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

Nice pic!

Well, this is the curtain closer, ends with a natural fade..

It's a bit fiddly in places and Andy doesn't quite hit the high notes, but it's quite charming.

I did think the 'Up she rises' was there for everyone that hadn't figured out it was Beach Boys by then .

5/5

So, were not doing the "human beans" and xtin toy tractor" and "snowing angels"?

Fair enough, don't rate either of the first two, and "snowing" is ok for 4 points but.

 

We will be doing the first two, but later. They weren't recorded until the early 90s and the early 00's respectively.

"Snowing Angels" is a demo released either on Andy solo albums or exclusively on blu-ray...and thus I will not be covering it in this thread.

 

Other than the surf-y hits, I didn't know much of the Beach Boys' music after Pet Sounds until very recently. Still wouldn't say I know it well. The inspiration for "Pale And Precious" is, though, obvious. And pulled off nicely. It's not in the same universe as 25 O'Clock or much of Psonic Psunspot, but it is a fine song anyway. A bit of a sleeper, but one of my favorites on the album. Sometimes a great song is simply a great song. 4.5/5

 

Wow. It's always been a goal of mine to have a rest area on a freeway named after me! I could die knowing I've truly made an impact.

 

It would be nice, as a traveller, to be able to bestow upon the Jon Bon Jovi Rest Area what he has so generously bestowed upon the world.

(I mean poop.)

 

Pale and Precious

This is terrific. As I said the other day regarding the McCartney/Brainiac’s Daughter similarities, I don’t care if a song tries to imitate someone else’s style if the results are this good.

Pale and Precious has all the things I could want from a Brian Wilson song: beautiful melodies, wonderful harmonies, quirky but interesting production style. If this song falls short in any way, it’s in the lyrics, which are very nice, but don’t touch me as much I wish they would.

4.5/5

 

So then it occurred to me that there's a whole thread of Transportation Infrastructure Named After Rock Stars out there. John Lennon Airport in Liverpool is one. Then there's the lesser-known Joe Strummer Subway (pedestrian underpass, not underground railway, although that would be cool) located at the intersection of Edgware Road and Marylebone Road, at the East end of the Westway flyover in central London. London's Burning indeed.

Anyhoo, Pale & Precious. AP sets out to write a Beach Boys song and succeeds admirably.

@hvgrace makes a great point here-it's a research project. Chalkhills & Children is one of the results, and so much better. 4/5, for having the cojones to try it, and for pulling it off.

 

Pale and Precious- If there was a song that would be a bit divisive on this album, I figured it would be P and P. You either love it or you don’t. I happen to love it and to me, there are two indispensable tunes on PP, this song and Vanishing Girl. You want derivative? Sure, it doesn’t get any more derivative than this. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and Andy hits it out of the park. The arrangement shines, as does the vocals. I’m probably in the minority here, but if only Brian Wilson would’ve been able to properly finish SMiLE, it would have been right there with Sgt. Peppers. That has nothing to do with this, but I had to say it. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget another stellar album closer. 5/5.

 

Pale -- it's too technically *on the nose* of a Beach Boys pastiche. So I give it a knock for that because it's too clever by half. Strong 4/5, though, and a good album closer.

 

Im downgrading my vote to 4/5. The conparison with “Chalkhills And Children” is the reason: that actually to me is a Brian Wilson-esque song that actually comes close to the beauty of “Wonderful.” This by contrast is just an excellent pastiche.

 

Pale and Precious

Same boat. I've not even attempted to listen to Pet Sounds. So I don't really have a dog in this fight. Again, I feel a little like I'm listening to 2 different songs. The first part which is I guess BB in Bach mode and then the ending part which is obviously in BB popular mode (for even us casual listeners). I like the 2 parts but maybe not together if that makes sense?

If I were to listen to the Bach parts, it seems a little aimless, it needed something, and so we get this really excellent ending part but I do feel a little bit like it's one of those children's books where you can flip the halves of the page and you end up with a Croco-Roo or something. Amusing but not quite right.

3.5/5 (it's an average of the 2 parts taken separately.)

