at a glance...

Hometown:
Swindon, England

Personnel:
Andy Partridge: songs, guitars, vocals, keyboards, etc
Colin Moulding: songs, bass, vocals
Dave Gregory: guitars, vocals, keyboards, arrangements
Terry Chambers: drums
Barry Andrews: keyboards, songs, vocals

In the Family :
The Dukes of Stratosphear

Notes:
Originally a punky four-piece from Swindon (the most unfashionable place in England) masterminded by Andy Partridge, gained moderate success with their first two albums, then hit bigger with their poppier next three albums. They earned a top five hit in the U.K. with "Senses Working Overtime," and were just about to dominate the world when Partridge came down with massive stage fright. Shortly thereafter, they retired forever from touring, lost their drummer, and continued on as three-piece. Virgin Records freaked out about the band's studio-bound status, especially when their next two albums didn't do so well. 1986's Skylarking almost broke through over here due to "Dear God," a near hit and oh so controversial. Their next two albums were bigger and more orchestral, but due to disappointing sales, unsympathetic Virgin Records reps sat on their newer demos forcing the band to quit for five years until finally getting released from contract. Dave hated his decreased role and quit, leaving Andy and Colin as the core of XTC. XTC is massively influential and truly important -- our children will wonder why they weren't "GODS."

So let’s talk about this, the biggest collection of XTC rarities and demos and hits and album tracks ever issued. It's four discs! It's huge! It's unprecedented! It's beautifully put together and has great liner notes written by both Andy and Colin, the only remaining members! And I'm supposed to say it's a disappointment! Because this tries to be both an artists' choice compilation and a rarities collection at the same time, and kind of fails, because you can't really do both.

And, honestly, that's how I feel about the concept and the execution of it -- right up to the time when I actually hear the damned thing, at which point I get all gooey and misty-eyed. I love every bit of this stuff, whether or not I own it already (the album tracks, some of the "unreleased" studio tracks) or not (the lovely live versions, the demos, etc.). I don't mind hopping from Disc Two from blistering live versions of "Meccanic Dancing" and the infamous "Atom Medley" (consisting of "Into the Atom Age," "Hang on to the Night," and "Neon Shuffle") to unused and rejected single edits of songs from Drums and Wires to a rehearsal tape of "Generals and Majors" to the album releases of two Black Sea songs and then right back to live stuff, because A) this is great music, and B) I'm a big fan. The riches to be gained by this approach far outweigh any nagging sense that you'll feel if you buy this set and then say "Aw, hell, I already have a bunch of these songs in these exact versions."

Because they really are some of the greatest songs of the last 25 years, and Coat of Many Cupboards gives us many different looks at them. Stripped of its studio finery, Moulding's "Wonderland" reveals itself to be not an overly mannered pastoral piece, but a soul song with keyboard riffs right out of Ann Peebles' "I Can't Stand the Rain." Most of the songs are Partridge's, of course, and we've heard most of them before one way or another, but even in their demo versions they range from the amazing (love that "Let's Make a Den") to the furious (that live version of "Paper and Iron" absolutely slays) to the just frankly bizarre (how did he ever think that "Fireball XL5" would be a punk-pop dance hit? or that it would be a good idea to do a dub mix of it?).

As a starting place for XTC worship -- oh, I must have meant "study" -- maybe this wouldn't be such a bad place to start. But that's a junkie telling someone else to turn on, and as such should be treated with skepticism.