"All my kids are complaining that there's nowhere to go, and all my kids are complaining that the songs are too slow."
Those only familiar with the Beatlesque polish of XTC's later albums will be quite surprised by the band's 1978 debut, White Music. XTC's sound at this early stage in their development was a perfect distillation of the ethos of the early Post-Punk movement: nervy, cerebral, dissonant, humorous, abrasive and melodic. On White Music, this all comes together most effectively on "Radios in Motion," which is punctuated with the same melodic feel as Elvis Costello's early albums, except Andy Partridge's vocals push the envelope a little futher, and in doing so, he practically invents on the spot many of the unconventional phrasings that would come to define the New Wave a few years later. Also worthy of note is the cleverly titled "This Is Pop," which marries highly dissonant verses and almost indecipherable lyrics to a chorus built around one of the simplest (and most effective) hooks imaginable, creating a strange hybrid of avant-pop and power-pop. While this isn't XTC's finest work, it is easily one of the most original and quirky albums to emanate from the early UK Post-Punk music scene.
White Music (2001 Remastered Edition)
1. Radios in Motion (2:54)
2. Cross Wires (2:06)
3. This Is Pop? (2:41)
4. Do What You Do (1:16)
5. Statue of Liberty (2:55)
6. All Along the Watchtower (5:43)
7. Into the Atomic Age (2:32)
8. I'll Set Myself on Fire (3:04)
9. I'm Bugged (3:59)
10. New Town Animal in a Furnished Cage (1:53)
11. Spinning Top (2:40)
12. Neon Shuffle (4:37)
-Bonus Tracks-
13. Science Fiction (3D EP) (3:13)
14. She's So Square (3D EP) (3:06)
15. Dance Band (3D EP) (2:41)
16. Hang onto the Night (2:09)
17. Heatwave (2:12)
18. Traffic Light Rock (1:40)
19. Instant Tunes (2:34)
I have this on vinyl. My turntable hasn't worked for over 15 years so it will be good to be able to hear this album again! Thank you.
ReplyDeletemy pleasure scurfie!
ReplyDeleteLove it! Early XTC was key for me back in high school and it still sounds great now. Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding were already blazing new territory on this record, and, some of the more languid, pastoral stuff aside (Mummer and the like), they would only push further with successive records. This is a welcome upgrade to lossless for me. Thanks, voixautre.
ReplyDeletemy pleasure reindeer man! Over the coming months, we'll try to upgrade more of your XTC archive to lossless. One of my favorite albums of all time is "English Settlement- absolutely brilliant.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering when you'd strike the XTC vein, and following the video, here we are. Lossless for some of the early stuff can be hard to find, especially Black Sea, and then there are so many different masterings and so forth, most recently the new 45rpm vinyl Skylarking. Anyway, this is one I didn't have in FLAC, from CD, and so I thank you. Cheers
ReplyDeletehcb, I'm glad this one was of interest. I'll post more early XTC in the coming weeks
ReplyDeleteWhat a great surprise. Thanks! Can't wait to listen to it as I haven't heard any of their early material before.
ReplyDeleteoh hi there, my pleasure! I'll post some more XTC in the coming weeks
ReplyDeleteoh hi there, don't forget to liberate a cactus ;)
ReplyDeleteI got a bit excited and (stole) six. At least they won't die now.
ReplyDeleteoh hi there, I guess this means I owe you five more XTC posts ;)
ReplyDeleteIn a perfect world XTC would have ruled the airwaves, sold millions of records, and be in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. But it is not a perfect world. However, they are all and that and more to the people who treasure this band. Thanks again for the post! Kurt
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome Kurt. It has always amazed me how little airplay, acclaim, etc. this band received. I think a lot of that had to do with their refusal to tour after 1982
ReplyDeleteFantastic. The first time I heard XTC amazingly enough was on MTV, back in the good old days of Dave Kendall. The song floored me, but I could never find it since it was one of the older tracks that they would play as a cult classic, and I could never find anything but the later stuff when I searched the bins. Even worse I forgot to make note of the name, so I just kept buying stuff hoping it would be the one. Not yet, maybe this is it. Fingers crossed.
ReplyDeleteJeff, the rest of their stuff is posted at the other blog. Considering it was early MTV, have you tried "Drums and Wires" and "Black Sea"?
ReplyDeleteI'll definitely check out the other stuff. Even if I heard the song today I probably wouldn't be able to say if it was the song I heard before. What's the worst that could happen though, I collect the entire XTC catalog in search of that one elusive song? I would probably like to collect it all if I had the song or not.
ReplyDeleteyes, their catalog is extensive to be sure. I'm more fond of the early stuff, everything up through "Mummer." The later stuff is too glossy for my tastes, although "Skylarking" is great
ReplyDeleteTerrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!
ReplyDeletenolvadex
I’ve not yet listened to it, but I’m thinking it may have been Senses Working Overtime. I know you posted that the other day, I’ll give it a listen, but I’m almost sure that’s it.
ReplyDeletesemuflax, thank you for your comment. I really appreciate it :)
ReplyDeleteJeff, if it is, that is certainly a great song. Let me know if it turns out to be the one
ReplyDelete