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- From: relph@mando.engr.sgi.com (John Relph)
- Newsgroups: rec.music.info,alt.music.alternative,rec.answers,news.answers,alt.answers
- Subject: FAQ: Chalkhills, The XTC Mailing List
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- Date: 1 Mar 2002 21:20:08 GMT
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- Summary: Chalkhills and XTC -- Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
- X-URL: http://chalkhills.org/FAQ.html
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-
- Archive-name: music/xtc-faq
- Last-modified: 25 February 2002
- Posting-Frequency: monthly
- URL: http://chalkhills.org/FAQ.html
- Subject: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- From: Chalkhills Administration <relph@tmbg.org>
-
- This page contains the answers to some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- often seen in Chalkhills, The XTC Fans Mail List. It is posted to help
- reduce volume in the mail list and to provide hard-to-find information of
- general interest.
-
- Questions:
-
- 1. What are XTC up to these days, anyway?
- 2. What is Chalkhills and how do I join?
- 3. Is Chalkhills archived? Is the FAQ list available for FTP anywhere? Are
- XTC lyrics available? Are charts, chords and/or tablature for XTC songs
- available?
- 4. What are the addresses of the fan clubs? (updated)
- 5. Is that Woody Allen at the end of "My Love Explodes?" What is said at
- the end of "Mole From The Ministry"?
- 6. Who is XTC's drummer?
- 7. What's the story with "Dear God" and "Mermaid Smiled" on _Skylarking_?
- 8. Why is the XTC mail list called "Chalkhills"? What does the cover of
- _English Settlement_ mean?
- 9. Are the albums _Waxworks_ and _Beeswax_ available on CD? Are _Waxworks_
- and _The Compact XTC_ the same album?
- 10. To what does the song "Pink Thing" refer?
- 11. Who were all XTC's producers?
- 12. What recordings should a new XTC-er buy?
- 13. Why does everyone hate Todd Rundgren, I liked _Skylarking_?
- 14. Why don't they tour?
- 15. Has anybody ever covered any XTC songs?
- 16. What's with the Virgin UK CD of _Drums and Wires_?
- 17. Who is `Brian' in "Battery Brides (Andy Paints Brian)"?
- 18. Who are the children in "Dear God" and on _Psonic Psunspot_?
- 19. Who is that other guy in the photographs from _Psonic Psunspot_?
- 20. Did XTC do any other covers beside the Hendrix one on _White Music_?
- 21. What released songs have yet to be compiled on albums?
- 22. To what does the title of _Mummer_ refer?
- 23. How does one pronounce the name "XTC"? What is the origin of the band
- name "XTC"? Is it related to the drug MDMA (ecstasy)?
- 24. What are the sources of the tracks on _Explode Together_?
- 25. Have any books been written about XTC?
- 26. What is "Oxo"? Who are the "never never navvies"? What do all these
- English phrases mean?
- 27. Where can I find the _Look Look_ video? Does anyone know how I can get
- my hands on any XTC merchandise? Where can I find XTC bootlegs?
- 28. Johnny Nexdor & His Neighbors are really XTC, right?
- 29. Are the "Curt" and "Roland" mentioned in the sleeve of _The Big
- Express_ from Tears for Fears?
- 30. What is that word that Andy sings in the song "Great Fire"?
- 31. How rare is the _Wrapped in Grey_ single?
- 32. What is the "Homo Safari" series? Where can I find it?
- 33. Was "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" written about JFK?
- 34. What are all the messages scratched in the run-out grooves of XTC
- records?
- 35. Has anyone heard They Might Be Giants' song "XTC vs. Adam Ant"?
- 36. What is Dave Gregory up to these days?
- 37. Did you notice that the title of the latest XTC album comes from the
- lyrics of the previous album?
- 38. Is there sheet music for XTC songs available?
- 39. How can I contact XTC directly?
- 40. What happened to the proposed "bubblegum" album?
-
- This document copyright (c) 1992-2002 by John Relph.
-
- While some information included herein is not copyright and may be used
- without permission, the compilation of this information in this document in
- this format is copyright and may not be published in any form whatsoever
- without the permission of the author. Just ask.
-
- This document may be distributed electronically and otherwise if and only if
- the entire copyright notice and attributions are included.
-
- Send corrections, additions and the like to John Relph <relph@tmbg.org>.
-
- Thanks are due to these additional contributors: Ben Abbate, Klaus
- Bergmaier, Stephen Bruun, John M. Chamberlain, Kevin Chanel, John Dioso,
- Peter Fitzpatrick, Mitch Friedman, Wes Hanks, John Hedges III, Brad Johnson,
- Jeroen de Jong, Tim Kendrick, Dominic Lawson, Paul Myers, Dave O'Connell,
- Richard Pedretti-Allen, Jon Rosenberger, Bill Sherman, Harrison Sherwood,
- Alan Welby. My apologies and thanks to anyone I've overlooked.
-
- Answers:
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 1. What are XTC up to these days, anyway?
-
- _Coat of Many Cupboards_, the definitive XTC box set from Virgin Records,
- will be released on 25 March 2002 in the U.K. The 4-CD set will consist of
- 60 tracks of XTC's favorite songs, outtakes, alternate versions and
- rarities, and the best of the demos (other demos unearthed by XTC not chosen
- by Virgin for _Coat_ will become _Fuzzy Warbles_). The 128-page booklet
- included with the set will feature an essay written by Harrison Sherwood.
- (Thanks to Harrison Sherwood for this information.)
-
- The official XTC web site was launched on November 23, 2001, at
- "http://www.xtcidearecords.co.uk". The nicely designed site features all of
- the latest news as well as visuals, audio, a boutique, chat, a version of
- Shigemasa Fujimoto's "Wonderland" XTC discography, lyrics, and more!
-
- Some of the more interesting recent developments:
-
- An interview with Andy Partridge is featured in the new book _Behind The
- Muse: Pop and Rock's Greatest Songwriters Talk About Their Work and
- Inspiration_ by Bill DeMain. In addition to the interview with Andy,
- conducted in 1999, the book features interviews with over 40 successful and
- respected songwriters (including Brian Wilson, Smokey Robinson, Aimee Mann,
- Matthew Sweet, Suzanne Vega, Todd Rundgren, Nick Lowe, Neil Finn, and many
- others). Visit the Tiny Ripple Books website (www.tinyripple.com) for more
- information.
-
- _``Listen to What the Man Said,,: Popular Artists Pay Tribute to the Music
- of Paul McCartney_, originally rumoured to include XTC with John Cleese, was
- released on October 9, without any contribution from the band.
-
- Virgin Records have remastered the first 10 XTC albums and The Dukes of
- Stratosphear's _Chips From The Chocolate Fireball_ for CD reissue. The
- Japanese and Canadian release of the remastered CDs feature limited edition
- cardboard LP-style sleeves with all of the original artwork, mimicking the
- original vinyl releases. The UK CDs have been issued in standard jewel
- boxes. These reissues should be available at better music retailers near you
- (and are available autographed for a limited time at the official XTC web
- site).
-
- _Homegrown - The Wasp Star Home Demos_ has been released in Japan, the UK,
- and the USA. Unlike _Homespun_, which featured finished demos of the songs
- of _Apple Venus Volume 1_ in the same order, _Homegrown_ features earlier
- and rougher demo tracks as well as the final demos, with two or three
- different versions of some songs. The Japanese CD also features two bonus
- tracks, which do not appear on the UK or US release.
-
- The _Los Angeles Times_ reports: ``XTC's Andy Partridge, having been sent
- CDs of the band the Apples in Stereo by singer (and XTC fan) Robert
- Schneider, liked what he heard so much that he called Schneider, and now the
- two are co-writing songs for a Schneider solo album [_Orchestre
- Fantastique_], due in the spring.'' Joe Hetz writes, ``Robert said that the
- work was going great and that the songs keep on flowing. I think he said
- they have written a dozen or so songs. Interestingly, Robert and Andy are
- conducting a transcontinental recording session. Instead of being together
- in a studio, Robert and Andy are trading tapes back and forth across the
- ocean.'' The official XTC web site reports that Mssrs. Scheider and
- Partridge are to begin recording together in November. (Thanks to Wes Hanks,
- Joe Hetz and Sir Demon Brown.)
-
- In their spare time, Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding are collecting demo
- tapes for the release of a box set of demo recordings to be titled _Fuzzy
- Warbles_. The set is likely to include all of the demos previously released
- on the fan-club cassettes _Jules Verne's Sketchbook_ and _The Bull With The
- Golden Guts_, and may also include the songs Andy Partridge wrote for
- Disney's _James and The Giant Peach_ (the songs were not used). Mr.
- Partridge imagines the set will include from four to six CDs, with perhaps
- 20 tracks on each CD. Virgin Records may contribute to the release of _Fuzzy
- Warbles_.
-
- Andy Partridge claims that a "live" version of "I Don't Want To Be Here"
- will be released on an AIDS compilation some time in the near future. (What
- exactly is meant by "live" and "near future" is not known at this juncture.)
-
- _Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)_, the latest album from XTC, was released
- on 23 May 2000, and features the drumming talents of Chuck Sabo and Prairie
- Prince. The album contains "eclectric" songs, as opposed to the "orchoustic"
- sound of _Apple Venus Vol. 1_. In the USA _Wasp Star_ peaked at number 108
- on the _Billboard_ Top 200 chart, it reached the number 6 position on the
- _Billboard_ Top Independent Albums chart, number 9 on the _CMJ_ Top 20
- chart, number 2 on the _CMJ_ Adult Album Alternative chart, and number 6 on
- the _Gavin_ Triple A chart. In the UK, it reached number 6 on the _Dotmusic_
- Indie Albums chart.
