Check out the album, "Mighty Joe Moon" by a band called, Grant Lee Buffalo. They're a 90's band that's *criminally* underrated and "Mighty Joe Moon" is a brilliant album I think you'll dig. Very few people know about them these days as for some reason, they're just never talked about - but they're literally one of the best bands of the 90's. Fantastic singer. Stunning songs.
If you want psychedelic XTC, check out their two EPs released as The Dukes of Stratosphere with great songs like Vanishing Girl (sounds like early Hollies), Collideascope (sounds like John Lennon), 25 O'Clock & Bike Ride to the Moon.
Thanks from requesting these Gail! XTC is such a fun band with great social commentary embedded in the lyrics but so fun you can dance to it! Great commentary today L33! ☮❤🎶
XTC was not a band that I would have followed so it’s always nice to see what I missed out on. I loved the Nigel song the most, especially when I found out what the lyrics meant. Thanks so much Gail. ❤
Love hearing new to me songs and groups. Thanks for these thought provoking tracks, Gail. As a girl who's sisters were much older, I learned life DID begin at the hop. Also glad I had my parents who made no plans for me. What a fun way to convey their message. Great reaction, L33. You just keep getting better my the minute. Blessings all.
Every epoch has it's own great music but I do feel lucky to have have been a college radio listener in the late 70's through the 80's. A lot of stuff played there that mainstream didn't touch. Glad to see XTC finding new fans 40 years later.
Primus introduced me to these guys but years/decades later mi late wife really got me into them. Generals & Majors, senses working overtime, Respectable street, etc
I've been listening to the album since it came out when I was 16. What I'm really noticing 45 years later is what a melody factory XTC was. Every song has distinct and gorgeous melody. I want you to hear every album, but I'm really looking forward to you listening to the epic that is "Oranges and Lemons," almost a decade on from this album.
Great reaction, as always. XTC have always been a favourite of mine. Interesting that you mentioned the production of the album. It’s produced by Hugh Padgham, who also worked with The Police, Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins
Making plans for Nigel was such a huge deal in the alternative music world. I think one reason why I really immediately embrace them was I had grown up on that late 60s and early 70s rock and then into the late seventies rock, and then as hair metal took off in the early eighties, I went to college and discovered this whole other world of Iggy Pop and big black and the Suicidal Tendencies and the talking heads and The B-52s. I was in a post-punk band and my drummer who was just 18, was in a very popular Regional band that played a lot of ska add police covers, and this guy was really good even at that age. And he and I fell in love with XTC at the same time and we just listened to it so intensely and tried to learn a lot of the stuff. It was so refreshing to do that after all the automatic Blues Licks and rock idioms that have become just so popular in overproduced about three or four years before. It was a total Revolt from that, like the sex pistols and the ramones, but this was postponed, it had elements of that it had elements of everything basically but it had a focus on minimalism to still create something incredibly kinetic and emotional at times.
So much bounce! Yeah that is a great way to describe it. Although songs like Complicated Game are kind of the opposite, but it's also a masterpiece. I bet you would love one of their biggest hits, Respectable Street. Total banger.
My other XTC top three: 'Senses Working Overtime' 'Generals and Majors' and 'Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me).' 'Making Plans for Nigel' would have been in there, but not sure which one to drop.
Yeah, XTC, swinging back and forth between sweet and dystopian. One of alternative 80's best bands. That album had a number of excellent tracks. Good choice.
Good vid again. Great choices fella. Noticing your Tull hat,I wondered if you had reacted to anything from their criminally underrated album….Crest of a Knave? It’s their heaviest work,guitar heavy and wonderful. Start with Steel Monkey from the album.
If you need any further convincing to listen to Drums & Wires in its entirety, you should know that the best song on the album, "Complicated Game", was not included in this excellent selection.
I was fortunate enough to see XTC play all of these songs live when they came on tour to Los Angeles and performed at The Whisky in 1980, and they were great. Lots of punk pop fans pogoing to the beat. So sad that Andy gave up touring soon afterwards because of stage fright. The opening act, oddly enough, was The Troggs, already over the hill but attempting a comeback. Yes, they played Wild Thing. ❤
While most of my friends were still listening to Styx, Kansas, etc. I had caught wind of bands like The Ramones, The Clash, Television, and many others. I saw a video of 'Nigel' on either Night Flight or MTV and bought this album the next day, and their first two albums the following day. In a couple months or so 'London Calling' was released; need I say more.
Still listen to XTC (2nd on my Spotify Wrapped) and particularly love Andy Partridge's vocal gymnastics. So many favourites- Mayor of Simpleton, Love on a Farmboy's Wages, No Thugs in Our House, Then She Appeared, Garden of Earthly Delights and many more. Hugely influential band.
