The Wheel and the MayPOLL: The XTC Poll Results Thread

Actually, I could have done the entire poll with Dürer.

When I get home tonight, I'll post a few of the images I gathered for songs that didn't make it.

That will be a treat, the images were amazing!

And the poll results make me realize, even the tunes I'd never consider voting for have obvious virtues.

And and and... My ballot. If I'd gone beyond 25 (or if my mood had shifted slightly), I could have given a boost to Liarbird and Ladybird and cast a lone vote for Omnibus (those key changes! that bassline!)

Snowman
Senses Working Overtime
Love On A Farmboy's Wages
Complicated Game
This is Pop?
Ballet For A Rainy Day
All Of A Sudden (It's Too Late)
Beating Of Hearts
All You Pretty Girls
Another Satellite
The Somnambulist <--------------- surprised by its low placement
Burning With Optimism's Flames
Towers Of London
Wake Up
No Language In Our Lungs
Battery Brides
Funk Pop A Roll
Shake You Donkey Up
Respectable Street
River Of Orchids
The Dukes Of Stratosphear - Vanishing Girl
Mayor Of Simpleton
Paper And Iron (Notes And Coins)
Season Cycle
Chalkhills And Children

at the risk of being repetitive, I am going to stan for some unjustly overlooked Fuzzy Warbles tracks (I thought I had voted for Young Cleopatra too but maybe I forgot? idk). There's more than a solid album's worth of fully realized, high quality tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eleqWoi-Ro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HETCRDY3fI4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV9xSbNimn8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GX3Cc7aef68
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnbZzk6Be9k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0qbnye6Bno
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3w5-k6pQJKk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBOoMFWgnXU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIF8ZkKx_JE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOLeojjBeKs

I didn't vote, and I'm belatedly catching up with all the results. These polls often get me listening to stuff I hadn't put on in years, so today at work: all of English Settlement (with the deleted-in-US tracks) and Apple Venus Vol. 1, which I had never heard more than the singles from. Loved "River of Orchids."

(with the deleted-in-US tracks)

fwiw, Geffen reissued XTC's entire catalog in the US in 198...4? 1985? Anyway, whenever they signed to Geffen. And Settlement was finally issued here in full.

Yeah, I should have clarified, I've heard most of them as single tracks, but don't own the reissue and have never actually listened to the album start to finish as it was intended. I think it's a bit overlong that way, and I don't really hear any of the 5 tracks as being top-flight XTC.

#teamLeisure

Yeah, Settlement has some of my all-time least fave XTC. "Melt the Guns" might be the duddest dud they ever dudded (thought largely due to the 20 minutes of Andy's croaking at the end).

haha, see I love "Melt The Guns." This where all the different XTC fans have differing opinions on classicness/dudness. But I also discovered today I like "Frivolus Tonight," though, so I'm suspect.

I also like spelling. Frivolous.

I also like Melt the Guns! Though I've noticed it's often hated. Personally, I just think it's a fun song with cool chords, and a great bass line. Is it the lyrics that cause hate? AP's vocal?

yeah Melt The Guns is cool and I *like* the silly inverse freakout at the end

Also, the production on all of English Settlement really jumps out, so tracks like "Melt the Guns" and "It's Nearly Africa" are foreplay for my ears.

It was "Knuckle Down" that I thought was a bit under, really.

"Melt the Guns" might be the duddest dud they ever duded

See, if we're talking just English Settlement, that would be "Knuckle Down" as far as I'm concerned. But I fully understand why someone would hate "Melt the Guns."

x-post!

Is it the lyrics that cause hate? AP's vocal?

Mostly the vocal; I think "Melt the Guns" was the moment I realized I liked XTC in spite of, and not because of, Partridge's voice.

ha.

xpost

Of the 5 that weren't on the US single LP, "Yacht Dance" is the one that doesn't do much for me, the other 4 just don't make much of an impression. But I've listened to the US LP hundreds of times, which may make those songs I'm much less familiar with seem superficial, or oddly placed on the record.

To muddy the waters further, my copy of ES (the first XTC i owned) was some kind of European import cassette which had everything except leisure, cockpit, africa, knuckle and fly.

So those are the outlanders for me. And of those I only really like fly

Young Cleopatra highest ranking song with only 1 vote. Voter come out & explain yourself please.

That was me. I like a lot of the Warbles - I especially like the original Jules Verne's Sketchbook cassette as being a high water mark for Partridge demos - but this came in first for me. I actually prefer this even earlier demo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzkSLzsVbKI

It's a catchy, enthuastic Andy song with a great hook and lyrics ("You'll never be the Queen unless you do as your told"), sung with a lot of affection and regard for the subject. A pretty enthusiastic piece of young girl worship, which is of course the main problem with it and probably what kept it off any of their albums, but I first heard the song when I was trying to start a family myself, and so I kind of appropriated it and heard it the way I wanted to, as a proud father song that gave me something to look forward to.

So yeah, probably as much of a personal favorite as anything.

I love "Melt the Guns", and the freakout is the best bit (aside from Colin's fantastic bassline). For ES duds, I'm on the side of "Knuckle Down" and "Leisure", with "Down in the Cockpit" not far behind.

leisure is so gooooood, it's the sound of the british working class being despised and mocked by the media & hung out to dry by failing industry & thatcherism, the sound of enforced not-giving-a-toss hiding genuine rage & disenfranchisement, one of their truly great protest songs

My ballot. For a time in my early-mid 20s, XTC were my favorite band, period. I cannot begin to describe the anticipation I felt before the release of Apple Venus. Still a big fan, although my top five albums have shifted since then (currently, in order: English Settlement, Skylarking, Black Sea, Nonsuch, Oranges and Lemons).

