Jim Moray on XTC
For the last few months I've had the pleasure of introducing unsuspecting audiences to XTC, via the song 'All You Pretty Girls'.
I first came across XTC through my teenage self's favourite band, . Andy Partridge had produced demos for their album '', before being passed over as producer of the real thing in favour of Morrissey collaborator Stephen Street.
Around the same time, I heard XTC's '' on the radio and decided (mistakenly) that the bloke singing it must be Andy. It was a bit of a shock when I investigated further and was confronted with the seal bark of '' or ''.
Still, having been primed by the more post-punky end of Britpop - particularly Blur and - it was not an unpleasant surprise.
XTC were particularly English-sounding at a time when mid-Atlanticism had a grip on the rock world. Their album 'English Settlement' featured the on the cover, something they followed up by naming their next album 'Mummer' complete with tattered costumes made from the Swindon Advertiser for the . On the day that 'Careless Whisper' by Wham! was number one, XTC were trying to in a boat made out of corrugated cardboard. One of the benefits of belatedly discovering a band is that you get to immerse yourself in an entire back catalogue at once. With the benefit of hindsight you can see how the albums follow on from each other, and how what must have seemed like massive shifts of direction at the time are actually smooth flowing lines that cover an enormous musical area. Like the Beatles - a similar obsession for me - each album brings something new and, put together, it's hard to imagine ever getting bored of listening. I can only urge you to check XTC out, starting either with 'Drums and Wires', or with 'Wasp Star (Apple Venus Vol. 2)'. Right, I'm off to blag tickets for Blur's sold out in June, bringing this all full circle...
Comment number 1.
At 17th Dec 2008, evansakes wrote:Loved the eccentricity of XTC....I remember buying 'Senses Working Overtime' when it came out. It's still one of my favourite singles but looking back it's bizarre to think that a song as gloriously convoluted and bitty as that could ever be a major hit.
Wonder whether anything like that could still happen in 2009.... ??
You should test the water, Jim.....
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