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

Where did Where did the ordinary people go go??

 

Surely not in the XTC thread hehe

 

It was completed in 2003 and released in 2006, even if the demo dates back to the Nonesuch era So it didn't go anywhere.

 

Nonsuch - This is the most boring album - and I'd say the only really boring album - that XTC released. It's possible to step into middle age gracefully, but this is not it. It does sound better than their albums since English Settlement, and the arrangements are less cluttered than on Oranges and Lemons, but that can't save a batch of sub-standard (for XTC) songs. There isn't one classic XTC song on this album. There are a handful of very good songs ("My Bird Performs", "Rook", "That Wave", "Then She Appeared", "Wrapped in Grey", and "Bungalow"), some pretty good ones ("Dear Madam Barnum", "Humble Daisy", "Holly Up On Poppy", and "Crocodile"), and then a whole bunch of dross. There isn't one really exciting song on the album, not one song with something unexpected happening, and nothing insanely catchy and inventive like the band used to do. It's also way, way too long - at 63:29, it's only 2:40 longer than Oranges and Lemons (60:50), but it feels much, much longer because there are too many slow or mid-tempo duds on the record.

It's not a bad album. It's fine. But it's so far below what I've come to expect from XTC.

The average of my scores comes to 3.24, but this is one where the sum is definitely less than the parts, so: 3/5.

Here is my "Not Any Killer, But Also Not Much Filler" cut of the album:
Side One
My Bird Performs
Then She Appeared
Humble Daisy
Holly Up On Poppy
Rook

Side Two
Dear Madam Barnum
Crocodile
That Wave
Bungalow
Wrapped in Grey

Honorable Mention (B-Sides)
Omnibus
The Ugly Underneath

 

They picked a very cohesive visual presentation for an album that was anything but. It’s a gathering of various songs without a real thematic or stylistic thread, other than toning down the production for the first time in many years. There’s enough quality here for me to rank it above O&L or Big Express. Solidly above average, with a few standouts. The track list below is quite strong . 4/5

1. Pumpkinhead
2. Bird
3. Barnum
4. Disappointed
5. Poppy
6. Rook
7. Wave
8. Appeared
9. Grey
10. Underneath
11. Bungalow
12. Books

 

I’m busy preparing an Italian pizza evening with friends, so my full review of Nonsuch will have to wait until tomorrow, but I wanted to get my rating in. For me it’s a somewhat harsh 3/5. I’ll try to explain tomorrow.

 

Actually pocketcalculator almost saved me the trouble as it largely sums up my own feelings about. I will still bore you tomorrow though …

 

I love pizza, preparing it at home is challenging unless you a have a stone plus your basic kitchen oven doesn’t heat up to 500 degrees. What are your toppings of choice ? Have fun at your pizza party, spin some XTC if you can.

 

Nonsuch is a good XTC album, though I may have overstated my opinion of it before. I had referred to it as a top 5 XTC album, but I think it’s more like #6 or 7, maybe 8. That’s really only because their discography is so solid, though. I do regard everything from Drums & Wires to The Big Express as better albums. Still, most of what’s here is great.

Like their previous album, it is somewhat bloated, and I’d have no reservations cutting “Humble Daisy” and every Colin song except “The Smartest Monkeys” to make it leaner and more consistent. Throw in “Didn’t Hurt a Bit” and you’ve got a pretty rock solid XTC album that’d bump my rank up one or two. As it stands, though, a good solid listen with a few big Colin lows holding it back.

3.8/5

 

This review says more eloquently what I was trying to say!

 

And while I disagree with this assessment, it's pretty funny to read

 

I’m at the point where I can now rank all the albums, but I will wait until we finish all the albums. As of now, Nonsuch would be around #8 out of 12 XTC albums (not counting Dukes).

 

Veering dangerously off topic here, but it is indeed a challenge. I’m doing it in a 200 year old stone, wood-fuelled oven. It’s not designed for pizza, but works great. My hat is off to the pizzaiola who can do this consistently though. I’ve found that everything affects the end result - air temperature, humidity, oven temperature, dough hydration etc. And that’s before the actual baking begins.