1 Towers of London
2 Wrapped In Grey
3 Life Begins At The Hop
4 Love At First Sight
5 Earn Enough For Us
6 No Thugs In Our House
7 Easter Theatre
8 One Of The Millions
9 The Wheel And The Maypole
10 The Mayor Of Simpleton
11 Senses Working Overtime
12 My Bird Performs
13 King For A Day
14 Stupidly Happy
15 Rook
16 Making Plans For Nigel
17 Vanishing Girl
18 English Roundabout
19 Then She Appeared
20 Jason And The Argonauts
21 Snowman
22 Harvest Festival
23 Playground
24 No Language In Our Lungs
25 You're A Good Man Albert Brown
26 Runaways
27 Beating Of Hearts
28 I Can't Own Her
29 Generals and Majors
30 Complicated Game
31 Rocket From A Bottle
32 The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead
33 Great Fire
34 The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul
35 Sacrificial Bonfire
36 Brainiac's Daughter
37 That Wave
38 Dear God
39 Real By Reel
40 Little Lighthouse
41 All Of A Sudden (It's Too Late)
42 Love On A Farmboy's Wages
43 Across This Antheap
44 Grass
45 Are You Receiving Me?
46 Scarecrow People
47 Dear Madam Barnum
48 She's So Square
49 You're The Wish You Are I Had
50 The World Is Full Of Angry Young Men

I gathered a ton of images before the final tallies were done--here's some of the runners up.

(Complete runners up gallery here, Top 60 gallery here.)

Alternate image for Sacrificial Bonfire:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/47alternateSACRIFICIALBONFIRE.jpg

Alternate Peter Pumpkinhead from last week's news:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/52alternateBALLADOFPETERPUMPKINHEAD-Alternate.jpg

I Bought Myself a Liarbird:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/61IBOUGHTMYSELFALIARBIRD.jpg

The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/62MANWHOSAILEDAROUNDHISSOUL.jpg

Paper and Iron:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/65PAPERANDIRON.jpg

This World Over:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/72THISWORLDOVER.jpg

Poor Skeleton Steps Out:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/76POORSKELETONSTEPSOUT.jpg

Bike Ride to the Moon:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/78BIKERIDETOTHEMOON.jpg

That Wave:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/86THATWAVE.jpg

Red Brick Dream:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/93REDBRICKDREAM.jpg

Miniature Sun:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/105MINIATURESUN.jpg

Your Dictionary:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/120YOURDICTIONARY.jpg

The Affiliated:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/123AFFILIATED.jpg

The Smartest Monkeys:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/135SMARTESTMONKEYS.jpg

Thanks for Christmas (Shocker Claus!):

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/156THANKSFORCHRISTMAS.jpg

ahaha you did one for The Smartest Monkeys in case it placed XD

these are great obv

Pink Thing:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/131PINKTHING.jpg

The original image of Nonsuch Palace:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/NONSUCHPALACE.jpg

And finally, two bizarre images, but I couldn't figure out what song to pair them with:

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/Gargling_Oil_Almanac.jpg

http://i1086.photobucket.com/albums/j449/HideousLump/XTC%20ILM%20Top%2060%20Runners%20Up/How_to_Hold_Pets_-_2.jpg

First could be In Another Life

second could be New Town Animal

In answer to an earlier question, my exposure to XTC was in college in the 80s where an XTC obsessed DJ used to play them all the time and even run an annual 4 hour show dedicated to them.

played lots of XTC this past week inspired by this poll. Verdict: gf not impressed. AP voice "whiny", XTC music "not exciting, but maybe good for background", though slightly amused by lyrics for "Pink Thing". Kids today.

haa o dear

does she dig yr own stuff or are you blissfully unencumbered by fandom

xtc is perfect kids' music imo

does she dig yr own stuff or are you blissfully unencumbered by fandom

a question for every musician on this board, ever!

it was provocatively phrased as a binary, of course there's a happy medium of appreciation

"do you have to play that again?"

AP voice "whiny"

Not an adjective I would apply to AP. More "shouty" imo, but there's probably a better one I'm missing. I don't think I've ever played XTC in wife's presence, I'll have to see what she thinks.

she likes my stuff, but definitely more on the pop end of the spectrum (like most of the rest of anyone who's heard my music). However, there are plenty of things I listen to that she, if not hates, at least appreciates if I don't play so loud (Darkthrone, Magma, Steve Reich). Luckily she's an angel in every other way :)

re: whiny, it was more like "it's maybe too whiny, or something?" like she also couldn't quite place the right adjective. I think she's referring to his voice on "Senses Working Overtime", the "hey hey the clouds are away..the innocents can all sleep safely" stuff, I could see as whiny.

...which yields to glorious, full-throated joy! AP is a total thesp, his mood is a broad & copious palette

Glad 4u tho, even it this means nothing else like 'The Return' :P

I once played Senses Working Overtime to a teenage science class. They were "what the fuck is this?" during the first verse, but were hooked by the end.

Ha, I remember when I bought the (12") single. I was exactly that!

I'd say AP's voice can be a little hard to deal with. I have to give him the benefit of the doubt really.

Listened to the song 'Gold' off Mummer yesterday for the first time and it struck me (I'm sure this must have been mentioned) just how unconventional the structures on many of these songs are.

Oddly enough I'm listening to their version of "All Along The Watchtower" right now, which takes Dylan (already a textbook example of a singer with some, uh, limitations) to a whole new level of bizarrely exaggerated pronounciations.