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The "XTC are really really good" thread

Started by Stoneage Dinosaurs, July 19, 2015, 12:48:13 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

Brundle-Fly


Nowhere Man

That is very nice, seems to be one of Colin's best tunes post-Skylarking, why did his songwriting go downhill so much? Did he just stop caring? A shame really. I do wonder if XTC might be still recordings if Colin was interested.

I just came back to the thread to say what a fucking marvellous melody Season Cycle has. Very Beach Boys-esque [nb]and you know how mad I am on them[/nb]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCOsYs41PaQ

purlieu

Rhyming 'umbilical' with 'season cycle' never fails to make me laugh.

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: Nowhere Man on November 24, 2015, 11:55:46 PM
That is very nice, seems to be one of Colin's best tunes post-Skylarking, why did his songwriting go downhill so much? Did he just stop caring? A shame really. I do wonder if XTC might be still recordings if Colin was interested.


I dunno, post-Skylarking Colin tracks: Vanishing Girl, The Affiliated, One Of The Millions, Bungalow, Frivolous Tonight, Where Did The Ordinary People Go?, and final XTC penned track, Say It stand up next to his best work.

Dave had had enough of the pressures of being in XTC (what with not playing live, the  strike, shitty Virgin deal, shitty managers and Andy's dictatorial studio manner. The band eventually fell out over money around ten years ago. Colin and Andy tried to start a label with a studio, Idea Records that went tits up. Apparently, the frost has thawed between them all now since the Steve Wilson reissues but as far as them ever getting back together to record? Extremely unlikely.

Dave has his own bands (Tin Spirits, Big Big Train), Andy still makes music mainly in collaboration.(Mike Keneally, Liighterfthief, Monstrance (with ex XTC cohort, Barry Andrews), Peter Blegvad) and Colin dabbles now and again and was working on poetry with musical backing. Just have to make do with fourteen studio albums which isn't bad going for any artiste.


Crabwalk



QuoteDeveloped from a series of interviews conducted over many months, Complicated Game details Andy Partridge songs from throughout XTC's career and provides a unique insight into the work of one of Britain's most original and influential songwriters.

Filled with anecdotes about Partridge, his XTC bandmates, and the band's adventures around the world (all told with AP's legendary humour), Complicated Game casts new light on the writing of lyrics, the construction of melodies and arrangements, the process of recording, and the workings of the music industry.

The book includes pages from Partridge's songwriting notebooks, reproductions of his original artwork designs, a guide to Andy Partridge's Swindon and a foreword by Steven Wilson.

So, this is apparently available now, despite the release date being stated as 31st March. My copy's due to be delivered tomorrow so I'll have to get a shift on and finish David Sheppard's Eno biography, as I've been looking forward to this for months.

daf

Bargain reissues of the Fuzzy Warbles collections (bundled in threes) for anyone who missed out first time round :
https://www.burningshed.com/store/ape/collection/406/



purlieu

Oh bloody hell just take all my money Andy

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: Crabwalk on March 15, 2016, 12:37:30 PM



He really is fixated on his penis, isn't he? Pink Thing, My Brown Guitar, The Wheel and The Maypole, Making Glans For Nigel.*




*yes, I know he didn't write that but the pun works OKAY!?!

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on March 15, 2016, 03:10:59 PM
He really is fixated on his penis, isn't he? Pink Thing, My Brown Guitar, The Wheel and The Maypole, Making Glans For Nigel.*




*yes, I know he didn't write that but the pun works OKAY!?!

Not to mention fifty per cent of the songs Barry Andrews wrote for them

Stoneage Dinosaurs

^ i thought that song was about how good it was that barry andrews never had anything to do with the band again

(maybe a bit harsh, I dunno. were shriekback any good?)

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: Angrew Lloyg Wegger on March 19, 2016, 05:32:54 PM
^ i thought that song was about how good it was that barry andrews never had anything to do with the band again

(maybe a bit harsh, I dunno. were shriekback any good?)

The other Barry Andrews XTC contribution, Super Tuff was top though. 

I never quite got Shriekback but I don't think Barry in XTC would ever have lasted. As Partridge once said, "You can't have two balding control freaks named Andrew(s) in one band."

Although, they both got back together years later with Martyin Baker with the impro Monstrance project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f0n8fnuJm4

PaulTMA

Heard this on Maron's waffley, no-research bumlicky rambling podcast last night.  Not very nice.

