XTC one more time

'm curious as to why no mention of Apple Venus Vol 1

I agree with OMD and Pere Ubu. They deserve a place 100%.

I wouldn't mind seeing XTC here, in prog related. Even their "poppier" albums, closer to punk/new wave contain a few things to scratch your head about. My favourite is "Black Sea": The Somnambulist, Paper and Iron and Travels In Nihilion are incredible and as close to prog as you can get. The other songs are more pop, but not more straightforward: they're full of little tricks, polyrhythmical chunks of drums and guitar, bass is unconvential ,synth and sound effects so unusual they could be called avantgarde. 'Smokeless Zone' is pure pop (with a hint of a reference to the early Beatles) but it sounds like it was recorded almost 20 years later - in the heyday of techno music. And this was recorded in 1979. And 'Respectable Street' is the most straightforward punk song - but guess what? - in the background there's a noise of vinyl record crackling. Guess which one was used for that? Andy was a big fan of Genesis and Peter Gabriel.




Edited by clarke2001 - May 15 2009 at 14:56

Slartibartfast wrote: jammun wrote: Unless you've been hanging out on Zzyzx Road too long.  It's on I-15, a bit south of Baker, CA.    Now I'm curious, what kind of people or other living creatures hang out there?

Edited by jammun - May 14 2009 at 22:48

Slartibartfast wrote: debrewguy wrote: if they get in, then the X vs Y arguement starts for many an intelligent pop band. If there's one thing worse than the X vs Y argument it's the argument against the X vs Y argument. And anyway, X isn't here nor is there any band called Y.

Quick note - the problem that will be encountered in considering XTC - if they get in, then the X vs Y arguement starts for many an intelligent pop band.
I love the Cars. My favourite album of theirs is Panorama. I'm sure that given a big effort, I could present a semi logical case for their consideration. Not that it would pass muster. But it could get a small firestorm started if any one else from Admin or the Collabs pitched in some support.
Same with Ric Ocasek's debut. Art Rock would have been the perfect place for it. Unfortunately, Ric went more commmercial with his next one.

npjnpj wrote: Partridge as a hell of a character. I read an interview with him once where he was asked how he was using the cash from one of XTC's singles that was a (minor) success, and he answered that it had enabled him to pay for his kitchen extension. Rockstar talking.

Or how about the time Andy Partridge contrasted songwriting and fatherhood? He said, "What you are able create with your mind pales in comparison to what you can create with your (male appendage)."

debrewguy wrote: I still think that if I took the time, i could post a good 20 songs that would compare favourably to many a crossover band's prog ...

Edited by jimidom - May 13 2009 at 15:17

Syzygy wrote: Several classic albums (if you haven't got Skylarking, go out and buy a copy right now - your life is sadly incomplete) that should be in every open minded prog fan's collection, but they are in no way prog. Likewise Talking Heads and Pere Ubu.

Pere Ubu ? definitely!  ...esp. Modern Dance & Dub Housing (& soon we'll arrive at Mission Of Burma -etc)

Apple Venus is a good exhibit for the claim of XTC being prog. Orchestral arrangements, intelligent lyrics. I'm not so sure about Vol II, which showed how important Dave Gregory's guitar is to their sound (outside the orchestral compositions). Apples & Oranges could stand in good company with 10CC's (the Godley. Creme, Gouldman, Stewart unit) output. The Big Express is a stretch, but I've had friends tell me they thought that Wake Up was a Pink Floyf song when I first played it for them . And to my ears, some of the other songs on that album, like Seagulls Screaming, All you Pretty Girls, This World Over, and Train Running Low on Soul Coal , do match the prog credentials of groups like XoVer groups like Moon Safari & Beardish. XTC's failing - no lengthy compositions. Outside of the Skylarking suite-like arrangements, they stick to your usual 3-5 minute long song structure.
But then it strikes me that we're making the wrong comparisons. Who am I thinking about ?

Steely Dan. David Bowie. Supertramp. 10CC. Apart from Supie, they didn't write 10 minute opuses. They showed a class pop sensibility. They had the occasional experimental bent.
SO maybe the case we're making is based on the wrong approach. Instead of looking at Symphonic bands, Prog metal or Eclectic, we should really look at the Crossover bunch of bands and see if XTC is a good fit. Or even a better fit than some already there.