XTC – an appreciation

Each Sunday for the best part of a year I have been highlighting my favourite songs by the English pop group XTC who recorded 14 studio albums from 1978 to 2000 including two as their psychedelic alter egos The Dukes of Stratosphear.

This is my final post on the subject so to put my interest in perspective I should explain that I was a relative latecomer in terms of becoming a fan of the band’s music. Prompted by 'Making Plans For Nigel', their first hit single, I bought Drums and Wires - XTC’s third album - in a small independent record shop in Keswick in April 1979.

I mention that detail because it’s one of only a handful of records or CDs I can remember where and when I bought them. Others include 'Sweet Jane', a Velvet Underground single that I ordered from a record shop in St Andrews in 1972 after it was released retrospectively to cash in on the success of Lou Reed's 'Walk On The Wild Side'; ‘Denis' (Blondie's first hit), a 12” single purchased in Edinburgh in 1977; and 'Gordon Is A Moron' by Jilted John which I bought during a trip to Manchester in 1978.

Drums and Wires was XTC's first album with guitarist Dave Gregory who replaced keyboardist Barry Andrews. Other members of the group were principal singer/songwriter Andy Partridge, fellow songwriter and bass player Colin Moulding (who wrote ‘Making Plans For Nigel'), and drummer Terry Chambers.

I liked the album but apart from ‘Complicated Game’, the closing track, I didn't love it. To my ears it sounded innovative and clever compared to most of the punk/new wave bands of the time, but repeated listening proved a challenge.

Subsequent hit singles including 'Towers of London' and ‘Sgt Rock (Is Going To Help Me’) were likewise a bit hit and miss for me and it was ten years before I bought my second XTC album, Oranges and Lemons, in 1989. Once again it was a single – 'Mayor of Simpleton' – that prompted me to buy it. The album however generated a similar reaction to Drums and Wires. Technically and musically it seemed clever and original but, ‘Mayor of Simpleton’ apart, I didn’t warm to it.

So what changed? Well, in 1996 I bought Fossil Fuel, a two CD compilation album that featured every XTC single released by Virgin from 1978 to 1992. By that time it was 14 years since XTC had enjoyed a hit single in the UK and the band had all but disappeared from public view. Unknown to me they had also fallen out with their record company and were refusing to record any new music until they were released from their contract.

Fossil Fuel was a revelation because not only did it feature numerous songs I had never heard (several of which seemed bizarre choices for singles), there was an enormous variety of styles and most were very different to anything I had previously heard from the band.

To this day I have never heard the band's first two albums – White Noise and Go 2 – in full. It amazes me though that several singles, notably 'This Is Pop' and 'Statue of Liberty' (both featured on Fossil Fuel), weren't hits because they are far superior, in my opinion, to many of the punk and new wave hits of the time.

More important, perhaps, Fossil Fuel introduced me to songs from the albums Skylarking (1986) and Nonsuch (1992) that had previously passed me by, and after buying and loving them I didn’t think twice when Apple Venus Volume 1 and Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) were released on an independent label - the band having finally been released from their contract with Virgin - a few years later.

The contrast between those four albums (five if you include Oranges and Lemons) and the early records is stark. Most impressive is the fact that no two albums - and few if any songs - sound the same. Arguably this constant evolution was commercial suicide because XTC became increasingly difficult to pigeonhole and one or two albums - Mummer (1983) and The Big Express (1984) - seem almost wilfully non-commercial.

There was however another factor for the band's declining commercial fortunes after 1982 and that was their decision to stop touring and become a studio only band because it dramatically reduced their ability to promote their records. Then again, becoming a studio only band clearly helped XTC progress musically because they could now write and record songs that would never have to be played live.

If some of this sounds familiar to fans of a certain other band it’s true there are similarities. However, to compare XTC with The Beatles - as some XTC fans like to do - is a step too far because the simple truth is that without The Beatles (and other British bands like The Kinks) and even The Monkees, XTC would probably not have existed. (See “No Monkees means no XTC”.)

Nevertheless it’s unquestionably true that in the course of their career XTC enjoyed a substantial musical progression of their own from relatively lightweight pop to orchestral chamber pop, a destination they reached via pastoral and even industrial pop (not to mention a detour into Sixties-inspired psychedelia).

What is also clear is that, unlike many pop bands that peak early in their careers or repeat the same formula over and over again, XTC continued to innovate and improve and many - including me - believe their best album is Apple Venus Volume 1, their thirteenth and penultimate album which was recorded 21 years after their first in 1978.

By coincidence, and mirroring the recording of Let It Be (which was The Beatles penultimate album although it was released after Abbey Road), internal tensions during the recording of Apple Venus were also pulling XTC apart. Like George Harrison – who 'left' The Beatles during rehearsals for Let It Be – guitarist Dave Gregory left XTC, although in his case it was permanent.

