Most of Moulding's stuff seems underdeveloped (the herky-jerky "Cross Wires" and goofy "Do What You Do").īut his "I'll Set Myself On Fire" is nicely constructed, and Partridge is already spitting out hummable refrains, snappy dynamic shifts, and snarling riffs ("Into The Atom Age" "New Town Animal In A Furnished Cage"). It's mostly fast-paced, danceable pop-punk that spotlights Andrews' buzzing organ and electric piano and Moulding's rubbery bass ("Spinning Top"), mixed up with some deeply weird, shockingly geeky white boy ska music ("I'm Bugged"). The band's debut record after several years of playing live and building a catalogue, produced by John Leckie. Andrews replaced by Dave Gregory (keyboards, guitar, backing vocals), 1979. Site, which includes a whimsical record review written byīarry Andrews (keyboards), Terry Chambers (drums), Colin Moulding (bass, vocals) Andy Partridge (vocals, guitar, some percussion). The major exception is Rag & Bone Buffet, which I review below.įans should check out the large and interesting XTC web I have omitted mention of several compilation albums, including Waxworks, Beeswax, and Fossil Fuel, because most of this material is available on the bonus-track augmented CDs. Technical expertise of 1980s King Crimson with the pop sensibilities of, well, the Beatles But their later records sound even better to me, impressively blending the studio gimmickry and The lack of public performances blunted their rise to fame, and their madcap songwriting productivity also took a nosedive at about the same time. Eventually Partridge's crippling stage fright made it impossible for them to tour, which led to their drummer quitting the band and moving to Australia (they never replaced him, using a succession of studio players on the records that followed).
At an early stage they replaced their keyboardist (Barry Andrews, later of Shriekback) with Dave Gregory. Always more melodic and inventive than pure punk acts, they were a major success in Britain but had trouble breaking through in America, even though they toured internationally and earned a large college audience. XTC originated in the English town of Swindon in the mid-70s, and quickly jumped on the punk bandwagon once that movement hit. In any case, despite XTC's lack of major commercial success you've got to grant that they at least rate with Elvis Costello, the Jam, the Police, and U2 among the most enduring and important European New Wave rock acts. Multi-instrumentalist Dave Gregory never drew too much attention to himself, but he's good, and it's a shame he recently left the group during their first serious recording sessions in a half-decade. Guitarist Andy Partridge, who writes about 2/3 of the tunes, delivers clever and engaging lyrics with genuine poetic merit and the remaining material, written by Moulding, is always solid. And XTC easily makes up for any lack of chops with consistency, inventiveness, disregard for passing fads, and almost unerring pop instincts. They don't have a jaw-dropping instrumental virtuoso, but neither do most rock bands, and the three main players are all top-notch musicians - Colin Moulding's bass parts are frequently startling. But XTC has built a substantial hardcore fan following anyway, and also unlike the Talking Heads, they've never really lost their edge: they've consistently delivered quality recordings that show increasing sophistication and maturity instead of burnout and boredom. Neither formulationĮver scored a major American hit, unlike nominal US counterparts the New Wave XTC, but also the late 80s studio-bound, 60s-retro, pop-happy XTC But if you're not careful about digging into their catalogue you may be disappointed, because they've got two faces - there's not just the hard-hitting late 70s/early 80s In my view, XTC is the greatest rock band of the 1980s.
Live In Concert - English Settlement - Mummer - The Big Express - Skylarking - Chips From The Chocolate Fireball - Oranges & Lemons - Rag & Bone Buffet - Nonsvch - The Greatest Living Englishman.
White Music - Go 2 - Drums And Wires - Explode Together - Black Sea.
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