XTC : Classic or Dud.

the amount of commissioned stuff on Fuzzy Warbles that got turned down is pretty incredible

a new rerelease campaign was announced that would involve their entire catalogue being mixed in 5.1 surround sound and released in expanded editions beginning with their 1992 album Nonsuch.

lol waht how much more crap could there possible be

oh god

at first I thought that meant they would be started chronologically with Nonsuch and then moving forward but duh that's only um three albums, two of which have already been repackaged and reissued in multiple formats. but maybe they're not going to go chronologically... either way, would rather just hear some new stuff at this point :(

otfm

Nonsuch one of their best obv

Haha at this thread being next to the Cure one. The two bands of my early youth! XTC got older more gracefully

I can't muster much enthusiasm for 5.1 mixes but maybe we'll get comprehensive non-lp collections with each album.

Little bit on O&L here:
http://thequietus.com/articles/14404-xtc-oranges-and-lemons

dunno if I agree that problem with O&L is "too many instruments" or overly busy arrangements. feel more like too many of the songs are lazy retreads of previous ideas.

Problem for me is that it's mixed like a record from 1989.

I don't think the abundance of instrumentation is necessarily a bad thing but the way it's mixed makes it hard to focus. I looked up John Fox's wiki page and his only other production I've heard is TMBG's John Henry which is kind of similar - good material stretched too thin and too many distractions in songs that didn't need them.

It always sounded to me like a jingle writer's overlong demo tape. It was a pretty huge disappointment at the time, as I loved Skylarking and couldn't wait to hear where they'd go next (Psonic Psunspot notwithstanding).

I don't think the abundance of instrumentation is necessarily a bad thing but the way it's mixed makes it hard to focus

Bingo. I adore this album, but the mixing could have been better. It's a glossy, tiring record that takes a lot of attention. Took me years to get past that and really get into it, but I love almost every song nowadays.

first song on that album is so great.

huh was unaware of this lil bit of "inspiration"

http://www.rare-posters.com/2354.jpg

"scarecrow people" is sucha great song.

as is generally the case w XTC, always funny to hear fans' different favorites. no one ever agrees. has to be the least-consensus-making band ever.

forgs otm - cluttered & lifeless arrangements/production killing songs that might have worked if delivered differently. i have in moments come to appreciate O&L, but it's still XTC & andy's big dropoff point afaic.

has to be the least-consensus-making band ever

I'm thinking Autechre is the poster child for this (or maybe Prince??) but I have definitely been shocked at the number of people who loved Nonsuch, which I found dull and lifeless, but have since come around to in a big way. Meanwhile I love White Music but you don't see anyone boosting for that one (granted, I love it for the same reasons that many can't stand it).

I do think they had plenty of good music left in 'em on O&L and beyond, but it definitely feels like the moment where the end was in sight. I would've loved to write about Apple Venus (turns 15 this year!); maybe the best "last gasp" album I've ever heard

I'm very keen to see how the eventual XTC poll shakes out, because yeah, I have no idea what consensus there is on this band if any. Among the albums, I often see Skylarking cited as their best, but a lot of fans have disdain for its most well-known song! Maybe everyone will vote for 20 songs with no absolutely overlap and we can call it a day

looks like it was done 6 years ago, here were the results:

Drums & Wires 13
Skylarking 10
English Settlement 9
Black Sea 4
The Big Express 2
Go 2 2
Oranges & Lemons 1
White Music 1
Mummer 1
Wasp Star 1
Nonsuch 0
Apple Venus Pt. 1 0

Very surprising - I figured both Skylarking and English Settlement would be Top 3, but no votes for Nonsuch or Apple Venus is odd, and I only know of one person who thinks D&W was their best overall. I'd picture D&W getting 0 votes before Nonsuch. Curious how the Dukes stuff would slot in there too

Meanwhile I love White Music but you don't see anyone boosting for that one (granted, I love it for the same reasons that many can't stand it).

― frogbs, Tuesday, February 11, 2014 12:52 PM (22 minutes ago)

white music & go 2 tied for my favorite

25 O'Clock would be pretty high on my ballot.

I think I'm slated to run the XTC poll...? I expect the turnout to be small (20 voters tops probably) and the vote spread very wide, with next to no overlap. Dukes and other sundry spinoff stuff will be eligible.

at one point i had at one point every xtc album up to oranges and lemons including dukes stuff, but i've never owned or heard the rest, other than peter pumpkin head (i hated oranges and lemons that much).

listening to wasp star now. this seems pretty good!

the last two are really great capstones to their career

Wasp Star is probably their most immediate album, every song is just so obviously catchy, though it does feature "Wheel and the Maypole" which is such a great way to round out their career. Still, Apple Venus is the one you want - if not for Moulding's songs it would be practically a perfect album.

