"Love on a Farmboy's Wage" is one of the few of the pastoral songs for which I voted.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 October 2014 15:50 (nine years ago) link
19. Complicated Game (1124 points, 13 votes)http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/19-ComplicatedGame.jpg
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 15:51 (nine years ago) link
that game looks awesome
― nxd, Thursday, 16 October 2014 15:55 (nine years ago) link
oh there's precedents - Macca's Mother Nature's Son for ex.― Οὖτις, Thursday, October 16, 2014 4:49 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Οὖτις, Thursday, October 16, 2014 4:49 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Musically I don't really hear it. Mother Nature's Son is a nice fingerstyle pop tune, but it in no way resembles the pre-industrial folk vibe as 'Farmboys', 'Pretty Girls', 'Cauldron' or 'Maypole'. They have a distinct aesthetic, like late-medieval folk songs filtered through big, wet eighties pop production. It's quite unique AFAIK.
― Shepard Toney Album (dog latin), Thursday, 16 October 2014 15:57 (nine years ago) link
imo XTC were definitely more "English" sounding than the Beatles. I can't really think of other songs that sound like "Farmboy's Wages" either, and am not familiar enough with bands like Pentangle or Fairport Convention to say if they were precendents. Maybe something like the solo acoustic guitar songs on Yes records? Ha, pretty sure that's NOT what AP was going for...
― Dominique, Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:04 (nine years ago) link
My #2, was so nearly my #1 but someone else came along and moved it (my other cranial hemisphere)
but like
like
graaaaaaaaaaaaaggghhhhh
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:06 (nine years ago) link
Maybe something like the solo acoustic guitar songs on Yes records? Ha, pretty sure that's NOT what AP was going for...
Xgau's early reviews of XTC suggest a Yes influence on the band.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:07 (nine years ago) link
xtc could make the most gorgeous, ornate English pastoral pop that had existed
they could also fire the most soul-searing, vicious, primal, hollow post-punk exocets into the sun of hypocrisy and spite
thus is xtc's glory
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:10 (nine years ago) link
oh there's precedents - Macca's Mother Nature's Son for ex.
Muswell Hillbillies and Village Green sorta do this
― kornrulez6969, Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:13 (nine years ago) link
theatre, girl, girls, maypole rounds off my prediction. if 'brides' gets in I will be surprised and ecstatic
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:18 (nine years ago) link
and it would appear even The Big Express has its defenders.
This baffles me -- is TBE not thought highly of by XTC fans? I always loved it, except for "All You Pretty Girls" and "Seagulls" -- the stiffness of the drum machine programming ruins those.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:20 (nine years ago) link
it's kind of an ugly sounding album imo
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:24 (nine years ago) link
which seems to have been the goal so ok fair enough but it's clangor is kind of a grind to get through for me
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:25 (nine years ago) link
I like Big Express, but it took a few years, especially because it was the second XTC record I heard, after Skylarking. Now, I think it's one of their most interesting records (both on songwriting and production fronts), and has some of my favorite songs (voted for 4).
― Dominique, Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:28 (nine years ago) link
18. Wrapped in Grey (1151 points, 13 votes, 1 No. 1 vote))http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/18-WrappedInGrey.jpg
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:33 (nine years ago) link
a beauty, this one
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:34 (nine years ago) link
o lol I even voted for this & forgot to predict it
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:37 (nine years ago) link
the song that broke their relationship with Virgin
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:39 (nine years ago) link
highest note ever sung by AP?
― Dominique, Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:40 (nine years ago) link
haha yeah maybe
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:41 (nine years ago) link
TBE took me a long time to come round to. I don't know who thought "All You Pretty Girls" should have been a single; it's so murky and weird, with the ska-squeezebox carrying the instrumental load in the verses, the artificially harmonized submarine vocals in the chorus, the whistling solo (!) (?) (?!), the offkilter, oft unresolved Irish diddling in the outro... it's a mess. Kind of a glorious mess to my ears, but the pop audience could be predicted to run screaming. "Smalltown" would have been a better choice, IMO. The album as a whole is cluttery and clangy and deliberately rebarbative, but not as cohesive as it feels like it should be, and the highs aren't quite as high as the highs on their other records. This go-round I really grooved on its weirdness - the bizzare prog yee-haw vibe of "Shake You Donkey Up", the offbeat guitarplay in "Wake Up", the aggressive harmonica and in-your-face handclaps on "Reign of Blows". Definitely a "for fans only" kind of affair.
"Wrapped in Grey" one of those connoisseurs' picks that I have never warmed to (same for "Pale and Precious").
― hardcore dilettante, Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:50 (nine years ago) link
always liked "Wrapped in Grey" for the ending, and in very typical Partridge fashion, he lands on a minor 7th, only to go down to the 6th. I also happen to love "resolutions" like that (perhaps because of AP?), and the only other composer who comes to mind that does it a lot as well is Messiaen. Feeling-wise, it's like he ends the song on a confrontational question mark, but then resolves to utter uncertainty. Yay!
x-post
― Dominique, Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:51 (nine years ago) link
As I presumed, my taste in XTC differs greatly from the other folks who voted. Only 5 of my choices have shown up so far. Not much love for GO2 so far, and way to much for Nonsuch, imo.