-
- Andy Partridge has agreed to complete the song "Susan Revolving" for Becki
- diGregorio to perform on her forthcoming album. Recording is in progress.
- Stay tuned for further details.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 2. What is Chalkhills and how do I join?
-
- Chalkhills is the XTC Fans mail list for the discussion of the music and
- recordings of XTC (the band). Chalkhills is distributed through e-mail only.
- Chalkhills is distributed in a digest format and is moderated and
- administered by John Relph. The Chalkhills digests are sent out irregularly,
- as posting volume warrants.
-
- To join the Chalkhills mail list, send the command
-
- subscribe
-
- in the body of an e-mail message to
-
- <chalkhills-request@els.sgi.com>
-
- You can also subscribe to the list using a *DIFFERENT* address than the one
- you use to send your e-mail by including the address with the command.
-
- For example, to join the Chalkhills mail list with a different e-mail
- address, send the command
-
- subscribe e-mail@address
-
- in the body of an e-mail message to
-
- <chalkhills-request@els.sgi.com>
-
- (Note: replace "e-mail@address" with the address you wish to use.)
-
- By the way, there is no charge to subscribe to the Chalkhills mail list.
-
- To cancel your subscription to the Chalkhills mail list, send the command
-
- unsubscribe e-mail@address
-
- in the body of an e-mail message to
-
- <chalkhills-request@els.sgi.com>
-
- (Note: your "e-mail@address" is optional if you have subscribed with the
- same address you use to send the command.)
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 3. Is Chalkhills archived? Is the FAQ list available for FTP anywhere? Are
- XTC lyrics available? Are charts, chords and/or tablature for XTC songs
- available?
-
- You can find lyrics, photos, chat forums, a discography, and more on the
- official XTC site at "http://www.xtcidearecords.co.uk/".
-
- The Chalkhills Archives are available through the World Wide Web at
- "http://chalkhills.org/". The archives contain back issues of Chalkhills,
- XTC lyrics, chord charts, pictures, a discography, and many other files.
-
- No FTP access is available at present (FTP is so 20th Century).
-
- The latest version of this FAQ file can be found at
- "http://chalkhills.org/FAQ.html". A plain text version of this file is
- available at "http://chalkhills.org/FAQ".
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 4. What are the addresses of the fan clubs?
-
- For further reading, writing and rhythmatic on XTC you might like to drop a
- line enclosing SAE and International Postal Reply Coupon or equivalent to
-
- * Ecstasy: 1-38-18 Higashi-Tamagawa, Setagaya-Ku, Tokyo, Japan 158 (in
- Japanese)
-
- Peter & June of _The Little Express_ write:
-
- Not long ago, The Little Express was one of the few sources
- of information for dedicated XTC fans. From 1981 until the
- present, it became a centre from which the ebb and flow of
- letters, photos, artwork and news were assimilated, eventually
- producing and distributing a small, readable entity that
- captured a part of XTC's world.
-
- XTC's ever-growing circle of acquaintances and the arrival of
- the internet now provides all the current news that the fans are
- eager to acquire. Events as such have now guided this
- newsletter to realistically appraise its relevance.
-
- Although the printed word still exists and even thrives in
- many quarters, we feel this particular newsletter, a.k.a. "The
- Little Express" has reached its final destination.
-
- . . . We would like to take this opportunity to say
- many thanks to every one of you who made [The Little Express]
- possible.
-
- Mark Fisher wrote in to tell us this:
-
- I'm now on-line and deeply apologetic for not producing an
- edition of _Limelight_ for several decades. And not
- answering anyone's mail for even longer. Fatherhood and a
- busy job have meant I just don't have the time to be
- producing fanzines for fun. Sorry.
-
- Also, a very detailed (the most) XTC discography is available from Shigemasa
- Fujimoto. The _Wonderland_ discography (in three volumes) is lavishly
- detailed and nicely produced, and includes photographs of important and
- interesting cover art. An indispensable resource for the serious XTC
- collector. A few copies of the first three volumes of _Wonderland_ are still
- available. For details, please contact Shigemasa Fujimoto at
- <scfujimoto@hotmail.com>. A new edition is in the works. Please see
- Fujimoto-san's online discography on the official XTC web site at
- "http://www.xtcidearecords.co.uk".
-
- For still deeper historical details including early demos, gigs and concert
- bootlegs, get the _Chain Of Command_ booklet from Martin Fuchs,
- Stuevestrasse 9, D-30173 Hannover, Germany. Martin has also made his
- information available on the web at
- "http://mitglied.tripod.de/RaFuchs/xtc/".
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 5. Is that Woody Allen at the end of "My Love Explodes?" What is said at the
- end of "Mole From The Ministry"?
-
- ANDY: The little voice at the end after all the fireworks go off, courtesy
- of the same BBC sound effects record, is a tape that John Leckie had. He was
- in New York a little while ago, and had his radio cassette player going and
- he was tuned into this ludicrous New York radio station where this chap was
- singing this rather... How would you describe this song he was singing?
-
- DAVE & COLIN: Rude!
-
- DAVE: It was actually a protest song.
-
- ANDY: Called "Hey, go f... yourself with your atom bomb" [performed by Tuli
- Kupferberg. Ed.], this chap was singing this song over the air, and John
- Leckie couldn't believe the banality of this song so he turned on his
- cassette to capture it for posterity, and he left the cassette running. At
- the end of the thing there's a phone-in where they invite people to phone in
- and comment on the song, and there's this marvellous guy who phones in, with
- this Woody Allen voice, and he is really outraged... "That's the most
- obscene abomination of a song!" So we thought this was marvellous and we
- nailed him on the end of "My Love Explodes". So the strange "Woody Allen"
- voice is a very irate New Yorker who's commenting on the song "Hey, go f...
- yourself with your atom bomb".
-
- DAVE: In fact, if you want to hear more of the original version, at the end
- of side 2 [at the end of "Mole From The Ministry"] on the run-out grooves,
- if you've got a record player capable of playing it, you'll hear spinning
- backwards at twice the speed, a snatch of this gentleman's song in its
- original form.
-
- John A Lane adds:
-
- How many out there realized that the quote on the 25 o'clock
- record, which goes "go f--k yourself with your atom bomb",
- comes directly from Allen Ginsberg's book of poems, _HOWL_?
-
- Richard Pedretti-Allen adds:
-
- To be a bit more specific it is from Allen Ginsberg's
- poem "America" published by City Lights Books 1956.
-
- Ralph Simpson DeMarco adds:
-
- The "ludicrous New York radio station" is WBAI FM a Pacifica
- Foundation left-wing listener-sponsored station. This is the
- ONLY station in NY that would ever play that sort of song!
-
- That guy is named "Frank"! I'd bet my life on it. I used to tape
- him on the radio all the time. He called every other show on
- that station in the 80s. He was always upset about something.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 6. Who is XTC's drummer?
-
- XTC was founded with drummer Terry Chambers, who "just hits 'em" on _White
- Music_, _Go 2_, _Drums and Wires_, _Black Sea_, _English Settlement_, and on
- the songs "Beating of Hearts" and "Wonderland" on _Mummer_, after which he
- left the band. Since that time, XTC have hired drummers for recording
- sessions.
-
- Peter Phipps drums on the majority of _Mummer_ and on _The Big Express_.
-
- Ian Gregory (E.I.E.I. Owen), Dave Gregory's brother, drums on _25 O'Clock_
- and _Psonic Psunspot_.
-
- Prairie Prince, originally from The Tubes, plays the part of the time bomb
- on _Skylarking_. On _Apple Venus Volume 1_ he contributes drums, handclaps,
- thigh slaps, and percussion. Prairie also drums on a few tracks on _Wasp
- Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)_.
-
- Pat Mastellotto, from Mister Mister, plays acoustic and electronic drums and
- percussion on _Oranges and Lemons_.
-
- Dave Mattacks, from Fairport Convention, drums on _Nonsvch_.
-
- Brian Doherty drums on "Cherry In Your Tree", from the _Carmen Sandiego Out
- Of This World_ compilation album.
-
- Chris Sharrock drums on "The Good Things", found on _A Testimonial Dinner --
- The Songs of XTC_.
-
- Chuck Sabo drums on the majority of _Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)_.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 7. What's the story with "Dear God" and "Mermaid Smiled" on _Skylarking_?
-
- Originally _Skylarking_ was released with the song "Mermaid Smiled"
- appearing in between "Another Satellite" and "The Man Who Sailed Around His
- Soul". "Dear God" was originally released as the B-side to the UK _Grass_
- single. "Dear God" started getting some airplay in the US, so Geffen
- withdrew initial copies of the _Skylarking_ LP and re-released the LP,
- removing "Mermaid Smiled" and adding "Dear God" in between "The Man Who
- Sailed Around His Soul" and "Dying".
-
- The original UK _Skylarking_ CD preserves the original running order with
- "Mermaid Smiled" and sans "Dear God"; the US CD has "Dear God" but no
- "Mermaid Smiled". The 2000 remastered edition of the _Skylarking_ CD (and a
- previous Canada-only CD) has the same running order as the original UK CD
- (including "Mermaid Smiled"), but also adds "Dear God" as a bonus track to
- the end of the album (and features improved sound quality over the previous
- CD releases).
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 8. Why is the XTC mail list called "Chalkhills"? What does the cover of
- _English Settlement_ mean?
-
- The XTC mail list is called "Chalkhills" because the name captures the
- essence of middle and late XTC albums. The "Chalkhills and Children"
- reference is obvious, from the _Oranges and Lemons_ album, but the name also
- refers to the `chalk horse', the White Horse of Uffington, in the Vale of
- the White Horse in Oxfordshire near the borders of Wiltshire and Berkshire.
- About nine miles east of Swindon, the `chalk horse' was pictured on the
- cover of _English Settlement_; Andy Partridge says it's a ``prehistoric hill
- carving of a horse, literally a kind of Iron Age advertisement for an
- English settlement that was on top of the hill.''
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 9. Are the albums _Waxworks_ and _Beeswax_ available on CD? Are _Waxworks_
- and _The Compact XTC_ the same album?
-
- _Waxworks_ has been re-released on CD by Geffen Records USA. In other
- countries you can get _The Compact XTC: The Singles 1978-85_, which contains
- every track from _Waxworks_, with the addition of three singles from
- _Mummer_ ("Great Fire", "Wonderland", and "Love on a Farmboy's Wages") and
- three from _The Big Express_ ("All You Pretty Girls", "This World Over", and
- "Wake Up"). And now you can get _Fossil Fuel - The XTC Singles 1977-92_,
- which contains all of _Waxworks_ and _The Compact XTC_ and also includes the
- singles from _Skylarking_ ("Grass", "The Meeting Place", and "Dear God"),
- _Oranges and Lemons_ ("The Mayor Of Simpleton", "King For A Day", and "The
- Loving"), and _Nonsuch_ ("The Disappointed", "The Ballad of Peter
- Pumpkinhead", and "Wrapped In Grey"). The sound quality on _Fossil Fuel_ is
- much improved over the other two CDs. Also, _Fossil Fuel_ features the
- original single mix of "Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down" which was not
- previously available on CD.
-
- _Beeswax_ has been re-issued on CD by Virgin Records Japan. However, almost
- all of the tracks from _Beeswax_ are available on other XTC CDs. The only
- track that does not appear anywhere but on _Beeswax_ is the extended version
- of "Hang On To The Night" which is only 6 seconds longer than the version on
- the _White Music_ album.
-
- Here's a breakdown of where to find the tracks from these albums (if you are
- unable to find the CD re-issues):
-
- _Waxworks: Some Singles 1977-1982_ Where to find it:
- Science Friction _White Music_
- Are You Receiving Me? _Go 2_
- * Life Begins at the Hop _Drums and Wires_ (US, Japan)
- Senses Working Overtime (edit) _Fossil Fuel_
- Ball and Chain _English Settlement_
- _Beeswax: Some B-Sides 1977-1982_
- She's So Square _White Music_
- Dance Band _White Music_
- Heatwave _White Music_
- Instant Tunes _White Music_
- Pulsing Pulsing _Rag & Bone Buffet_
- Don't Lose Your Temper _Black Sea_
- Smokeless Zone _Black Sea_
- The Somnambulist _Black Sea_
- * Blame the Weather _Rag & Bone Buffet_
- * Tissue Tigers (The Arguers) _Rag & Bone Buffet_
- Punch and Judy _Rag & Bone Buffet_
- * Heaven is Paved With Broken
- Glass (remix) _Rag & Bone Buffet_
-
- * Notes:
-
- "Life Begins At The Hop" appears on most, but not all, _Drums and Wires_
- CDs; early CDs from Virgin UK do not feature this track. It also appears on
- the USA-only compilation _Upsy Daisy Assortment_.
-
- "Blame the Weather" is also available on the Virgin UK CD-3 of _Senses
- Working Overtime_ and on the Virgin France compilation CD _The Tiny Circus
- of Life_.
-
- "Tissue Tigers (The Arguers)" is also available on the Virgin UK CD-3 of
- _Senses Working Overtime_.
-
- The original version of "Heaven Is Paved With Broken Glass" does not appear
- on CD at all. It is only available on the original _Ball and Chain_ singles.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 10. To what does the song "Pink Thing" refer?
-
- It's about the singer's ``John Thomas''. It's also about a baby. Apparently
- Andy and Mrs Partridge referred to their baby as ``The Pink Thing'' and the
- song grew out of that nickname. As it were.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 11. Who were all XTC's producers?
-
- John Leckie produced _White Music_, _Go 2_, _25 O'Clock_ and _Psonic
- Psunspot_.
-
- Steve Lillywhite produced _Drums and Wires_ and _Black Sea_.
-
- Hugh Padgham produced _English Settlement_.
-
- Steve Nye and Bob Sargeant produced _Mummer_.
-
- David Lord produced _The Big Express_ and co-produced The Three Wise Men:
- _Thanks for Christmas_ (with XTC).
-
- Todd Rundgren produced _Skylarking_.
-
- Paul Fox produced _Oranges and Lemons_.
-
- Gus Dudgeon produced _Nonsuch_.
-
- Haydn Bendall and Nick Davis produced _Apple Venus Volume 1_.
-
- Nick Davis co-produced _Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)_ with XTC.
-
- XTC has had various producers and co-producers for their singles and other
- non-album tracks, including R.J "Mutt" Lange, David Yazbek, Martin Rushent,
- Alan Winstanley, and Phil Wainman. They have also self- or co-produced many
- of their B-sides.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 12. What recordings should a new XTC-er buy?
-
- All of them.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 13. Why does everyone hate Todd Rundgren, I liked _Skylarking_?
-
- Andy Partridge says:
-
- ``Musician and producer Todd Rundgren squeezed the XTC clay into
- its most complete / connected / cyclical record ever. Not an
- easy album to make for various ego reasons but time has humbled
- me into admitting that Todd conjured up some of the most magical
- production and arranging conceivable. A summer's day cooked
- into one cake.''
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 14. Why don't they tour?
-
- Andy has debilitating stage fright. And he doesn't think their live gigs
- sounded any good. Aren't their albums good enough for you?
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 15. Has anybody ever covered any XTC songs?
-
- "King For a Day", "The Mayor of Simpleton" and "Thanks for Christmas" have
- been heard on Muzak. Ouch.
-
- Swedish industrial metal band Misery Loves Co. recorded a version of
- "Complicated Game" which can be found on their album _Not Like Them_ (CD
- 1998 SE Earache MOSH 184).
-
- Pitchshifter covered "Making Plans For Nigel", released on their limited
- edition _Genius_ single (7" 1998 USA DGC GFS 223245).
-
- Louis Philippe covered "I Can't Own Her" on his 1999 album _Azure_. Dave
- Gregory plays on that album and others, including Martin Newell's _The Off
- White Album_, produced by Louis Philippe.
-
- The rock/rap/funk group Shootyz Groove cover "Dear God". The cover is called
- "Dear God (Oh My God)" and appears on their album _High Definition_ (CD 1999
- USA Reprise 9 47359-2). The cover only uses the lyrics of the original in
- the chorus, the verses are completely different.
-
- The duo Hautekiet & Riguelle have released a covers-only album entitled _A
- Minor Thing_. The album includes their versions of "1000 Umbrellas" and
- "Books Are Burning" (Via Belgium).
-
- The Indoorfins, from Lima, Ohio, have released their cover of "Respectable
- Street", on their album _Sour Toe Cocktail_ (CD 1996 Action Boy USA).
-
- Primus covered "Scissor Man" on their _Rhinoplasty_ EP (CD 1998.07
- Interscope USA INTDE-90214) and "Making Plans For Nigel" on their
- _Miscellaneous Debris_ EP (CD 1992 Interscope USA 96208-2).
-
- There is an XTC tribute band called The Partridge Family doing the rounds in
- the UK. No reviews are available, unhappily, but they need a bass player.
- Send e-mail to DLang1234@aol.com.
-
- Robbie Williams's (ex-Take That) _Old Before I Die_ single (1997 Chrysalis),
- includes a cover of "Making Plans for Nigel".
-
- The Italian band Senzabenza covered the Dukes' "Your gold dress" on their
- first record _Peryzoma_ (CD 1992 Mac Guffin Italy MG-001). The band also
- played the song on their Italian tour promoting their album _Deluxe_.
-
- There is a band called The Vanishing Girls in the city of Groningen,
- Holland, that only plays XTC songs. It started as a one-gig project, but
- they've done three or four gigs so far and are planning to continue.
-
- The band Soul Brothers, from San Diego, California, did a version of "New
- Broom" on _We Were Rhythm Gods_ (CT 1987 Scheming Intelligentsia USA).
-
- Richard Pedretti-Allen has compiled three fan tribute tapes of XTC covers.
- The tapes are entitled _Chalkhills' Children '96_, _Chalkhills' Children
- '97: Don't Ring Us_, and _Chalkhills' Children '98: Modern Time Neros_.
- Check on the Chalkhills pages for further details, including ordering
- instructions.
-
- Three fan tribute cassette tapes of XTC cover songs, _Obscene Collection_
- (14 songs), _Beasts I've Seen_ (15 songs), and _Skylacking_ -- covers of the
- entire _Skylarking_ album -- were produced by Bizarre Depiction. All three
- of these cassettes are now out of print. A fourth is in the works.
-
- Big City Orchestra covers "Grass" on the b-side of their newest single. The
- song was also included on Bizarre Depiction's _Skylacking_ tape.
-
- Poole released a single called _Sparkle_ with a cover of "Earn Enough For
- Us" on the B-side.
-
- Slowburn cover "Complicated Game" on their 1997 album _Slowburn_.
-
- Saeko Suzuki covered "Happy Families" on her album _Studio Romantic_ (LP
- 1987 Japan Dear Heart MIL 1030).
-
- R. Stevie Moore has covered "Another Satellite" and "Mermaid Smiled" on his
- multifarious home-produced cassette releases.
