The "XTC are sort of okay if you like that sort of thing' thread.

[Jockice]

Because they're sort of okay if you like that sort of thing. I shall leave this here.

[Maurice Yeatman]

[Nowhere Man]

Okay

[ajsmith2]

I was put off XTC for years cos I bought Oranges and Lemons thinking it would be the fantastic psychepop joyride the cover suggested. Unfortunately it's got the most misleading sleeve art of all time and actually sounds like a pile of overproduced late 80s AOR twaddle.

Later on I got the Dukes of Stratosphere CD and with it the album the O and L cover had promised.

[Brundle-Fly]

Jockice, you imp. Are you gathering up the "I don't see what the fuss is all about, they're not all that" joybringers to piss on our award-winning XTC Oscillations thread?

[Brundle-Fly]

I was put off XTC for years cos I bought Oranges and Lemons thinking it would be the fantastic psychepop joyride the cover suggested. Unfortunately it's got the most misleading sleeve art of all time and actually sounds like a pile of overproduced late 80s AOR twaddle.

Later on I got the Dukes of Stratosphere CD and with it the album the O and L cover had promised.

I've never liked the cover of O & L. It's a nice Yellow Submarine pastiche but as you say, completely misleading. It's not the first album I'd dive into the XTC deep end either (albeit full of sunken treasure).

[Neville Chamberlain]

Something about XTC has never properly clicked with me, either - and given my musical tastes, I should be all over them!

Still, good news about the chocolate oranges!

[Jockice]

Jockice, you imp. Are you gathering up the "I don't see what the fuss is all about, they're not all that" joybringers to piss on our award-winning XTC Oscillations thread?

As if I'd ever do anything like that.

[Brundle-Fly]

As if I'd ever do anything like that.

You wait until I start my, "Pulp were bollocks, weren't they?" thread.  And that will be posted with a heavy heart, I tell ya, but it will be worth it to watch the blood drain from your little face.

[Jockice]

You wait until I start my, "Pulp were bollocks, weren't they?" thread.  And that will be posted with a heavy heart, I tell ya, but it will be worth it to watch the blood drain from your little face.

I may start that one first. That'll bamboozle and hoodwink you, won't it?

[daf]

wait until

your boat go-o-oes down

(clang-clang)

[Brundle-Fly]

I may start that one first. That'll bamboozle and hoodwink you, won't it?

Whaaa..?

[daf]

bamboozle

[gilbertharding]

Love love LOVED XTC when they were a singles band who appeared on Top of the Pops. Never bought any, but I was 10 and didn't have any money for that kind of thing. I lost track of them after that, but found the Dukes albums were right up my Straße - as soon as I heard them I was sold.

And so I got a copy of Oranges and Lemons, and listened to it 0.5 times.

[daf]

I got a copy of Oranges and Lemons, and listened to it 0.5 times.

I find it a hard album to stay with : at 60 minutes it's the first one done with CD in mind rather than LP - so it's a bit too long for a single album and too short for a double.

Gregsy always said 'Across this Antheap' should have been the closer, and for years it was (for me), as I never got past side 3!

[Nowhere Man]

Skylarking, English Settlement, Black Sea, Apple Venus Vol. 1 and Drums & Wires are the top tier XTC albums anyway, unless you count the Dukes compilation. I think you have to get a fair sampling of those ones before it clicks, Oranges & Lemons isn't the best one to get a proper grasp on them I don't think (even if Mayor of Simpleton and Chalkhills and Children are fab)

[Brundle-Fly]

Even I concede that Oscillations doesn't really need another thread about XTC.

I will ask though "what sort of thing" are XTC?

[Sebastian Cobb]

I respect him as a talented musician, but in terms of musical enjoyment Bowie for me is just 'alright'.

I'll go so far as to say I think the outpouring of grief on 6 music a bit much, it was like the muzo's Diana.

