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Post by kingdiamond on Jan 11, 2022 20:19:10 GMT
I'm not familiar with a lot of XTC but I do have Drums and Wires, which I like pretty well. Skylarking is the other one I have and seems to be the one everyone points to as their best album. But I don't like that one much at all. It sounds like Tears for Fears if they were influenced by The Beach Boys instead of The Beatles. Are most of the early albums worth hearing up through English Settlement?
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Post by essayceedee on Jan 11, 2022 20:27:31 GMT
Skylarking hasn't aged well at all. I'm not a huge fan of their first two albums, probably because I can't stand Barry Andrews. But the next three (Drums and Wires, Black Sea and English Settlement) are pretty great. Beyond that, a singles comp probably has everything you'd ever need.
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Post by krabapple on Jan 11, 2022 21:57:54 GMT
XTC, in their own way, became as dull and tedious as prog rock by the time of English Settlement. However, Andy Partridge has never pulled any punches over how much he despised and still despises progressive rock, which, it would stand to reason, would include prog posterboys Yes. He got Steven Wilson to remix a bunch of XTC albums. I say he's a closet case.
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daved
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Post by daved on Jan 11, 2022 22:13:16 GMT
Skylarking hasn't aged well at all. I'm not a huge fan of their first two albums, probably because I can't stand Barry Andrews. But the next three ( Drums and Wires, Black Sea and English Settlement) are pretty great. Beyond that, a singles comp probably has everything you'd ever need. Skylarking is very front heavy. It really peters out from Big Day onwards.
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WWHAHDD
Jan 11, 2022 22:13:38 GMT
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Post by respiratoryproblems on Jan 11, 2022 22:13:38 GMT
I like 80% of their output, so would still say I’m a big fan. Not too keen on The Big Express or Oranges & Lemons, but have a weird fondness for Apple Venus (the first one- the second one is easily their worst album).
I don’t outright hate any of their material unlike, say, Queen- I’m a much bigger fan of Queen than XTC but totally see that they have done some absolute shite.
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Post by essayceedee on Jan 11, 2022 22:36:14 GMT
Almost forgot about Apple Venus Vol. 1. Yeah, that's the one late XTC album that's really good. I agree that Vol. 2 is shitty though.
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bradman
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Post by bradman on Jan 11, 2022 23:02:15 GMT
Nonsuch is great, you guys are clowns.
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daved
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Post by daved on Jan 11, 2022 23:10:53 GMT
Nonsuch is great, you guys are clowns. It is great. I love most of their output. And Apple Venus 2 is great. Fuck you guys. 🤣
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daved
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Post by daved on Jan 11, 2022 23:15:10 GMT
Having said that, I heard some clips from the latest Partridge project, something about failed songwriter something or other. Songs he had written for other people that were never recorded. They’re pretty crappy.
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WWHAHDD
Jan 11, 2022 23:58:46 GMT
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Post by essayceedee on Jan 11, 2022 23:58:46 GMT
Nonsuch is great, you guys are clowns. “The Disappointed” and “Wrapped in Grey” are good but the rest of it bores me. It might have been slightly better if they’d gotten someone other than Gus Dudgeon to produce it.
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Post by hoffa_nagila on Jan 12, 2022 5:34:30 GMT
Another tedious, mind-numbing slog through every note the band ever recorded. I checked out of his REM one before they even finished dissecting Chronic Town. Dude has way too much time on his hands. Yeah, this is the final destination of SH.tv. A dog can only keep returning to its vomit so many times, and the SHite solution is to do it ever more thoroughly on each successive trip. They are currently going through every single note the Kinks and Brian Eno ever recorded. The Eno thread is funny. It is "curated" by an anal retentive hall monitor who has mapped out a day-by-day schedule, and he never ceases to remind the participants that they *must* stick to the schedule. You can just hear his limp finger wagging whenever he posts a "reminder" of the schedule — seemingly on every single page. I suppose scheduling could possibly be a valid idea if any of them had anything insightful or intelligent to say about anything, but, no, you get precisely the kind of "Eno is a GENIUS!" cheerleading from the collective SHite brain, all while heaping praise upon a 55 second snippet of "beautiful" and "evocative" Another Green World time-killer album filler. Such is their assignment for the day. Every day. Over and over and over... for every single piece of noodling the man has ever laid down on tape.
Can anyone here explain why the section from 23:57 to 24:06 is the greatest piece of music? Maybe Rose River Bear?
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WWHAHDD
Jan 12, 2022 7:44:36 GMT
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Post by respiratoryproblems on Jan 12, 2022 7:44:36 GMT
I think that Barry Andrews is the best thing about XTC. Or rather the way Partridge and Andrews play off each other is the best thing about that band. Add a solid rhythm section and that adds up to great chemistry. (Chambers was fantastic and that band was nothing without him.) Partridge's guitar playing from this era is always overlooked. The guy had a really unique Magic Band-like approach and was quite good. After Andrews left and the boring lead guitarist was added — yeah, he can play well; so what? I bet Dave Gregory would have been just as happy playing in Dire Straits — Andy Partridge was never again this inspired or adventurous. I do wish that initial line-up would have lasted longer. It would be interesting to see how that would have developed. I know that Ess Ay has always harbored a strange hatred for Barry Andrews, and, yes, his songs on Go 2 suck, but ALL the songs on Go 2 basically suck. I won't hesitate to say, though, that those early Shriekback singles are a hell of a lot better than Paul McCartney and Wings homages like Mummer. Hell, that League of Gentlemen record that Andrews did with Robert Fripp is even a shit ton better than post-1982 XTC. And better than 80s King Crimson, for that matter. I haven’t heard the League Of Gentlemen record, but his first solo 7” (Rossmore Rd / Win A Night Out With A Famous Paranoid) is one piece of unsung genius in the XTC story. As for Go 2, I like Battery Brides and Super Tuff, and a secret juvenile enjoyment of My Weapon. Otherwise like most second albums released less than a year after a debut, it’s very insubstantial.
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Post by essayceedee on Jan 12, 2022 16:05:36 GMT
I don't have any deep intellectual reasons for hating Barry Andrews, I just think his music and voice suck. Honestly, I've thought about XTC more in the last 24 hours than I had in the last couple of years. The older I get, the less verbosity in music appeals to me. I rarely listen to Elvis Costello anymore either. The ideal is Loveless or Spirit of Eden, where the lyrics are there but incomprehensible.
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bradman
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Post by bradman on Jan 12, 2022 20:31:55 GMT
Now there's a guy I can do with 2 albums and maybe a comp.
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Post by essayceedee on Jan 12, 2022 20:56:42 GMT
Elvis Costello? Yeah, This Year's Model, Get Happy!! and a compilation would be perfect.
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