XTC Song of the Day thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by George Co-Stanza, Aug 11, 2018.

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  1. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    I like Helicopter quite a bit. It's rather silly, but that's part of its charm (dig Andy trying out several different ways to imitate a helicopter using his voice!). They considered releasing it as a single but the record label didn't go for it, IIRC. It's a shame, because I think it could have been a decent-sized new wave hit.
     
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  2. A fun punk-lite song that must have been a blast to hear live. Another Andy getting bugged by a lady song.
     
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  3. misterdecibel

    misterdecibel Bulbous Also Tapered

    If you're in the mood for it, D&W can be exhilarating, if not then it can seem relentlessly uptempo and peppy.
     
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  4. sparkmeister

    sparkmeister Forum Resident

    Location:
    Abergavenny UK
    None more so than with Helicopter. It’s kinda fun and annoying at the same time :crazy:
     
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  5. George Co-Stanza

    George Co-Stanza Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    America
    That is a good description.
     
  6. George Co-Stanza

    George Co-Stanza Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    America
    Today's song is "Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)"



    I have read that Andy doesn't like this song, mostly because he hates the lyrics he wrote, but I view this song as being unique in the XTC catalogue, it being one of those rock songs with (by their standard) simplistic lyrics. Almost like their "big, dumb rock song," and I don't see a problem with having a song like that once in a while. And let's face it, it sure does rock. I can't call it a favorite, but it's fun in an easy and plain kind of way.
     
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  7. I completely agree.
     
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  8. Fastnbulbous

    Fastnbulbous Doubleplus Ungood

    Location:
    Washington DC USA
    "Helicopter" is a fun melody with very silly lyrics. Dig it a lot.
    "Sgt. Rock" is one of those XTC songs I expected to grow on me but never did. Prolly my least favorite song on my favorite album of theirs.
     
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  9. misterdecibel

    misterdecibel Bulbous Also Tapered

    I have mixed feelings about this song. It's all a bit naff, but good in parts. I like the Beefheart-ish atonal guitar, and the energy, but as a song it's just not good. It's all a bit puerile, you'd think the band would have progressed beyond this by their fourth album. It should have been held back as a non-album B-side.

    Yet another one saved by a great bridge though. I keep saying it, but Andy was the bridge-master.
     
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  10. DaverJ

    DaverJ Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    Been away for a while, I missed the XTC discussion!

    Helicopter - my fav off D&W. Silly fun to sing along with, and very dancible. A bridge between early and later XTC.
    Sgt. Rock - If I was flipping through Black Sea, I would never skip this track. It's got a great beat and oddball lyrics which I hope nobody takes seriously.
     
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  11. sparkmeister

    sparkmeister Forum Resident

    Location:
    Abergavenny UK
    Sgt. Rock has great melodies. It's difficult not to like but if I analysed it too much I'd find fault in it and I don't want to do that. I'd rather enjoy it.
     
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  12. MaccaBeatles

    MaccaBeatles Forum Resident

    Location:
    Greater London
    It's a catchy tune, nothing more nothing less. One of those 'should've been a big hit' songs, but XTC already have about 20 songs like that. In a fairer world Earn Enough For Us and The Mayor Of Simpleton would have been top 10 hits in the UK/US!
     
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  13. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    It's a total throwaway, but it's fun enough to listen to when it's on. It sounds particularly good on Waxworks, working as a fun transition between two "heavy" songs (Towers Of London and Senses Workign Overtime).

    Plus, I like it when pop songs have bits that sound like they're from a cheesy TV series. Elvis Costello did it with the backing vocals on Goon Squad, and Andy's "Hey! Rock!" sounds like it really could be part of the theme song to some silly superhero cartoon.
     
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  14. George Co-Stanza

    George Co-Stanza Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    America
    Today's song is "Runaways"



    It was only a little over six months ago when I first heard English Settlement, and this was not what I was expecting when I started the CD. I loved everything about it: those jangly guitars, that pounding rhythm, those melodies. I didn't know it at the time, but for existing XTC fans at the time in 1982, that song had to be considered a major departure, but it was a good indicator that that record was going to be different that anything they had done to date. English Settlement remains my favorite XTC album, warts and all, and it all starts with this little gem.
     
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  15. DaverJ

    DaverJ Forum Resident

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    Runaways - haunting and enigmatic -- definitely one of Colin's better (top 5?) songs. Fits ES well, as Colin pulls off a one/two punch with it and Ball and Chain.
     
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  16. Splungeworthy

    Splungeworthy Forum Rezidentura

    I wish I could go back to the first time I heard this. It seems like it's been a part of me forever.
    "Runaways" is such a great start to this album-a very dark song and miles away from the usual quirkiness we get from XTC. What's even better is the transition to "Ball and Chain"-these songs should never be separated. Colin proves here he can match Andy in the songwriting department.
     
