Senses Working Overtime: XTC and Dukes of Stratosphear Song-by-song

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Lance LaSalle, Dec 25, 2021.

  1. Books Are Burning

    An air of melancholy and a dash of late period Beatles hangs over this. Andy's lyrics are fine, he doesn't over-moralise and mostly lets the song speak for itself. Nonsuch is a grown up collection of songs and this is a grown up closer, the anti-Facist message and subdued tone puts this in a rather similar bag to The Ugly Underneath. Where there was anger, now there's a middle-aged sadness and acceptance. I think he adopts this pose rather better.

    So the duelling guitar solos? Can't say I get wildly excited about Andy and Dave going head-to-head but the I do enjoy the version of this on The Late Show where Andy takes the solo alone and we get to see the full extent of his ability.

    A satisfying closer, no we're not talking Travels In Nihlon or Snowman or Sacrificial Bonfire, it's more composed and thus in tune with the general character of the record.

    4/5.
     
  2. croquetlawns

    croquetlawns Forum Resident

    Location:
    Scotland
    A decent song, but a bit of a pedestrian way to end the album - 3.5/5.
     
  3. Mitchy

    Mitchy Forum Resident

    Books Are Burning

    A wonderful song, great lyrics, love the ending, wish it went for longer a la Hey Jude. An absolute fave of mine. 5/5 easily.
     
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  4. MGSeveral

    MGSeveral Augm

    Right, I'm off to me BluRay player...
     
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  5. chrism1971

    chrism1971 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Glos, UK
    We're veering into Wicker Man territory....
    I was thinking more Fahrenheit 451 than the Rushdie fatwa but I guess it was that time. 1992 is a very long time ago!
    I don't care much for this track either, seems a bit of a space-filler with a worthy sermon of a lyric, and Dave (and Andy?) gets a chance to wig out at the end. The 'church of matches' bit has a great harmony but not great lyrics.
    2.5/5
     
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  6. MGSeveral

    MGSeveral Augm

    Blimey - watching the Peter Pumpkinhead video, and Dave Gregory has got my guitar! (caveat: Not the actual one, the same model).. A Gretsch Country Club, although mine is a little less beat-up. 1961 model. It *is* a nice guitar, thank you...
     
  7. MGSeveral

    MGSeveral Augm

    Anyway, just went to re-hear "Books are Burning" - yes it's not the "Hey Jude" ending, it's the "The End" ending with the two-guitars trading. And a good XTC track as well - you'd think being the final "classic XTC lineup" track, it'd be a bit of an outlier but it would deserve to be on a "best of" no bother.

    Anyway, it's a 5/5 from meeee
     
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  8. BigJobs

    BigJobs Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bristol
    Great song and my favourite side of Nonsuch. 5/5
     
  9. Deano6

    Deano6 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Plymouth, NC, USA
    A very fine ending to a very fine album. And the little nod to Abbey Road at the end doesn't hurt.

    5/5
     
  10. Lemon Curry

    Lemon Curry (A) Face In The Crowd

    Location:
    Mahwah, NJ
    Books Are Burning

    I would imagine when Andy looks at this song today, he realizes he's written an anthem for libertarianism. In a world where the sale of books (and ebooks) is dominated by Amazon and a few others, it is they who decide which books are allowed to be sold. This group does not find the printed word to be sacred at all - they drop (burn) books for whatever reasons make sense to them, and they are accountable to no one.
    And some would strongly argue in a world where books are being burned, people have already been next.
    It's not my intent to be political, but just to make the point that the song certainly fits the view of many today that these things are indeed happening, and it isn't the Germans doing the burning.

    Which is all deeply ironic.

    Musically the song is a strummer, and from a band that is so talented at working up arrangments their strumming songs always seem a bit plodding to me. It's almost a lullaby. But then it ends with those Abbey Road dueling guitars, which is interesting but feels misplaced. In The Beatles' 'The End' (surely the inspiration) we get to the guitar duel right after a McCartney scream and a Ringo drum solo. The End was already explosive before it exploded again. In Books, it just doesn't feel like those virtuoso lead licks were earned by the song.