Like Harrison, who clearly felt marginalised and under appreciated by Lennon and McCartney (The Beatles: Get Back documentary makes this very clear), Gregory left because band leader Andy Partridge wanted to produce an album with a greater emphasis on orchestral and acoustic arrangements which meant there was far less need for Gregory's guitar.

Worse, Partridge allegedly chose not to use Gregory's orchestral arrangements, preferring to do them himself. Given that Gregory had waited seven years to record another XTC album – the band having been 'on strike' for much of that period during which he was apparently forced to take a job with a car rental company to earn a living – you can understand his frustration although the end result arguably justified Partridge’s vision.

Denied the opportunity to play live when the band retreated exclusively to the studio, drummer Terry Chambers had left in 1983 (without being replaced with a permanent drummer) so following Gregory’s exit the band was just Partridge and Colin Moulding. Together they recorded Wasp Star (released in 2000) but that was pretty much it although it was another six years before they started to refer to XTC in the past tense.

Since the band stopped recording Partridge has kept himself busy overseeing the remixing of various XTC albums. From 2002 to 2006 he also released the 8-CD Fuzzy Warbles collection featuring demos of songs, some of which made it on to XTC albums, and many that didn’t.

Many of the latter, it has to be said, are of questionable quality but some (‘Sonic Boom’, ‘End of the Pier’ and ‘Prince of Orange’) are among my favourite Partridge songs that never got the full studio treatment which is a pity because a single CD would have made a strong album in its own right.

Curiously, having been posted on YouTube by third parties, all three tracks have been removed for copyright reasons which I can understand but it’s worth mentioning that I only bought the full Fuzzy Warbles collection after stumbling across ‘Sonic Boom’ on YouTube a couple of years ago so it seems counterproductive to have forced their removal, denying casual listeners like me a taster.

A compromise perhaps would be to post an official 60-second audio ‘trailer’ featuring snippets of the standout songs.

Sadly, since XTC fizzled out, a rift seems to have developed between Partridge and Colin Moulding but I guess that’s not unusual when bands split or fade away. Either way they have left a wonderful body of work and are still recording, albeit extremely intermittently, on their own or with other musicians.

In 2017, for example, Moulding recorded a four-track EP - Great Aspirations - with former XTC drummer Terry Chambers (newly returned after 30 years in Australia), and last year released a solo EP - The Hardest Battle - featuring, effectively, just one new song.

In 2019 Partridge released a four-track EP - Planet England - with Robyn Hitchcock. He has also worked with other musicians, notably former Frank Zappa guitarist Mike Keneally on the latter’s Wing Beat Fantastic album (2012).

His current project is a series of EPs – My Failed Songwriting Career – that feature Partridge’s versions of songs written to order for other artists but subsequently rejected by the artist or their management.

If you are interested do read the following:

XTC, Skylarking (Pitchfork)
XTC, Apple Venus Volume 1 (Pitchfork)
XTC’s Andy Partridge on COVID-19, Valium and 20 Years of ‘Wasp Star Apple Venus (Vol. 2) (Rolling Stone)
How We Made: XTC on Making Plans for Nigel (Guardian)
Too Much of a God Thing (Chicago Reader)

The last one is a warts and all review of XTC’s back catalogue. There’s much I don’t agree with, including the writer’s description of Nonsuch as ‘downright awful’ (it’s one of my favourite albums full stop), but I like reading something that challenges my own opinion.

Most important of course is the music which Joe Jackson has also written about on his website here. For the record these are currently my top 30 XTC songs although the list changes from time to time and a further five or six were unlucky not to be included:

Statue of Liberty (1978)
This Is Pop (1978)
Battery Brides (1978)
Complicated Game (1979)
Respectable Street (1980)
Rocket From A Bottle (1980)
Love On A Farm Boy’s Wages (1983)
All You Pretty Girls (1984)
I Remember The Sun (1984)
Shake You Donkey Up (1984)
Train Running Low on Soul Coal (live acoustic version, 1984)
Your Gold Dress (1985)*
Summer’s Cauldron (1986)
Grass (1986)
Season Cycle (1986)
The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul (1986)
Dear God (1986)
Extrovert (non-album b-side, 1986)
Mayor of Simpleton (1989)
Dear Madam Barnum (1992)
Then She Appeared (1992)
Bungalow (1992)
River of Orchids (1999)
Greenman (1999)
Your Dictionary (1999)
Harvest Festival (1999)
Stupidly Happy (2000)
I’m The Man Who Murdered Love (2000)
You And The Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful (2000)
Spiral (2005, digital only)

All songs written by Andy Partridge apart from 'I Remember The Sun', 'Grass' and 'Bungalow' which were written by Colin Moulding. ’Your Gold Dress’ (1985) was recorded as The Dukes of Stratosphear.

