XTC : Classic or Dud.

I don't have a mail limit, I'm wondering if it went to my junk folder or something tho

I shall wait for you to check your etc etc

"Candymine" not a fail imo insofar as I had no idea this song existed until today + it is nutso.

Trivia: "Candymine" plus "Prince of Orange," "It's Snowing Angels" and "My Brown Guitar" (here called "Some Lovely (My Brown Guitar)") were originally released in 1994 as an EP through John Flansburgh's Hello CD of the Month Club subscription series. The first 3 songs were rereleased on Fuzzy Warbles; "My Brown Guitar" was later recorded by XTC for Wasp Star but the demo has never been rereleased.

Drums & Wireless is a good album to have, too – more BBC sessions. I can't remember whether there's overlap between the two but I don't think there is.

― Nmutua Canamla (Schlafsack), Thursday, December 2, 2010 10:51 PM (2 days ago)

I just cross-referenced the two, and every track first released on Drums & Wireless is included in the Transistor Blast box.

Ah, thanks.

"My Brown Guitar" was later recorded by XTC for Wasp Star but the demo has never been rereleased.

Correction: It was rereleased on the Homegrown demos collection. (Gads, a shameful mistake! Strip me of my XTC completist credentials!)

I agree that Wasp Star is probably one of their worst. To be fair though, it's probably their most immediate and accessible. There are some really catchy riffs on there but I kind of feel as though Moulding didn't really care anymore and Partridge was kind of losing his mind a bit. On the other hand Apple Venus is brilliant. It's not a fistpump five star album but the best parts of it are some of the most lush and beautiful music I've ever heard. I cannot believe that the same guy who was dicking around with "Statue of Liberty" would write something as amazing as "Greenman" two decades later. I mean "Statue" rules but that's quite a change of pace.

"Candymine" not a fail imo insofar as I had no idea this song existed until today + it is nutso.

My first time hearing this too! Like XTC doing 1910 Fruitgum Company, and therefore fabulous!!

I got divorced last week and forgot to listen to 'your dictionary' - correcting that now and forgot how awesome 'Apple Venus' is as a complete rekkid...

YES, that is the best post-break-up-catharsis song ever. Sorry/pleased (pick one) to hear about your divorce btw.

frogbs: Wasp Star ends with 'The Wheel and the Maypole' which almost completely redeems it imo, but yeah, Moulding absolutely phoning it in by then.

yeah the one-two punch of Church of Women/Wheel and Maypole is a very "whoah" moment given the rest of the album

Moulding's creepy song themes, married couples flirting/sex/talk with added swinger overtones applied to his brown music was a real let down on WS.

Agreed on the Wheel/Maypole. A great way to end their career if nothing else. Actually I found "You and the Clouds Will Still be Beautiful" to be pretty good as well (if a little dopey).

I wonder what Partridge is up to these days...is he doing production work now, or has he been recording at all over the last decade? I remember hearing he had writer's block, but somehow I don't think someone with his talent would go dry an entire decade...

Shakey, did you ever get those emails?

Partridge? Don't know. He's certainly stopped releasing good material, preferring to dick around with entire albums full of impro and mismanage a record label. Maybe he's just being a dad/grandad and enjoying himself.

I did not

but I didn't wanna seem too whiny about it

agh k. Do you have an incoming size limit per message?

Partridge and Gregory are talking again so I hear.

They've been talking for a while but nothing has happened. tbh I'm amazed Gregory's wasting his time with such a vicious serial backstabber.

I do not have an incoming size limit. however, I do have a rather unusual e-mail address (people usually assume it should be .com instead of .cc, but no it is a .cc address)

I did that. Weird. Let me check tonight when I get home.

While we're here I just want to prop 'The Bland Leading the Bland' (I know it's a warble but wotevz) for correctly representing everything I hate about modern life and the constant and overwhelming pressure to fall in line with it. Lyrically top five of all-time imo.

vicious serial backstabber

Elaborate, please...

I just had a silly thought that is probably only pleasurable to me, but:
if "Your Dictionary" was about how he divorced his wife because she was bad at spelling.
"F-I-T-E, is that how you spell fight in your dictionary?"

ahahahaha

xp He has a Gilliam-like habit of publicly blaming everyone within 500km for his own failures, and he's not nice about it. Evidenced in pretty much any of his interviews from the past 15 years.

Also this

Moulding's creepy song themes, married couples flirting/sex/talk with added swinger overtones applied to his brown music was a real let down on WS.

― Pottery Owls (MaresNest), Thursday, 9 December 2010 07:40 (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

is the best ever description of Moulding's input to that record, especially the 'brown music' bit.

Yeah it's true that Partridge doesn't sound like the easiest person to work with but in his defense he has gotten dicked over a lot. I mean if you listen to an XTC singles comp it's just really hard to fathom how this band almost never got played on the radio. Maybe the whole "not touring" thing really bit them on the ass??

Dunno, I remember that documentary where they're recording "Towers of London", where APart is dicking around at the mic, and John Leckie quietly remarks "ah good, he's in a good mood today"...

Oops. Okay Shakey, I just checked the email address and it's fine. I did BCC you both though, so maybe something went wrong there.

Is the Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album already out of print?

It looks like the big 9cd boxset is out of print but individual volumes are plentiful on AmazonUK.

http://ape.uk.net/acatalog/Andy_Partridge.html

^^^ all available apparently

(the box is great btw)

Am I reading correctly that the box is out of stock from Ape Records, tho?

Like yes I'd like all the individual volumes but that box looked cute & awesome plus Andy writes thoughtful & funny notes.

Oh god, I just realised there's no way to ~buy~ anything

I have had Generals and Majors stuck in my head since yesterday. I am going insane. That is all.

I was watching Ric Burns' New York documentary today and right around where they talk about the death of Walt Whitman, Frost Circus pops up.

i had a dream last night that i was watching a biopic about XTC. i don't really know anything about XTC so it was pretty much all made up. there was a scene where a guy with long rocker hair got a haircut so that he looked more cleancut and modern.

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/252/3920749.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_uB-0D-gV8mY/Rp7M5xT0_HI/AAAAAAAAC3E/LdVzTX-xQVU/s400/xtc1980.jpg

have come to really wish Fuzzy Warbles was chronological

I reordered the tracks when I ripped them but there's some annoying cross-fades that broke.

well I would re-order them now but it would mean digging through all the liner notes. which appear to be the only place any reference is made to the dates of recordings.

Yeah, it's a bit challenging. I have a spreadsheet that I can send you if you're interested.

I wouldn't mind making a playlist of these, crossfades bedamned

lol wow yeah if you actually have a spreadsheet I totally want it!

Ok, this may not be quite what you're looking for but here you go: http://www.divshare.com/download/19202708-09f

It's a list of the previously unreleased full songs (not instrumentals, joke bits or demos of released songs) from various sources, primarily Fuzzy Warbles. I've listed the album session it was recorded for and approximate date. I've gleaned this information from the FW liner notes, the Chalkhills website and some other sources I can't recall. Let me know if you spot any errors or have further questions.

Hold on, technical difficulties, one moment...

Use this link: http://www.divshare.com/download/19202877-fa5

thanks, gerald, will consult