Showing posts with label xtc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label xtc. Show all posts

Saturday, September 26, 2015

black sea









XTC poured some oil on the water and threw pessimism in the air, shrugging off shrouds with the glorious whimsy of decency's jigsaw.   The Swindon punks had developed their sound into a new wave art pop over three albums  (White Music,  Go 2 , and  Drums and Wires) before returning to The Town House in London with producer Steve Lillywhite.   'Black Sea' was recorded during June and July of 1980 with engineers Hugh Padgham and Nick Launay and featured  Terry Chambers on Tama drums, Tama Snyper drum synthesiser, and free form vocals;   Dave Gregory on guitars, synth, piano, and vox humana;   Colin Moulding on vocals and Epiphone Newport bass;   and   Andy Partridge on vocals, guitar, and synth.   

Partridge proclaims:    "We never let producers make any structural changes to our music. We only give them the music and they then mix it, usually under our supervision as well. So it's a bit rotten on a producer who gets involved with us because we tend to loom over them all the time. I'd personally like to mix them but it would be wrong to impose my taste totally on the band so we get a producer in as mediator or like a sifter - we throw all the ideas in and he has to sift them out and stop us from fighting with eachother and biting eachother on the leg and things like that, 'cause we have a lot of ideas and they do need sifting ... I'd say [we're] equally a singles and album band. I think our albums are more important 'cause they've made far more inroads than our singles have, especially in other countries. I do like singles and I'd like to think that our albums are composed of potential single material - you know, all the tracks could be singles. That's why we tend to work within a three minute, four minute framework ... We never build a song for a purpose. The only time we ever did anything on purpose was quite an innocent thing, an electric re-recording of "Ten Feet Tall" for the American charts. But we never do anything on purpose, we just write whatever comes out and rehearse it the way that it just falls out. Nobody's told what to play, everybody plays exactly what they want to and we never sit down and try and make things difficult to understand or easy to understand, we just do them as they come out. Certain songs demand certain treatments and they seem to scream it when you rehearsing it. They say 'Do me like this! Do me like this!' and there's no other way that you can mess around with them. So we just try to do things as naturally as we can. It's just our personalities..."Travels In Nihilon", originally a book title by Alan 'Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner' Sillitoe. It's nothing to do with the book title, it's just a great title. Nihilon means state of nothingness if your thumbing through your dictionary right now. Its about how the media basically fox young people into believing that the latest trend is going to save them or what have you..gonna be the saving grace, it's gonna pick rock 'n' roll up, it's gonna make pop music 'it', you know...you must be a mod, you must be a punk, you must be a hippy, you must be a pirate...all of those trends. And people do get serious about them. And I know I got serious about them when I was younger. I think the last thing that I got demi-serious about was punk. After all it's only another media game. The sell you all the items, they sell you the records and you will buy it. And the younger you are the more your judgement is fogged by the fact that you think that you're finding something ultimate and you're not. And it happens every so years the media finds something they want to sell to you, and it's not really about that at all. It's about music basically, a lot of it revolves around music and "Travels In Nihilon" is about how people are continually japed into believing that there's something to believe in ... and there's not. It's just music and it always will be music, and they shouldn't try and sell you these funny things that have nothing to do with music."

'Black Sea'  hit number sixteen in the UK and was their biggest album in the US peaking at number forty-one.  In New Zealand it became their only number one album in their entire career.  





http://chalkhills.org/

 http://www.ape.uk.net/





"Generals and Majors"   went to number thirty-two in the UK, twenty-four in Australia, and sixteen in New Zealand.  


 Generals and Majors ah ah 
They're never too far 
From battlefields so glorious 
Out in a world of their own 
They'll never come down 
Till once again victorious 

 Generals and Majors always 
Seem so unhappy 'less they got a war 

 Generals and Majors ah ah 
Like never before are tired of being actionless. 

