The Wheel and the MayPOLL: The XTC Poll Results Thread

best bit of wrapped in grey is the way the second chorus slams in, without that teasing bridge

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.

my favorite on Big Express is actually probably This World Over

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

first entry with more than 1 no. 1 vote, btw

hopefully not the last!

is this the only XTC song to feature a melodica

Drowning here in summers cauldREEEEEEEEEEEE (enter gorgeous string section)

my favorite on Big Express is actually probably This World Over

― Οὖτις,

Mine too – their attempt at Rush or Police-type arrangements.

I think it's a melodica and not a harmonica in "Smokeless Zone," but not 100% sure.

haha that is not exactly a connection I would have drawn given my loathing for both

xp

have no idea what gear Rundgren/the band used to program those insect sounds, totally hypnotized teenage me

yeah this is an astonishing soundscape above anything else

16. Harvest Festival (1236 points, 14 votes)
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/16-HarvestFestival.jpg

Would loooove a tech boffins rundown of the skylarking sessions

Xposts

haaaa I forgot this one too despite voting for it, my highest AV too

incredible lyric, incredible middle eight

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

have no idea what gear Rundgren/the band used to program those insect sounds, totally hypnotized teenage me

― 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?!"

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

I think the conflicted emotions are there - I agree its more positive than wallowing, it is a "mature" sort of song

"That's Really Super, Supergirl" sounds like Scritti Politti.

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

Glad to see Seagiulls and Smalltown placing. I love Big Express. Especially after the weaker opening songs are out of the way.

gr8 image

lovely song too. didn't vote for it coz it is almost cheesy but I did say almost

it took me awhile to come around to this song. not in love with organ/keyboard sounds

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

Yeah, the overall sonics on O&L were always problematic for me. It was part of the reason that O&L was were I got off the XTC bus.

I did say almost! it grazes a sort of zen unctuousness but just about gets away with it on the strength of music + lyrical imagery

this is one of those O&L songs that is so well constructed it transcends the failings in its execution

yeah ^^this

Listening on headphones at the moment and, yes, the mix has got a lot happening w/out sounding cluttered, fer instance the keyboard line and harmonies.

Chalkhills and Children and Wrapped In Grey were both in my top five. Guess I'm a big fan of their ballads. Both incredibly beautiful songs. I'm not a massive fan of Oranges & Lemons at all but Chalkhills and the artwork are the two reasons I'll always keep that album in my collection.

I can't believe mine was the only number 1 vote for Chalkhills and Children, I thought that would be in the top five at least!

Just going back to The Big Express. The quality of that album is just so all over the place for me. I voted for eight of its songs but the other three I never need to hear again. I've given up hope of Liarbird making it now which ended up being my highest Big Express track.

the extra tracks hurt the album

I can't believe mine was the only number 1 vote for Chalkhills and Children, I thought that would be in the top five at least!

― soref

It was my number two. I'm very surprised it wasn't higher.

more surprises in store folks!

Chalkhills is kind of amazing for being a pop song where a pop singer writes about his kids and also a pop song where a pop singer writes about the hollowness of pop stardom that is not just not terrible but a masterpiece

no "Liarbird", no credibility. Seriously, that song should be part of any XTC primer just on subject matter alone

yeah xp

it is probably the best song I didn't vote for, sorry soref

I suppose this is partly because Partridge is not a 'pop star' in the way of, say, Sting or Phil Collins, no mansion or millions in the bank, but also Chalkhills doesn't sound smug at all, rather someone troubled finding something stable in their life, but song is still troubled and troubling

let's have some jingle jangle rock for a bit

14. Vanishing Girl (1287 points, 15 votes, 1 No. 1 vote))
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/14-VanishingGirl.jpg

commonly referenced as a Hollies homage it's possibly better than any actual individual Hollies song. Insane Macca-esque bass runs through the entire thing, beautiful spangly guitar leads that I assume are Gregory. Production is actually kind of spare compared to a lot of the other Dukes' tracks. The hook and the playing make it such a great opener for the album tho.

the only Dukes track I could stomach tbh

yeah it's good & extremely vivid for its arrangement

impt development: my shuffle just segued immortal technique into 'snowman', collective unconscious respondin'

commonly referenced as a Hollies homage it's possibly better than any actual individual Hollies song.

I feel this way about most of the Dukes stuff

I guess major labels in the 80s really did have money to burn: "Let's get this straight: you haven't had any hits, none of your records have even gone gold, and you want us to release an album by your psychedelic-homage alter-ego under a name not even everyone in your tiny audience would recognize as being you? Sure, no problem!"

Voted Liarbird at #20. But I've placed nothing in the top 20 so far, the XTC ballads don't really do it for me.

guess major labels in the 80s really did have money to burn: "Let's get this straight: you haven't had any hits, none of your records have even gone gold, and you want us to release an album by your psychedelic-homage alter-ego under a name not even everyone in your tiny audience would recognize as being you? Sure, no problem!"

yeah this astounds me. The band and Virgin weren't even sure Skylarking would hit. And I bet even its success was of the treading water kind, allowing them to keep recording or recoup advances.