As for my favourite XTC albums, these are my top four:

1. Apple Venus Volume 1 (1999)
Favourite tracks: River of Orchids, Greenman, Your Dictionary, Harvest Festival
2. Nonsuch (1992)
Favourite tracks: Dear Madam Barnum, Then She Appeared, Bungalow
3. Skylarking (1986)
Favourite tracks: Summer’s Cauldron/Grass, Ballet For A Rainy Day/1000 Umbrellas, Season Cycle
4. Wasp Star: Apple Venus Volume 2 (2000)
Favourite tracks: Stupidly Happy, I’m The Man Who Murdered Love, We’re All Light

I would happily recommend any one of those albums although many hard core fans prefer Drums and Wires (1979) and Black Sea (1980) - but if you just want to dip a toe in the water the compilation album Fossil Fuel is a good starting point for the reasons mentioned above.

Do remember though that it’s not a ‘best of’ and doesn't include tracks from Apple Venus and Wasp Star, both of which include some of XTC's best songs, notably 'Greenman', 'Harvest Festival', 'I'm The Man Who Murdered Love', ‘Stupidly Happy’ and several more.

Unfortunately it's currently quite hard to buy the vinyl and CD versions of many XTC albums even though most have been remastered, remixed and reissued several times. For the more digitally minded this is less of a problem but for the latest vinyl and CD availability check out Ape House/Burning Shed.

If you're interested in cover versions of XTC songs, there are a surprising number. 'Mayor of Simpleton' by Joe Jackson is by some distance my favourite. It's not available on record or to download because to the best of my knowledge Joe only played it live in concert once or twice (on a 2003 tour) but it can be found on YouTube (see above).

Joe did however record a cover of 'Statue of Liberty' for a 1995 tribute album, A Testimonial Dinner: The Songs of XTC, that featured eleven songs by various artists. More recently no fewer than 49 songs were recorded for Garden of Earthly Delights - An XTC Celebration released in 2020.

The tribute album is a strange beast, especially if the tracks are no more than faithful copies of the original which many of these are, because the obvious reaction is “Why bother?” Nevertheless there are several covers on Garden of Earthly Delights that offer interesting interpretations (‘Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead’ by Chris Price) and one or two that are arguably better than the original (notably ‘Seagulls Screaming, Kiss Her Kiss Her’ by the wonderfully named Casper Fandango & His Tiny Sick Tears, which you can listen to or buy here.

Overall though what Garden of Earthly Delights lacks is the technicolor brilliance of XTC. In contrast to the real thing it at all sounds a bit muted. Ironically one of my favourite tracks on the album is ‘Battery Brides‘ by Cinderpop which is sung, in part (deliberately or otherwise), out of tune. Strangely it seems to work!

Finally, a word about the sometimes maligned Andy Partridge, the band’s principal singer/songwriter, whose feud with producer Todd Rundgren during the recording of Skylarking in 1986 is still being written and talked about by XTC obsessives decades later.

Ironically Skylarking is many people’s favourite XTC album and the consensus seems to be that Partridge needed a strong producer to curb his excesses and in Rundgren he met his match. Or, as Partridge himself said, it was “like having two Hitlers in the same bunker.”

What cannot be denied is that for all his alleged bossiness in the studio which clearly drove band mates and several producers to distraction, Partridge can be irresistibly engaging and humorous. The evidence, if you want to look for it, is on the Internet – from appearances on the Multi-Coloured Swap Shop with Noel Edmunds, presenting a guided tour of Swindon, his home town , to more recent podcasts and interviews in which he is happy to talk at length about XTC and the process of songwriting. (Listen to him describe the making of 'Easter Theatre' from Apple Venus, above.)

Arguably the most evocative of the 30 songs listed above is a simple live acoustic version of ‘Train Running Low On Soul Coal’ that was recorded as part of a documentary (XTC - Play At Home) broadcast on Channel 4 in 1984. In my view it's far superior to the longer, over-produced version that appeared on The Big Express and even ends with a knowing, self-deprecating nod to XTC’s legendary ‘popularity’, even in their home town. Available only on YouTube, you can watch it here.

PS. Partridge, I have read, was critical if not contemptuous of all but one of XTC's promotional videos (in which he had little creative input). I can't remember which one he approved of but the best video I’ve seen to accompany an XTC song is not an official XTC video at all but a fan-made video that ‘borrows’ footage from a number of sources including a video shot to promote a track by Faun, a popular ‘pagan folk band’ from Germany.

The XTC track in question is 'Greenman' from Apple Venus Volume 1 (1999) and I love it. Enjoy.