Is there an XTC song with a pizza reference? Even remote?

 

Nonsuch - I've always considered this one of their weaker albums, I guess because there are some tracks I definitely would cut: Rook & Omnibus are the first to come to mind. Some really great stuff here too though: Crocodile, Wrapped in Grey, Then She Appeared, Holly, War Dance. I agree that the sequencing seems off. Still a pretty good damn listen overall as it's not a problem to skip a track or two. Very good sound quality and production. I'll go with 4.25outta5

 

Day Glo Freakout should be a band name I would totally check that records out

 

Nonsuch
I'm not going to be able to do justice to commenting on the album in total. I've run out of time to do a listen from end-to-end, so all I can work with is my impression as we worked through it song by song (and taking on board various comments, and thoughts along the way).
I think the album is too long...not a crime...and as others have pointed out probably the result of (a) CD length, and (b) not being willing to make the hard choices on discards when it wasn't needed.
In itself having a long album isn't a problem (after all I like English Settlement), it's more that the sequencing of the album is such that there is a lot of style whiplash occurring and as a consequence, it can be a fatiguing listen (especially if you are new to XTC) in trying to figure out what is going on. I've listened to enough XTC (via this thread) to spot certain patterns and styles but I'm not super familiar with their catalog, so maybe I am missing the touchpoints to "get" this album.
It's an odd type of album where I feel the strong pull of the past - there are definitely songs on this album that seem to point back to earlier XTC sounds, but there's a maturity to some other songs which feel like the new path for them. For this reason, the album is pretty intriguing, a puzzle if you will, to try and figure out if this is an album that really marks an accommodation from all band members as to what their career really was and would be in the future.

There are some excellent patches of songs here - the opening trio for instance. Holly Up on Poppy through to Rook. That Wave and Then She Appeared. For me I'll end up with a few songs that really catch my attention then it will wane for a song or so, then come right back. It is probably evidence that some track deletion probably should have occurred, but then again, I think the style whiplash is an intentional move by the band, so quite likely they thought it was just fine as is.

I don't know that this is an album that I'll reach for a lot (although maybe an edited playlist version might be something I do), but I find it intriguing.
I can't remember what I've ranked other albums (and don't have the time to circle back) so this will probably be inconsistent...
3.5/5

 

Well, I've definitely obtained an appreciation for this album thanks to this thread and process.

I'll give it 4.5/5

 

Nonsuch - My song ratings average out to an almost exact 3.0. This is my first experience with the album, so there are no prior reference points to draw upon in terms of how it might have aged or grown on me over time. There are about ten songs that would go on a playlist were I to create one, but two of them are stretches. So about half are thumbs up and half are thumbs sideways or down. I don't see myself warming up to the 'down' tracks to an extent that would increase my appreciation of the whole. As such, I think my song average summarizes my feelings accurately. 3/5

 

I disagree 100%. One of my fave XTC albums. I think it shows a masterful evolution of however-many-years both Andy and Colin had been Writing 'till this time. A bit more serious than the frivolity of Oranges and Lemons but obviously it's next evolutionary stage. Wonderfully constructed songs from two Master Tunesmiths... Just my opinion, of course.

I had developed a friendship with Andy around this time (when he and his First Wife we're divorcing) because Pete over at the XTC fan-club, Chalkhills, had noticed that Chris Sprouse and I had put Andy in the driver's seat of some Space Craft in a Comic Book we were drawing. We both figured Andy had at some point read American Comics because of his Comic Book references like Supergirl and Sgt. Rock. Pete told me that Andy asked if I could drop by to meet him at a Tower signing he was doing. It was a little weird, but I met Andy, and when he found out I was the guy who did the comic he was in, he got down on one knee miming for me to Knight him. Which was weird in front of all the XTC fans. I brought a few of the Comics we put him in for him to sign for me and Chris and a couple we signed for Andy. He gave me his phone number and we chatted once a month or so for the next year and then his marriage situation got so much worse and we lost contact.

