Have you got a favourite XTC album?

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RedlesterRedlester Frets: 1072
A band I got into a little bit more during the first lockdown. I must have heard the whole back catalogue when doing odd jobs around the house. 

My favourite overall- for the sound, production, and of course the songs- is Skylarking.

Oranges and Lemons is an honourable second place, since because of my age the lead single "Mayor of Simpleton" was my first proper intro to them (although I remember "Senses..." on Saturday morning kids' tv from way, way back when. 

Yours? 

 
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Comments

  • merlinmerlin Frets: 6595
    edited December 2020
    English Settlement and Drums and Wires. 
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  • StuckfastStuckfast Frets: 2393
    I think they're a bit like the Beatles, in that all their albums have many great tracks and a few absolute clunkers.

    The most consistently good ones are probably Drums & Wires, Black Sea and Apple Venus Volume 1. But they're all worth while.

    Don't neglect the albums they made as The Dukes of Stratosphear either.


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  • KKJaleKKJale Frets: 982
    Oooh Skylarking and Oranges & Lemons for me, probably followed by Black Sea for old times' sake. 

    Feel lucky to have seen them live, May 1981. 
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  • oh_pollooh_pollo Frets: 839
    I think Skylarking is just perfect from start to finish. I understand that Andy Partridge as issues with it because of Todd Rundgren's production but it's timeless to me.
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  • scrumhalfscrumhalf Frets: 11262
    I'm very much the odd one out when it comes to XTC. I really liked the first album when it came out, and I wasn't as big a fan after Barry Andrews left. I loved the keyboard sounds on that album. 
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  • axisusaxisus Frets: 28280
    I don't know any of their albums, but I always thought that they made intelligent, quality singles. Making plans for Nigel was brilliant
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  • I don't know them all that well although I remember watching the documentary about them and as a band such an interesting development - all the No Ernie stuff ( occasionally referenced on That Pedal Show) - and trying to find less cliched ways to use the guitar in 'rock.'
    I've got a Mike Kenneally album somewhere. Mike played guitar with Zappa and plays guitar and keys to an insanely high standard and you can hear that easily the biggest influence on his own material is XTC ( and has also collaborated with Andy Partridge). A guy who can play anything on guitar and what he finds most interesting is what XTC did, so every sense that XTC are a bit overlooked and a bit under rated on guitar social media.      
    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • RedlesterRedlester Frets: 1072
    Cheers lads. As I say, I think the mid period onwards is probably closest to my tastes. I personally think the production on Skylarking is perfect. It's got that hi-fi, high-tech 80s sheen (a very good thing IMO) allied to a musical sensibility which is more 60s in feel. They blend it exceptionally well. 

    As for the Dukes, those are great albums too. 


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  • KoaKoa Frets: 120
    They never quite recaptured the energy of White Music , Drums and Wires is excellent too but the later albums don’t seem to work for me. This is Pop!
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  • axisus said:
    I don't know any of their albums, but I always thought that they made intelligent, quality singles. Making plans for Nigel was brilliant
    This is a bit of a fuzzy memory but I had a friend who had the single with the included board game ( something like snakes and ladders on a printed sheet I think).  
    Tipton is a small fishing village in the borough of Sandwell. 
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  • RedlesterRedlester Frets: 1072
    See with something like Drums and Wires, I heard that and I liked it, but it's a bit like the apotheosis of New Wave in some ways, and that isn't really my favourite style of music.
     
    By contrast, Nonsuch for example probably isn't as consistent an album, but overall I prefer it, the drum sound especially. 



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  • KRSKRS Frets: 9
    Apple Venus. 
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  • Philly_QPhilly_Q Frets: 22516
    edited December 2020

    I never really got into XTC, although I don't dislike them at all.  They had some great singles and they're clever, interesting people.

    But I've always remembered a little jokey Andy Partridge track I heard on the radio once, about 40 years ago.  It must've been less than a minute long.  He went:

    "The Fifties" - and played some Chuck Berry type thing

    "The Sixties" - a Beatlesy thing, maybe a bit of sitar

    "The Seventies" - some heavy rock guitar

    "The Eighties" - some synth bleeps and boinks.

    I'd love to hear it again.

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  • merlinmerlin Frets: 6595
    Philly_Q said:

    I never really got into XTC, although I don't dislike them at all.  They had some great singles and they're clever, interesting people.

    But I've always remembered a little jokey Andy Partridge track I heard on the radio once, about 40 years ago.  It must've been less than a minute long.  He went:

    "The Fifties" - and played some Chuck Berry type thing

    "The Sixties" - a Beatlesy thing, maybe a bit of sitar

    "The Seventies" - some heavy rock guitar

    "The Eighties" - some synth bleeps and boinks.

    I'd love to hear it again.


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  • ChuffolaChuffola Frets: 2014
    My favourite band and I honestly think the strongest run of albums by just about any artist - pretty much every album is superb and very different from one to the next. My favourite album is probably Nonsuch - That Wave and Rook are worth the entry fee alone. Fantastic band.

    https://youtu.be/ZzSGWmz-CAE


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  • Black Sea. It sounds about 10 years ahead of it's time to me. End to end it's sheer brilliance. 
    "A city star won’t shine too far"


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  • Philly_QPhilly_Q Frets: 22516
    edited December 2020
    merlin said:
    Philly_Q said:

    I never really got into XTC, although I don't dislike them at all.  They had some great singles and they're clever, interesting people.

    But I've always remembered a little jokey Andy Partridge track I heard on the radio once, about 40 years ago.  It must've been less than a minute long.  He went:

    "The Fifties" - and played some Chuck Berry type thing

    "The Sixties" - a Beatlesy thing, maybe a bit of sitar

    "The Seventies" - some heavy rock guitar

    "The Eighties" - some synth bleeps and boinks.

    I'd love to hear it again.



    @merlin You beauty!!!!   

    I got it a bit wrong, but I wasn't too far off after one listen nearly 40 years ago.  Never thought I'd hear that again.

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  • KebabkidKebabkid Frets: 3301
    Chuffola said:
    My favourite band and I honestly think the strongest run of albums by just about any artist - pretty much every album is superb and very different from one to the next. My favourite album is probably Nonsuch - That Wave and Rook are worth the entry fee alone. Fantastic band.

    https://youtu.be/ZzSGWmz-CAE


    Yep, Nonsuch for me, too.
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  • ChuffolaChuffola Frets: 2014
    Black Sea. It sounds about 10 years ahead of it's time to me. End to end it's sheer brilliance. 
    This is true. No Language In Our Lungs is probably my favourite XTC track.
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  • jdgmjdgm Frets: 850
    Another vote for 'Black Sea' - I remember seeing a doc on TV about them making it at the Manor studios....breakfast with Branson!!
     
    I also had "The Big Express" which had some great tracks on it, and "Oranges And Lemons" but I after a whole LP I'd had enough of his voice for a bit.

    They could have been massive; if only he'd carried on playing live.
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