at a glance...

Hometown: Swindon, England
Formed: 1976

Members:
Andy Partridge -songwriting, vocals, guitar
Colin Moulding -songwriting, bass, vocals
Dave Gregory -guitar, backing vocals, synthesizer
Todd Rundgren -production
Prairie Prince -drums

Bands in the family :
The Dukes of Stratosphear, Thomas Dolby, Blur, The Tubes, Todd Rundgren, The League of Gentlemen, Shreikback, Martin Newell, Mark Owen, The Colonel, Aimee Mann

Brief history lesson: XTC, in big trouble with Virgin for not coming up with a radio hit on The Big Express, ship off to America to record with opinionated genius weirdo Todd Rundgren. Rundgren wants to make collection of singles into concept album revolving around the hours of the day. Rundgren and Andy Partridge hate each other a lot and fight constantly. Tense atmosphere rubs off onto gentle bassist Colin, who quits band. (He came back the next day.) Album comes out, makes nary a splash in U.K. or here. Someone plays b-side "Dear God" on U.S. college radio station. Huge college radio hit. Album re-pressed with "Dear God" on, everyone loves album. Boom! XTC are back, baby!

History aside, this is one buzzy, punch-drunk wonderful album. Despite all the shit they've said about him over the years, "the Runt" really did kick our boys from Swindon into high conceptual gear. Any great XTC album depends on Colin having strong enough songs to balance Andy's, and his five songs here are all muscular and oblique. Not only are these Andy and Colin's strongest and most confident songs since English Settlement, they hang together despite having nothing really in common with each other. Does Colin's morose "Dying" really belong on the same album as the fake beatnik jazz of Andy's "The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul"? Can you compare either to the Philip Glass pointillism of "1000 Umbrellas," which also contains Dave Gregory's finest four minutes? And yet Rundgren's little touches, like the drones that hold together the entire first side and the great segues between several of the tunes, keep our ears open for the wild pop experimentation going on here.

I think that in many ways this is XTC's most experimental album. Every song seems to push the limits of what can be done with a pop album containing 14 pop tunes. "That's Really Super, Supergirl," which is just a song about being alone when your girlfriend is off saving the world, is really kind of heartbreaking as well as being frothy and trivial; Andy's twisted psyche gets a workout in the extended metaphor "Another Satellite," wherein he tells a girl to get lost, but his passion for her shows through even as he's putting down her "moony moony face"; and "Sacrificial Bonfire" is the most uplifting song about goat sacrifice as you'd ever want to hear. "Dear God" itself, a song Andy despised at the time, is starting to look like one of his best -- angry, witty, and historically important for the band. Gently, gently, they push back the barricades, while at the same time sounding lush and lovely and sexy. XTC, sexy? The mind boggles the whole time.

The first time I heard this album I was disappointed; I wanted them to be the old almost-dancey XTC again. But what I got was not only priceless and perfect and the beginning of my obsession with this great band, but also one of the greatest summer make-out albums in pop music. Believe it or not, but I'm tellin' you, you'll be hitting the sheets before they even get to "Earn Enough for Us." Cheers!

If you like XTC, check out:
XTC Apple Venus Volume 1
XTC Homespun
XTC Wasp Star Apple Venus Volume 2
The Flaming Lips The Soft Bulletin
The Beach Boys Pet Sounds
The Beatles Revolver
The Boo Radleys Giant Steps
The Zombies The Singles Collection
D'Angelo Voodoo
The Dukes of Stratosphear Chips from the Chocolate Fireball

-- Matt Cibula