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

I believe the SMiLE Sessions Box proves what you're saying is correct. We also got bits and pieces on Beach Boys albums that helped to make those albums the great records they are. Mostly thanks to Carl
taking the time and love to see them thru to completion, sometimes getting Brian interested enough to help.

I bought the Zombies records as they were released. I love them so much I invested in Zombie Heaven.

 

Thanks for the response! My post was mostly a cautionary tale to put Oranges and Lemons in the best possible light. Since the 2001 remaster is the most easily accessible version of the album, I figured it was going to be the one that most people would listen to during the upcoming retrospective. As such, I figured that it was worth telling people of the superior mastering options. Most of the other 2001 XTC remasters are tolerable, but this one actively makes the music less enjoyable.

Interesting to hear about the musical history lesson leading up to Oranges and Lemons! I came into the album from a more modern perspective (I first heard it in 2005/2006, I believe?) and I was randomly hopping around the XTC catalog at the time. (Skylarking -> Fossil Fuel -> Homespun -> Drums and Wires -> Chips from the Chocolate Fireball -> Oranges and Lemons). Coming off the more simplified production of my previous XTC albums, the shiny, ultra chrome-like sound of O&L took me for a bit of a ride! I like certain tracks on the album, and I do love the acoustic radio sessions that the band performed. I can also dig the instrumental performances on the Blu Ray disc. The cover's wonderful, too! But the album itself leaves me cold; I've tried 30+ times, and still can't get into it.

Still, I'm sure there will be plenty of solid discussion to be had; I'm eager to hear the defense for this two record set. I'm also curious to hear people's preferences in regards to the original mix vs. the remix, since I thought it was going to be a slam dunk in favor of the new version. If anybody wants to take up the mantle of "mix vs. remix", feel free to do so.

 

I missed "Pale and Precious". I alway felt it was one of the lesser tunes, but it has been stuck in my head all week. It's a beautiful tribute to Brian Wilson and Smile. 4/5

Psonic Psunspot (and 25 O'Clock) have always been my favorite XTC albums. Thanks to this thread, other albums are sneaking up behind them, but it will be hard for an album to overtake either. This is one of the great records of the 80s and an all time classic. It deserves nothing less than a 5/5

 

Psonic Psunspot: I had an experience with this album that I'm also having with a different album by a different artist in a different Lance LaSalle thread: I've enjoyed it much more than I remembered. And as in that case, I believe the song-by-song approach flatters the songs. As a whole experience, I have generally found the album to be very quickly sating.

So while I'm much more likely to listen to 25 o'Clock all the way through, I believe I rated only a couple tracks here lower than 4, and at least three got a 5, so I think a fair score would be 4.4/5.

P.S., regarding the interstitial skits,

... nor are the ads on The Who Sells Out. But they're all part of the experience. It would be nice if they were separate tracks, though.

Oh, and:

The very model of a perfect box set.

 

Psonic Psunspot - I love this album and think it's just as good as 25 '0 Clock in its own way. Some of my favorite tracks are on this one, and it's probably the last album I'll give top marks to.
5/5

 

5/5 ? That was a tricky post and covered a lot of ground. I wasn't sure if you liked the song, or not, until the reveal. The "Rio Grande" suite? - ahh, the trickiest comparison yet on "Pale and Precious" to close.
Another interesting and thought-provoking comment from your pen amongst the revel going on as the sun sets on The Dukes of Stratosphear. Reverence and reverberation in the hills, indeed. All we need is
a sacrificial bonfire as twilight begins to amuse the disbelievers.

 

Psonic Psunspot-Like @eeglug I came to this album via the Chips compilation CD. I've only recently acquired the two albums on vinyl and so can evaluate them "as intended". PP is more considered, more refined , less in your face than 25 O'clock. I'm in the "like" camp for the narrative interludes-I'm a sucker for that "Hole In My Shoe" schtick, sorry.

Vanishing Girl, Drug, The Affiliated, Lighthouse-all great tracks. There aren't any out and out clunkers. It's a good, fun listen. I don't know if it reaches the heights of a Mummer, English Settlement or Skylarking. All good though.

4/5.

 

Psonic Sunspot is a solid album, though it feels a bit like a watered down version of the Dukes compared to the first LP. The strongest track for me personally are “Vanishing Girl”, “Little Lighthouse”, “Albert Brown”, and “Brainiac’s Daughter”. The rest of the tracks are at least solid with the exception of “Have You Seen Jackie”, “You’re My Drug”, and “The Affiliated”, with the latter two being pretty dreadful. It’s still a nice album, with the good outweighing the bad.

3.7/5

 

Our votes for Psonic Psunspot

1-0
2-0
3-4
4-14
5-3
Average: 4.094

 

Today's song is "Happy Families", written by Andy Patridge; produced by XTC; engineered by Glen Tommy.

XTC – Happy Families Lyrics | Genius Lyrics
Background:
Inspired by a UK card game, Andy has said this version was ruined by the drum machines.
"Happy Families" was nearly completed during the Mummer sessions but was left off the album; it was offered to John Hughes for his film She's Having A Baby, and was completed then.

It was originally released in February 1988 on the soundtrack to She's Having A Baby. A slightly longer edit was released as a B-side of King For A Day in April 1989.

Line Up:
Andy Partridge: vocals, guitar, drum programming
Dave Gregory: piano, synth, glock, synth, backing vocals
Colin Moulding: bass guitar, vocals

Two demos of "Happy Families" have been relased: the first was released on Andy Patridge's cassette only Jules Verne's Sketchbook in 1987; and the second was released on Hinges, part of the larger Fuzzy WArbles box set, in 2006.

