ewe2
14-04-2006, 11:46 PM
XTC begins and ends with Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding. Acquiring and discarding drummers, keyboardists and guitarists along the way, XTC officially started in 1976, and appears to be in recess today. For all the imagery and eloquence of their music, XTC's actual history is often mysterious and confusing: how they got signed to the Virgin label in 1977 is one mystery for instance. This is partly due to Partridge's combative relationship with music journalism, but also sheer Northern reticence. So while its often easy to chart the bands musical milestones, all other information is a goldmine of hearsay and anecdotal evidence.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/8/8/3/2/Musician68_368356.jpgSomewhere in England is Barry Andrews, keyboardist and founding member, who left after the band's second album, apparently a typical victim of Partridge's temper, but just as likely so he could form Shriekback, which is a great way of bouncing back. Somewhere in Australia is Terry Chambers who was so bored with the post-touring phase of XTC that he emigrated after the sixth album, Mummer. They never replaced him and relied on session drummers. For a long time Dave Gregory, recruited after Andrews left, was the instrumentalist backbone until he finally realized that he would be a session musician too in 1999.
The oddities continue: how was Partridge apparently so addicted to Valium that withdrawal produced crippling stage fright and yet wrote and performed such manic music? After 1992's Nonsvch, the band downed tools in protest against Virgin and had to fight a royalty case after the company eventually let them out of their contract. Most people would have given up after five years in the wilderness, but not Partridge and Moulding. Apple Venus Volume 1 was finally released under their own label in 1999, but after Volume 2 and several accompanying releases came out in 2000, XTC seems to have gone quiet. Or has it?
But what about the music, you scream? More than most bands, XTC's music speaks for them, from their punk beginnings through new wave pop, psychedelica, and XTC-pop, which has a distinctly British melodic character. Their early songs were often cowritten between Partridge and Andrews, but their first real hits were written by Moulding, who quickly took over secondary songwriting duties after Andrews left. Moulding tends towards the whimsical when he's not writing polemics (which hasn't been lately), and Partridge writes sharply witty songs, often idealistic or cryptically emotional. Sometimes this has led to confusion for the record company: XTC fans are still wondering why on earth the American release of Skylarking has the controversial Dear God included on it in preference to the original Mermaid Smiled. On the much earlier Drums and Wires album, Moulding deliberately remixed Fly On The Wall in defiance of record company hopes for another hit single.
Their ability to write brilliant singles and a ferociously loyal following enabled XTC to continue to release studio albums for a decade until the fight with Virgin, which very few groups have ever successfully sustained; it is likely that the current incarnation will work at its own pace in a similar fashion.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/8/8/3/2/xtc2.gifMost fans agree that their best work is Skylarking, with opinion split between English Settlement and Oranges & Lemons as runner-up; I personally love all three and would also throw in Drums and Wires and the Dukes of Stratosphear albums.
XTC links:
Chalkhills (http://chalkhills.org/) - the biggest XTC site
Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XTC)
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/8/8/3/2/Musician68_368356.jpgSomewhere in England is Barry Andrews, keyboardist and founding member, who left after the band's second album, apparently a typical victim of Partridge's temper, but just as likely so he could form Shriekback, which is a great way of bouncing back. Somewhere in Australia is Terry Chambers who was so bored with the post-touring phase of XTC that he emigrated after the sixth album, Mummer. They never replaced him and relied on session drummers. For a long time Dave Gregory, recruited after Andrews left, was the instrumentalist backbone until he finally realized that he would be a session musician too in 1999.
The oddities continue: how was Partridge apparently so addicted to Valium that withdrawal produced crippling stage fright and yet wrote and performed such manic music? After 1992's Nonsvch, the band downed tools in protest against Virgin and had to fight a royalty case after the company eventually let them out of their contract. Most people would have given up after five years in the wilderness, but not Partridge and Moulding. Apple Venus Volume 1 was finally released under their own label in 1999, but after Volume 2 and several accompanying releases came out in 2000, XTC seems to have gone quiet. Or has it?
But what about the music, you scream? More than most bands, XTC's music speaks for them, from their punk beginnings through new wave pop, psychedelica, and XTC-pop, which has a distinctly British melodic character. Their early songs were often cowritten between Partridge and Andrews, but their first real hits were written by Moulding, who quickly took over secondary songwriting duties after Andrews left. Moulding tends towards the whimsical when he's not writing polemics (which hasn't been lately), and Partridge writes sharply witty songs, often idealistic or cryptically emotional. Sometimes this has led to confusion for the record company: XTC fans are still wondering why on earth the American release of Skylarking has the controversial Dear God included on it in preference to the original Mermaid Smiled. On the much earlier Drums and Wires album, Moulding deliberately remixed Fly On The Wall in defiance of record company hopes for another hit single.
Their ability to write brilliant singles and a ferociously loyal following enabled XTC to continue to release studio albums for a decade until the fight with Virgin, which very few groups have ever successfully sustained; it is likely that the current incarnation will work at its own pace in a similar fashion.
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/8/8/3/2/xtc2.gifMost fans agree that their best work is Skylarking, with opinion split between English Settlement and Oranges & Lemons as runner-up; I personally love all three and would also throw in Drums and Wires and the Dukes of Stratosphear albums.
XTC links:
Chalkhills (http://chalkhills.org/) - the biggest XTC site
Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XTC)