Re: (TV) New XTC

[Sam Inglis <sam@sospubs.co.uk>]

It's good, though to my mind not as special as Apple Venus Volume 1,
which has grown on me to the extent that I would probably rate it one of
the two or three best albums of the 90s. 
Personally, I don't think it sounds just like other XTC albums -- it's
certainly less different from them than AV1, but then that's hardly
surprising. Some of the early tracks are loud, rocky numbers reminiscent
of 'Peter Pumpkinhead' and the other Nonsuch rockers, though one or two
display a hitherto unsuspected blues influence. The best tracks to my
mind are 'My Brown Guitar' and the last two, 'Church Of Women' and 'The
Wheel And The Maypole', which are both wonderful. TWATM would be worth
the price of the album on its own. It's so long since I heard an album
that closed on such a joyous and upbeat note -- almost like a deliberate
opposite to 'The Last Balloon'. It's uplifting!
It's not as consistently good as AV1 -- there's an awful Colin song
called 'In Another Life', and a couple of Andy's are pretty disposable
-- but I've still found it quite compelling listening. 
I had the good fortune to interview Andy and Colin a couple of weeks ago
for the magazine I work for, Sound On Sound. Andy was one of the
funniest and most charming people I've ever met (and a brilliant
impressionist); Colin was very very quiet (he didn't say much, and most
of what he said didn't even come out on the interview tape). They both
seemed really happy to be running the show themselves. They've got a
nice little studio outside Colin's house where they recorded the album.
We had a long conversation about socks. Andy also bemoaned the decline
of the English farce.
Sam

jpontrelli@nallmiller.com wrote:
> 
> Any comments?  I read that it's the best record Paul McCartney (or was it the Beatles?) never did.
> 
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