 Calling Generals and Majors 
Generals and Majors everywhere 
Calling Generals and Majors 
Your World War III is drawing near 

 Generals and Majors ah ah 
They're never too far 
Away from men who made the grade 
Out in a world of their own 
They'll never come down 
Until the battle's lost or made 

 Generals and Majors ah ah 
Like never before, are tired of being in the shade






"Respectable Street"
It's in the order of their hedgerows
it's in the way their curtains open and close
it's in the look they give you down their nose
all part of decency's jigsaw I suppose

Heard the neighbour slam his car door
don't he realise this is respectable street
What d'you think he bought that car for
'cos he realise this is respectable street

Now they talk about abortion
in cosmopolitan proportions to their daughters
as they speak of contraception
And immaculate receptions on their portable
Sony entertainment centres.

Now she speaks about diseases
and which sex position pleases best her old man
Avon lady fills the creases
when she manages to squeeze in past the caravans
that never move from their front gardens.

It's in the order of their hedgerows
it's in the way their curtains open and close
it's in the look they give you down their nose
all part of decency's jigsaw I suppose
Sunday church and they look fetching
Saturday night saw him retching over our fence
bang the wall for me to turn down
I can see them with their stern frown
as they dispense the kind of look that says
they're perfect.
"Towers of London" made it to number thirty-one in the UK.  


"Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)" hit twenty in Ireland and sixteen in the UK. 








'Black Sea' 
full album:


 All songs written and composed by Andy Partridge, except where noted.

 1. Respectable Street 0:00
2. Generals and Majors (Colin Moulding) 3:38
3. Living Through Another Cuba 7:42
4. Love At First Sight  (Moulding) 12:26
5. Rocket from a Bottle 15:34
6. No Language in Our Lungs 19:04
7. Towers of London 23:57
8. Paper and Iron (Notes and Coins) 29:22
9. Burning With Optimism's Flames 33:39
10. Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me) 37:55
11. Travels in Nihilon 41:52
12. Smokeless Zone  (Moulding)  48:56
13. Don't Lose Your Temper 52:47
14. The Somnambulist 55:20


interview 1980


XTC At The Manor 1980  documentary


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Friday, August 15, 2014

drums and wires








XTC made plans for their future in the new wave limelight with the complicated commercial gamesmanship and eccentric railway rhythms of this melodic post punk power pop paragon.  Their first two albums 'White Music' and 'Go 2' had established a hurky jerky punk sound for the Swindon quartet; but keyboardist Barry Andrews was feeling shut out with three songwriters in the band.  


They brought in Dave Gregory to replace Andrews and he brought in a more accessible sound.  'Drums and Wires'was recorded at The Town House in London with the team of producer Steve Lillywhite and engineer Hugh Padgham.   The album features Andy Partridge on vocals, guitars, and synthesizers;   Colin Moulding on vocals and bass;   Dave Gregory on guitars, keyboards, and background vocals;  and Terry Chambers on drums, percussion, and background vocals;   with Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, Dave Gregory, Terry Chambers, Steve Warren, Hugh Padgham, Al Clark, and Jumbo Van Reinen as the Vernon Yard Male Voice Choir on "Roads Girdle the Globe";  and Dick Cuthell adding trumpet on "That is the Way".   




'Drums and Wires' became the breakthrough XTC were seeking, charting outside the UK for the first time, reaching one hundred and seventy-four in the US and number twelve in New Zealand.  The album also reached number thirty-four in the UK.  












"Making Plans for Nigel"  went to number ninety-four in Australia, thirty-two in the Netherlands, twenty-nine in New Zealand, and number seventeen in the UK.  

We're only making plans for Nigel 
We only want what's best for him 
We're only making plans for Nigel 
Nigel just needs this helping hand 
And if young Nigel says he's happy 
He must be happy 
He must be happy in his work 
We're only making plans for Nigel 
He has his future in a British steel 
We're only making plans for Nigel 
Nigel's whole future is as good as sealed 
And if young Nigel says he's happy 
He must be happy 
He must be happy in his work 
Nigel is not outspoken 
But he likes to speak 
And loves to be spoken to 
Nigel is happy in his work 
We're only making plans for Nigel




"Life Begins at the Hop" was originally a non-album single, reaching number ninety-four in Australia, eighty in Canada, and fifty-four in the UK.  The song was added to later pressings of the album.  






























live in Australia

Beatown/Meccanik Dancing/Making Plans for Nigel/The Rhythm/Roads Girdle the Globe/Science Friction/Life Begins at the Hop/This is Pop?/Battery Brides/Crosswires/Outside World/I'm Bugged/Crowded Room/Radios in Motion/Are you Receiving me/Set Myself on Fire



