XTC : Classic or Dud.

'Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her' is undoubtedly one of my favourite XTC songs, and a definite highlight of The Big Express for me. It's amazing when I think back to when I heard The Big Express for the first time and I found the production of the record dense and overwhelming, nowadays when I listen to it, it sounds like absolute perfection to me.

English Settlement as the last great XTC record? Don't be daft. Skylarking, Nonsuch and Apple Venus alone completely destroy that argument. Not to mention that English Settlement isn't even close to being one of XTC's best records.

It is, but yeah they made great records later

I'll always maintain that side 3 of Settlement is the weakest side of vinyl they ever did. No other XTC album has the distinction of having a side that weak. So, no.

Melt the guns. It's nearly Africa. Leisure. Knuckle Down.

Hmm, needs another song, but.

Wow, didn't realize those were all on one side (I had the cassette). That is indeed their worst side/worst sequence of songs on an album (though I never got around to the post-O&L stuff). Take those out, and English Settlement is nearly flawless.

I'd keep Melt the Guns, but the other 3 can rot.

I'd keep Knuckle Down but yeah it's a grim run

Swap two of those out for b-sides -- "Blame the Weather" and "Tissue Tigers" -- and it improves considerably.

I have no problems with Melt The Guns or Africa, honestly. Listened to the US album a zillion times when it was new, so no Leisure or Knuckle Down. Side 2 (Guns/Thugs/Africa/Roundabout/All Of A Sudden) is nicely sequenced.

I could lose those two,too.

I probably knew "Making Plans for Nigel" and "Generals and Majors" before this, but it was falling head over heels for "It's Nearly Africa" on the first WOMAD compilation "Music and Rhythm" that turned me into the XTC nerd that I am.

And yes, switching "Leisure" and "Knuckle Down" out for "Blame the Weather" and "Tissue Tigers" would have been better.

Also add "Heaven is paved" and "Punch and Judy" and you have a cracking four track 'side' - P&J should have been a single..

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/todd-rundgren-xtc-skylarking-feud/

That's pretty ugly. Never really cared for that album though. It sounds nothing like what I think of XTC as, and I think it's given a loooooooot of people the total wrong idea about XTC

yeah, it's certainly not the perfection of the "pastoral" thing that everyone claims it is - that's Mummer.

x-post:

I dunno, man, I don't really hear much of a difference between the XTC of Skylarking and the XTC of Nonsuch. I think working on the Dukes album was more of a turning point for XTC than working with Rundgren.

Anyway, you'd think Rundgren would be happy enough that Partridge likes the album now, but obviously not.

Mummer has many highlights, but Skylarking is perfect from start to finish.

Mummer is spookier and maybe more quintessentially English but Skylarking yeah it's perfect

agree w Turrican that the Dukes album was the real turning point

I just read in the new book that they edited 2 minutes out of Melt The Guns, yikes!

They could have easily edited out a couple more minutes and I wouldn't have been bothered!

Turrican otm re: Dukes & Skylarking.

Mummer has many highlights, but Skylarking is perfect from start to finish.

Sorry Turrican, I couldn't stop myself.

I can't abide Human Alchemy

It's not the best, but I love the bridge section and don't mind the weird, weak chorus.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of 'Human Alchemy' either, one of the weaker songs to make it onto an XTC album during this period. Mummer would have been greatly improved by bumping 'Human Alchemy', and adding 'Jump', 'Gold' and 'Toys'

I dunno, man, I don't really hear much of a difference between the XTC of Skylarking and the XTC of Nonsuch.

I guess when I think of quintessential XTC, I think of nervy, herky-jerky guitars and staccato vocals... but now that you mention it, I suppose that time period of their existence is significantly shorter than their 'pastoral' phase.

it's certainly not the perfection of the "pastoral" thing that everyone claims it is - that's Mummer.

I'm not sure how an album that contains Human Alchemy, Great Fire and Funk Pop A Roll always gets described as pastoral. The acoustic songs are lovely, but they're not the whole of Mummer.