-
- The band Moonshine Willy released a 7" single of "Complicated Game" on the
- Chicago label Bloodshot Records.
-
- Cone of Silence recorded "No Thugs in Our House" on their album _From the
- Ladle to the Gravy_.
-
- Verve Pipe cover "Blue Beret", featured on their single _Photograph_, the
- promotional collection _85 on 31_ (CD 1997 US RCA RJC 67411-2), and on the
- compilation album _Volume 5...So This Is A Compilation_.
-
- The Cleaners From Venus covered the unreleased Andy Partridge song "Pearl"
- on their hand-made tape _Living With Victoria Grey_ (CT 1986.04 UK Man at
- the Off License 0010), also re-released on the box set _Don't Step On My
- Rainbow_ (7"x5 1996.12 DE Jarmusic JAR-012 NR 2914).
-
- _A Testimonial Dinner: The Songs of XTC_, an XTC tribute album, features
- performances of XTC songs by artists as diverse as Joe Jackson, They Might
- Be Giants, Crash Test Dummies, Sarah McLachlan, Ruben Blades, Freedy
- Johnston, Spacehog, The Verve Pipe, The Rembrandts, P. Hux, and Terry & the
- Lovemen.
-
- Iva Davies and Icehouse cover "Complicated Game" on their album _The Berlin
- Tapes_ (CD 1995.10 OZ Diva 17476-2).
-
- Crash Test Dummies recently covered "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" for
- the soundtrack to the film _Dumb and Dumber_. Their version of the song has
- been released as a single.
-
- Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin covered "Roads Girdle the Globe", available on
- their album _Up From The Dark_ (CD US Rykodisc ?).
-
- Cayuga's Waiters, a college singing group, covered The Dukes' "Vanishing
- Girl" on their self-produced album _Maintaining the Illusion_.
-
- The Japanese group Shonen Knife apparently were inspired by "Making Plans
- for Nigel" when they wrote their song "Making Plans for Bison", also known
- as "Bear Up Bison". Listen for yourself. Big Dipper cover the Shonen song on
- the tribute album _Every Band Has a Shonen Knife Who Loves Them_.
-
- Robert Wegmann, pop musician from Tampa, Florida, has covered songs by XTC
- in his live act.
-
- The Scottish band Trash Can Sinatras released a limited edition free single,
- given away at concerts, with covers of "Senses Working Overtime" and "Love
- on a Farmboys Wages".
-
- The Poozies cover "Love on a Farmboy's Wages" on their album _Chantoozies_.
-
- The French punk band Burning Heads recorded a cover of "Making Plans for
- Nigel". The song appears on the compilation _Louder Than Words_ (CD 1993
- Noise/Rough Trade N 0214-2) and also on their debut album _Burning Heads_
- (CD 1993 Noise/Rough Trade N 0206-2).
-
- The Austrian band Der eiserne Vorhang (The Iron Curtain), with Ronald
- Fleischmann on vocals, performed a song called "Franzi" (Frankie), credited
- to "Moulding/Fleischmann", released on their own Panza Records circa 1980 or
- 1981. The story told in the song is almost the same as in "Making Plans for
- Nigel"; Franzi's parents want him to be good at school and steal away his
- childhood. The whole thing ends with the suicide of Franzi. The song is now
- available on CD again: on the sampler _Flieger - Flug 2_ (CD 1994 Reverso
- Austria 660805).
-
- The L.A. band Giant Ant Farm covers the Dukes' song "Shiny Cage" on their
- 1994 album _Fortune_. Their address is Vaccination Records, P.O. Box 3995,
- Long Beach, CA 90803.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 16. What's with the Virgin UK CD of _Drums and Wires_?
-
- There are three different CDs and four different sleeves (with slight
- variations) for this CD. The first CD was the original Virgin UK release,
- which listed only the songs from the original LP on the sleeve, but in fact
- also contained the songs from the original bonus single, "Limelight" and
- "Chain of Command", and does not contain "Life Begins at the Hop". The
- second CD contains the same songs, but lists "Life Begins At The Hop" as
- well as the bonus songs, on the sleeve. It is also a Virgin UK release. The
- third CD also includes "Life Begins At The Hop" and has been issued in
- Japan, the USA, and in the _Collectors Edition 3 Limited Edition Picture
- Discs_ box from Virgin UK. The third CD is the 2000 remastered edition,
- which comes with redone artwork. In Japan the remastered CD was issued in a
- limited edition miniature LP-style sleeve, to mimic the original LP release.
- In the UK and other parts of the world the CD was issued in a standard jewel
- box, but including much the same redone artwork. (The sound is much improved
- on the remastered CD.)
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 17. Who is `Brian' in "Battery Brides (Andy Paints Brian)"?
-
- It's Brian Eno, who briefly considered joining the band in 1980, and was
- also asked to produce XTC's second album _Go 2_. Brian Eno declared that XTC
- was the only band in a long while he had considered joining; this comment
- made it to print somehow, and magazines started reporting that XTC's next
- album (_Go 2_) would be produced by Eno. His response was (basically) you
- don't need *me* as a producer, you have plenty of ideas as it is. Which
- casts new light on his work with U2, doesn't it?
-
- Andy Partridge, in an interview with the French magazine _Les
- Inrockuptibles_, had this to say:
-
- ``Brian Eno had been contacted to produce our second
- album, _GO 2_. We met him, he came to a few concerts, but he
- explained to us that we did not need anybody. I think he
- emphasized what we had in mind but that our modesty
- prevented us from saying. In the beginning, we had thought
- it would have been a great honour to work with someone
- like Brian Eno, very innovative, with good taste, who
- ploughs his furrow, as farmers say. . .''
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 18. Who are the children in "Dear God" and on _Psonic Psunspot_?
-
- According to _The Little Express_, the child who mimes the first and last
- sections of the promotional video for "Dear God" is named Todd, and is
- definitely not Lee Moulding Moulding, Colin Moulding's son. However, Lee
- Moulding did perform as part of a lip-sync session for the Casby Awards in
- 1987.
-
- Stewart Evans writes:
-
- The spoken bits on _Psonic Psunspot_ are by Lily Fraser, a girl whose family
- lived above the studio. Andy wrote a bunch of Lewis Carroll-ish nonsense and
- had her read it.
-
- Derek Miner adds:
-
- Well, I can't quote Andy, but I can quote _Chalkhills and Children_, page
- 151, from a section on why "Dear God" was dropped from the LP:
-
- ``...Lascelles was put off by its controversial lyrics and didn't like the
- sound of `the whiny American kid singing the first verse' (a ten-year-old
- girl called Jasmine Veillette, who'd been drafted in by Rundgren).''
-
- If you look at the liner notes of _Skylarking_, you'll notice that Ms.
- Veillette is the last name under the "Thanks" section...
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 19. Who is that other guy in the photographs from _Psonic Psunspot_?
-
- E.I.E.I. Owen, A.K.A. Ian Gregory, Dave Gregory's brother, drummer on _25
- O'Clock_ and _Psonic Psunspot_. E.I.E.I. Owen also appears in the video for
- "Mole From The Ministry" and I believe in the video for "King for a Day".
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 20. Did XTC do any other covers beside the Hendrix one on _White Music_?
-
- Colin's Hermits cover The Beatles' "I Am The Walrus" on the _Without The
- Beatles_ compilation tribute album, released by Joachim Reinbold's Jarmusic
- Records (Germany, 1996). The `band' consists of Colin Midnight (vocals,
- tambourine), David Dreams (vocals, keyboards), Jet Pastorius (vocals, bass),
- Rex Rapier (vocals, guitar, radio operator), Bongo (drums), and The Proteus
- Orchestra -- all Dave Gregory.
-
- XTC cover Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" on their _White Music_
- album.
-
- XTC also cover Captain Beefheart's "Ella Guru" on the _Fast & Bulbous: A
- Tribute to Captain Beefheart_ compilation album, originally released in the
- UK in June 1988. "Ella Guru" was later released on some versions of the
- _Mayor of Simpleton_ single.
-
- David Dreams covers "Third Stone from the Sun" on the _``If 6 Was 9'': A
- Tribute to Jimi Hendrix_ compilation album, originally released in April
- 1990. David Dreams is Dave Gregory on all instruments.
-
- Dave Gregory has also recorded cover versions of many of his favorite songs
- (for himself), including:
-
- Cream: Those Were The Days; The Shadows: 36-24-36; The
- Shadows: Scarlet O'Hara; The Dakotas: The Cruel Sea; Manfred
- Mann's Earth Band: Pretty Flamingo; Cream: I Feel Free; The
- Small Faces: Tin Soldier; Jimi Hendrix: Wait Until Tomorrow;
- Spirit: Fresh Garbage; Richard Harris: Macarthur Park; The
- Nice: Diamond Hard Blue Apples of the Moon; Arsnova: And How
- Am I To Know?; Mason Williams: Classical Gas; Jimi Hendrix:
- All Along the Watchtower; Fleetwood Mac: Jigsaw Puzzle Blues;
- The Nice: Happy Freuds; Dave Edmunds/Love Sculpture: Sabre
- Dance; The Beach Boys: Our Prayer; The Beatles: Because; Free:
- Little Bit of Love; The Edgar Winter Group: Frankenstein;
- George Harrison: Love Comes to Everyone; The Beatles: I Am The
- Walrus; The Who: Pictures of Lily; Cream: SWLABR; Todd
- Rundgren: Blue Orpheus; The Nazz: Forget All About It; Jimi
- Hendrix: Gyspy Eyes; The Who: Our Love Was; The Kinks: I'm Not
- Like Everybody Else; Tomorrow: My White Bicycle; The Syndicate
- of Sound: Little Girl; Denny Laine: Say You Don't Mind; Jethro
- Tull: Love Story; The Byrds: I See You.
-
- Colin's Hermits cover The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields" on the _1967: Through
- the Looking Glass_ compilation album, originally released in 1990. The
- `band' consists of Dave Gregory on all instruments with Andy Partridge on
- vocals.
-
- XTC were known to play some covers in concert, notably the theme song from
- the UK TV show _Fireball XL-5_. Tapes exist of XTC/Helium Kids doing a cover
- of The Kinks' "Tired of Waiting For You".
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 21. What released songs have yet to be compiled on albums?
-
- The following released songs are not available on any album or XTC
- compilation album:
-
- "Heaven Is Paved With Broken Glass"
- The original version is on the _Ball and Chain_ 7" and 12" singles. A
- remixed version can be found on _Beeswax_ and _Rag & Bone Buffet_.
- "Goodnight, Sucker"
- From the _3D-EP_.
- "Are You Receiving Me?"; "This is Pop?"
- Live versions from the Australian and Japanese _Making Plans For Nigel_
- singles; these tracks were released on the Japanese-only limited
- edition compilation CD _The Greatest_.
- "Set Myself on Fire"
- Live version from the _Towers of London_ single.
- "Battery Brides"
- Live version from the _Towers of London_ doublepack single.
- "Living Through Another Cuba"; "Generals and Majors"
- Live versions from the _Sgt. Rock (is Going to Help Me)_ single; these
- tracks were released on the Japanese-only limited edition compilation
- CD _The Greatest_.
- "Beatown"; "Roads Girdle the Globe"
- Live versions from the Canadian _Love At First Sight_ single.
- "Burning With Optimism's Flames"; "English Roundabout"; "Cut It Out"
- Live versions from the _Love On A Farmboy's Wages_ 12" single.
- XTC Home Demos: "Terrorism"; "Let's Make a Den"; "Find the Fox"; "The
- Troubles"
- Demo versions from the _The Meeting Place_ single.
- "Ella Guru"
- From the _Fast & Bulbous_ compilation, also available on some _Mayor of
- Simpleton_ singles.
- "Living in a Haunted Heart"; "The Good Things"
- Demo versions from the _Mayor of Simpleton_ single.
- "Happy Families"
- Remixed version from the _She's Having a Baby_ soundtrack album, but
- this soundtrack album is widely available.
- "My Paint Heroes"; "Skeletons"
- Demo versions from the _King for a Day_ single.
- "King for a Day" remixes
- Remix, "Czar Mix", "Versailles Mix", "I Dub Thee Sir Mix" (four mixes
- in all), from various _King for a Day_ singles.
- "Always Winter But Never Christmas"; "Rip Van Ruben"; "Bungalow"; The Dukes
- of Stratosphear: "It's Snowing Angels"
- Demo versions from the _Window Box_ cassette. "Always Winter But Never
- Christmas" is also available on a UK single of _The Ballad of Peter
- Pumpkinhead_ and on the Japanese _Demo Tracks_ CD EP. "Rip Van Ruben"
- and "Bungalow" were to be released on the UK _Wrapped In Grey_ CD
- single.
- "The Smartest Monkeys"
- Demo version from the _The Disappointed_ single, also released on the
- French _Gribouillage_ CD EP.
- "Down a Peg"; "My Bird Performs"; "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead"
- Demo versions from the _The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead_ singles, was
- also released on the Japanese _Demo Tracks_ CD EP.
- "Dear Madam Barnum"; "Humble Daisy"
- Demo versions from the French _Gribouillage_ CD EP.
- "Traffic Light Rock"
- Live version from the _Presented Free by Record Mirror_ single.
- "I'm Bugged"; "Science Friction"
- Live versions from the _Hope and Anchor Front Row Festival_ compilation
- album.
- "Respectable Street"
- Live version from the _URGH! A Music War_ soundtrack album, but this
- soundtrack album is widely available.
- The "Homo Safari" series ("Homo Safari"; "Bushman President"; "Egyptian
- Solution"; "Mantis on Parole"; "Frost Circus"; "Procession Towards Learning
- Land")
- Not released on any album, but the entire series was included on the
- _Dear God_ CD EP. "Frost Circus (No. 5 in the Homo Safari series)" and
- "Procession Towards Learning Land (No. 6 in the Homo Safari series)"
- are included on _Mummer_ CD.
- David Dreams: "Third Stone from the Sun"
- Dave Gregory's version from the _``If 6 Was 9'': A Tribute to Jimi
- Hendrix_ compilation album, released both in the UK and USA.
- Colin's Hermits: "Strawberry Fields"
- Dave Gregory and Andy Partridge, from the _1967: Through the Looking
- Glass_ compilation album.
- "Merry Christmas Song"; "Psychedelic Christmas"
- Andy Partridge sings these jingles on the _Holiday Greetings From
- Geffen Records_ promotional CD EP.
- "Medley: Senses Working Overtime/Grass/Love on a Farmboy's Wages"
- Acoustic radio tour version from the _ONXRT: Live from the Archives
- Vol. 1_ compilation album, otherwise only available on bootleg albums
- and tapes.
- "Blue Beret"
- Acoustic radio tour version from _The Adventure Club Sessions_
- compilation album, otherwise only available on bootleg tapes.
- "Cherry In Your Tree"
- From the _Carmen Sandiego Out Of This World_ compilation album, but
- this album is widely available.
- "The Good Things"
- From the _A Testimonial Dinner: The Songs of XTC_ tribute album, but
- this album is widely available.
- Colin's Hermits: "I Am The Walrus"
- Dave Gregory's version from the _Without the Beatles_ compilation
- album, released only in Germany.
- "Rocket"
- From the _Place of General Happiness: Lyrics by Ernest Noyes Brookings,
- Vol. 2_ compilation album, but this album was widely available.
- "Easter Theatre"; "How Easter Theatre Came To Be"
- Demo and interview from the _Easter Theatre_ single.
- "I'd Like That"; "How I'd Like That Came To Be"
- Demo and interview from the _I'd Like That_ single.
- "I'm The Man Who Murdered Love"; "Didn't Hurt a Bit"
- Demo versions from the _I'm The Man Who Murdered Love_ singles.
-
- And of course the songs on the _Jules Verne's Sketchbook_ and _The Bull with
- the Golden Guts_ fan-club only cassettes may not be considered widely
- available.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 22. To what does the title of _Mummer_ refer?
-
- Here's an excerpt from an interview published in the June 1984 issue of
- _Musician_ magazine:
-
- "In comes I," explains Andy Partridge, principal
- songwriter / singer and outspoken wit of XTC, is a line
- frequently used in the mummer plays that take place around
- Christmas time in rural England. The ancient tradition
- has the players -- the townsfolk -- dress in suits of rags
- and tatters [and newspapers] and follow a basic script
- having to do with cycles of death and rebirth. Just an
- ordinary folks' entertainment in the days before telly,
- which is why traditions like mummers are now rapidly dying
- out.
-
- Disguise is important to the mummers, says Partridge,
- and recognition would "spoil the magic. If somebody said,
- `Ere!'" (Partridge's Wiltshire accent, full of "errs" and
- an unpronounceable way of saying "ou," broadens, flattens
- and widens to become a perfect Monty Pythonesque yokel.)
- "`You're Fred the Baker!' he's have to go home in tears
- 'cause he'd been recognized. It's an ordinary people's
- show business. They don't go on stages to do it; they do
- it in the street or they knock on your door and come in
- your house and do it."
-
- Disguise is also important to _Mummer_, the album.
- This is a band in a business devoted to pushing yourself
- in front of other people and demanding attention, but XTC
- has no enthusiasm whatever for the task. They try to keep
- their sense of normalcy and reality by planting themselves
- in their surroundings to keep the sentiments true, but
- disguising the facts with metaphors to keep people from
- getting too close. "None of us are really into
- hey-notice-me," says Partridge. "We'd all like to be rich
- and obscure."
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 23. How does one pronounce the name "XTC"? What is the origin of the band
- name "XTC"? Is it related to the drug MDMA (ecstasy)?
-
- Curtiss Hammock writes:
-
- Like the three letters that make up the name. Eks--tee--see.
- It's supposed to sound like the word ecstasy, I think, but in
- the end, it will always just be three letters from the
- alphabet.
-
- Note that the name "XTC" pre-dates the drug "ecstasy". The name of the band
- was coined circa 1977, the drug was not invented until the '80's.
-
- Robert Stacy sent in this excerpt of a phone interview conducted with Andy
- Partridge by Brett Milano, as published in the November 7, 1984 issue of the
- _Fairfield County Advocate_:
-
- Advocate: How did you choose the name XTC?
-
- Partridge: We started calling ourselves that around 1975.
- We've been in existence -- myself, Colin and Terry plus
- revolving fourth members -- from 1973 onwards. The original
- form we took was kind of punky, because we were crazy on the New
- York Dolls. We were called the Helium Kids, and we used to do
- our darndest to look like the Dolls, and act like the Stooges.
- We chose XTC because we thought it would be a marvelously easy
- thing to see in print. Which it is -- people always do put it
- in capitals -- they're forced to give us respect! It was kind
- of like the music, short and sharp and hopefully with no
- unnecessary crap in it.
-
- A: Aside from being a pun.
-
- P: And think about all the other puns there've been! Think
- of how the Beatles must have felt, being called that! That's a
- terrible pun! We've since discovered all these other things
- that have been called XTC. We've found it's a contraceptive in
- the States, we've found them in garages -- we'd go into the
- gents, and there'd be a tin on the wall saying, 'XTC.' I
- brought a pack home as a souvenir -- don't think I'll ever use
- them though . . . they're probably too old by now.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 24. What are the sources of the tracks on _Explode Together_?
-
- The following, taken from ``X-plaining XTC'' (part 1) and ``X-plaining XTC
- Part 2'', based on an interview by Steve Kolanjian and David Dasch,
- published in _Aware_, A Rock Music Research Journal, No. 8, Winter 1981-82,
- and No. 9, 1983, respectively, is a list of the tracks from _GO+_ and _Take
- Away / The Lure of Salvage_ and their origins; all original tracks are from
- _Drums and Wires_ except where noted:
-
- _GO+_: These tracks are dub version of songs on _Go
- 2_, respectively "Meccanik Dancing (Oh We Go!)",
- "Jumping in Gomorrah", "Battery Brides (Andy Paints
- Brian)", "I Am the Audience", and "The Rhythm". In dub
- technique, the original tape is reprocessed through the
- mixing board, with some elements altered, some removed,
- and some new ones added. "We Kill the Beast" features the
- sound (inadvertently recorded) of a tape of another piece
- rewinding. _GO+_ was initially issued with _Go
- 2_ in Britain (and perhaps elsewhere), the LP and EP
- wrapped in a poster and all three items in a plastic bag.
- Later, there were sold individually by record dealers in
- the US.
-
- Signal Ad (Commerciality) - "Refrigeration Blues" (a
- _White Music_ outtake)
-
- The Day They Pulled the North Pole Down - "Heatwave"
- (B-side of "This is Pop?") slowed down
-
- The Forgotten Language of Light - the percussion track
- from "Millions", the Japanese couldn't figure out what
- Andy's scat singing was all about, so assumed it was an
- ancient Indian language (explained in Japanese on the
- lyric sheet that was included in their edition)
-
- Steam Fist Futurist - "Real by Reel", used as a prelude to
- this track in some live shows in 1980
-
- Shore Leave Ornithology (Another 1950) - "Pulsing Pulsing"
- (UK B-side of "Making Plans for Nigel")
-
- Cairo - "Homo Safari" (B-side of "Life Begins at the Hop")
- sped up, with Andy's wife Marianne handclapping
-
- The Rotary - "Helicopter"
-
- Madhattan - "That is the Way"
-
- I Sit in the Snow - bridge from "Roads Girdle the Globe"
-
- Work Away Tokyo Day - "Day In Day Out" sped up, plus Barry
- Andrews' saxophone track from all nine takes of "Red"
- (from _Go 2_) played simultaneously
-
- New Broom - "Making Plans for Nigel" slowed down
-
- The following has been excerpted from ``Andy Partridge Comments Take Away'',
- published in _Limelight_ Issue 2, Autumn 1982.
-
- Commerciality (Signal Ad.) was based on an unfinished and
- unreleased track from White Music called Refrigeration Blues.
- The lyrics are a poem called Signal Ad. (Saleable futurity).
-
- The first part of Work Away Tokyo Day is original and that's
- joined to all of the sax parts of Red played at once and then
- Day In Day Out sped up very fast and with a new bass line.
-
- Mr. Ditko is an American cartoonist who produced some
- extremely moral comic books called `Mr. A.' According to
- Steve Ditko there is only right and wrong, no grey areas.
- Mr. A. was the uncorruptable central figure of these books.
-
- My favourite track from the album is possibly Rotary which is
- improvised singing / yelling over stripped-down Helicopter.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 25. Have any books been written about XTC?
-
- Five books have been written about XTC as far as we know. These are as
- follows:
-
- _XTC: Art sonique et vieilles querelles_
- by Philippe Bihan
- published by Alternatives & Paralleles France, March 23 1999
- (in French)
-
- _XTC: Song Stories - The Exclusive Authorized Story behind the Music_
- by XTC and Neville Farmer
- published by Hyperion USA and Helter Skelter UK, October 1998
- ISBN 1-900924-03-X
-
- _XTC, Chalkhills and Children, The Definitive Biography_
- by Chris Twomey
- published by Omnibus Press UK, March 1996
- ISBN 0.7119.2758.8
-
- _XTC_
- by Vittorio Azzoni
- published by Gammalibri, Italy, 1986
- (in Italian)
-
- _XTC, Testi con traduzione a fronte_
- by Paolo Bertrando
- ISBN 88-85859-87-9
- Published by Arcana Editrice, Milano, Italy, 1982
- Distributed by Materiali Sonori Exports, Valdarno, San Giovanni, Italy
- (in Italian)
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 26. What is "Oxo"? Who are the "never never navvies"? What do all these
- English phrases mean?
-
- These songs and albums all have phrases which may not mean much to anybody
- living outside the UK. We offer a paltry few explanations:
-
- "Aunt Sally"
- A pub game played, in Oxfordshire and bits of Wiltshire and Berkshire,
- by throwing a stick at a white "head" or "dolly".
-
- "Mills and Boon"
- Mills and Boon publish trashy English romance novels.
-
- "Milk Tray"
- Milk Tray is a box of chocolates. UK TV commercials feature death
- defying ways a guy can bring the candy to his love, including dropping
- down from the sky in a parachute (a spoof of James Bond kind of thing).
-
- "Test matches we might win"
- England apparently never wins their test matches (cricket).
-
- "Rael Brook shirts"
- Rael Brook are a well-known brand of conservative dress shirt.
-
- "Punch and Judy"
- Punch and Judy live in a "brand new council plot". Housing is provided
- in Britain by local government for people who could not otherwise
- afford to live anywhere else. The occupiers pay rent, and the council
- is responsible for maintenance and upkeep of the property. After the
- war, council housing was built on a large scale, and an area of such
- housing is known as a council estate.
-
- When Andy says he was brought up on the council estate where his
- parents still live, he is a) giving himself a bit of working-class
- credibility (and class is still very important in Britain), and b)
- implying that his parents are ordinary, low-income people whose modest
- dream would be to live in a bungalow by the sea.
-
- _English Settlement_
- The horse on the cover is the Uffington White Horse, in the Vale of the
- White Horse, not far from Swindon (see (8) above).
-
- "Red Brick Dream"
- "Castles and Kings" and the "North Star" were classes of steam
- locomotive (built in Swindon; see below).
-
- "Train Running Low on Soul Coal"
- A "Sprinter" is also a train engine, but a modern one this time. They'd
- have been brand new when the album came out. They're short (usually two
- coach) diesel units and are, incidentally, incredibly bad. Some of them
- are not much more than rail-mounted busses.
-
- _The Big Express_
- Swindon was *the* main junction of the Great Western Railway, hence the
- cover of _The Big Express_ (with the insert of the lads in their GWR
- uniforms).
-
- Phil Hetherington adds:
-
- The GWR *was* Swindon, basically. Swindon Works was where the GWR built
- pretty near all of its locomotives for many years (and probably the
- coaches and goods wagons, too), as well as doing all of the major
- overhauls and so on. For several decades, the Works was Swindon's main
- employer, so its importance cannot be emphasised strongly enough. (See
- also "place of former employment" on Colin's map of Swindon in _Go 2_.)
- This importance continued long after the formation of British Railways
- in 1948, as the GWR had always been a fiercely independent company and
- this continued long after nationalisation. Swindon Works continued to
- build locomotives, in fact the last steam locomotive to be built by BR
- was built there in 1960. I'm not sure exactly when the Works closed, I
- think it was during the '80s but I may be wrong. It may still have been
- open when the album was made, but the writing would have been on the
- wall even then.
-
- Brian Carter of Swindon, Wiltshire, United Kingdom, rebuts:
-
- . . . the eventual closure of the railway works (in 1986) had almost no
- effect on unemployment in the end. During the 1980s, Swindon was the
- fastest growing town in Europe, and is now the HQ of several national
- and international companies. (Did anyone notice that Fossil Fuel is
- marked "EMI Swindon"?) I know Andy always says he hates Swindon, but he
- does still live here (as do Colin and Dave), and they must be applauded
- for recording the town's heritage (and there are lots more Swindon
- clues in there than most people realise).
-
- "The Everyday Story of Smalltown"
- "Oxo" is a brand of beef stock, sold in small boxes of cubes, each one
- individually wrapped in foil. "The sally army" is The Salvation Army.
-
- "Happy Families"
- The name of a British card game.
-
- "Senses Working Overtime"
- "England's Glory" is a brand of wooden matches. Their slogan was, at
- one time, "A striking beauty".
-
- "Dying"
- A tea cozy is a fitted sometimes knitted covering for a teapot (not the
- kettle), to keep it warm.
-
- "She's So Square"
- Cath McGowan was the (at the time) ultra-hip host of a pop music
- program in the UK called Ready, Steady, Go! It was apparently trendier
- than Top of the Pops was during its run from 1963 to 1967. Lord Sutch,
- a.k.a. Screaming Lord Sutch, is a long-time singer and persistent
- candiate in bye-elections (mid-term one-off elections to parliament)
- for the Monster Raving Looney Party.
-
- "Towers of London"
- "Londinium" is the Latin name for London. "Never, never" is typically
- an expression for buying things on credit. "Navvies" refers to the
- diggers of the Navigation Canals, and many of the original navvies were
- immigrants from Ireland at the time of the great Irish Potato Famine of
- the 1840s. Later, these "navvies" became railway workers. "Navvies" has
- come to be a demeaning term for Irish laborers, especially those that
- work on road or rail. Andy is almost certainly referring to the railway
- navvies in "Towers of London" -- the GWR of course running through
- Swindon to London.
-
- "Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down"
- The cover of the single is modelled after "Ship" brand box matches.
-
- "Leisure"
- Andy sings two lines from "Lazybones", a Tin Pan Alley classic written
- by Hoagy Carmichael, but changes them to fit the song: "Lazybones,
- looking through The Sun / how d'you ever expect to get your day's
- work...". _The Sun_ is a tabloid newspaper in the UK, and not one in
- which one might be expected to find job adverts. ("What a perfect way
- to sum-up the song! Too bloody clever by half that Partridge bloke..."
- says Mick Casey.)
-
- "Respectable Street"
- A "caravan" is a small travel trailer or recreational vehicle, in this
- case one which never moves from the front yard ("garden") of the
- neighbour's house.
-
- "Chalkhills and Children"
- "Ermine Street" is one of Britain's traditional "Royal Roads" dating
- from Roman times and probably earlier. The best known one is Watling
- Street, which runs from London (and is now the A5) to Shrewsbury. The
- others are Icknield Street and the Fosse Way. Ermine Street runs north
- from London towards Lincoln, and was a major Roman road. The most
- obvious straight stretch is now used by the A10 and A14, between
- Cheshunt (London) and Huntingdon. However, there is a Roman road called
- "Ermin Street" which touches the outskirts of Swindon and goes to the
- Roman town of Cirencester. This passes about a mile from Andy's
- childhood home. It has always annoyed me how they misspelt "Ermin" on
- the album sleeve!
-
- "1000 Umbrellas"
- "Sunny Jim" was a cartoon character used to advertise a breakfast
- cereal, called "Force", many years ago. (Something like "Over the roofs
- jumps Sunny Jim, FORCE is the food that nourishes him" -- hence Andy
- Partridge's line "Sunny Jim couldn't jump it".)
-
- Nowadays Sunny Jim is used as a slightly patronizing term for a young
- man (e.g., "Don't get lippy with me Sunny Jim"), and is usually
- followed by a punch in the face.
-
- "Rag and Bone"
- The rags were used for paper and the bones for fertilizer - hence, a
- rag and bone shop is a place where discarded things are made useful, as
- in Yeats's metaphor for creativity, "the rag and bone shop of the
- heart." By extension, a _Rag and Bone Buffet_ is a place where
- discarded songs are made into a nifty record.
-
- "Smokeless Zone"
- A smokeless zone is a region of an inner city in England where the smog
- and pollution is so bad that by-laws have been introduced to ban open
- fires and large chimneys. So living in a smokeless zone is living in a
- polluted inner city. In this case, an area so polluted that respiratory
- problems have set in, so penicillin is needed. (However, Brian Carter
- claims there hasn't been smog in the UK for at least 50 years.)
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 27. Where can I find the _Look Look_ video? Does anyone know how I can get
- my hands on any XTC merchandise? Where can I find XTC bootlegs?
-
- The official XTC web site at www.xtcidearecords.co.uk now offers some XTC
- merchandise in its Boutique, including CDs and LPs. The web site also
- reports:
-
- Andy and Colin are piecing together some good things for you
- to buy exclusively from this web site. Coming soon will be a
- large format paperback containing facsimile pages from their
- notebooks. You'll see lyrics, drawings, Video ideas and all
- sorts in black and white and colour. Also planned are a photo
- album and special discs, unobtainable in stores.
-
- However, at the moment it is well-nigh impossible to find any other XTC
- merchandise. You can sometimes find rare and exciting XTC merchandise
- advertised in magazines such as _Record Collector_ and _Goldmine_. Much XTC
- product is available on Internet auction sites such as eBay and Amazon.com.
-
- From time to time, people will also advertise XTC merchandise for sale or
- trade on the Chalkhills list (also see the Chalkhills Classified Ads and
- Merchandise pages).
-
- Chalkhills does not distribute bootleg or other unofficial recordings nor
- does Chalkhills know of sources for these recordings. Individual subscribers
- to Chalkhills may have further information on bootleg or other unofficial
- recordings. Caveat emptor.
-
- Happy Hunting!
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 28. Johnny Nexdor & His Neighbors are really XTC, right?
-
- Nancy McGrath writes:
-
- Actually, "Johnny Nexdor & His Neighbors" is not XTC. It
- is Sean Altman in multiple roles, with a few friends thrown in
- for good measure. For those of you not familiar with him, Sean
- is one of the lead singers of the amazing rock/pop/R&B a
- capella group, Rockapella. Sean co-wrote "Change My World"
- with his friend and collaborator Billy Straus; the song is
- their tribute to XTC's style.
-
- David Yazbek writes:
-
- Johnny Nexdor is not XTC. But it's pretty obvious that Sean
- Altman was doing his best A.P. impersonation. It's the only
- cut off that album (_Carmen Sandiego_) that I wasn't
- around for, but I probably would have told him to tone down the
- XTC-ness a bit.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 29. Are the "Curt" and "Roland" mentioned in the sleeve of _The Big Express_
- from Tears for Fears?
-
- Quoth Jon Drukman, in Chalkhills Digest #69:
-
- They do the train noises with their breath at the beginning of
- "Train Running Low On Soul Coal" and I think general synth
- support at various places. BTW, does anybody happen to think
- that that train impersonation is the best simulation of a
- railway train ever created? I do, and it sounds a damn sight
- better than if they had just dubbed a train effect onto the
- tape, too. (The guitar as whistle really blows me away.)
-
- However, Mitch Friedman puts Jon to the lie:
-
- Kurt and Roland of Tears for Fears did nothing but lend their
- synths to XTC since they lived in Bath at the time so they
- weren't responsible for making those breath sounds, that was
- Andy.
-
- But here's the BIG bit of news: the raspy sound that you hear
- as part of the train impersonation is nothing other than a
- wire toilet brush being dragged quickly across the metal rim
- of a closely miked snare drum.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 30. What is that word that Andy sings in the song "Great Fire"?
-
- The word you hear is "smoke". Not some four-letter word. Here are the
- correct lyrics to that section of "Great Fire":
-
- I've been in love before
- But it's never been as hot as this
- *Smoke* curling round the door
- Memories of old loves crack and blister
- Mister fireman bet you couldn't put me out if you tried
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 31. How rare is the _Wrapped in Grey_ single?
-
- In a recent interview with _Record Collector_ magazine, Andy Partridge said
- that only 2,000 copies of the _Wrapped in Grey_ single were pressed, and
- then Virgin withdrew the release. The single was originally to have been
- released on 7 September 1992. In his _Wonderland_ XTC discography, Shigemasa
- Fujimoto claims that 500 copies of the CD-single were pressed, and that 450
- of those copies were destroyed. Some number of copies of the 7-inch single
- were also pressed, and it is believed that most of those were destroyed by
- Virgin Records as well. Unfortunately, the exact number of 7-inch vinyl and
- CD singles pressed (and subsequently destroyed) will probably never be
- known. Suffice it to say that the _Wrapped in Grey_ single, both in 7-inch
- vinyl and CD-single format, is very rare.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 32. What is the "Homo Safari" series? Where can I find it?
-
- Andy Partridge explains the "Homo Safari" series, in a telephone interview
- with Stewart Evans for a KFJC radio special, in the fall of 1987:
-
- What happened was, we actually did the instrumental "Homo
- Safari" [the B-side to the _Life Begins At The Hop_ UK
- single], and it came out, and everyone said 'what a strange
- little track, the instrumental on the other side', and we
- were quite chuffed that people actually noticed it. For some
- reason, there's a film in existence of us doing a playback to
- this on Irish television. I don't know if there are any Irish
- fans out there who happen to have a video recording of this,
- but it's probably one of the most bizarre instances -- all of
- us are set on a row of stools playing this inside-out
- instrumental, "Homo Safari", to one half of the stereo
- because the TV station botched up the taping thing and
- there's just one half of the stereo! So we're miming to one
- half of the stereo of a very strange B-side.
-
- But what happened it, we put that out, and then we
- actually wrote other instrumentals. . . maybe they were
- intended to have lyrics on them later, maybe they were just
- sketches of ideas that were going to be worked into something
- different. So the "Homo Safari" series was put together as
- this cupboard to contain tracks that we didn't know what to
- do with. They were tracks that didn't seem to fit the feel of
- XTC, or they were tracks that only myself was on, or me and
- Colin, or just Colin and Dave or whatever. They were really
- like lost kids. So the Homo Safari *series*, the word series
- was added and then we just grabbed a number -- six -- you
- know, it felt like a good number -- and it was like this box
- to put these tracks into that -- we didn't want them go
- astray and remain homeless and never come out. Kind of like
- an artistic pebble-bin.
-
- We actually made a mistake, and put out parts five and
- six, and someone wrote a letter in and said `what happened to
- part four, you've forgotten it?' And we all sat 'round and
- slapped our foreheads and said `My goodness, we've forgotten
- part four!' And it's true, we'd actually jumped and numbered
- them five and six and we'd forgotten four. Actually four is
- the weakest one, 'cause that was knocked up very quickly, and
- that's one of my least favorite things that we've ever done.
- There's very few things that I would disown of ours, but
- funny enough part four of the "Homo Safari" series must be one
- of the only things.
-
- The "Homo Safari" series includes the songs "Homo Safari", "Bushman
- President", "Egyptian Solution (Thebes in a Box)", "Mantis on Parole",
- "Frost Circus", and "Procession Towards Learning Land", numbered from one to
- six, respectively.
-
- Jon Rosenberger adds:
-
- The Homo Safari Series can only be heard its entirety on the
- UK 5" CD Single for Dear God.
