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

That makes sense

 

*Correction*

3D EP recorded at Abbey Road ..August 28-August 30, 1977.

 

A great start and intro to the energy and quirkiness of XTC. Not all of their really early stuff really captures the feel of what they’ll perfect with time - the hooks and catchiness that makes it really easy to listen to their songs again and again.

I like this song quite a bit for those reasons. 3.9/5

Lyrics here, as I find reading along with the song can help me appreciate the song even more in many cases:

I look out of my window at night
I see the stars and I'm filled with fright
I got a feeling someone's looking
It ain't the aliens at the foot of my bed
It's more the ale inside my head
I got a feeling something's cooking
Science friction burns my fingers
Electricity still lingers
Hey put away that ray
How do you Martians say, "I love you"?
I read my comics from front to back
I'll be ready for any attack
I got a feeling someone's looking

 

I believe Andy once said that the music from "Rocky Horror" was also an influence on his early music....
I think....

 

Been looking forward to this thread for some time. Glad to see it's finally arrived.

XTC are the only band with a sizeable catalogue for whom I have all studio albums. I am sure there's no other band I've listened to more in my life and there's no-one who's produced more albums that I love.

 

"Science Friction" is already recognizably XTC, containing elements of their signature sound which they would progressively develop on their subsequent albums. This sounded fresh and new in 1977, but by hindsight perhaps a tad generic. 3/5

 

I have to admit that early XTC is not my favorite era of the band. My interest doesn’t really pick up until Black Sea, when IMHO their music changed drastically for the better. But there are some good songs in the early era, including one of my favorites (Life Begins at the Hop).

Science Friction

I generally like this kind of ska-tinged pop, but I don’t think this song is a particularly good example of the style. I like the guitar, but not the space-age keyboard. The chorus is more enjoyable for me than the verses, the “Science friction that burns my fingers/Electricity still lingers” part being the most enjoyable part for me, probably due to being sung straight and not with the annoying staccato affectation.

2.75/5

 

I recall trying to get a college radio station DJ to play Senses Working Overtime when it first came out on English Settlement. The format was punk and new wave and she said she had never heard of XTC! I had to ask her if she knew anything about the genres she was suppose to play. LOL.

 

The Fossil Fuel singles collection is the scope of my XTC exposure, so it will be fun to follow the thread. I love what I've heard from them ("The Mayor Of Simpleton" is one of the greatest songs ever recorded), so this is a great opportunity to catch up on a band I've sadly overlooked through the years.

"Science Friction" - any early-80's angular new wave works for me, so I'm surprised to see this was released in 1977. Fun track. 4/5

 

Friction -- right off the bat with a strong 4/5 for me. I didn't hear the songs on this EP until well after I got into the band, but I've always thought this was a solid debut single and very well produced for the time with a great bass sound.

 

Science Friction -- 3/5

Thanks for starting this thread! Coincidentally it comes at a time when I am knee deep in really immersing myself in this band -- going back and discovering albums and tracks that I'd previously ignored, and rediscovering things I haven't heard in a long time. Been a casual fan since I was a really young kid -- like 8 or 9 -- in the early '80s, but I've never spent time getting to know the catalog in detail. Looks like I picked the right time to do so!

"Science Friction" is one of the highlights of early XTC for me. Count me in as another who feels that Drums and Wires is the real "beginning" for me, with everything that came before it being sort of like a primer. Once they found the right recipe for being commercial without compromising their ideals, things really began to click. But there are still some wonderful musical moments early on, and this one is a really fun brew of ska, punk, and new wave in a three minute blast.

 

My entry into XTC was Drums And Wires. I remember first hearing "Helicopter" and "Making Plans For Nigel" on LA area radio station KROQ and feeling like they were something completely different to most of what my 16 year old Catholic high school self had heard before. I bought the LP and the "Ten Feet Tall" 45 and did catch up with the 1st 2 LPs and eventually the 3D EP and 45s here and there.

Pretty sure this is the pressing I have but I can't seem to find it right now!

