cropped up on shuffle yesterday - first time I'd heard it in years, and it sounded fantastic. I wondered why I don't play them more often.

... aren't they? I've been a fan since those Friday nights at the Brunel Room in Swindon in 1977.

On a more serious note, I think it's amazing that Messrs. Partridge & Moulding came up with two such strong albums at the end of their XTC career that could easily rival any previous album as their best. Most bands peak and then fade out. XTC went out on a high note. Personally I think Wasp Star is the better of their last two albums, with 'I'm The Man Who Murdered Love,' 'You And The Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful' and 'Church Of Women' amongst the best stuff they ever recorded.

... The Dukes! Is there no end to their genius?

so far in the year I've been involved on this here site I have learned to appreciate the Beatles and discovered the sheer unadulterated joy of Steely Dan among a couple of others. I'm going to make XTC my next port of call. I remember "Senses Working Overtime" "Plans for Nigel" etc but I really believed they'd vanished after that before I found the Word Blog. So the question again is, do I go "Best Of"? Certainly worked with Steely Dan, is chronological the way? Or is there a great XTC album that everyone should own? I look forward to my ignorance being indulged once more.

... want to love them but Partridge's voice is hard for me. I prefer Moulding's. Never ventured much past the double CD comp. I will pick up English Settlement double LP at some point.

But Andy is a great guy, a friend of a friend from Canada went on a pilgrimage to Swindon purely to see where the great man lived. He was spotted lurking outside and was invited in for tea, beer, crumpets etc

..resides in their first half-dozen albums and then resumes with Apple Venus Vol 1 as you well know DFB!

'GO2' is worth listening to and, as you well know, I can't bloody stick it.

There is plenty in the 'middle\pastoral' years that is close to my heart including the Dukes offshoot ie that handy comp CD.

For example from 86's Skylarking this is bloody lovely

and this there is not much finer pop than this from 1989

Gotta agree with what others have mentioned, there is a great variety in their sound so maybe the Fossil Fuel comp is the best guide to the bits you like.

Go2 has "added Barry Andrews" which is not to everyone's taste. It's also kinda grimly Swindon-specific. XTC-wise it's a one-off that will either snog you behind the bus station or else knee you in the nuts outside Rumbelows. Respect as well to the Go+ EP which was years ahead of its time.

..... and in an amazing example of synchronization, it just so happened that I had Nonsuch, Skylarking and Oranges & Lemons playing in succession in the car this week. It was wonderful.

The medieaval side of them really appeals to me. The start of 'Senses working overtime'conjures up Sherwood forest in my imagination, but 'Chalkhills and children' lifts me up on a balloon after reading 'The Chrysalids'

I love this song, it lifts me out of dark places, I came late to XTC and would say that by far Wasp Star is my Favourite (Stupidly Happy, Playground, Man who murdered love, all Light, Standing in For Joe, etc. all Brillant).

I've found XTC difficult to get into (dated production, acquired taste vocals, truly bad video's)but Wasp Star is a pure joy. Shame it was their last.

but then there's "All you Pretty Girls" which is absolute rubbish though much beloved by Bellowhead fans I imagine.

I've been back into XTC a lot in the last month too. I got into them in the summer of 1989 when Mayor of Simpleton was on MTV. The two albums I got for myself to listen to on the big family holiday that summer were Oranges and Lemons and Imperial Bedroom. Money well spent.

I was listening to Fossil Fuel on Spotify last week and it's a great compilation, a great place to start so you can feel the different XTCs and decide which album to go for next. I'll also agree that Apple Venus & Wasp Star are probably their best records.

The other thing that has crossed my mind recently about them was their withdrawal from live music. Transistor Blast is XTC's BBC session/live record and it's oddly out of print but has some fantastic stuff on it. I'm surprised no one has put together a live XTC tribute: there wouldn't be a market for a touring XTC band but certainly a well organised night at something like Meltdown could be a very fine gig indeed. Perhaps friend of Word and friend of Partidge Thomas Walsh from Pugwash could do the singing. Check out his collaboration with AP where he sounds uncannily like him:

Weird...no matter what band or genre of music I've been listening to on my ipod,every few months I find myself returning to XTC, partly because of the sheer volume of quality music they made over the years - which stands the test of time amazingly well, but maybe also out of sentimentality.

I still recall hearing the guitars on "Sgt Rock" on Radio 1 in my bedroom at the age of about 12, and thinking they sounded amazing. Still do.

Thanks for the suggested tracks, will give them all a listen...

There was talk a while ago of trying to get Andy on a podcast. I wonder if anything will come of that - it would be great to have Andy and Colin on a special edition.

-though I doubt if they would appear together. AP would have quite a lot of interesting stuff to talk about I'm sure - his views on the industry as a former "insider" and now as head of his own label, the value and point of pop music, and his more recent return to non-song based material with stuff like Monstrance and his latest project, Powers, based on a science-fiction novel cover illustrator. It would be splendid to hear the great man in action.

