Black Sea
Mummer
Skylarking
Chips From the Chocolate Fireball (As the Dukes of Stratosphear)
Oranges and Lemons
Firing original member Barry Andrews, they decided to pick up Dave Gregory, a guitarist, instead of picking up a keyboardist to replace Andrews. This lends to the more stripped down �drums and wires� sound of the record, and Gregory would go on to add much flavor to the XTC sound with his proficient playing and interesting riffs. Colin Moulding comes into his own here contributing 4 songs to the album, and 4 very good ones at that including an instant classic.
�Making Plans for Nigel� is that instant hit. A perfect pop tune in every sense of the phrase, with its mechanical groove, its satirical lyrics about controlling parents, and Partridge�s little �ooohhhss� to really XTC the song up. Speaking of the usual catchy weirdness the band supplies, is Andy�s �Helicopter� which of course sounds just like a helicopter in its jerky rhythm. More clever lyrics come from Partridge�s pen, and the beat...just insane. �Day In Day Out� is not a Bowie song, but a Moulding composition. Really stripped down with its odd guitar scratchings, it comes into its own during the �Friday is Heaven� part. �When You�re Near Me I Have Difficulty� is another great hooky tune. This is the type of music that should be played everywhere. Punky yet wrapped up in sublime craftsmanship. �Ten Feet Tall� is another Moulding tune, this time accentuated by some acoustic guitar work and sounds Kinks-ish in its melody. �Road Girdles the Globe� sounds atonal at first and takes a few listens to get one�s head around it. However it has a clever little guitar riff that will get you into a song condemning cars and other technology.
�Reel by Reel� is a catchy little mofo about the invasion of privacy. In a just society, this song would be one of the biggest hits of the late 70s, as its chorus is an absolute stunner. �Millions� is a bit of a misstep, but not that much of one. Being slower than the rest of the material, it seems a bit of a lesser effort. Once again though repeated listens show the genius of it, and it is an interesting if bit outdated look at the Chinese. �That is the Way� is the last Moulding tune, which deals with the nit picky stuff kids have to put up with from their parents (oddly a recurring theme here) and the song has an absolutely out of nowhere surprise in its extended use of trumpet. It is truly a cool addition to a good song. �Outside World� is a fast paced ditty, and cleverly runs its choruses and verses together into one perfect combination. �Scissor Man� is an ode to the titled superhero and has a cool pounding beat throughout. The lyrics are interesting, but I am not as big a fan of it as many others are though. The song ends with some echo effects, which are a preview of the last song, �Complicated Games.� This is a monster of a song, with tons of layers of echos as Partridge builds up his rage at the sad inevitability of life. When it reaches its end with its massive sound you really get sucked into the song and can�t help but sympathize with the notions expressed. I know that sounds like something a high school girl would say, but it is true. The bonus tracks on here are also splendid, such as �Life Begins at the Hop� but since they aren�t part of the original album, they do not enter the score.
Final Comment: XTC finally starts to come into its own. Well they were always their own, but here is where one sees them combining their energy and their expert song writing skills into one magnificent stew.
Score: ****�
I wish more people knew about this band. This here is their double album, and their last before lead singer and lead song writer (with help from bassist Colin Moulding) Andy Partridge flipped his wig and refused to perform live ever again. More on that later, but here there is already seen the tendency to perfect things in the studio rather than try and capture their raw live sound. The double album format is a bit unwieldy and is a song or two a bit too long to be considered perfect in my eyes. Besides that though, XTC were one of the best bands of the New Wave and this is a perfect glimpse at them as moving from their early more aggressive awesome material to their more laid back and equally as awesome material. You can�t go wrong here really.
Kicking off on a down note is not the usual way to start an album, but XTC goes this route with �Runaways.� Detailing the plight of well runaways, this song is oddly enough an effective way to begin an album of sprawl. That hockey rink organ bit in the �don�t cry� part of the song is a nice touch and harks back to their earlier days. �Ball and Chain� is about the rampant construction of new buildings in XTC�s hometown of Swindon. It has a nice punchy rhythm and cool shouted chorus. �Senses Working Overtime� was the hit. Hit as in no one has heard it, unless you caught Mandy Moore�s cover version lately. Doesn�t make much sense in the commercial aspect of it, but in the fact that it is an awesome song it does. Hooks don�t get better than �1,2,3,4,5 SENSES WORKING O-------VERTIME!� A longer structure is introduced in �Jason and the Argonauts� which has cool imagery and a sweet rhythm change for the chorus. �No Thugs in Our House� is basically a short story being sung about parent�s ignorance of their hate crime committing son. This has some awesome Andy Partridge yelping and when the song speeds up with the crashing guitars all over the place you know you are in for a treat. �Yacht Dance� has some incredibly intricate acoustic guitar parts and creates a light atmosphere, while �All of a Sudden� continues to slow things down and has introspective lyrics (�Life is like a jigsaw, you get all the edges but there�s something missing in the middle� AMEN!) and a catchy low key chorus. �Melt the Guns� is a little overlong and has a dumb sounding chorus, but is saved by the breakdown part a few minutes in where Partridge rants through what sounds like a megaphone about the hypocrisy of American foreign policy. While I don�t agree with the politics necessarily there is no doubt about how cool that section is.
�Leisure� starts the second record of the LP double on a down note (Well this or "Melt the Guns." The paragraphs look more even this way though no?). Unlike �Runaways� though this does not mean down beat in a good way. While having biting commentary on the laziness of people, the song has an ugly chorus and makes one reach for the skip button long before its interminable five minutes are up. Thankfully �It�s Nearly Africa� is next with its upbeat polyrhythms and more bizarre yet appropriate Partridge vocal stylings. �Knuckle Down� is a ska influenced song and a personal favorite of mine. With its message of racial harmony and its ability to get ingrained into my head at the most inopportune times, I have spent a lot of time running that song through my brain. �Fly on the Wall� is a nifty little song with banal lyrics but a cool buzzing synth and vocals that actually do sound like a fly. �Down in the Cockpit� is a bit long for the end of the album here, but there is no denying that its hooky and the scratchy guitar parts add to the uniqueness of the song. Plus the lyrics are obtusely dirty, who doesn�t like stuff like that? �English Roundabout� is quintessentially English. I�m kind of running out of things to say about songs that will stick in your head for days. Well here is the end in �Snowman� which evokes a wintry atmosphere with its sleigh bells and lyrics about frosty personal relationships. Partridge adds in his usual clever wordplay resulting in one of my favorite lines of all time: �People will always be tempted to wipe their feet on anything with �welcome� written on it.� So true.
Final Comment: Brilliant if just a tad bit overlong keeping it from being king of the mountain. Not my favorite of theirs but if 4.5 stars is not my favorite you know how much I love this band. Please check them out.
Score: ****�
