The Wheel and the MayPOLL: The XTC Poll Results Thread

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.

guess Complicated Game is a ballad, viewed a certain way

pls feel free to skip this overlong, inarticulate post in which I try and fail to explain what i like so much about Chalkhills and Children:

I was thinking about how XTC are a small-c conservative group in some ways, and how Chalkhills and Children is in the sense of valuing tradition, connection to the land and landscape and rooted-ness and family and continuity. I wouldn't call myself a political conservative and I think that's true of most people on ilx, but I do find something emotionally appealing in outlook despite myself and it is expressed so beautifully here, thinking about what works of art you don't agree with and find beauty in?
also: I always think of it as being about mental illness in some way, that terror of feeling disconnected from reality and like there is nothing to cling on to, and finding a temporary stability in these ideas of permanence (but the unsettledness never wholly goes away! the 'here I go again' sob at the end) (the ending is maybe my favourite part? I can't think of another song for which the adjective 'dreamlike' seems so appropriate, and at the ending the song seems to fold in on itself, all these different thoughts and memories and traditions, that sense that he is still a mystery to himself)

inarticulately grasping at something you can't quite pin down does seem sort of appropriate for this song

beautiful post

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XTC's relation to their label was very weird in that the band clearly thought they were underappreciated (and certainly underpaid), and yet, like many of their post-punk peers, without big label support, there is no way they'd have attained the level of success they did. Andy Partridge in particular seems a man out of time in so many respects -- you'd think he'd be at the top of his game today, in the age of DIY and self-releases. But, he's not. He's on Twitter, but releases no more new music either solo or witih XTC. In the 80s, when XTC had management and a pipeline of releases/relationship with their label, I think all concerned parties agreed to go on with the program until the bitter end. Why not? It's not like Virgin was *losing* money on XTC, only that they weren't banking at the level they might have wished. And XTC simply didn't have any other options, due to their contract, and the fact that they really wanted to succeed.

After the strike, and the Apple Venus records (which were really just the unleashing of 90s backlog), it seems clearer to me how much this kind of band needs backing *and* pushing. tho AP probably wouldn't agree with me..

The band and Virgin weren't even sure Skylarking would hit.

And in the US, they were with Geffen, fresh off the Neil Young lawsuit (and before they'd even hit paydirt with Guns n' Roses).

surely age has something to do with that - Andy's noted that in middle age the idea of being in a gang of boys is not as appealing as it is in youth, and that the accompanying competitive drive also wanes

xp

13. No Thugs in our House (1303 points, 15 votes)
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/13-NoThugsInOurHouse.jpg

was surprised by this placing. not a bad song, but not anything I have any special attachment to.

I didn't vote, but this would've been in my top 3.

Dig the "No Thugs" 7" picture sleeve finger-puppet theater!

http://assets.rootsvinylguide.com/pictures/xtc-no-thugs-in-our-house-theatre-pack-7-rare-single_4571807

'his viscous poly-paste breath comes out/their wall-paper world is shattered by his shout' one of their best couplets

This album's side a rage-out, heir to RGTG and No Language. All three are brilliant. Don't lose your temper, Andy!

that couplet continues the WASP metaphor (capitalisation intended) perfectly, a supreme lyric

surely age has something to do with that - Andy's noted that in middle age the idea of being in a gang of boys is not as appealing as it is in youth, and that the accompanying competitive drive also wanes

well sure, and it's not like he hasn't produced more than his fair share of music. I guess I just see a disconnect with so much effort put into getting out of obligations to Virgin, and then shutting down the store once the strike-era songs were out.

My #4 man I love that opening.

if his minor mania for post-Virgin collaborations is any indication he seems to really need other players to bounce off of

xp

'his viscous poly-paste breath comes out/their wall-paper world is shattered by his shout' one of their best couplets

The graphic I used for this song came from a wallpaper catalog. If you listen closely to the picture, you can hear Graham snoring away upstairs.

12. The Wheel & the Maypole (1335 points, 15 votes, 1 No. 1 vote))
http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060/12-WheelAndTheMaypole.jpg

ha i'd just finished looking up the wallpaper book where you took the graphic from before you shared that.
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