..there was one thread on this site that made me feel at home it is this one. I have loved XTC since 'Nigel' and would class them as my all-time favourites. I cut my messageboard teeth on the old, now defunct XTC forum and first experienced an internet 'community' there.

I narrowly missed out on seeing them live and still harbour (very very slight) hopes that they will get together again. If you were to ask me what my favourites were I would have to reply 'all of it'.

I too would love to see them in the magazine - so much to talk about - Andy's current projects, the discovery that 'Skylarking' was released 'wrong' and the re-release to put that right, whatever Colin is up to these days, Dave on making up with Andy... you could dedicate a whole special edition to them as far as I am concerned.

But having said that, they owe me nothing - the deep joy I have experienced over the years from their music puts me forever in their debt. Thanks lads.

I know it's a big expensive box but it is truly wonderful, all sorts of interesting, amazing, strange, funny bits and pieces. Great liner notes from Andy and a beautiful package.

Favourite XTC gig: at the Rainbow, Finsbury Park, supported by Yachts (an easy choice this, as I only saw them once live. Still - it was a cracker)

Favourite XTC track: probably Chalkhills and Children

Favourite XTC album: "Apple Venus" wins it by a nose. A record that sounds particularly good on a decent audio system. Especially "River of Orchids" - astonishing.

Am I the only keen XTC fan who considers the Dukes of Stratosphear rather overrated? I bought that compilation of their two albums on one CD and was deeply unimpressed...

live at the Canterbury Odeon round about the time of 'Sgt Rock'. Didn't want to go originally I must admit but was dragged along by a mate. I'm grateful to him because the band, even though I suspect they were going through the motions in front of a half full venue, were a joy. I immediately bought their entire back catalogue, which was comparatively sparse and cheap at the time, and then followed them with semi religious fervour ever since. To give you a vague insight into the intensity of my fervour I used to buy the NME every week in the vain hope there might be news of a new album. Imagine my thrill when, in 1987, I was sent by BBC Radio Wales to interview Andy Partridge. Initially the plan was for us to do it "down the line" but Partridge then suggested I visit him in his house in Swindon. I stepped out of the cab and he greeted me in the street with a big labrador. He was wearing a white beret and the biggest pair of clogs I'd ever seen. Partridge that is.
We spent an hour and a half chatting in the garden and I knew, as he probably did, that most of what my little tape recorder gobbled up would never be used and that I was just "a fan" but he didn't seem to mind. He even took me up to his attic to show me his board games and his four track portastudio. As an added treat he gave me a cassette of the new Dukes album "Psonic Psunspot", which wasn't out for months, and wrote the tracklisting in his careful, neat handwriting. He even gave me a guitar plectrum. I ordered a cab to the station on his "alligator phone".
Six years ago I interviewed him in his house again for another radio programme where he counted down his personal XTC Top Ten... Easter Theatre was his number one incidentally...and he was just as charming as before although I did detect a certain bitterness having crept in at the business dealings with Virgin. He signed my entire XTC collection, again...because now it was all on CD...and I gave him a model of a Cardiff bus and a copy of a model soldier magazine. I told him that Wasp Star was my favourite XTC album and he expressed surprise that it wasn't Apple Venus. He then took me to the kitchen and played me an unreleased XTC track which he said was the last thing he and Colin had recorded. It eventually came out with the Apple Venus box. Unfortunately there wasn't enough time for him to show me round his shed as he had a conference call with Virgin coming up.
A charming, witty, spiky and gifted man. Great company and very generous with his time. Funny too of course.

(actually it isn't, it English Settlement, but I thought TATLOS needed some 'publicity' :-) )

Anyone else surprised (and frankly delighted) to hear "Sgt Rock" ringing out at regular intervals at the Henry VIII Armour Exhibition at the Tower a couple of years ago? Think the clip included the lines "make the girl mine, keep her stood in line"

Fair cheered me up and had me grinning from ear to ear.

sometimes I thought some recordings where too clever to the detriment of the whole eg Oranges and Lemons (can you just play the song please!). Their last three albums nonesuch ,apple venus ,wasp star are excellent and their best working my view as albums -plenty of great singles ,half albums ,quarter albums prior etc and the last songs they produced Andy's "Spiral" and particularly Colin Mouldings "Say it" are excellent. A pity they are no more... all the more for the break up according to legend is about money or who owns what studio equipment allegedly.... After all they produced and all they went through (virgin strike ,withdrawl from live gigs and many other things) will someone please drag Moulding and Partridge to a pub in Swindon and then if they can make peace ring Dave Gregory to come pick them up and go record again all together ???

I recall reading somewhere that they were going to reissue the XTC back catalogue starting in 2010 - I know they did the Dukes albums. Anyone any idea what happened to them ? Are they still planned ?

earlier in the year, but no definite date i believe, although Andy P has been talking about the remastering of Skylarking will reveal a significantly better sound?

Have also read that Colin Moulding has appeared playing bass on a album by a guy called Duncan Maitland, a cursory listen reveals him to be quite influenced by XTC, unsuprising i guess.