 

Wait...if "Happy Families" was originally released in February 1988 on the movie soundtrack, then how could it have been completed during the Oranges and Lemons sessions, which didn't start until a few months later? Was the version on the soundtrack the Mummer version?

 

Oh, in that case I guess it was completed before the Oranges And Lemons sessions. I just made an assumption -- I didn't look too hard into this. I've edited the incorrect info out.

 

Happy Families
I would call this “deceptively sunny” except the music doesn’t really work too hard to obscure the savage irony running through the lyrics. The metaphors running through this song are so charged it almost reaches Elvis Costello levels of vitriol, like Andy writing his own version of “You Belong to Me” or “Chemistry Class.” No wonder the movie used only an instrumental version; I can’t imagine a mainstream feature of the ‘80s for which this would be appropriate. It’s not Andy’s best melody, but he sings it well, taking it at a tempo that really allows the words to be heard and land appropriately (ironically, it’s the title, with its weird, sharply rising melody, that’s a little hard to make out). This is a fine song that pretty much had to be a b-side/offcut, because I can’t imagine an XTC album where this would feel like it belonged. (Mummer? Huh?) That hypothetical album would be mighty interesting though. 4.25/5

 

The crying babies at the beginning make for a strangely jarring intro, though it is brief. After that, it turns into a decent little track. It's not quite album-worthy, but it's a little too good to be a b-side. There's a very English Settlement vibe to the lyrics, and Andy sounds very good here on a vocal level. I suppose I agree with Andy on the drum track. It's not bad, but it is a little strange, at times sounding more suited for a mid 80's hip hop/electro song than something like this. A pretty good song overall.

3.8/5

 

Decent song. When I listen to it kind of reminds me of Sparks. I can imagine Russ Mael singing it!! 3/5.

 

"Happy Families"

It's another one for the Punch & Judy/Playground/Let's Make A Den set of "children's games as real-life adult issues" lyrics, along with a hefty side order of card game-related wordplay. I find the constant repetition of "happy familEEEEZ" in the backing vocals and the chorus a bit wearing. Interesting downbeat ending, but this is no more than a good b-side and I can't see it fitting on any of the albums. 3/5.

 

Yeah it would have worked as a stand-alone single.

4/5

 

"Happy Families": There's a version of this from the demos circa Mummer which is amazing, all ringing 12 string guitars and a full band arrangement, and I wish they'd recorded a proper version of that song with that arrangement. The studio version more than a bit underwhelming by comparison and I don't think they got anywhere near the best out of it. One that got away, I think.

 

"Happy Families"

A fine song, which could have been album material with a bit more work. The lyrics are indeed quite vitriolic. Master Race and Miss Carriage. Ouch!

 

I was listening to this soundtrack the other day. It's divided into a male artist and female artist side. The women's side is 5/5 fantastic, the men's side is more 1/5.

The soundtrack is unusual is that the mixes of certain tracks are unique, and two of them are superior:

- the first is the appearance of Kate Bush's 'This Woman's Work' a year before the less appealing remix on 'The Sensual World', (which pumped me up for what I expected to be an incredible album only for her to deliver IMHO her first dud after such a fantastic run);

- the second is the full take of Kirsty Maccoll's cover of the Smith's 'You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby', who made it her own. The later bonus track version on 'Kite' is missing the first verse and is a different mix for some stupid reason. I'm not sure I prefer it but I guess it was more familiar to me than R&BB, so that one always sounds 'wrong'.

- the third is the unique mix of 'Happy Families', with a little more florid ornamentation than the 'Rag and Bone Buffet' version:



I'd been laughing over the 'Full Of Love' Dr Calculus song for years - 'your mind goes yo!' - only to get curious about it and discover it was Stephen Duffy of the Lilac Time under a psuedonym. You can only get it here, the original version on that sole album is called 'Perfume from Spain', and has different, if equally stupid lyrics.

 

I'm not fond of the cynical lyric, but I note that it was written before Andy had children and I may have felt the same way about families before I had children. or child. As I only have one. But I do have two stepchildren.

Anyway, despite the very weird, hollow sounding drum machine, this is a song I love and it does sound more like the XTC of yore. Definitely worth releasing, even though it's not quite a masterpiece. Dave shines here and the vocal arrangement is cool.

4.1/5

 

Happy Families

Pity about the drum machine as that's a potentially excellent song, the descending vocal melody is put to good use and the biting lyrics have a distinct air of Imperial Bedroom-period Elvis Costello about them. As it stands it's pretty good, but with a proper drummer it could have been something. Not sure what XTC album it would have fit on though. Seems like a bit of an outlier in the repertoire though it does fit vaguely thematically, as noted above, with songs like Punch and Judy.

4/5.

Re Oranges and Lemons.

I have an original vinyl. Sounds utterly terrible, in a particularly 1980s way. I periodically revisit it to see if I've missed something. Nah.
I don't want to be too much of a downer on the thread so will tread and comment carefully when we get around to discussing that ugly sounding abomination of an album. And I'm complimenting it by considering it an album.

 

Despite the annoying intro, this is one of the better non-album tracks - 4/5

 

"Happy Families" -- 3/5

Agree with Andy that the drum machine on this track is unfortunate, but I'm not sure how much more I would like it with a real drummer. Seems perfectly suited to be something of a throwaway on a John Hughes movie soundtrack. I think the vocal arrangement is cool, and they sound great, but I'm not too keen on the delivery of the title in the chorus melody (as @ARL perfectly transcribed it, "Happy familEEEEZ"), so this one I go back and forth with -- I find myself enjoying it for a while and then being annoyed for a while. My level of enjoyment is up and down many times in less than three minutes.