XTC : Classic or Dud.

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?'

Yeah, hopefully it's not a series 'o' questions that people have heard the answer 2 a million times be4. Eye'm guessing that Partridge himself would want 2 avoid that kind of thing.

So far the questions seem 2 be a little on the dull side. Eye think some 'o' u need to register and liven this thing up a little!

missed out on the AMA (was at a movie), but i'm glad that someone brought up 'I Bought Myself a Liarbird' and the guitar used on it & the tone. Andy sez:

It's my Ibanez Artist, in open-E tuning, with quite a lot of chorus and compression. It's the open-E tuning that makes it ring the most. I'm hitting the strings really hard, and they're doing that kind of gnurling against the frets, which is aggravated by the chorusing.

lol @ "gnurling"

i didnt know there was a video of andy walking of stage in paris in 1982. happens at 15:55

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yK56TC-UhOM

*off

Monkees do new Dukesque Partridge tune. Makes me miss XTC all the more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_D6XNpYxdU

wow, that is the precise definition of Partridge in bubblegum psyche mode

Man, I really hope that one day Partridge will get into the idea of making solo records... before he's too fucking old and knackered to do so, preferably.

The Monkees are still making records, so...

...Partridge should be doing what he does best, too! Exactly!

But he says he's got writer's block or summat and usually only produces bits of songs.

and he doesn't see himself as a solo artist, according to that AMA. such a shame. it's so strange that XTC is one of those bands that'll never get together again, not because of acrimony but apathy

I'm always surprised to hear Andy doesn't want to do a solo album. His writing voice is so strong, his songs never sound like they rely on major contributions from others. I guess I've read that Dave Gregory contributed a lot of arrangement ideas and playing, but I feel like with the right producer Andy could make a hell of a solo album still. At the least, the Apple Venus albums are basically solo records with some Colin songs thrown in, right?

I kind of admire the fact that he has little honest interest in some XTC reunion cashout, he seems like a man of modest means who probably lives relatively comfortably off the residual money generated from the back catalogue and occasionally writing for other musicians etc;

The interest in him and the speculation on his lack of motivation seems to be everybody else's narrative but his, I get a bit of a Chauncey Gardiner vibe from him these days.

I can't imagine he's the richest old rock star in the world, true. Maybe he has an excellent investment portfolio.

As we all know, the original Virgin deal was pretty Dickensian due to the old managers lack of experience so I guess it's PRS and MCPS that he mainly lives off, Dear God, Mayor, Senses, Nigel must get played out a fair amount.

I also don't wonder if he has a really good publisher.

I hope so!

i don't think he does

my impression is he scrapes by from project to project

AP did a book signing in Bath at the weekend and hung out in the pub afterwards with a guitar it seems.

"Here's an exhaustive list of the songs Andy ran through with the guitar last night in the pub in a room with a few of us fans! It was like a dream! I feel very lucky, and the room was full of love. We were singing along to Easter Theatre at the top of our lungs, some doing Colin's bit and some doing Andy's. Others too! I can't remember the order Andy played them in so I put them in chronological order. As compiled by myself and Darryl W Bullock.

Neon Shuffle
This Is Pop? (And A Hard Day's Night)
Millions
Roads Girdle The Globe
Day In Day Out
Scissor Man
Respectable Street
Sgt. Rock (Is Going To Help Me)
Senses Working Overtime
Jason and the Argonauts
No Thugs In Our House
Melt The Guns
Love on a Farmboy’s Wages
Jump
Desert Island
Wake Up
All You Pretty Girls
This World Over
The Every Day Story of Smalltown
1000 Umbrellas
Dear God (and Rocky Raccoon)
Garden of Earthly Delights
Mayor of Simpleton
Scarecrow People
The Disappointed
Wrapped In Grey
The Ugly Underneath
Books Are Burning
I Drew A Lemon (from Terry Hall's "Home" album)
I'd Like That
Green Man
Easter Theatre
Stupidly Happy (and Midnight Rambler)
You and the Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful
The Wheel and the Maypole
Wonderfalls
A brand new song called ‘Bubble Pipe’ which sounded GREAT
Oh and the Munsters theme tune, as played by XTC when they watched Todd Rundgren walk towards the studio every morning while making Skylarking."

seems he was only playing bits here and there, explaining chords and the like - sadly that wasn't a mammoth impromptu solo concert

holy SHIT

This Is Pop? (And A Hard Day's Night)

Very interesting, now I'm doing a mashup in my head.

Oh and the Munsters theme tune, as played by XTC when they watched Todd Rundgren walk towards the studio every morning while making Skylarking."

laughed out loud at that

Audio of the book signing.

https://soundcloud.com/darryl-w-bullock/andy-partridge-at-topping-co-bath-june-25-2016

"Senses working overtime" was on the TOTP repeats last week, I'm guessing this was before the Paris walk-off, its a great performance and a real shame as this should have been the start of phenomenal success.

They did pretty well anyway, but.

Oh Snap

http://i67.tinypic.com/28h1o8x.jpg

LOL, at least they got his surname right.

hahaha well, he did ask for it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXu8M6q6v84

Exactly, we all know what Tod means in German.

That is the very first time I've listened to an entire Burzum track, does it all sound like standing close to a waterfall while somebody beside you listens to Xmal Deutschland loudly on earbuds?

http://stevenwilsonhq.com/sw/listen-to-xtcs-lets-make-a-den-from-skylarking-cdblu-ray/

hey that's different from the other (demo) version of this song I have...?!

god I love this band

I think this is the aborted studio recording from the Skylarking sessions. Rundgren wanted it to open side 2.

awesome! thanks for sharing. love the fuzzy warbles demo of this song

listened to that on the commute home, very impressed w the recording -- it sounds new, hardly like a 30 year old track.

I just received the new Skylarking, anybody dug into it yet?

I wonder if Wilson corrected Todd's bum note keyboard playing.

I know ol' Steve gets bashed a bit but I'm digging this new mix greatly.

And yeah he corrected Todd's two keys at once clanger in Earn Enough.. lol

man, do I really need to buy a 5th copy of this album

Yea, it depends on the depth and breadth of your need to have 5 different iterations of the original record and a mess of b'sides, demos etc:

It'd be my 4th copy, I think, so I'll pass. Curious to hear about the extras. Were they worth it in the previous deluxe versions?

so sometimes i go into a youtube hole of ppl covering XTC songs, specifically bass, and this one blew my mind. Colin's composition is just incredible. makes me want to get a copy of Music Theory for Dummies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIA0_kiFJkE

^^^one of the few XTC songs I figured out on guitar (okay I figured out a bunch of Dukes songs too). None of the chords are especially weird but the way he fits them together is p ingenious.

i just figured that out on guitar too! just the verse melody though- not sure about the chorus chords yet (Bb6 and Ab6?)