XTC Song of the Day thread

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

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  1. Grahamstuartcanada

    Grahamstuartcanada We play two kinds of music “new” and “wave”

    Just wondering can you clarify is there a version of J&TA on a version of Drums and Wireless? .... I don't have that but the track listing looks to be the same as Transistor Blast (albeit in a different order) which I do own
     
    Last edited: Aug 21, 2018
  2. DetroitDoomsayer

    DetroitDoomsayer Forum Middle Child

    Location:
    Detroit, Michigan
  3. Grahamstuartcanada

    Grahamstuartcanada We play two kinds of music “new” and “wave”

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  4. riknbkr330

    riknbkr330 Senior Member

    “Great Fire” is The first song off of “Mummer” that got my ear. Andy really painted a great lyrical picture of that deep wanting love of someone. The descending chord parts inspired me to write a song in the same vein to my sweetheart.
    I love the reverb at the very end, somewhat offhand homage to “pleasant valley Sunday“.
    The song still is in my top XTC playlist and continues to be fresh as the first day I heard it 35 years ago.
     
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  5. George Co-Stanza

    George Co-Stanza Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    America
    I totally agree about the fretless bass and acoustic giving English Settlement a lot of its warmth.

    And feel free to post away! :)

    Nice. This could still be a song that becomes a favorite of mine some day. You just never know...:p
     
  6. ellaguru

    ellaguru Forum Resident

    Location:
    Milan
    your falling into the XTC musical tsunami reminds me of my path into them...just 30 years earlier! i recall not digging Mummer at all and now id wager i have a solid 5 different pressings here...
     
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  7. George Co-Stanza

    George Co-Stanza Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    America
    Haha, that's great.

    And the odd thing for me is, I have known Senses Working Overtime, Dear God, King for a Day and The Mayor of Simpleton all since the 80's (born in '73, watched more MTV in the 80's than I can remember), but until about five months ago, I had never heard any other song by them. Better late than never! :)
     
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  8. dthomas850

    dthomas850 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cleveland, Ohio
    Great Fire is one of Andy's absolute masterpieces, IMO, and i'm thinking maybe first use of strings. (correct me if i'm wrong) How I would love to hear this in 5.1 !! Still remember buying the 12" single (b/w Gold) when it was released and immediately falling in love with it. An absolute classic!!!
     
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  9. Great Fire is an odd one, but it grew on me. I think Andy's vocal is very strong on this one.
     
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  10. George Co-Stanza

    George Co-Stanza Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    America
    Today's song is "Dear God"



    Easily one of their most well-known songs, which some would say is not a good thing given the lyrics, but I think the song is brilliant, both musically and lyrically (and I am not even saying I agree with the lyrics). It's easy to think of this is a pop song with biting lyrics intended to shock, but I find it to be a very honest and almost-sad song, almost like Andy wants to believe in something, but just can't. And it has a lot of cool twists and turns melodically. Tremendous song.
     
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  11. riknbkr330

    riknbkr330 Senior Member

    Truly a tremendous song, incredibly put on the B-side of the "Grass" 12" single.....after "Extrovert". As a brought up Catholic grammar school kid and couldn't wait to get into "heathen" high school, this song was spot on.

    When the song started it's hell bent chart run, I was ecstatic and concerned at the same time with middle and southern US acting like John Lennon's "Beatles bigger than Jesus" scare 20 years prior.....progress, what progress?

    I still get goosebumps when the song ends with the "Amen" coda.
     
  12. Grahamstuartcanada

    Grahamstuartcanada We play two kinds of music “new” and “wave”

    I have to admit as a catholic kid, I had an embarassment when I thought about the content, it seemed to challenge in a big way some very fundamental ideas...as Catholic educator today, I actually used this song in my class for discussion purposes. Kids had a wide range of thoughts about it. I loved that this little song from my past could get kids talking. I was surprised to find out years later it was a little girl in the studio who sang the intro/outro, and I wondered why the cast a boy in the video. Amazing video and thought provoking all these years later.
     
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  13. DetroitDoomsayer

    DetroitDoomsayer Forum Middle Child

    Location:
    Detroit, Michigan
    I love that the song is a prayer or letter to god listing all of the reasons why he can't, won't or doesn't believe in the deity, but again is speaking directly to it, him or her.
    Brilliance!
     
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  14. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    The first time I heard Skylarking was via the (horrible) early-2000s remaster. It stuck Dear God at the end, and I remember thinking that it was a fine song, albeit not one of the better XTC efforts.

    I still feel that way, but the American running order of the album really makes the song shine at its best, imo. Mermaid Smiled is a dreadfully dull track, whilst Dear God makes for a wonderfully introspective 1-2 punch with Dying. It just doesn't work on its own.

    At the risk of sounding hipster-ish, I think that Dear God is an excellent example of a case where an artist's best-known song is one of their less-impressive efforts (other examples: Wonderwall, Running Up That Hill, The King Of Rock & Roll, How Soon Is Now?). At the very least, I think we can all agree that it's one of the least singular tracks in the XTC canon: the provocative lyrics notwithstanding, it has precious little of the "quirkiness" that (rightly or wrongly) we tend to associate with their work.
     
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  15. I agree that the placing of Dear God on the American (and current version)was brilliant but I love Mermaid Smiled and have to disagree with you on that and Dear God. If it lacks quirk it makes up for it with Andy’s impassioned vocals delivery.
     
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  16. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    Catching up on what I've missed over the past few days...