    Not a fave, and sadly that's all she wrote. I wish they stopped at Bungalow.

    2/5
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2022
  11. Books Are Burning is another 'not very subtle' Andy message song, and it's not a great one, but it has a couple of things in it's favor: Dave's great guitar solo -maybe his best ever (not sure if he is trading off with Andy), and Andy's vocal performance (he sings this one with just the right emotional heft -never overdone). 3.25/5
     
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  12. brownie61

    brownie61 Forum Resident

    Books Are Burning

    While I totally agree with the sentiment here, this song mostly plods along until “The church of matches…”, which is halfway through the song, when it finally gets some energy to go with the strong feelings expressed in the lyrics. There’s some nice guitar at the end (and also some hiding in the background during the early part of the song).

    3.5/5
     
  13. dubious title

    dubious title Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario
    Canada's state broadcaster the CBC had a "news" story a couple of days ago about the benefits of book burning.

    Not sure why there's so much dislike for this song. XTC ventures into a more traditional rock/Fairport style with considerable success. Dave Mattacks elevates anything he plays plays on, and there's big heap of what he's so good at on this track. Great drum sound too. The duelling guitars fly like embers on the fade out, Dave the better guitarist can't best Andy here though. One poster rightly compared this to something Richard Thompson might do, but I'll counter that Richard has written his fair share of plodding dirges. A great ending to an impeccably produced gem of an album.
     
  14. prymel

    prymel Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston
    Books Are Burning

    A solid closer. From the start it has the feel of a song that might reach for the big dramatic multi-voice choral ending, but it subverted my expectations with the guitars, which suits it much better. 3/5
     
  15. SMRobinson

    SMRobinson Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Andy and Dave trading every cycle of the chord change :) see the credits.

    BOOKS ARE BURNING

    POINT-- this has a plodding element to it that sort of trudges along without quite the desired getup.

    COUNTERPOINT-- the vocals, keys and guitars have an almost anthemic quality, combined with an almost.. relaxed... anguish?

    POINT-- the lyrics are not without a few clunkers

    COUNTERPOINT-- the sentiment is spot-on, and "I believe the written word should be forgiven" is a line for the ages

    POINT-- do we really need a "message" song like this?

    COUNTERPOINT-- this message in particular, having relevance across political boundaries, ,certainly seems like it is in need of a champion.

    POINT-- the music could have benefitted from being road tested or otherwise loosened up a bit.

    COUNTERPOINT-- THOSE GUITAR SOLOS. Man, any time they wanted, XtC could have miraculously transformed themselves into the British Television or or or...

    POINT-- during that live performance Dave looks so uncomfortable being confined behind the keys, with Andy blasting away.

    COUNTERPOINT-- Andy's live solo... ×chef's kiss×

    4/5
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2022
  16. SMRobinson

    SMRobinson Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    (Personal side note-- I stole the duelling solo outro structure for my song Expiration Date, which like most of the album it's on, I wrote and recorded while having very little gripping function in my left hand due to an undiagnosed neurological condition. The bleak place I was in, being unable to play guitar or effectively draw etc, turned to elation when I recovered months later.

    After my recovery, I felt the need to tack on an ending to Expiration Date that would itself evoke a recovery, and is there a better way to do that than a guitar duel? I thought of "Books are Burning", asked my friend Tim to contribute, and it was all over a little while later.

    Also featuring pedal steel by The Legendary Rich Gilbert)

    Expiration Date, by Sean Michael Robinson
     
  17. Being a little facetious - but who would have wanted a British Television? Let's face it, Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd were on a different electric guitar plane altogether to even Partridge and Gregory.

    However, if someone did want a British Television, I would direct them to The Only Ones if they didn't already know them. John Perry sometimes came close (in tone and dexterity) to recreating the twin guitar malevolence of Verlaine and co. An extremely under-rated outfit (though not by those who know them.)
     
