The Wheel and the MayPOLL: The XTC Poll Results Thread

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

x-post

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.
xpost

My #6. Halfway through you're thinking 'shit me they're ending on a high'. Then the Maypole section comes in and it gets even better. Then he - they - fucking MERGE them and your mind explodes and XTC end

From a recent interview, it sounds like he's still writing plenty on his own but mostly just getting the ideas and fragments down on tape without any real plan at the moment to turn them into full songs. He essentially said that after the perceived (by listeners and himself) quality downturn of Wasp Star, he didn't want to just keep churning them out for their own sake.

Has anybody heard the Powers album yet?

"The Wheel and the Maypole" I discovered weeks ago at you guys' recommendation and have never regretted it. The song never stops finding new melodic curlicues.

I heard some youtube clips but the album itself was pressed in such limited quantities and it doesn't seem to be available digitally that I kinda doubt I'll ever be able to hear the whole thing

xp

Bass playing on psonic psunspot is delicious and amazing

Bass playing on all XTC is amazing. Andy and Colin finding each other one of those bizarre and thankful coincidences that pop sometimes throws up

I'm the same as Alfred re maypole. Heard it the other week and it soared to the top 5 of my ballot

That's Wasp Star's only entry, right? It is the most notable song on the record, but I mainly think it would be a much better record with more Dave - the thinness of the arrangements is the biggest problem.

Playground a lock for top 5 ;)

The record starts and ends well imo, but gets slightly lost in the middle - and by slightly I mean rather

No thugs one of those tracks that was not gonna be on my ballot at all until I actually listened to it again and it just rocks so hard, as hard as anything on Black Sea.

Bass playing on all XTC is amazing. Andy and Colin finding each other one of those bizarre and thankful coincidences that pop sometimes throws up

― Ƹ༑Ʒ (imago), Thursday, October 16, 2014 4:17 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I always thought Colin played some brilliant shit, but didn't Andy recently claim to have actually written most of those lines?

what?!

colin played fretless which always made me revere him a bit more

I'm sure Andy gave some guidance to Colin but "written" and "most" is surely a bridge too far

I had Stupidly Happy at 16. Looks bleak.

I threw Stupidly Happy right at the bottom of mine because cmon it's like a big puppy wanting you to love it

Yeah, I'll have to look for the interview, but I remember Andy saying something snarky like, "Everyone likes the bass on 'Mayor of Simpleton,' but I wrote it!"

xp haha, big puppy. well said.

the bassline on Mayor of Simpleton seems too intricate for anybody besides the bass player to have written it imo but what do I know

Think I found it. This is an interview Todd Bernhardt did with Andy for a now-defunct myspace blog (quoted here:

AP: [chuckles] People do these survey things, and say, "Let's vote for Colin's best bass line" or something, and they don't realize that the two bass lines they vote for -- "Vanishing Girl" and "Mayor of Simpleton" -- it's me playing bass on "Vanishing Girl"...

TB: Oh, I didn't know that.

AP: Yeah. Or "What in the World?" -- that's me playing bass as well.

TB: Get out of here!

AP: That's me on bass -- Colin's on rhythm guitar.

TB: And you came up with that bass line?

AP: Yeah.

TB: That's funny -- I've always thought that was him channeling McCartney.

AP: No, we had to cut it live. He obviously couldn't play the bass and the rhythm guitar, and I didn't know how the chords went, so instead of him teaching me the chords, I said, "Look, you play the chords, I'll play the bass, and we'll get this thing done before lunchtime!"

But the one they mention is "Mayor," and Colin had to work very hard to get that bass line. It's very precise. It took me a long time to work it out, because I wanted to get into the J.S. Bach mode of each note being the perfect counterpoint to where the chords are and where the melody is. The bass is the third part in the puzzle.

omg! :D

What In The World??... is my favourite Dukes song, mostly for that bassline

I always thought it was the most obscene abomination of a song that is trash, that is dirt, that is filth. I don't know what possessed them to write such a disgusting, degeneratized song as that. And I'm complimenting them by considering it a song.