Great band, i've always been a bit of a Moulding man myself, his songs of the common man and simple domestic life and all its foibles, have struck a chord wih me ever since 'Making Plans..'

I would even stick my neck out and say they are the best British rock band since The Beatles.

All these XTC memories reminded me that I once bought a Virgin Records 10" mini-album called "Guillotine", just for the 1½ minutes of XTC's "Traffic Light Rock".

The album was a pretty strange old compilation, as I remember, with punk tracks from the likes of X-Ray spex and Penetration, some early Linton Kwesi Johnson under a pseudonym, and a very bizarre Roky Erickson track that I always skipped.

that whilst i was walking through Camden last night with a vinyl copy of 'Nonsuch' I just purchased under my arm that Mr Colin Moulding walked past. He looked at the vinyl, briefly met my gaze and gave a little grin. Being a timid chap and unsure if it was him or not I didn't chance my arm.

So it was either him or a fellow XTC fan. I mean I'd just been stopped by a bloke excited that I was wearing a Pet Sounds tour T-shirt and he weren't no Beach Boy.

just to state how much I love XTC. Here goes:

*clears throat*

"I LOVE XTC VERY MUCH!"

Job done. *pours glass of sparkling water and relaxes*

Apple Venus is my favourite album. Somewhat obviously.

I've been a massive fan for years - I agree that their "grown up" period (from Skylarking onwards) is great, but I've got a real soft spot for the silly early stuff, the sillier the better.

I used to have Waxworks and Beeswax on vinyl as a teenager (the old singles/b-sides comps from the early 80s) and the latter in particular is full of invigoratingly silly songs like Instant Tunes or Don't Lose Your Temper, that are great leaping-about-with-stupid-grin-on-face soundtracks.

I also used to have the VHS video comp ("Look Look", I think it was called?) - some really terrible videos, I agree, surprisingly for such an imaginative band, and for someone like Andy Partridge, who seems to have such a strong visual sense.

Re. their relative lack of success/recognition, I think it's a combination of:
- not touring after 1982
- in their early days, especially, Andy's voice and songs were very difficult for a mass audience to love. Very ropey singing in places (eg. Real by Reel on Drums and Wires) and songs that were always a bit too cluttered with wonky ideas for your average punter
- XTC for some reason were never really cool: maybe not good looking, or "dark" enough? And their songs are often full of play and flippancy, a childlike sensibility, which is the antithesis of popular notions of "cool" (and therefore, of course, a Very Good Thing)
- plenty of musicians are influenced by them and indeed have ripped off their ideas; few acknowledge them. Blur, for example, owe XTC a massive debt

It's a great shame that it seems they're on ice at the moment, but they gave us about 25 years of wonderfully invigorating tunes, and for that I'm very, very grateful.

PS. The Dukes are bloody ace too!

...if push comes to shove is probably their finest moment..

makes them incredibly interesting

Nuclear Holocaust (This world Over)

Religion (Books are Burning, Dear God, Peter Pumpkinhead)

Growing old (The Last Balloon, Dying)

Relationships (Your Dictionary, Standing in For Joe, Another Satellite)

Racism (No Thugs In Our House)

to name but five.....and I didn't even mention garden sheds.

Though the sub Beach Boys ending spoils it for me since I loath that woooooo oooo ooo business but most of the song is brilliant.

what a great thread and what a great band!
Just to reiterate what has been said already, drums & wires, skylarking, apple venus and 25 o'clock are the best of the best, but no bad xtc!
The last baloon reduces me to a quivering wreck every time.....

what a great thread and what a great band!
Just to reiterate what has been said already, drums & wires, skylarking, apple venus and 25 o'clock are the best of the best, but no bad xtc!
The last baloon reduces me to a quivering wreck every time.....

ever did was the deliciously silly "A History Of Rock And Roll" from Morgan Fisher's 'Miniatures' project

No mention of "I can't own her" or "rook" yet.
The guys are often seen just getting on with their lives around Swindon, but I'm always too scared to speak to them, a bit like walking upto god,but next time I see one of them, I'm gonna say Thankyou.

The riches within the vast Fuzzy Warbles collection are truly sumptuous: "I Gave My Suitcase Away" "End Of The Pier" "Tiny Circus Of Life" "The Art Song" all grade A Partridge...get on iTunes now and cherry pick. Then there's this gloriously potty anthem written for a James & The Giant Peach film but never making the cut...

so you're saying Rikki Fataar doesn't count now, are you?

Genesis. That's how they were described in one write-up I read recently. I nearly fell off my Parker-Knoll when I saw that cos I was a huge fan of Genesis in 1977 and me and my similarly-inclined best pal did indeed both fall for XTC bigtime. We saw them twice overall (woulda been thrice if they hadn't cancelled that Sheffield Poly gig in 1982!).

Also check out the wonderful backing vocals

http://open.spotify.com/user/marbles22/playlist/3r3e0dEC1na4pzH0TTUTSG

XTC-Play At Home Channel 4 Documentary Marvellous

http://vimeo.com/14492869