[daf]

Wuzza-wuzza-wuzzz

[purlieu]

Oranges & Lemons haters all need to get their brains sorted out. It's bloody brilliant.

[Jockice]

Even I concede that Oscillations doesn't really need another thread about XTC.

I will ask though "what sort of thing" are XTC?

Wacky powerpop.

[MiddleRabbit]

Like others, I think XTC should appeal to me - and I keep trying but without success.  Which is odd, because I like that sort of thing very much, just not them. 

Even The Dukes of Stratosphere don't really do it for me and they definitely should.

I think, on balance, it's Andy Partridge's voice that's the problem for me.

Having said that, I heard Senses Working Overtime (the first song of theirs I remember enjoying) last weekend and I really enjoyed it a lot - lots of different bits of it.

I think the problem is that they're quirky.  Quirky in a particularly annoying way though. 

Having said that, I'm bewildered that I don't enjoy Power Pop more than I do.  On paper, it should absolutely be my thing and yet, most of it's just not.  I read somewhere that Power Pop derives from, basically, things like And Your Bird Can Sing, Paperback Writer - Beatles in 1966 - and 60s The Who, The Byrds, all of which I love dearly.  But what followed?  I just don't dig it.

Badfinger?  Todd Rundgren?  The Raspberries?  Big Star?  Sort of, but not really to be honest.  The Knack?  Don't get it.

Beats me.

[Brundle-Fly]

I think the problem is that they're quirky.  Quirky in a particularly annoying way though. 

To me, I've always taken the criticisms of bands being "quirky" or "clever-clever" as bands to investigate because it usaully means they are not up their own arses and interesting.

So, what artist is 'quirky' in a non-annoying way? I suppose Talking Heads might fit into that category for a lot of people, partly because they're from New York rather than Swindon.

[MiddleRabbit]

To me, I've always taken the criticisms of bands being "quirky" or "clever-clever" as bands to investigate because it usaully means they are not up their own arses and interesting.

So, what artist is 'quirky' in a non-annoying way? I suppose Talking Heads might fit into that category for a lot of people, partly because they're from New York rather than Swindon.

I struggle with quite a lot of Talking Heads too.  I must be one of those shallow nobheads because I like Tom Tom Club more.

[Brundle-Fly]

I struggle with quite a lot of Talking Heads too.  I must be one of those shallow nobheads because I like Tom Tom Club more.

Naa, Tom Tom Club rule!

[SteveDave]

Because of the love for them here, I downloaded "White Music" to have a listen and was bored half deaf. It was like someone had fed the first three Elvis Costello LPs into a computer but taken out the wit, balls and arse of them.

I've already been shouted at on Twitter dot com for this belief so I will not be answering any replies.

[Crabwalk]

Nobody would claim it's one of their better albums. Least of all its creators. 'This is Pop' and 'Statue if Liberty' are mint though.

[Brundle-Fly]

Because of the love for them here, I downloaded "White Music" to have a listen and was bored half deaf. It was like someone had fed the first three Elvis Costello LPs into a computer but taken out the wit, balls and arse of them.

I've already been shouted at on Twitter dot com for this belief so I will not be answering any replies.

Considering Costello's debut was a country rock album and White Music was recorded before This Years Model and Armed Forces that is quite some feat by Partridge & Co.




Don't rise to it Brundle-Fly.

Deep breath...aaaand relax.

[non capisco]

Nobody would claim it's one of their better albums. Least of all its creators. 'This is Pop' and 'Statue if Liberty' are mint though.

'Into The Atom Age' is the top banger off White Music, I reckon.

[wosl]

Wacky powerpop.

This doesn't really nail it for me; I'm going to go for 'agriculturadelia'.  I tend to think of them as a sort of urbaner, speccy Wurzels - caught between a boxy concrete shopping precinct and a field full of cow dung!  Whilst they're certainly no Stranglers, they wipe at least a part of the floor with yer Denims and Plups.