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/todd-rundgren-xtc-skylarking-feud/

Crabwalk

Urgh, this will be ugly. I suspect Todd's about to get his 'polarity corrected'.

It's a shame, because both parties should look back and be very proud of the work, no matter how tricky the working relationship.

PaulTMA

Andy has definitely been considerably more complimentary about Todd in more recent times, though I imagine that about to change fairly soon.

Crabwalk

Partridge has been very reconciliatory about how he handled things, and the virtues of Rundren's arranging and approach. I'm guessing none of that got near Todd, who's presumably been harbouring a grudge ever since he got wind of the Hermann Munster jibes...

Absorb the anus burn

Quote from: Crabwalk on March 22, 2016, 10:42:48 PM
presumably been harbouring a grudge ever since he got wind of the Hermann Munster jibes...

It's funny because it's true... [nb]Btw: Skylarking is my least favourite XTC album. I marginally prefer Oranges & Lemons, but both of them are horribly overproduced. [nb]The first seven are the best, followed by the two Waspstars, then Nonsuch.[/nb][/nb]


Brundle-Fly

Why is this old feud being stirred up again on its 30th anniversary?

Hmm...


Oops! Wrong Planet

Quote from: Crabwalk on March 22, 2016, 10:42:48 PM
Partridge has been very reconciliatory about how he handled things, and the virtues of Rundren's arranging and approach. I'm guessing none of that got near Todd, who's presumably been harbouring a grudge ever since he got wind of the Hermann Munster jibes...

Rundgren definitely was aware that Partridge had warmed to the album over time (this was before the polarity issue came to light). Re the Munster jibes, Rundgren is friendly with Dave Gregory (he was at a Todd gig in Bristol 2 or 3 years ago and they went out for dinner together after the show), so he's either unaware or doesn't care.
Partridge slagged off Todd's (not very good) cover of Dear God on Twitter and the Sodajerker podcast, so this feud is always bubbling under.

23 Daves

I'm biased, obviously, but Rundgren's attitude here is questionable - he's either on the wind-up or he is (as his reputation would suggest) a fairly unbearable human being.

"I saved their career"... show your workings please, Todd. "Skylarking" sold fuck all in the UK (peaking at #90 in the Top 100 album chart, their lowest position of all-time) and probably wouldn't have done wonders in America had it not been for "Dear God" being taken up as a cause, which probably would have been written with or without Todd's help.

I'm also happy to add myself to the list of people who doesn't really regard it as being a great album, nor really a representative XTC album. Whenever friends of mine rush to it as the first studio album of theirs to listen to, I always try to direct them towards "Black Sea" instead.

purlieu

Skylarking was my first XTC album, and for that I'm quite glad, if I'd started at any earlier point I probably would have given up after an album or two. Pretty much every song from the album ended up going round my head for days on end when I first got it. It's not quite my favourite now - that would probably be Nonsuch - but I thought it deserved a bit of defense after the last few posts!

Oops! Wrong Planet

Quote from: 23 Daves on March 23, 2016, 08:43:46 PM
I'm biased, obviously, but Rundgren's attitude here is questionable - he's either on the wind-up or he is (as his reputation would suggest) a fairly unbearable human being.

I love XTC, and Rundgren also (see username).  There are artists who enjoyed being produced by him and are friends with him still - eg Tom Robinson, Pursuit of Happiness/Moe Berg, Jill Sobule (who guested on his last solo album) - but there's no doubt he can be difficult and sarcastic. "A fairly unbearable human being" is pushing it though - he's been funny and friendly when I've occasionally met him[nb]Brundle-Fly shouts "fuck off!"[/nb], though that's not professionally obviously.  He's notoriously controlling and focused in the studio though, and doesn't have much time for argumentative discussions with the musicians he's being paid to produce. As an individualistic creative visionary himself, Andy Partridge was never going to be happy putting up with that.

Anyway, even I think Todd should let it go now, but that piece in the first ever issue of Q magazine, before the album had even been released, really did rile him: http://chalkhills.org/articles/qTheMusic.html#q8610 .
As I said before, Todd and Dave Gregory are still close - how bad an experience could it have been?