    I loved Wasp Star when I first heard it, but then, it was only the second XTC album I'd heard (after Apple Venus had gotten me hooked). I rarely listen to it now, despite some very fond memories of it, simply because it's been essentially superseded by the 70s and mid-80s XTC that I tend to prefer. That having been said, I think that We're All Light is arguably the second-best song on the album (The Wheel & The Maypole completely smoking all contenders), particularly with that fantastic opening line: "Don't you know 'bout a zillion years ago/Some star sneezed, now they're paging you in reception." If there's a more Andy-esque line out there, I don't know it! It's humorous and philosophical all at once.

    There's definitely an argument to be made that Wasp Star has a sterile sound to it. In some cases (including We're All Light), the demos on Homegrown are probably more successful than the finished versions.


    River Of Orchids was the first XTC song I ever heard, and it blew my mind. I bought Apple Venus blind, after hearing Elvis Costello talk about being influenced by XTC...of course, he was actually referring to their early records, but I was a broke student at the time, and I was able to pick up Apple Venus for under a buck, so I went with that. Anyway, that hypnotic raindrop-riff is forever burned into my mind, and I think it's hard to think of any other opening track - by *anyone* - that's so subdued yet so impactful. If I had to play the "sum up XTC in one song" game, River Of Orchids would definitely be on my short-list.


    Science Friction has to be one of the all-time great debut singles. I never get tired of it. If they'd dropped some of the weaker tracks from White Music and included tracks like Science Friction and She's So Square, they would have made a great album even better. The slower demo on A Coat Of Many Cupboards is ace; shame about the horrible mastering.
     
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  17. DirkM

    DirkM Forum Resident

    Location:
    MA, USA
    ...jeeze, there's more to catch up with there than I initially thought!

    I've always liked My Weapon, but perhaps that's because I can barely make out a word of the lyrics. It's a killer riff, and Barry sings it in a deliciously punkish way. I love Drums & Wires, but I've always wondered what a third album made by the original line-up - complete with a few more Barry tracks - would have sounded like.

    Great Fire passed me by for years, but now it's one of two Mummer tracks that I find myself returning to (the other one being Beating Of Hearts). It sounds ordinary at first, but then it just CLICKS...like many other XTC tracks, at least in my experience.

    I'll never disagree with anyone who has negative words for the ending of Wrapped In Grey. It's a beautiful track with a horribly cringe-worthy finale. I have no idea what Andy was thinking.
     
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  18. George Co-Stanza

    George Co-Stanza Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    America
    Interesting. I would think many would think it is too much of a departure to be on a "sum up XTC in one song" list, but I can see what you mean. It does contain many classic elements of the band; it just doesn't have the traditional rock/pop instruments featured in a prevalent way.
     
  19. Summer of Malcontent

    Summer of Malcontent Forum Resident

    I agree. Sometimes I think it's the band's best single, and I love the fact that when sent off by Virgin to "write a hit" to add to the album they came back with a song that switches back and forth from 3/4 to 4/4 (beautifully).

    It's also worth noting that XTC's old standby when it comes to songwriting is Spontaneous Human Combustion. When in doubt, write a song about somebody going up in flames: 'Set Myself on Fire', 'Rocket from a Bottle', 'Burning with Optimism's Flames', 'Great Fire', 'Your Gold Dress', 'Miniature Sun', 'Books Are Burning' - and probably a bunch more I've forgotten.
     
  20. Fastnbulbous

    Fastnbulbous Doubleplus Ungood

    Location:
    Washington DC USA
    I'll just drop this here. It's Todd Rundgren talking about many things, including his production of Skylarking. Also some interesting discussion of psychoacoustic theory and why Andy couldn't leave well enough alone.



    The whole interview is fascinating to me - Todd's a very intelligent and articulate guy - but for the XTC stuff skip to the 1:24:00 mark.
     
  21. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    Interesting. Why do you call it an "Amen" coda?
     
  22. DetroitDoomsayer

    DetroitDoomsayer Forum Middle Child

    Location:
    Detroit, Michigan
    While I like Todd's music, I really can't take him seriously when he speaks about his time with XTC.

    In this interview he says "Andy was notorious for driving their producers out of the studio."
    If this was in fact the case XTC would not have worked with John Leckie three times (White Music, Go2 and 25 O'Clock) and Steve Lillywhite twice (Drums & Wires and Black Sea)

    again, I like Todd's music, but I find him to be an arrogant twat.
     
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  23. Rose River Bear

    Rose River Bear Senior Member

    Dear God is a fine song. Lots of Beatle influences worn on the sleeve. The Rocky Raccoon strum and bass note movement and the Lennonesque chord changes in the bridge. Still an amazing song with brilliant arrangement changes.
     
  24. riknbkr330

    riknbkr330 Senior Member

    I'm not sure I can describe it, but what I hear is the progression that ends a church hymn....the Ahhh....Men. I think technically it's also called the Amen cadence. Just what I hear and if that's what it is doing...it's damned brilliant!
     
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  25. Grahamstuartcanada

    Grahamstuartcanada We play two kinds of music “new” and “wave”

    ... And I think it was LECKIE also on at least one Dukes (maybe 2? ) of the Stratosphear albums too.

    Interesting that TRundgren (Munster) talks about endless tinkering and "Andy getting more and more anal" and "I knew what was wrong with their records" - I can't say unequivocally as I haven't heard skylarking demos, but every other demo I have ever heard by this band seems so fully realized - and by that I mean the demo most often has much in common with the finished product - that I find it hard to listen to Rundgren say those things - and believe them
     
    Last edited: Aug 23, 2018
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