XTC : Classic or Dud.

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.

I really like 'Omnibus', although maybe it could have done without the "make your Shakespeare hard and make your oyster pearl" lyric!

All I can stand on "Books Are Burning" are the two solos.

Rundgren shits all over Another Satellite in the Maron podcast, like a man bursting with WRONG

xxxx-post:

It was only a matter of time before Partridge picked up on it, to be honest. He's quite fond of setting the record straight on Twitter - I've enjoyed his "THE CORRECTOR" series!

oh I love Andy, the occasional misstep aside he is a lot of fun on twitter

It still amazes me that the starting point for 'Books Are Burning' was apparently 'I Get Around' by The Beach Boys! I can kinda hear it in the chord progression, but I wouldn't have known unless Partridge had pointed it out.

Partridge going into overload on Twitter now!

can't really blame him

@xtcfans

lol

he's being p reasonable considering

TR is a great arranger. Really talented, we were lucky to work with him. He is a mediocre engineer at best.

seems accurate

xp. aye, a pretty measured twitter rant

I tried to smooth over the waters and say nice things to be grown up but if the gloves are off, then they are off.

yo yo yo yo YO gangsta andy partridge in tha hizzouse straight from THE EASSIDE (of swindon)

now I hear this biatch todd gunsten talkin smack about tha xtc krew (shoutout to my homeboy c-money) about some remastering and shit well biatch I am gonna REMASTER YO ASS when I pop a glock up in yo area

homeboy yo gonna be saying "DEAR GOD GANGSTA ANDY I'M SORRY FOR BEING A BIATCH AND RUNNING MY BIATCH MOUTH"

^ hahahaha!!

never change

damn this is gettin' good

https://storify.com/scatterkeir/andy-partridge-responds-to-todd-rundgren

He is a mediocre engineer at best.

And yet somehow, miraculously, he gave XTC by far the best drum sound they ever had (or would ever have) on any of their records.

Hmm. Not quite sure I agree with that. The combination of Terry Chambers and Hugh Padgham was godlike.

Oh, I think the drums (and everything else) on Black Sea are fantastic, but Prairie Prince's ringing snare seals it for me.

Public beef by obscure musicians over 30 year old album that hardly anyone has heard. The internet really has created an interesting world.

Andy copping Trump's style here lol: https://twitter.com/xtcfans/status/712581780398809088

lmao

it was a more subdued, pastoral Sad

something something president kill

I love Todd and think he was a big key to making Skylarking as great as it was but wtf at him dissing "Another Satellite"...my favorite song on the whole LP.

He's been slagging it off for years!

I'm in Wiltshire! Hooray for being in XTC country

Coming soon, Skylarking in 5.1 with some not yet named unreleased bits and (I'd expect) a new stereo remix and all the trimmings common to these reissues, happy days.

lolz Todd is such a dip

Neat, Andy is doing an AMA on Reddit this Sunday.

https://twitter.com/xtcfans/status/722797454819627009

that'll be great I'm sure

This is happening 2day so eye'm bumping this 4 anybody that may have 4gotten.

For some reason, Prince's delivery of the word "Controversy" reminds me of Partridge's delivery of the words "Respectable Street."

Well both evenly stress every syllable

Hopefully it's not just a queue of 40 something Canadians saying 'Hey, did you ever listen to my demo?'