Brundle-Fly

Quote from: Oops! Wrong Planet on March 23, 2016, 10:32:58 PM
I love XTC, and Rundgren also (see username).  There are artists who enjoyed being produced by him and are friends with him still - eg Tom Robinson, Pursuit of Happiness/Moe Berg, Jill Sobule (who guested on his last solo album) - but there's no doubt he can be difficult and sarcastic. "A fairly unbearable human being" is pushing it though - he's been funny and friendly when I've occasionally met him[nb]Brundle-Fly shouts "fuck off!"[/nb], though that's not professionally obviously.  He's notoriously controlling and focused in the studio though, and doesn't have much time for argumentative discussions with the musicians he's being paid to produce. As an individualistic creative visionary himself, Andy Partridge was never going to be happy putting up with that.

Anyway, even I think Todd should let it go now, but that piece in the first ever issue of Q magazine, before the album had even been released, really did rile him: http://chalkhills.org/articles/qTheMusic.html#q8610 .
As I said before, Todd and Dave Gregory are still close - how bad an experience could it have been?

It's a shame this Skycarping has all come up again. I honestly thought TR and AP had respectfully put that baby to bed. The last time the session was mentioned to TR in some recent magazine interview, he only commented that after the experience he couldn't listen to any XTC ever again, which was a shame because they were big favourites of his.

Let's hope Damon Albarn doesn't start grumbling about Modern Life Is Rubbish in some podcast. Ironically, the artiste/ producer friction the roles, were of course, reversed and it was AP who had the whip cracking school masterly approach in the studio. Mind you, he was having to deal with a load of massive pissheads back in 1993, a destructive element not in play during the Skylarking sessions.

My favourite positive Skylarking story was hearing how the band Jellyfish were able to sing the whole of the album acapella while travelling to gigs on the tour bus. I'd pay good money to have a recording of that.

23 Daves

Quote from: Oops! Wrong Planet on March 23, 2016, 10:32:58 PM
I love XTC, and Rundgren also (see username).  There are artists who enjoyed being produced by him and are friends with him still - eg Tom Robinson, Pursuit of Happiness/Moe Berg, Jill Sobule (who guested on his last solo album) - but there's no doubt he can be difficult and sarcastic. "A fairly unbearable human being" is pushing it though - he's been funny and friendly when I've occasionally met him[nb]Brundle-Fly shouts "fuck off!"[/nb], though that's not professionally obviously.  He's notoriously controlling and focused in the studio though, and doesn't have much time for argumentative discussions with the musicians he's being paid to produce. As an individualistic creative visionary himself, Andy Partridge was never going to be happy putting up with that.



Indeed - there was also an incident of sorts with Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, wasn't there? They were first choices to produce "English Settlement", but stormed off in a huff with the words "Well, obviously you don't NEED us, then" because Partridge was trying to assert some creative control.

I have to say that I still prefer the band's mix of "Ball and Chain" to Langer/ Winstanley's, but that's possibly just because it's the most familiar version to me. And I bloody love "Ball and Chain" and can't quite understand why very few other people do.

"English Settlement" drags in places, though, and I've often thought it probably needed someone else to produce it into a bit more shape.

Crabwalk

Sounds like Partridge will have two songs on The Monkees' final album. He discusses it gleefully here (among some Dukes chat), on Iain Lee's radio show (14 minutes in):

http://talkradio.co.uk/highlights/podcast-late-nights-iain-lee-thursday-march-24-160325426

Absorb the anus burn

Quote from: 23 Daves on March 24, 2016, 02:22:15 PM

"English Settlement" drags in places, though, and I've often thought it probably needed someone else to produce it into a bit more shape.

This is very true... However, I love the quirkiness that defines the end: the Fela Kuti bounce of 'It's Nearly Africa' and the progressive, circular chord sequences of 'English Roundabout' breaking into 'Snowman'.

Nowhere Man

Andy and Steven Wilson there.

Quote

"Myself and Andy Partridge yesterday, having just listened back to the completed 5.1 surround sound remix of what for many is XTC's masterpiece Skylarking. Coming soon folks!

PS - There were 19 songs on the Skylarking multitracks, 18 finished and one incomplete - all of them are going on the reissue (3 mixed for the first time)."

Dr Rock

I'm currently digging this cover of All You Pretty Girls by Crash Test Dummies (by no means a favourite group of mine). From an XTC tribute album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIUSF7xUKRM

purlieu


Crabwalk

This one had better fucking work on my blu-ray player, unlike 'Oranges and Lemons'. Not that I have a 5.1 set-up anyway - I just like all the extras.