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  17. Cranny

    Cranny Forum Resident

    Location:
    Switzerland
    i am listening to "Jason & The Argonauts" great bass playing :)
     
  18. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    I'm not a huge fan of English Settlement as a whole, but that opening trio of songs is absolutely killer. Runaways is definitely an odd choice to open the album, but it works beautifully.
     
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  19. MaccaBeatles

    MaccaBeatles Forum Resident

    Location:
    Greater London
    Runaways is a top notch way to start of the album. I get visions of listening to it whilst sat on a train passing through old countryside places in rural England.

    It's very evocative of English Settlement in general, powerful drums, a rich bass sound. When it starts up you know you're in for an exciting album! As brilliant as Drums & Wires/Black Sea were, this to me is the sound of XTC really beginning to spread their wings and discover just how many different musical routes they could go down. Very Kink-esque in it's sense of a pastoral England. Also perfect is the way it set's us up for 'Ball and Chain'.

    Has a double album ever been as front loaded as English Settlement?
    Runaways - Ball & Chain - Senses Working Overtime - Jason and The Argonauts - No Thugs In Our House - Yacht Dance - All Of A Sudden (It's Too Late)

    As great as the rest of the album is in parts you can't beat those first seven tracks!
     
    Last edited: Oct 14, 2018
  20. Lively

    Lively Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    I think it is amazing that XTC was album to have such quality over the songs on their albums. That and the end of touring bringing an increase focus on the quality of their albums so closely parallels The Beatles. Albeit with not the same commercial success.
     
  21. DiBosco

    DiBosco Forum Resident

    Location:
    West Yorkshire, UK
    English Settlement is my favourite XTC album and possibly my favourite by any band. I love how the massive, massive bass drum on Runaways and Snowman sandwiches the rest of the album. I always feel like I've been on a long journey, an epic round trip, when I listen to ES. Lovely to see XTC getting attention here.

    To my mind, the most consistent band there has ever been and criminally poor after being ripped off in the early years. Andy is doubtlessly my favourite pop lyricist. (Yes, I know Runaways is Colin's song.)
     
  22. MaccaBeatles

    MaccaBeatles Forum Resident

    Location:
    Greater London
    What strikes me about so much of XTC's later career, starting with English Settlement, is how much like The Beatles catalog, it's so full of vivid colour. I think synesthesia is the correct term. Andy has that, much like composers such as Ellington or even Billy Joel, where they literally see certain colour's whilst composing, and I think that becomes largely evident as XTC expanded their oeuvre, particularly post Dukes of Stratospheare. Here's an excerpt from an interesting AP interview that describes what I mean:

    "Sometimes you're just messing around with chords, and they can suggest something -- like the sea, or clouds, or a box -- anything. I'm a little bit synesthetic when it comes to that [synesthesia describes the condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, such as when hearing a sound produces the visualization of an object or color]. I can hear sounds, and I think, "Ooh, that's just like fog, or that's just like a wet day in November." A lot of time, the lyrics come because I'm trying to explain the synesthetic nature of the chord or chords -- the picture that they're painting.

    "Easter Theatre" was like that. The earthy chords -- those very brown, muddy, ascending chords -- made me think, "This sounds like something pushing up through the ground -- [fast] ooh, like new buds, ooh, it's Easter," and before I knew it, I'd vomited up the reason for the song. Or the tone of an instrument can suggest things, like the organ tone on "Chalkhills and Children" -- I thought the little keyboard figure at the beginning sounded medieval and earthy, but the placid high chords before it sounded like you were floating, so it suggested floating over a land. Before I knew it, my mental grasping to reason what this piece of music was about had become the lyric.

    Sometimes it's the other way around. Sometimes I actually write things that I don't know are going to be songs -- they're just things, which I suppose could be classed as poems or pieces of prose, and then you think, "You know, that wouldn't make a bad song." "Summer's Cauldron" was pretty much like that."

    Chalkhills: XTCFans: The Lyrical Andy Partridge
     
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  23. jhw59

    jhw59 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rehoboth Beach DE.
    Runaways really came alive for me with the remastered ES of a few years ago. Top XTC.
     
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  24. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    I've always loved the song, but I agree that the remaster is one of those rare cases where it's a genuine, obvious improvement over the original. Every XTC fan needs to pick up a copy.
     
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  25. George Co-Stanza

    George Co-Stanza Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    America
    Apologies for today's late entry...busy day.

    Today's song is "Life is Good in the Greenhouse"



    I honestly have no idea what to make of this song. There are a few cool things in there, but I think this is a good demonstration that they were still in the infant stage when it came to crafting good songs. It's kind of a mess. Fans of Go 2 probably dig it, though.
     
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