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Friday, August 3, 2012

psonic psunspot









The Dukes of Stratosphear reached the heights of ecstasy with this psychedelic sendup of their favorite bands from the sixties. After the critical success of their '25 O'Clock' EP, XTC followed up 'Skylarking' with a return to their jokey pseudonym and released 'Psonic Psunspot'. Andy Partridge called himself Sir John Johns and handled vocals, guitar, and brain buds; Colin Moulding was the The Red Curtain on bass, vocals, and song stuff; Dave Gregory took on the monicker Lord Cornelius Plum and played Mellotron, organ, piano, and guitar; while Ian Gregory was E.I.E.I. Owen on drums. Lily Fraser did the Lewis Carroll styled narration that punctuates the songs. John Leckie co-produced the sessions with the Dukes at Sawmills Studios, Fowey, Cornwall. Emulating the shimmering psychedelic pop of such bands as the Beatles, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Byrds, the Beach Boys, the Hollies, the Small Faces, and the Move; they find a balance between parody and heartfelt homage. 'Psonic Psunspot' was the vinyl version; it was simultaneously released on compact disk together with '25 O'Clock' as 'Chips from the Chocolate Fireball'.
















http://chalkhills.org/















'Chips from the Chocolate Fireball'
full album




25 O'Clock (1986)
1. 25 O'Clock 0:00
2. Bike Ride to the Moon 5:03
3. My Love Explodes 7:27
4. What in the World?.. 11:16
5. Your Gold Dress 16:18
6. The Mole from the Ministry 21:00
Psonic Psunspot (1987)
7. Vanishing Girl 26:59
8. Have You Seen Jackie? 29:59
9. Little Lighthouse 33:21
10. You're a Good Man Albert Brown (Curse You Red Barrel) 37:52
11. Collideascope 41:31
12. You're My Drug 44:54
13. Shiny Cage 48:13
14. Brainiac's Daughter 51:31
15. The Affiliated 55:30
16. Pale and Precious 58:01









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Sunday, February 12, 2012

english settlement







XTC took on English society even as they retreated from it and touring with this pivotal pastoral double album. Andy Partridge remembers: "We’d spent the best part of a decade developing quite a thumping sound, one best exemplified on our previous album, 'Black Sea'. With 'English Settlement', I wanted to move in a more pastoral, more acoustic direction. I remember taking some time off, locked away in a flat above a shop in Swindon, to work on how to capture this. Although I’d been writing in a certain way and style for years it actually came quite naturally... I had a new guitar, (I’d given away my old one on swap shop) so there was a touch of new gear syndrome. But more than anything else I wanted to produce a sound less geared to touring, which the muscular sound that we had developed was perfect for. The problem for me was that I was beginning to absolutely hate touring. I wasn’t a young man anymore and my body was starting to rebel against the lifestyle. We’d been doing it pretty much non-stop for nearly a decade and I was sick of it all: the crap food, the hours stuck on a bus with the same faces and the general soul-destroying tediousness of it. I got it into my head that if I wrote an album with a sound less geared towards touring then maybe there would be less pressure to tour."

They recorded 'English Settlement' with Hugh Padgham at The Manor in Oxfordshire. Partridge says: "The time felt right for a bit of a change anyway and I think this was a feeling shared by the other members of the band. The recording experience was actually one of the best I ever had. We did it in this massive manor house that Virgin had bought out in the Oxfordshire countryside, all four-poster beds and roaring fires. I remember that we spent a bit too much of our time there playing conkers when we should have been recording. That just shows you the heady excesses of our ‘rock & roll’ lifestyle."

The record company released the album in the US with four tracks omitted and pushed the band to tour despite their resistance. For Partridge, touring was a tumultuous and traumatic experience: "We were bullied back onto the road and that really started to wind me up. I’d be there onstage thinking: ‘I hate doing this.' The anger towards being made to tour and the mental stress it was causing me began to manifest itself in stage fright, which I’d never had in my life. It didn’t help that my mental state was being exacerbated by the impact of Valium withdrawal, which I’d been on since my early teens. It all came to a head on our US tour. I managed to get through the first show, but it was an awful experience. I was onstage and couldn't remember how to play the guitar properly. I was in terrible pain and my nervous system was just going wild, like somebody had just run me over in a car. Then on the second night, this was in LA, I cracked-up completely. I really believed that I was going to die, it was that bad. I just had to get off the stage. And that was the end for me and touring. I just couldn’t do it anymore."


