XTC

[jonimac]

There you go Droopsnoot

https://youtu.be/ne35P7kbucs

[droopsnoot]

Cheers, that's the one. Just as blurry as I remember it, too. :)

[jonimac]

Here’s another blur(ry) classic.

This time from Channel 4 , XTC Play At Home, around the time of Mummer & The Big Express

https://youtu.be/Lh6fi46waIY

[theraven1979]

And going forward in time here's the behind the scenes of Nonsuch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T11vkHm2f8


Jim

[theraven1979]

That Phil Collins producer dude likes a smoke doesn't he? Constant tab on all the way through that.

Jim

There you go Droopsnoot

https://youtu.be/ne35P7kbucs

[StanInBlack]

I have very little knowledge of XTC other than their singles output, but I do remember watching a documentary on the BBC years ago that was a "behind the scenes" film of them recording "Towers of London" and Andy Partridge getting quite frustrated at it. I've got an audio recording of it somewhere, or did have, as we didn't have a video recorder back then.

The hilarious thing about that XTC at the Manor documentary is that it was pretty much done for the benefit of the cameras. It's a "fake re-recording", in Andy's words. The proper version of "Towers of London" had already been recorded by then at Townhouse Studios rather than at The Manor.

[StanInBlack]

And going forward in time here's the behind the scenes of Nonsuch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T11vkHm2f8

My favourite outtake from the Nonsuch sessions is the one where Andy Partridge is dicking about singing "That Wave" in different voices. If I remember, he spoofs Robert Smith at one point.

[theraven1979]

Yeah pretty amusing. Always surprised that Colin track never made it on the album but then I guess what would you drop from it?

Jim

And going forward in time here's the behind the scenes of Nonsuch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T11vkHm2f8

My favourite outtake from the Nonsuch sessions is the one where Andy Partridge is dicking about singing "That Wave" in different voices. If I remember, he spoofs Robert Smith at one point.

[StanInBlack]

Yeah pretty amusing. Always surprised that Colin track never made it on the album but then I guess what would you drop from it?

I wouldn't drop anything from it, although my least favourite on it's probably "War Dance" ...

[Jake]

Yeah pretty amusing. Always surprised that Colin track never made it on the album but then I guess what would you drop from it?

I wouldn't drop anything from it, although my least favourite on it's probably "War Dance" ...

“War Dance” is a great track imho, brilliant lyrics as far as I am concerned. I find it an interesting coincidence that this track was on their last release for Virgin before their strike. Killing Joke ran into a lot of problems with Virgin also, and famously have their track “War Dance”, which is re-recorded for their debut album on EG/Virgin. Jaz Coleman had a nervous breakdown reportedly resulting from the legal case with Virgin. It sounds like Virgin were not great for the alternative rock arists who weren’t selling quite enough records so that Branson could one day go to space…

You couldn’t get two more opposite sounding songs but both live up to their name. For the record I can’t think of one song I dislike on NonSuch, it’s an intriguing album, I am fond of the artwork too.

[Jake]

I think XTC have written some of the best “Anti-War” songs for want of a better term, “War Dance” was mentioned above. Two great songs of that nature came up on a playlist today “This World Over” and “President Kill”, they seem just as relevant to what’s going on over the Ukraine situation in 2022 as they did when they were written.

[StanInBlack]

Eh, I find "War Dance" to be a really drab song which potentially works best outside of the context of the album, but within the context of the album it feels like a filler track to me. In terms of XTC's anti-war tracks, I personally don't think it gets any better than "This World Over", particularly the part where it's like: "Will you smile like any father with your children on a Sunday hike, when you get to a sea of rubble and they ask 'What was London like'?" ... really simple and powerful stuff. Plenty of people have pointed out that the track sounds a bit like The Police but for all of his commercial success and for all his pretensions, Sting just simply doesn't have it in him to write a lyric as good as that.