― kwhitehead, Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:53 (nine years ago) link
best bit of wrapped in grey is the way the second chorus slams in, without that teasing bridge
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:55 (nine years ago) link
I don't know who thought "All You Pretty Girls" should have been a single; it's so murky and weird, with the ska-squeezebox carrying the instrumental load in the verses, the artificially harmonized submarine vocals in the chorus, the whistling solo (!) (?) (?!), the offkilter, oft unresolved Irish diddling in the outro... it's a mess.
agree about all this - it sounds like 4 songs mashed together, and the changes are all jarring (isn't the chorus and its plagal cadence in another key altogether from the rest of the song?) It sounds like something from a bad musical about sailing ships.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:56 (nine years ago) link
my favorite on Big Express is actually probably This World Over
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 16:57 (nine years ago) link
17. Summer's Cauldron (1225 points, 14 votes, 2 No. 1 votes))http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/17-SummersCauldron.jpg
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 17:10 (nine years ago) link
first entry with more than 1 no. 1 vote, btw
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 17:20 (nine years ago) link
hopefully not the last!
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Thursday, 16 October 2014 17:22 (nine years ago) link
is this the only XTC song to feature a melodica
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 17:23 (nine years ago) link
Drowning here in summers cauldREEEEEEEEEEEE (enter gorgeous string section)
― a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 16 October 2014 17:24 (nine years ago) link
― Οὖτις,
Mine too – their attempt at Rush or Police-type arrangements.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 October 2014 17:24 (nine years ago) link
I think it's a melodica and not a harmonica in "Smokeless Zone," but not 100% sure.
― warning, #4 can't be unseen (WilliamC), Thursday, 16 October 2014 17:25 (nine years ago) link
haha that is not exactly a connection I would have drawn given my loathing for both
xp
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 17:25 (nine years ago) link
have no idea what gear Rundgren/the band used to program those insect sounds, totally hypnotized teenage me
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 17:26 (nine years ago) link
yeah this is an astonishing soundscape above anything else
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Thursday, 16 October 2014 17:27 (nine years ago) link
16. Harvest Festival (1236 points, 14 votes)http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/16-HarvestFestival.jpg
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 17:35 (nine years ago) link
Would loooove a tech boffins rundown of the skylarking sessions
― a drug by the name of WORLD WITHOUT END (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 16 October 2014 17:38 (nine years ago) link
Xposts
haaaa I forgot this one too despite voting for it, my highest AV too
incredible lyric, incredible middle eight
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Thursday, 16 October 2014 17:41 (nine years ago) link
yeah the pining for his lost childhood love at her wedding is very well drawn, this mixture of acceptance and regret and longing and nostalgia
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 17:49 (nine years ago) link
― Οὖτις, Thursday, October 16, 2014 1:26 PM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
OTM! When I was listening to/obsessed with Skylarking in 1986-87 (seriously, I listened to it 2-3 times a day for 3-4 months solid), I thought, "Wow, the things they can do with computers! Dig those rhythmic insect sounds!"
When I next listened to Skylarking, 25 years later, I thought, "How the fuck did they do that in 1986?!"
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 16 October 2014 17:59 (nine years ago) link
less pining, more basking imo
it's a v emotionally mature overview of the great circle, which is apple venus' overarching concern, manifested here at it most simultaneously cosmic and intimate
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:05 (nine years ago) link
I think the conflicted emotions are there - I agree its more positive than wallowing, it is a "mature" sort of song
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:10 (nine years ago) link
"That's Really Super, Supergirl" sounds like Scritti Politti.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:18 (nine years ago) link
continuing in the lush orchestral ballads vein
15. Chalkhills and Children (1238 points, 15 votes, 1 No. 1 vote))http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/15-ChalkhillsAndChildren.jpg
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:26 (nine years ago) link
Glad to see Seagiulls and Smalltown placing. I love Big Express. Especially after the weaker opening songs are out of the way.
― ColinO, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:28 (nine years ago) link
gr8 image
lovely song too. didn't vote for it coz it is almost cheesy but I did say almost
― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:29 (nine years ago) link
it took me awhile to come around to this song. not in love with organ/keyboard sounds
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:30 (nine years ago) link
I always thought this is one of XTC's best songs -- I don't hear cheesy at all, in fact I hear a bit too weighty a sentiment for something that's supposed to be a pretty ballad. Letting go, submitting to one's lot in life, acceptance, but mixed with dreamy nostalgia and even wonder at self-discovery. Also, a great example of how to take Beach Boys influence and not sound like you're just copying the Beach Boys
x-post, re: keys sounds, I think O&L in general suffers from dated sounds (drums are the worst offender for me), but like the Big Express, it does have some of their most ambitious art/pop hybrid songs
― Dominique, Thursday, 16 October 2014 18:33 (nine years ago) link