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

Beatown: Probably my favorite track on the album, seems like a real rush of adrenaline. Love everything about it! 4.5/5

 

Somehow the chorus chords bring to mind 80s era Rush, strangely enough. Somewhat interesting, but nothing I'd come back to. 2/5

 

"Beatown" (or Bea Town. Or Beat Town) is OK. Seems like the quirky element of the band expressed in the title of the song... The extended instrumental outro is my favorite part of the song, which elevates it slightly above the average Go 2 tune for me. 3/5. Once again reminiscent of Phil Manzanera and Roxy Music.

 

I was thinking that too! One of the Beatown chords might appear in "Camera Eye" from Moving Pictures.

 

I love the energy of the live version of Beatown on Transistor Blast. A pity that Transistor Blast doesn't give us the full broadcast, but I believe the band didn't think it was a great performance.

 

I'm struggling to like "Beatown" because of how it's constructed. If a song is going to be that angular and stabby, it can't run for four and a half minutes and keep me dialed in without feeling like it's just stridency for stridency's sake. What's really amazing about stuff like this is listening to it and then thinking that, as of their very next album, they'd basically have my attention by the throat with the overwhelming majority of their output for something like the next 15 years.

2.7/5

 

That’s the one! Chords are genre agnostic most of the time!

 

(I missed Red yesterday, but I love the energy, the noise, and the Andy-punk attitude. A gem. 4/5)

Beatown - Unfortunately, the fun noise doesn't continue for me on Side 2. There's some intriguing dissonant things happening that have me digging for something interesting, but this one mostly annoys while trying to hear what could have been a possibly good song. 2/5

 

Also known as "The Todd Chord"—e.g., G/C or F/B♭. Not sure if it was going by that name back in the late 70s, though.

 

It's like I didn't remember how much I liked this track. I'm sure I haven't heard it since 1981. Didn't play side two as much. "Beatown" sure holds up after all these years.
I read everybody's comments this time before writing mine. Came back to quote yours as I too think it's swell. And others did like it.

I first heard "Beatown" in 1979. In my head this has another Todd connection, and in 1979 I knew nothing about Colin's or Dave's digging Todd. Todd had a song in 1972
called "The Night the Carousel Burned Down". Play that from 2 minutes in or if you're in a hurry go right to 3:20 in. Then play "Beatown" from 2 minutes in til the end.
Sounds just like Todd's tune except Barry, Andy and Colin keep playing it faster and faster and faster. Just a manic swirl.

Almost an instrumental. I can't really understand much of what Andy's yelling. Some of the early Jam material sounded like that to me - all raw energy. Both xtc and The
Jam got better when they slowed down the egression.

I played a couple of the live versions tonight. 29 January 1980 (with Dave) at Paradise Theatre in Boston, and January '79 from Transistor Blast with Barry. It's not the
same without Barry's organ leading the charge. "Beatown" is as good as any of the studio cuts on Go2. Live, it is only bettered by "The Rhythm" - which had some powerful
readings after Dave joined. Rating is a 4/5.

 

You're kidding! I was writing mine while you were writing this. I almost mentioned hvgrace's post using "fire theft" (a carousel burning down) and onomatopoeia (a Todd song).
Or do you mean something else by "The Todd Chord"?

 

No, you got it. It's an inversion Todd was known to use in songs he composed on piano.

Andy would go out of his way later to insist it was Dave whole sold XTC on this Rundgren bloke, and that he was never much of a fan, but come on.

 

Total Todd chord.

Irony.

 

3/5 for Beatown and The Todd Chord

 

Our votes for "Beatown"
1-0
2-7
3-8
4-9
5-1
Average: 2.992

 

I've been playing guitar for 40 years, and I've never heard of a "Todd chord" until today. A chord inversion with a fourth instead of a third, on the other hand, is not unusual if you spend even a little time screwing around on the instrument - you're going to play it by accident before you try to do it intentionally.

 

Today's song is "Life Is Good In the Greenhouse", written by Andy Partridge and produced by John Leckie. Mixed by Andy Partridge.

XTC – Life is Good in the Greenhouse Lyrics | Genius Lyrics
Background:
Andy:

Unusually, Andy mixed this track:

The track employs a lot of studio trickery and reverb to get it's unusual sound: the gong sound is actually Terry playing two metal lampshades. The main riff was later reused, played by Dave Gregory on a zither on "The Mole from the Ministry" by The Dukes of Stratosphear.

 

Life Is Good In The Greenhouse --

Sigh... I should probably just sit the rest of this album out. I adore Meccanik Dancing, but everything else has pretty much annoyed me.

So, this may be a protest vote, or just fatigue setting in, but I have absolutely no use for this song. The arrangement is the textbook definition of plodding, nothing goes anywhere, and as far as the chorus, the greenhouse/Mickey Mouse rhyme and the vocals just make me cringe.

1/5

(I missed the vote for Beatown, but just to type out my thoughts -- it's a decent two-minute song trapped in a 4:30 body. The 40 second intro could've *easily* been cut to 10, the "he says he wants his money back sir" bridge has about the most lack of melody of any XTC song, and the interminable outro is another early XTC jam that generates no excitement because the rhythm section is literally on a loop -- no fills, nothing to kick things forward. Objectively, it's probably a 2/5, but in my current sour mood about this album, I very well could've given it a 1.)

 

Tell us how you really feel Not that I'm disagreeing with you about the song, although I'm feeling more generous: 1.5/5.

 

Life Is Good In The Greenhouse, is cool, but it feels kind of B-sidey, like a sort of interesting experiment that isn't quite good enough.

It does sound more like the later XTC somehow, though. Maybe because it's not so hyperactive.

3.2/5

 

Greenhouse - 4/5 - They should’ve kept Barry on and added Dave. Imagine a 5 piece XTC. I like the plod here.

 

"Life is Good in the Greenhouse" - Andy's worst so far, and one of his worst ever. From the insipid "Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha"s, to the plodding pace and obnxious vocal tone he will reuse in "Complicated Game", to the lack of melody and endless repetition, it's atrocious. 1/5.

 

"Life Is Good In The Greenhouse" is certainly not my favorite song on the album. After listening to Go 2 over and over recently, the lyric "Do you wonder why I look so fresh/Do you wonder why I look so tall/Do you wonder why you'll never ever move me" has grown on me a bit, but that's about it. 2/5.

 

Yep not one of Andy’s best. 2/5.

 

"Life Is Good In The Greenhouse"

It has some interesting noises on it, but the song is a bit of a dirge and there's no melody or heart in it. It's not really a fun listen. 2/5.