Early on in the practice of adding a new/unreleased song to a 12" single to promote sales!

Although I've had all of the albums for years, I'm partial to the "hit" songs/singles.

Listening to "Science Friction" again for this thread, I like it better than I remembered. It's very much "new wave" of the time (I didn't know what ska was until later). 3/5

We'll get to more later, but "Making Plans For Nigel" is one of thee definitive new wave songs for me.

 

I agree. When I heard "Making Plans For Nigel" the first times on the radio, I realized it was an important shift in popular music. It's still one of my favorite XTC songs.

 

Science Friction - 5/5 - I'm a big fan of XTCs early "helium rock" phase and this is an excellent example. Of course, they refined things as the band went along, but I find this song undeniably catchy and fun. The keyboard/guitar solo tradeoff is a high point.

 

I never experienced the early XTC in real time. I first heard "Nigel" on the radio and didn't pick up Waxworks until a few years later (after English Settlement had come out). So I didn't hear any of these early songs in their proper context, although I suppose they are in chronological order on Waxworks, so that's good.

In any case, a great debut single and one of the strongest tracks of the Barry Andrews years IMO.

 

There are some demo versions of "Science Friction" around (pre-Barry Andrews) that make for an interesting comparison. Slower tempo, less punk vocal delivery from Partridge and as I recall their keyboardist at the time Jonathan Perkins mainly played Fender Rhodes.

 

Yes, the CBS demo on the Coat of Many Cupboards box. A different experience for sure!

 

/edit..:
The Session with Perkins was from August 1976.
CBS Recording Studios, Whitfield Street, London UK. January 5, 1977, was the first session.
Quite a different sound for the band at that time. The COMC version is from the March 8, 1977, also @ CBS.

 

"Science Friction" - Musically, Barry's crazy solo is the best thing about the song. I wish Andy hadn't forced him out of the band, they would have been much stronger with his contributions, some chaos to counteract Andy's control freak tendencies.

Still, this is a promising beginning, all nerve, verve, electricity, and hiccups. As with many early Partridge songs, the lyrics aren't much, and are there in service of the music, which is about releasing a great big AARGH or WOW. All attitude attack. And though the lyrics are slight, Mr. Partridge gives us an inkling of what's coming:

Indeed.

 

First of all, thanks Lance for reading my mind and starting this thread! One day maybe there will be one on The Church, but for now I'm loving the REM and this one.

I'm trying not to judge Science Friction by the standards of their later catalog, and think about it at the time it was released. I'm hearing a strong melodic sense even this early, among the hyperactivity of the song. It's more poppy than Pere Ubu, and more interesting melodically than The Knack (who I know came a year or so later). Maybe not as strong as the top singles of that time, but pretty good. 3.5/5

 

The Virgin version is head and shoulders above the CBS demo, and it's because the band and/or Leckie decided to amp up the manicness. Energy was everything to the band at this time, songwriting could wait.

 

Like probably many people, "Nigel" was the first I heard of XTC. I taped a copy of Drums & Wires from a schoolfriend, and Black Sea was the first album I bought. I bought White Music in 1981, and although I may have heard songs from the 3D EP at various stages, I didn't own the tracks until buying the White Music CD in the 90s.

"Science Friction" is typical of the early XTC sound, with Barry Andrews' keyboards very much an integral part of the sound, clashing with Andy's scratchy guitar. Throw in the yelping/stuttering vocal and you have pretty much a definitive "new wave" sound, at least as understood by UK listeners. I think all three tracks on the EP are up with the middling tracks on White Music - although "Science Friction" may possibly be my least favourite of the three. Definitely very catchy, although obviously catching Andy Partridge in a very formative stage of his songwriting. Difficult to rank the early tracks on the same scale as the later, more sophisticated material, but I'll go with 2.5/5 for "Science Friction".

 

Science Friction: Not one of my favorites of the early stuff, but still a fun, manic track. 3/5

 

I made a note to self to get that set out and listen tonight. It's been about 15 years since last listen. I forgot entirely about the earlier Science Friction.