XTC Skylarking - Andy Partridge AMA / news

Funny clip-thanks for the link.

quadsearcher said:

That's great! Big endorsement from Harry Shearer too. Wow.

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Yeah, seeing Harry Shearer was a nice surprise BUT describing XTC at any of their phases as punk is just wrong, wrong, wrong.
I guess I'm one of the fans that was a fan the first time I heard This is Pop!

milt said:

Yeah, seeing Harry Shearer was a nice surprise BUT describing XTC at any of their phases as punk is just wrong, wrong, wrong.
I guess I'm one of the fans that was a fan the first time I heard This is Pop!

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I don't know where Shearer's musical taste was at back then, but in 79 I first heard them on WXRT Chicago's The Big Beat with Bobby Skafish. I was 15 and couldn't drive to Chicago to see them, and they were as punk to me as anything marketed as punk (not counting real punk) like Joe Jackson or The Specials (not that these bands are similar). So yeah, a superficial assessment but they were/are very original and not mainstream. [Edit: not mainstream yet. but when the filter of history finds the best music I expect it]
But yeah, not punk. For me punk is hard to define, other than the basement/garage bands or something in Maximum Rock and Roll magazine! Maybe The Count Five......

milt said:

Yeah, seeing Harry Shearer was a nice surprise BUT describing XTC at any of their phases as punk is just wrong, wrong, wrong.
I guess I'm one of the fans that was a fan the first time I heard This is Pop!

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Agreed they are lumped in with Punk because they appeared first at year Zero but they were always better than that.

I do have a fondness for the first two 'spikey pop' albums and of course all of the Dub experiments around that period.

Never listened to XTC until the I purchased a couple of the Wilson BDAs - Drums & Wire and Skylarking. Love them now. The former is fantastic new wave pop while the latter is great Brit pop. The great surround work by Steven and the incredible extras make the purchase of the remaining titles in this great series a no brained for me!

The56Kid said:

Never listened to XTC until the I purchased a couple of the Wilson BDAs - Drums & Wire and Skylarking. Love them now. The former is fantastic new wave pop while the latter is great Brit pop. The great surround work by Steven and the incredible extras make the purchase of the remaining titles in this great series a no brained for me!

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Yes, definitely. Nonsuch is brilliant!

wavelength said:

The56Kid said:

Never listened to XTC until the I purchased a couple of the Wilson BDAs - Drums & Wire and Skylarking. Love them now. The former is fantastic new wave pop while the latter is great Brit pop. The great surround work by Steven and the incredible extras make the purchase of the remaining titles in this great series a no brained for me!

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Yes, definitely. Nonsuch is brilliant!

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I also "discovered" XTC thanks to these SW mixes, plus a push in the right direction from loving Dave Gregory's work with Big Big Train (and Tin Spirits). I can't believe I waited until Skylarking to buy them all. I agree that Nonsuch is one hell of an album, my favorite of the three I've listened to so far (haven't had a chance at Skylarking yet, ironically). "Wrapped In Grey" is stunning. I liked what I heard on these albums so much that I bought the Fossil Fuel compilation and have been listening to most of it in heavy rotation, but especially the tracks from English Settlement and "Love On A Farmboy's Wages" from Mummer. I do hope tapes for both those albums are found! I've decided to wait to buy them until their Surround Series releases come out... But I'm not sure my resolve will hold out that long!

For anyone in the UK, who has Sky TV, the new XTC documentary This Is Pop has now been on Sky Arts and is available On Demand:

https://www.sky.com/watch/title/programme/4c6e5289-9fa7-4efe-9056-b5c291e61aa0/xtc-this-is-pop

Excellent viewing for anyone who likes the band.