to get hold of! I have to take the opportunity to say just how much the Chalkhills website "helped me out" while getting into this band, though... the wealth of material on offer on that website is just staggering and I found it an invaluable resource of information when I started listening to this band for the first time. Those Myspace interviews with Andy about certain songs have been great as well, and I always enjoy reading about what Andy has to say about his songwriting. He seems to have a sense of humour about his lack of commercial success, even though you can tell it does rankle him slightly!

Yeah, I think he sees what it takes to win the game (selling out etc) and counts his lucky stars he was only ever moderately successful. There'll always be residual anger about bad contracts and mismanagement ('I Caught Myself a Liarbird' is a great song) and he'll always come to loggerheads with his peers and overlords Terry Gilliam style, but on the whole it sounds like his personal life is stable and he's just enjoying himself.

APE records, on the other hand...