XTC

Rothko

Over the past year I've been listening to XTC a lot and so I'm wondering if there any other fans of them in here.

Personally, I think they're very underrated and I'd rank Skylarking among the very best albums released in the 80's. I don't think they truly get the recognition that they deserve. Anyway what are your thoughts on them and maybe list your favourite songs or albums.

My top 5 songs:
Ballet For A Rainy Day
Summer's Cauldron
Grass
Travels In Nihlion
Earn Enough For Us

Albums:
Skylarking
Black Sea
Psonic Psunspot (as the Dukes Of Stratosphear)
Drums And Wires
English Settlement

smacg

Don't think they were underrated. I remember getting their singles collection a few years ago and thought it would have been better tho.
Songs I always really liked were Dear God and Making plans for Nigel.

Dandelion6

Definitely Skylarking and English Settlement. The rest of their stuff is more hit and miss but there's usually at least a few gems on every album.

emo72

i had Oranges and Lemons, i always thought it was a great album and the songwriting was brilliant. the likes of Mayor of Simpleton and Garden of Earthly Delights were great.

i was a bit too young for the early albums but loved all the singles that i heard on the radio.

marozz

I've been into them since the release of Drums and Wires ( I'm that old - 16 at the time). My only regret is that I did not get to see them live. Unfortunately Andy Partridge lost the plot on stage in Paris in 1982 and they never played live after that.

Having been into them for so many years it's not easy to pick my top 5 songs. But I'll give it a bash :

Human Alchemy
This World Over
Jason and the Argonauts
Dear God
The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul

Albums, I like them all :-)

trashcan

Yeah, would be a fan. Mayor of Simpleton is pop genius, pure and simple. My Other favourites would be Senses Working Overtime(obviously) Nigel, Sgt Rock, The Disappointed, Dear God, Ball and Chain. They come from something of a golden age in music, that first batch of post punk that brought us The Jam, Elvis Costello, Squeeze, among others.

Hippo

I saw them in McGonagles not long after Drums and Wires (my favourite, along with Black Sea). It was the loudest gig I'd ever been to, and that record still stands. Everyone was flattened against the back wall by the sound!

marozz

Hippo wrote: »

I saw them in McGonagles not long after Drums and Wires (my favourite, along with Black Sea). It was the loudest gig I'd ever been to, and that record still stands. Everyone was flattened against the back wall by the sound!

Fair play to you. I'd say that was some gig. I think they played there in 1978. A great venue.

Hippo

78 sounds right. Very intense gig. They started with Radios in Motion I think, but jeez it was shatteringly loud - especially Partridge's guitar. Perhaps the stage fright had begun to emerge even then.

bullpost

I think he suffers from tinnitus now - no surprise then.

Hippo wrote: »

78 sounds right. Very intense gig. They started with Radios in Motion I think, but jeez it was shatteringly loud - especially Partridge's guitar. Perhaps the stage fright had begun to emerge even then.

Hippo

Anyone who ever picked up a guitar in anger suffers from tinnitus, believe me!

marozz

Hippo wrote: »

Anyone who ever picked up a guitar in anger suffers from tinnitus, believe me!

I'm one of them. Very loud bass in small confined spaces have taken its toll on the old hearing. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Hippo

It was the bloody drummers behind me that did for my ears, nothing to do with my bass amps

marozz

Hippo wrote: »

It was the bloody drummers behind me that did for my ears, nothing to do with my bass amps

Ha, our drummer back then used to complain that the bass was too loud!

nlgbbbblth

I bought all of their albums over the years. First one was English Settlement in 1985. That, Skylarking, Apple Venus and Oranges and Lemons are my favourites. The Dukes Of Stratosphear stuff is amazing too.

They have two very good box sets - Transistor Blast [BBC] and Coat of Many Cupboards.

The remasters of their albums sound awful though. They came out in 2001. The original CDs or LPs sound much better.

I'd also recommend this Andy Partridge set -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Official_Fuzzy_Warbles_Collector's_Album