  18. catnip nation

    catnip nation Forum Resident

    Location:
    new haven ct usa
    This is XTC at their arena rock best ,with lighters aglow and singing voices with the Hey Judey coda.......oops, sorry no arena for you! Still a great closer and a wonderful tune.
    4/5
     
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  19. SMRobinson

    SMRobinson Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    The Richard Thompson comparison is spot on! "Put It There Pal" would be an interesting comparison.
     
  20. SMRobinson

    SMRobinson Forum Resident

    Location:
    United States
    Hmmm... are you sure? Hard to say as both men developed tremendously well after their touring years were over.

    Also Television's limited commercial success is no doubt due to Verlain's vocal and melodic limitations. No reason to think a more guitar and solo oriented XTC would be similarly commercially limited.

    (Better if I had invoked the Brothers Almond or Thin Lizzy or ... ;)
     
  21. I agree with you about Tom Verlaine's (very) limited singing but XTC just never sounded much like Television did they? And I wouldn't have wanted them to, I guess you wouldn't've either. Plus..... a couple of solos in Books Are Burning doesn't really get them into the league of a Marquee Moon, a Friction, or a Foxhole. Double plus..... they never had a Billy Ficca going properly jazz-drums crazy on the kit either.

    Television were just a goddam one-off of a band, as I'm sure you know :)

    The Only Ones are the only outfit I've heard where I've gone, huh, that sounds a bit like Television. They were definitely listening to them. I've not been alone in making that comparison.
     
  22. eeglug

    eeglug Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, USA
    Books Are Burning. Everyone's said what I would say about this - an underwhelming album ender, another Andy lecture (albeit not very strongly pushed by him here), it invites comparison to The Beatles' The End (and Hey Jude). On my first hearing when the guitar solos started I immediately thought this was the only reason to have this track at all. Having said all that Andy totally outclasses Dave here; Dave puts in some pretty unremarkable licks and I much prefer Andy's jagged and rhythmically engaged note twirling. The live version just cements that with Andy taking it all by himself.

    I too thought of Richard Thompson covering this and he'd surely play knockout solo of his own - but then again he has more than enough of his own dirges to fill that slot in his live shows.
     
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  23. chickendinna

    chickendinna Homegrown’s All Right With Me

    Books Are Burning- I really can’t find too much fault with this tune. If nothing else, it certainly is prescient. While books aren’t necessarily being burned, they’re being banned because of ignorance and intolerance. My hunch is most of my fellow XTC fans will mention the dueling twin guitars to finish the song, as they should because it is transcendent. If I have a quibble it’s with the placement not the tune. I’m not sure where I would’ve sequenced this track but I would’ve closed with Wrapped in Grey instead. Another solid AP song to close what I’ve always believed to be a very uneven XTC album. 5/5
     
  24. intv7

    intv7 Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
    "Books Are Burning" -- 3/5

    I enjoy this one, but it's not terribly remarkable. Agree that "Wrapped in Grey" should've been the closer. "Books are Burning" is a nice melody, but I don't think the song ultimately makes the grand statement it threatens to make. The guitar work is impressive, but a little more noodly than I usually associate with XTC. The album should've ended on something a little more dynamic. This is a bunt instead of a grand slam, as Carl Wilson would say.
     
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  25. Shriner

    Shriner Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ann Arbor, MI, USA
    Books -- the only problem with this song is that it follows the absolutely terrible Bungalow so it has to build up from that. The first (?) appearance of dualing-guitar-solos on an XTC song? Yes, please! It should have gone on much longer though (and I'm not usually one to welcome XTC songs that overstay their welcome!) and it might have gotten more love if it did -- for that, I dock it one point: 4/5

    There's not a better song on the album that would have made a better final track (except maybe Wrapped In Grey -- but then people would have groused that Nonsuch ended with an even slower Brian-Wilson-esque song than O&L did...) :)
     

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