Haven't listened to Wasp Star in years, but only remember really liking "Church of Women" and "Wheel and the Maypole". In fact, I mostly remember how the version of "My Brown Guitar" paled in comparison to the more Dukes-y demo, and they didn't even include stuff like "Wonder Annual" or "Ship Trapped in Ice" but did include "Standing in for Joe" and "Wounded Horse", which is maybe the least essential XTC song ever. Ugh, and now I'm hopping mad just typing that >:(

Apple Venus has the biggest disparity between the Andy and Colin songs. Two decent songs that sound like they were written just so they could call it an XTC album vs. some of the most ambitious arrangements the band ever made. Not crazy about Colin's songs on Wasp Star either, but Andy's songs aren't a whole lot better. Not surprised Colin called it a day after that, seemed his presence was more obligatory. Kinda sad too, he wrote some of their best songs.

still listening- i did recognize the man who murdered love, don't know where i'd have heard it though.

Ship Trapped in the Ice is so good

Eek. I disagree with a couple of the premises (Partridge "maturing" from the barker or whatever).

Not surprised Colin called it a day after that, seemed his presence was more obligatory. Kinda sad too, he wrote some of their best songs.

My thoughts exactly - seems every album had something brilliant from him, "Generals and Majors", "Wake Up", "English Roundabout", "One of the Millions", "Sacrificial Bonfire", etc. - then on those last two he didn't seem interested at all. I still appreciate Wasp Star as a total crowd-pleaser, "Wounded Horse" or not

i just listened to ship trapped in the ice from wasp star demos, i guess? it's good, was there another version? xp

This is a long XTC thread, so my "Colin's songs" story is probably upthread someplace.

even better, now i'm listening to a version of "ship" purporting to be from a fuzzy warbles vol 2, it really just sounds like a much better rip of the same track. xpost

re: ship, this from a note Partridge had sent to R Stevie Moore.

“After demoing ‘The Wheel and the Maypole’, I turned to recording this recently finished song, with the un-subtle metaphor of feeling trapped in our Virgin contract. Started on 26th June 1995, this song crashed along, with its frosty tones and glacial piano, the only thing missing is the distant howl of huskies. I must have been in a genuine frozen state of mind then, as reading old track sheets to compile these notes, I see the next thing I wrote was also way down on the thermometer, that song for the (Talking) Heads, ‘Papersnow’.”

Which brings up another aspect of XTC and particular Andy Partridge that is frustrating: it seems when songs are deemed too personal, or too "unsubtle", they get dumped in favor of more challenging stuff, or just overproduced to obcure their "naked" emotion. See also Andy's feelings about "Dear God" (which I might even agree is too unsubtle, but still turned out to be the band's biggest hit), "Your Dictionary" (where the band and producer had to convince him to release), etc etc

'The Wheel and the Maypole' is really the only reason to own Wasp Star, but my god what a song to end XTC's final album with.

I never got over how much "Wasp Star" paled compared to "Apple Venus". And then when the Fuzzy Warbles came out, how much better it could've been!

some words on White Music too wherein I attempt to explain my weird affinity towards it:
https://critterjams.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/xtc-white-music-1978/

I pulled out Wasp Star last week at a small gathering. A very non-music-geek friend (but who has ears) said it sounded like a bad ripoff of XTC. When I told him it was, actually, XTC, he was still convinced that the songs weren't written by 'the "Mayor of Simpleton" guy' - said they sounded too boring and one-dimensional. In 2001 I was so happy to have XTC back that I hardly noticed at first what a dud Wasp Star was, and I still like, if not love, most of the songs on it, or at least there are moments and details in each song that give me pleasure - but I thought that was interesting, that someone with no investment in the band would notice and comment on its dudness (when I would almost have expected its simplicity and directness to have been perceived a virtue by casual listeners).

new Skylarking edition

wtf does "corrected polarity" mean?

it's been reversed iirc

what is polarity in this context?

Polarity means phase inversion. Maybe they fixed some phase cancellation issues with the recordings?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P1mhEWezaU

I'm gonna get the SW remix of Nonsuch but I really wish Andy Partridge would spend some time writing new music rather than just endlessly reissue his back catalogue

^fat chance at this point.