 

I think I must have been listening to music (because what else would I have been doing) but for the life of me I couldn't name anything specific from that year...it's like musical amnesia that stretches for a good long stretch of time. I know some of the stuff listed but if I looked through my skimpy music collection I might not find much from 1987 (also a poor uni student at the time).

 

Pale and Precious is a masterpiece. As a Beach Boys fan I can’t help but to love it. 5/5

 

"Pale And Precious" - I admire this more than I enjoy it. I think it succeeds in its goal to replicate the sound of the Beach Boys, but it adheres so closely to the typical BB template that it never acquires its own identity. What's the point of this when I can just put on a Beach Boys record and get the real thing. If it was a more compelling song in its own right, it might engage me more. 3/5

 

I think Smile (finished or not) IS right up there with Sgt. Pepper's, at least in terms of songwriting, musical creativity and craft. I even think it's had its fair share of influence on music as well, even if it was a delayed influence. Obviously we'll never know what musical history would've been like had they hit the grand slam instead of the bunt, as Carl Wilson referred to Smiley Smile, but I've always felt that the world at large would not have recognized Smile as the genius it was. My gut tells me it was probably always destined to be retroactively appreciated, like Odessey and Oracle. And I think it gets its due these days, thankfully, among music scholars.

 

No Blow Your Cool (Hoodoo Gurus)?
No At First Sight Violets Are Blue (The Stems)?
No Bones + Flowers (Screaming Tribesmen)?

I was listening to a lot of Australian music around that time (just graduated from college). Citadel Records is still a great label.

 

I agree. Even so SMiLE (amd even Smiley Smile) have been hugely influential in the last 30 years.

The sixties are the gift that keeps on giving, music-wise.

 

Pale and Precious. I can see the merit of both the pro and con sides to this one. I guess I tend to side with the anti side as it sounds very contrived/mannered to me and always has. But not enough to skip it or think poorly of it.

I'm obviously I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed because it never occurred to me that Chalkhills and Children was BB or Wilson derived. Now that its pointed out to me, well, DUH!

 

Meh, it’s alright. Since I’m used to listening to the whole Chips album, I hadn’t realized before how much I prefer 25 O’Clock to Psonic, Vanishing Girls aside. 3/5

 

Pale & Precious - Good album closer, although not as good as the side one closer! Never really listened to the Beach Boys, but I do like this track.
4.5/5

 

Part of the reason it’s better. The influence is clear but it doesnt beat you in the ear with a two-by-four/baseball bat. And its prettier.

 

You had me at Beach Boys.

Where some Beach Boys tributes/pastiches fail for me is in the vocal department but, I agree, Andy gives it his best shot and the background vocals are spot on.

Interesting that P&P is placed after The Affiliated, which also has two different musical pieces shoehorned together. It works for me on P&P, mimicking Brian's modular style.

This.

5/5

 

I don't own Blow Your Cool although I certainly did listen to the Gurus . My sister was very into The Stems and has that album along with others mentioned in that list...

I know, I've no idea what happened. Maybe I was too poor to buy a lot of music... I might add that I've lost track of some of my music. It's either at my mother's house or at my sister's house (recently discovered that I had some cassettes there!) My sister is the big music collector (as far as I know she doesn't have any XTC but I could be wrong about that).

 

The Affiliated: I guess this is what you get when two mediocre songs collide. I'm not surprised the band didn't want to leave it until the next album in case they got bored with it. I can't even make it to the end of the song before that happens.

 

'Pale and Precious' might just be the most painstaking pastiche on either Dukes record, but it's also the one that's the hardest to pull off (you want to hear lame, half-hearted Beach Boys pastiches, just listen to Dinosaur Jr.'s contributions to Grace of My Heart, a soundtrack where every other contributor was absolutely on point). That difficulty, and the spiritual weight of Brian Wilson's harmonic and melodic trademarks, forced Andy to write a great song. And it helps that this track (unlike a lot of this album) isn't derived from one particular track, but is a melange of a particular period of a particular artist.

5/5

Fun fact: this track came out at almost exactly the same time as Brian Wilson's wildly praised solo album, and if you were listening to both artists, 'Pale and Precious' gazumped it comprehensively (the key reference / comparison point being the 'Rio Grande' suite).