Through this period when Andy and I were chatting, he was obviously really proud of Nonsuch... I think for good reason.

I also wrote Andy and Dave (sorta) as a Characters in an Image comic called WildStar, as Andy Peartree and Greg Davory.

As for the Dukes - All brilliant.

(Pardon me for being a late contributer, but I just now ran across this thread).

 

You are going to get inundated with requests for insights, comments and plain old gossip! I'll go first then, did you get any insights on Andy's songwriting process? And what was it like exactly to have Andy Partridge genuflect in front of you?

 

I was a late adopter to CD's. Nonesuch was one of my first purchases in the format and as an early buy I had difficulty adapting to the "geography" of a CD. With vinyl albums you expected strong side openers and closers. Like Oranges & Lemons it was difficult grappling with the sheer volume of the number of songs and I doubt that I ever listened to the album in one full sitting.

Nonesuch left less of an impression on me than Oranges & Lemons. Revisiting it, I believe it is a stronger album than its predecessor, with less duff tracks and a more organic and sympathetic production. I am not sure whether it has as many top shelf cuts as O & L, though and as Lance points out, Nonesuch seems like a bunch of songs thrown together without a sense of cohesion..

My average score for Nonesuch songs was a smidge over 3.75. For me that 3.75 score often signifies a competent song but not necessarily one for a Best of playlist. At this point, XTC was a fairly competent band but perhaps not scaling the heights of former glories.

Speaking of playlists, 11 of the album's 17 tracks rated 3.75+. I think I'll see what a whittled down Nonesuch plays like.

3.75/5

P.S. I never got the Apple Venus albums, so my postings may be sparse going forward. This is a very good thread. Great job, as always by @Lance LaSalle

 

I've seen it suggested a couple times that Nonsuch might be greater than the sum of its parts, and I'd have to agree - song by song there's some I like quite a bit more than others, but for whatever reason, even as (over?)long as it is, I always really enjoy listening to it straight through. I think part of it is that I do feel like there's some sense of structure and flow to the songs as they appear (sonically, not in a narrative or continuity sense) - it starts witht he right song and ends with the right song, and the placement of the stuff in the middle fits together in a way that jibes with my personal sensibilities. It also has a way, maybe because I spent so much time with it at the time, of taking me right back to where I was in 1992 - I can't de-age, but I can remember a little bit how I felt then, not knowing all the stuff I know now, having a sense of enthusiasm for what the future held, not waking up sore the next day because I lifted a fork too vigorously, etc...

5/5

 

Should not have read the comments first. So many bad reactions to an album that touched me bunchly, and one I grew along
with as the '90s developed. Better write something in a day or two...
give this some thought and time to settle in.

For an xtc record I'd say 4.5/5. As a general release in 1992, the same. Right up there with Prefab Sprout, coming off Jordan:
the comeback and 1992's A Life of Surprises. I believe Kaleidoscope World influenced Nonsvch with its brilliant orchestral
arrangements. In 1992 Swing Out Sister gave us their third great album in a row, Get In Touch With Yourself. I was still in a
fascination with everything Talk Talk had been doing in the '80s, and their most recent record, Laughing Stock (1991), was a
regular visitor to my sonic world. I was still finding new Broadway music to love, and much of Nonsvch fit in with that. Paul
Weller was about to come back on the scene, and that led to somewhere else I was headed for, BritPop. Of course, Brian was
back to making records. Van Dyke helped in the re-cue, and soon they were working on one of my very favorites, Orange Crate
Art.

The 1990s was a transitional decade for me. Many of the acts I used to love were falling to the wayside. Not xtc, though. I was
growing to love them more. That still holds true.

 

You cats have a wonderful weekend.

 

This is so on the money with how an album can strike different people. I feel like because I have none of that emotional baggage that I'm only really rating the craft, not the emotional response to the album. Of course certain songs can evoke those feelings but it's not quite the same as @jimbutsu describes hear where you essentially time travel based on hearing a song...I have a few of those albums in my own personal time machine.