-
- Different parts of the series appear as B-sides on various
- old XTC singles of course, as such they can be found on these UK
- singles.
-
- 1. Homo Safari - _Life Begins at The Hop_ 7"
- 2. Bushman President - _Making Plans For Nigel_ 7"
- 3. Egyptian Solution (Thebes in a Box) - _Senses Working
- Overtime_ 12"
- 4. Mantis on Parole - _Wake Up_ 7" and 12"
- 5. Frost Circus - _Great Fire_ 12"
- 6. Procession Towards Learning Land - _Great Fire_ 12"
-
- and #'s 5 and 6 can be found as extra tracks on the CD
- Reissue of _Mummer_ as well.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 33. Was "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" written about JFK?
-
- Andy Partridge has said repeatedly that the inspiration for Peter
- Pumpkinhead came from a Jack-O-Lantern impaled on his garden fence.
-
- Here's an excerpt from a 1992 interview with Dave Kendall, MTV veejay:
-
- DK: . . . and Andy, did you originally decide "OK, I'm gonna
- write a song about a mythical Jesus-JFK-type figure", or were
- you staring at this Jack-O-Lantern. . . ?
-
- AP: Jesus Jones figure. You can tell what HE does for a living!
-
- DK: Freudian slip!
-
- AP: Your Freudian slip's showing! No, I didn't. I felt sorry
- for this Jack-O-Lantern I carved for the kids, and I couldn't
- bear to put him in the bin, so I stuck him on a post in the
- garden so I could see him every day. He looked really, really
- great, you know. Nicer than most people I know. Then, the poor
- thing started decomposing, you know, getting all this grey ooze
- out of his mouth, and his eyes were getting all green and furry,
- and I thought, "I'll immortalize him." So I started to write a
- song about a perfect thing with a pumpkin head, and if you're
- perfect, you tell the truth, and if you tell the truth, you have
- power, and he got so much power the government had him bumped
- off. So, that's a lesson not to tell the truth.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 34. What are all the messages scratched in the run-out grooves of XTC
- records?
-
- Oddly enough, there are very few secret messages scratched in the wax, but
- some of them include:
-
- _English Settlement_ UK LP: Waddies 6X Rules Hic!
- _Great Fire_ UK 7-inch: REGIMENTAL
- _Great Fire_ UK 12-inch: NO TIME FOR SARGEANT'S
- _Grass_ UK 7-inch: HAYSIDE / DEAR TODD
- _Grass_ UK 12-inch: CUT WITH A MOWER AT THE TOWNHOUSE / NO
- COMMENT
- _The Big Express_ UK LP: BASTARD SON OF HARD BLUE RAYHEAD
- Johnny Japes and His Jesticles: _Bags of Fun With Buster_:
- COMPLETELY BOLLOCKULAR / FLUMP!
- _King for a Day_ UK 12-inch: ONE FOR HIS NOB / TWO FER DOIN' IT
- The Dukes of Stratosphear: _25 O'Clock_ UK EP: TO BE TAKEN TWICE DALI
- / I CAN SEE FOUR MOLES
- The Dukes of Stratosphear: _Psonic Psunspot_ UK LP: LOOSELY
- FROM THE STIFF BEACH... / WITH PINK WARMTH
-
- The flip side of the _Grass_ 12-inch single included both "Extrovert" and
- "Dear God". "Hard Blue Rayhead" was a working title for _The Big Express_.
- Both "Pink Warmth" and "Stiff Beach" were pre-XTC bands; Dave Gregory formed
- "Pink Warmth" circa 1967, Andy Partridge formed "Stiff Beach" circa 1970.
- "Great Fire" was produced by Bob Sargeant. "Waddies 6X" is a strong English
- beer.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 35. Has anyone heard They Might Be Giants' song "XTC vs. Adam Ant"?
-
- On They Might Be Giants' 1996 album _Factory Showroom_ they perform a song
- called "XTC vs. Adam Ant". It would appear that They Might Be Giants are XTC
- fans, as they also perform the track "25 O'Clock" on the XTC tribute album
- _A Testimonial Dinner: The Songs of XTC_.
-
- Gineen says of "XTC vs. Adam Ant":
-
- Great song...........and the violin bits lend to XTC melodies.....
-
- Who wins? Listen for yourself.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 36. What is Dave Gregory up to these days?
-
- Guitargonauts, the Dave Gregory website at "http://www.guitargonauts.com/",
- is the place to find the latest news. The site is produced by Debie Edmonds
- and Mark Strijbos, and includes a discography, photos, guitars, music and
- more! Visit today.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 37. Did you notice that the title of the latest XTC album comes from the
- lyrics of the previous album?
-
- Originally this was a coincidence. The words "Orange and lemon / Raincoats
- roll and tumble" feature in the Andy Partridge song "Ballet for a Rainy Day"
- on _Skylarking_. The album after _Skylarking_ is called _Oranges and
- Lemons_. The words "some nonesuch net holds me aloft" feature in the Andy
- Partridge song "Chalkhills and Children" on _Oranges and Lemons_. The album
- after _Oranges and Lemons_ is called _Nonsuch_. Again, these were mere
- coincidences.
-
- _Oranges and Lemons_ was named for the bright colors of the music, a
- psychedelic and brash collection of songs. _Nonsuch_ was named for the
- castle by that name built by Henry VIII, a spectacular edifice which was
- supposed to be a lasting monument, but which has since been destroyed.
-
- However, fans noticed these coincidences and pointed them out to Andy
- Partridge, so during the preparations for the writing of _XTC: Song Stories_
- he perused the lyrics of _Nonsuch_ and decided that the phrase "apple venus"
- had a nice ring to it. And thus we have _Apple Venus Volume 1_.
-
- That has all stopped with the release of _Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)_.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 38. Is there sheet music for XTC songs available?
-
- The short answer is no. There is no commercially available sheet music for
- XTC songs. In 1981 XTC released _Eleven Different Animals_ in the UK, a book
- with sheet music and guitar charts for eleven XTC songs, but that book has
- been out of print and unavailable since. A few transcriptions of XTC songs
- were included in various issues of _The Little Express_.
-
- However, Larry Stevens writes:
-
- I have in my possession published sheet music for Mayor of
- Simpleton. I found it in the sheet music section of a local
- music shop back when Oranges and Lemons was released. It's
- quite a bright and beautiful product.
-
- John Dioso adds:
-
- The songbook for the movie "Times Square" includes the sheet
- music for XTC's song "Take This Town, " as well as Gary Numan's
- "Down in the Park" and the Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated."
-
- Numerous Chalkhills readers have contributed chord charts, transcriptions
- and tablature for XTC songs, see the Chalkhills Archives.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 39. How can I contact XTC directly?
-
- Please visit the official XTC web site at "http://www.xtcidearecords.co.uk/"
- for information on how to contact XTC and their distributors.
-
- We here at Chalkhills have no official (or unofficial) relationship with the
- band and cannot relay your messages.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- 40. What happened to the proposed "bubblegum" album?
-
- Karen O'Brien did an interview with Andy Partridge for _The Independent on
- Sunday_, published on September 6, 1998:
-
- [In 1993] Partridge had presented a new project, songs he had
- written as homage to the bubblegum-pop bands of the late Sixties to
- early Seventies. He felt the idea was blissfully simple: "I wanted
- Virgin to say that they'd bought this entire back-catalogue from
- this imaginary label called Zither. They said, 'So you go on Top of
- the Pops and play one of these songs?' I said, 'No, this is a fake
- historical document!' So they said, 'Okay, we get a young band and
- dress them up in early Seventies clothes?' I said 'No, no!' They
- just didn't get it." Cue much shaking of pony-tailed heads.
-
- The Zither project was to have been "nicely banal, pitched around 1970, a
- dozen tracks about sex. . ." Three of the songs have been released in one
- form or another. "Cherry In Your Tree" (originally intended to be performed
- by "The Captain Cooks") was released on the children's album _Carmen
- Sandiego Out Of This World_ in April 1994. "Candy Mine" was released on a
- single Andy Partridge did for John Flansburgh's Hello CD of the Month Club
- in November 1994. "Standing In For Joe", released on _Wasp Star (Apple Venus
- Volume 2)_, was originally intended for the bubblegum album. And one of the
- fictional band names intended for the project, Knights In Shining Karma, was
- used as the title of a song released on _Apple Venus Volume 1_.
-
- Some of the other fictional bands to have been recorded for the project
- include the following:
-
- The Lemon Dukes
- Knights in Shining Karma
- The Captain Cooks
- Sopwith Caramel
- The Ten Commandos
- The Twelve Flavours of Hercules
- Solid Gondolas
- The Barbers of Penzance
- Anonymous Bosch
- The Brighton Peers
- The Tweedledeens
- The Herbert Fountains
- Irving Merlin
- The Lollipopes
- The Four Posters
- The Periwig Pack
- Cake's Progress
- Jellyache
- Funnel Of Love
- The Rubber Ducks
- Ancient Grease
- The Piccadilly Circus Tent Rip Repair Company
- Kitchener's Sink
- Isambard Kingdom Necessary On A Bicycle?
-
- Some of the songs to have been included on the project include the
- following:
-
- Lolly Let's Suck It And See
- My Red Aeroplane
- Cherry in Your Tree
- Candy Mine
- Jelly Baby
- Standing In For Joe
- I'm The Kaiser
- Visit to the Doctor
- Cave Girl
- All Aboard for Bubble Land
-
- ------------------------------
-
- End of Chalkhills and XTC FAQ
- *****************************
-