I love some of the guitar sounds on Mummer, though... the guitars sound absolutely rich and beautiful on 'Beating of Hearts' and 'Love On A Farmboys Wages' in particular. Apparently Partridge found Steve Nye a bit of a grump to work with, but loved his work on the album. He was David Sylvian's producer of choice around that time.

Skylarking comes up around 83 minutes in.
http://www.wtfpod.com/podcast/episodes/episode_691_-_todd_rundgren

Funk Pop a Roll is the one outlier. Great Fire and Human Alchemy fit nicely alongside songs like Beating of Hearts and Love on a Farmboy's Wages.

"Early XTC" for me is the first album up to Black Sea, where they perfected that sound.

Dan Peterson otm. 'Great Fire' would have fit snugly on English Settlement.

Up through Big Express, every album had one outlier like "Human Alchemy" that added to their charm. I love the odd experiments, it all works for me.

They smoothed off the edges starting with Skylarking, though you could argue "The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul" was thst albums outlier with it's very different rhythms.

'Another Satellite' is probs the outlier on Skylarking, not just sound-wise, but also it wasn't on Rundgren's initial draft for the tracklisting. Somehow it fits, though!

Rundgren was gonna leave out Another Satellite and include Dear God? Get your hands off my XTC, weirdo

Yes. Rundgren's preferred config for Skylarking was to have both 'Mermaid Smiled' and 'Dear God' on there, but no 'Another Satellite' ... I don't think he ever got his wish!

Another Satellite is a perfect mid-life crisis sort of song, fits fine in the cycle - Mermaid Smiled otoh feels like it's from a different universe.

XTC obvs perfected all pastoral rock ever on Senses Working Overtime and thereafter attempted to recapture its spirit with varying degrees of brilliance

'Little Lighthouse' was one of the songs destined for Skylarking, but Rundgren didn't choose it as part of his idea for the record, so they recorded it as the Dukes instead. If Andy had more control over the record, as he did with other XTC albums, I suspect that 'Little Lighthouse' would have made it onto the record, and there'd be less Colin songs. One of the things I always notice when Partridge discusses this is that he mentioned that Rundgren "picked all of Colin's songs" ... Also, 'That's Really Super, Supergirl' likely wouldn't have made it onto the record, and 'The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul' would have sounded completely different.

Shakey otm.

'Mermaid Smiled' is excellent, love it especially when the percussion comes in.

Oh yeah, 'Mermaid Smiled' wouldn't have made it onto the record without him urging Andy to finish the song, which I think was nothing more than just a riff. So, there's that too.

I dunno, man, I don't really hear much of a difference between the XTC of Skylarking and the XTC of Nonsuch.

The first has many good songs, the second has much garbage

Disputed

Nah, I don't agree... Nonsuch is one of their very best records, IMO. Only track that I'd drop from it would be 'War Dance'

There's the dumb song about the smart monkeys, "Peter Pumpkinhead" itself, "Then She Appeared, "Holly Up on Poppy" -- they give '60s pop a bad name.

My first XTC album by the way. I didn't get the appeal until I worked backwards.

'Then She Appeared' was supposed to be a Dukes song. I like 'The Smartest Monkeys', though... so many great musical moments in that track.

Agree: the bass and guitar interaction. But I have to endure Moulding's smartypants vocal.

I agree w Alfred that Nonsuch is burdened w a lot of not-great tracks (altho naturally we disagree on which ones). Wardance, Smartest Monkeys, Omnibus, Books Are Burning, probably some others I've forgotten because I never listen to them... but I think Holly and Then She Appeared are great lol >)

anyway, Andy about to go HAM it looks like

https://twitter.com/xtcfans/status/712392702986461188

when I listen to Nonsuch I usually skip 'Peter Pumpkinhead' and 'Books Are Burning' (easily done, since the band helpfully made them the first and last track respectively) (dropping those two makes the album 10 minutes shorter overall, which definitely helps) I like everything else, though. I love the synth-clarinets on 'War Dance', the song would probably be a bit dull without them.