XTC! The Greatest Band You'll Never See Live (' cause STEELY DAN tours now), Andy Patridge, Colin Moulding, (used to be)David Gregory, and a revolving door of drummers that would put both Spinal Tap and Weather Report to shame! Any fans of the so called "Dukes Of Stratosphear "?

paligap said:

((((()))))

actually, i was just listening to black sea this afternoon. i was lucky enough to see them in april of 1981 in atlanta at the agora ballroom during one of their rare early tours. i always loved them. their first 5-6 albums are great. andy patridge and colin moulding were really great songwriters and very clever lyricists.

+
[This message was edited Tue May 18 14:55:47 2004 by medoc2003]

medoc2003 said:

Cool!! I'm envious!!

I think that the first two albums are terrible & still don't don't know Mummer & Skylarking and the last AppleVenus too
However I think that they're one of the greastest pop band ever, How I love English Settlement! (The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead should have been N°1)

jn2 said:

Yeah, English Settlement and Skylarking(the original, with "Mermaid Smiled") are my favorite XTC albums

for me:
white noise
drums and wires
black sea
english settlement
mummur
are all great, black sea being my favorite.

oranges and lemons
skylarking
big express
are very, very good.

medoc2003 said:

Actually, You're right, I must give it up to Black Sea, that IS a great record!
The Big Express was actually the first album I got to hear, but I tracked down the rest because of that album...
[This message was edited Tue May 18 15:39:45 2004 by paligap]

I think Skylarking is a fairly classic album, and I really love the Big Express and Mummer. I went through a fairly lengthy period of my life where I had to hear "Love on a Farmboy's Wages" every morning - verged on obsession...

love me some Skylarking. I know it's the obvious choice, but I can't help it.... definitely my favorite XTC album. An essential for any complete collection

JonSnow said:

Yeah, it is an obvious choice, but for good reasons - it's their most consistent album, and the entire album works well as a whole.

Love them....Dear God. Making Plans for NIGEL Rules.... General and Majors .Cause Andy Partridge has SEVERE STAGE FRIGHT. But I saw them in NYC at a club way back..I was Soo Lucky....
[This message was edited Sat May 22 21:30:37 2004 by Zelaira]

DEAR GOD...is an AWESOME song!!!!

Here here
I'm even buying the rarities and outtakes CDs Andy sells through his website.

He signs them Cool!

I'd give Prince a copy of Skylarking; he would improve, songwriting wise might quick.

This shit would school anyone.

The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul--how great is this shit? Now that's pop jazz.

2freaky4church1 said:

For Real!!!

I was dissappointed to see that XTC and producer Todd Rundgren didn't get along at all while recording this album...funny that such a great album came out of all that animosity...

Andy is a sarcastically funny little guy.

I know, "Dear God" was a hit, but I liked the original Skylarking album issued with "Mermaid Smiled"--that was my favorite track, and I was mad that they dumped it and substituted " Dear God"...Andy was never really happy with the song, and I think it should have been left it as a B-side, but that's just me...apparently everyone else thought it was the greatest thing...
[This message was edited Wed May 19 12:45:33 2004 by paligap]

paligap said:

That's funny.

Coming out to L.A. with a jazz fusion band in the early '80s, we were unaware that New Wave was the "in" thing. Forcing myself to quickly get ejamacated, Making Plans for Nigel and Generals and Majors were a few of the songs I could stand to listen to on KROQ here. Never really took the time to get totally into the group though.

Just noticed that they have a tuned called I Am The Audience on the Go2 disc.
Might just have to check that out.

Thanks for the memories.

Tribal Disorder

theAudience said:

BTW, XTC guitarist/ keyboardist Dave Gregory once said that he learned more from listening to Steely Dan and Stevie Wonder than he ever did in school taking music theory ...
[This message was edited Wed May 19 16:55:36 2004 by paligap]

theAudience said:


No Kiddin? What do you play?


BTW, stay away from GO 2 (despite the name and all...)
[This message was edited Wed May 19 13:52:27 2004 by paligap]

I've heard that Robbie Williams has covered Making Plans For Nigel?????!!!

jn2 said:

????? Really?? Hmmmm....

paligap said:

Depending on who you ask ...guitar.
(along with everyone else on the planet)
Click on the "Tribal Disorder" link for a taste of tune i'm working on.

Thanks for the heads up regarding GO2.
What would be your XTC primer, including chronological continuity, for someone considering their discs?

Btw, Steely Dan is my fav "pop" group.

Tribal Disorder
[This message was edited Wed May 19 14:47:42 2004 by theAudience]

theAudience said:

Arrgh...Hmmm...well, it depends... the thing is, they went through a transition from quirky Punk(White Noise, Go2,) to Quirky New Wave(Drums and Wires/Black Sea) To Quirky Beatle-esque Pop (with folk and some jazz thrown in) (English Settlement, Mummer, The Big Express, Skylarking, Oranges and Lemons, Nonesuch, etc.)

mmm...I think Black Sea is the best of their earlier albums, English Settlement is a great transition album, and Skylarking, Oranges and Lemons and The Big Express to me, are the best of the later albums...

for a starting point...well, I think Skylarking and Big Express are good introductions....and if you like those, you could go back or forth from there...
For what it's worth(not much), these are my all time favorite XTC tracks:

I Remember the Sun
Mermaid Smiled
The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul
Yacht Dance
English Roundabout
Runaway
Miniature Sun
This World Over
All You Pretty Girls
Mayor of Simpleton
Summer's Cauldron
Across this Antheap
Snowman
The World's Full Of Angry Young Men
Omnibus
Wonderland
King For A Day
1000 Umbrellas
No Language In our Lungs
Travels In Nihilon
Making Plans for Nigel
That Wave
Chalkhills and Children
It's Nearly Africa
Dying
Jason and the Argonauts
The Greenman
Stupidly Happy
Another Satellite
Seasons Cycle
Wrapped In Grey
Living through Another Cuba


BTW, I'm diggin' your work in progress...
[This message was edited Thu May 20 6:17:19 2004 by paligap]

paligap said:

Thanks for taking the time to lay out XTC "the paligap way".
I'll follow through and let you know how I like it. Some of the things i've read compare them to the Dan regarding lyrical intelligence. If that's true, i'm sure i'll dig it.

Also, thanks for listening.

Tribal Disorder

I have the first Apple venus cd. Excellent!!

I have "Oranges & Lemons." Good disc but I haven't listened to it in eons.

1 o my fave songs...making plans for nigel.

Hey, I like XTC too. Some of my favorite tracks include, "Ball & Chain", "Great Fire", "Senses Working Overtime". and the athiest anthem, "Dear God".

Well, my first exposure to XTC was in 1989 as a 13yr old when MTV aired the "Mayor of Simpleton" video. The video bored me sh!tless (black & white shots of band members sitting on stools in a white room), so that initially put me off from ever really listening to the song.

Couple of years later, my hometown got an eclectic rock station, the type of station that would play The Smiths, Grace Jones, Matthew Sweet, The Tom Tom Club, Burning Spear, Fine Young Cannibals (pre"She Drives Me Crazy) and even Prince b-sides and bootlegs (this was long before government deregulation allowed Clear Channel to gobble up radio stations across the country and shove focus-group approved playlists down our throats). There I began to appreciate XTC's music . And now "Mayor of Simpleton" is one of my favorite songs. I also like "Making Plans For Nigel", "Peter Pumpkinhead", and "Senses Working Overtime."

The radio station were I once listened to XTC is now a Clear Channel owned "corporate hip-hop/r&b" station that plays Jkwan's "Tipsy" every 10 f___king minutes. URGHH!!!