'English Settlement' reached forty-eight in the US, forty-one in New Zealand, twenty-three in Sweden, and peaked at number five in the UK.



'Ball and Chain' was a Moulding composition. The single peaked at number fifty-eight in the UK.

"Must we live in fear,
From those who shed no tears?
Our one and only shelter,
Your games, your helter skelter.
Motorways and office blocks,
They're standing on the spot
Where stood a home,
Crushing on the memories of people,
Who have since turned to stone.
(Ahh)
They've turned to stone,
(Ahh)
They've turned to stone.
Save us from the ball and chain"





'Senses Working Overtime' was XTC's biggest hit, reaching number ten on the UK pop chart.

"Hey hey, night fights day,
There's food for the thinkers
And the innocents can all live slowly
All live slowly
My, my the sky will cry
Jewels for the thirsty and the guilty ones can
All die slowly all die slowly.
And all the world is biscuit shaped,
It's just for me to feed my face
And I can see,hear, smell, touch, taste"




'Jason and the Argonauts'

"There may be no golden fleece,
But human riches I'll release
I was in a land where men force women to hide their facial features,
And here in the west it's just the same but they're using make-up veils.
I've seen acts of every shade of terrible crime from man-like creatures,
And I've had the breath of liars blowing me off course in my sails."







The single for 'No Thugs in Our House' never charted.

"The young policeman who just can't grow a mustache will open up his book,
And spoil their breakfast with reports of Asians who have been so badly kicked,
Is this your son's wallet I've got here?
He must have dropped it after too much beer.
Oh, officer, we can't believe our little angel is the one you've picked. and
And all the while Graham slept on,
Dreaming of a world where he could do just what he wanted to.
No thugs in our house, are there dear?
We made that clear,
We made little Graham promise us he'd be a good boy."





'Yacht Dance'

"And how they'll be jealous of both of us
In our yacht dance
We, we will dance like tiny boats with cotton sails
Upon the tops of the seas
Made of people stained with scorn who never see the light of real love
In our yacht dance"




'All of a Sudden (It's Too Late)'

"All of a sudden,
We find that we've lost love,
So please don't push or shove because,
It's too late,
It's too late,
In all your hurry you've accidentally locked the gate
Love's not a product you can hoard or pack a suitcase with,
It's more a way you have to give."



'Melt the Guns'

"Programs of violence,
As entertainment,
Brings the disease into your room.
We know the germ,
Which is man-made in metal,
Is really a key to your own tomb.
Prevention is better than cure,
Bad apples affecting the pure,
You'll gather your senses I'm sure
Then agree to,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
And never more to fire them."



'English Settlement'
full album:

All songs written by Andy Partridge, except where noted.

Side 1
1. "Runaways" Colin Moulding 4:34
2. "Ball and Chain" Colin Moulding 4:32
3. "Senses Working Overtime" 4:50
4. "Jason and the Argonauts" 6:07
Side 2
1. "No Thugs in Our House" 5:09
2. "Yacht Dance" 3:56
3. "All of a Sudden (It's Too Late)" 5:21
Side 3
1. "Melt the Guns" 6:34
2. "Leisure" 5:02
3. "It's Nearly Africa" 3:55
4. "Knuckle Down" 4:28
Side 4
1. "Fly on the Wall"   Colin Moulding 3:19
2. "Down in the Cockpit" 5:27
3. "English Roundabout"  Colin Moulding 3:59
4. "Snowman" 5:03



live Rockpalast


Respectable Street
Towers of London
Runaways
Jason and the Argonauts
Burning With Optimism's Flames
Snowman
Ball And Chain
Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)
No Thugs In Our House
Senses Working Overtime
Making Plans For Nigel
Living Through Another Cuba
Generals and Majors
Real By Reel
Life Begins At The Hop







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