"She got to be 'ob-seen' to be 'ob-heard'"; "I object to all the 'air male' that she pick up" - the lyrics of "Helicopter" are a joy. I'm glad my vinyl of DaW is the U.S. release (a lot of the punk/wave LPs my friends/I bought late '70s/early '80s were imports - very pricey ones): the U.K. one didn't have "Life Begins..." on it, as that was a single there - those were usually not included on LPs, unless as a re-done version.
This set is basically an 'early XTC greatest hits'. This was the album where guitarist Dave Gregory replaced keyboard player Barry Andrews (whose next gig was with Robert Fripp's 'League of Gentlemen'), plus it was their first with young star producer Steve Lillywhite -- hence the awesome mix and drums production. But this is the album that firmly announced XTC as a band to watch, and it gave them a bonafide worldwide hit with "Making Plans for Nigel". BTW, if Andy Partridge's vocal style seems a bit quirky, it's safe to say he was 'on the spectrum'. 😉
The 1989 double album Oranges & Lemons was their best in my opinion. Many great songs, including Mayor of Simpleton, Merely a Man, The Loving, and King for a Day.
Because I am 64 years old I would love to hear you explore new stuff that you feel is as bold and boundary pushing as XTC or Kate Bush or any of the best of the earlier eras. Thanks for your work!
Wow!! Talk about timing! Just recommended 'Roads Girdle the Globe' to Alex of Andy and Alex. Love the album. Video of 'Life Begins At the Hop' a favourite. Love the palm-muted/pizzicato guitar solo. Terry Chambers is a beast. "Got to be obscene to be obheard" is a long-time fave line! 'Real by Reel', 'Millions', have at it, mate. Happy Tuesday. 🖖🏼😊🎶❤️🍁❤️🎄🥃✨️🕊
You asked about Phish being influenced. Absolutely, Fishman in particular…listen to Melt the Guns from XTC, then Maze by Phish…Jon even talked about it on XM radio.
I love all these - they're XTC, greatest band ever - but damn if Helicopter isn't my jam, "she's got to be obscene to be ob-heard" should sound stupid, but it doesn't - it's just a brilliant line. Also love that Andy's voice is tearing apart in places (the Drums & Wires recording sessions were largely live, his voice fracturing slightly is a measure of that, and it still sounds great!)
R×R awesome unexpected bonus. Recommended in my other comment. 'Respectable Street' a gem of social observation. ✨️💎 Name generally pronounced Ex-tee-see. Ecstasy too much of a stretch at the time maybe, when I thought they were to be Lennon and McCartney for the 80s!! 🙄🤯🤪👍🏼🎶❤️🍁❤️✨️🕊
Thaks Gail for sponsoring this. Love this stuff. Definitely play "Generals and Majors," Music Video for: th-cam.com/video/p-JeQduJ0f8/w-d-xo.html. Making Plans for Nigel Music Video: th-cam.com/video/AiIlcew-GVM/w-d-xo.html "The Mayor of Simpleton," and "King for a Day." from 1989. They waned and ebbed, kind of like Madness did after 1982.
Not a bad album but such a shame you picked out some pretty ordinary (for XTC) tracks to listen to. Millions (about China) and Complicated Game would have displayed their true genius.
Just brilliant. Having this much fun should be illegal. What are we doing next?? Let me know ASAP lol
“KingForADay“ and “mayor of simpleton are excellent XTC tracks.
Check out the album, "Mighty Joe Moon" by a band called, Grant Lee Buffalo. They're a 90's band that's *criminally* underrated and "Mighty Joe Moon" is a brilliant album I think you'll dig. Very few people know about them these days as for some reason, they're just never talked about - but they're literally one of the best bands of the 90's. Fantastic singer. Stunning songs.
‘Generals and Majors’ great song by …. XTC, one of many. The are undoubtedly the best band to come out of Swindon, UK
“COMPLICATED GAME”… Same album! Will blow you away!
If you want psychedelic XTC, check out their two EPs released as The Dukes of Stratosphere with great songs like Vanishing Girl (sounds like early Hollies), Collideascope (sounds like John Lennon), 25 O'Clock & Bike Ride to the Moon.
Complicated Game, from the same album, is truly an amazing and unique song that needs to be heard too.
Making Plans for Nigel put XTC on my musical map. Awesome band!!
And Generals & Majors, an even better song in my opinion.
My favorite band after The Beatles. XTC is absolutely the most underrated band in rock history.
Nigel is so good.
Thanks
Thanks from requesting these Gail! XTC is such a fun band with great social commentary embedded in the lyrics but so fun you can dance to it! Great commentary today L33! ☮❤🎶
XTC was not a band that I would have followed so it’s always nice to see what I missed out on. I loved the Nigel song the most, especially when I found out what the lyrics meant. Thanks so much Gail. ❤
Love hearing new to me songs and groups. Thanks for these thought provoking tracks, Gail. As a girl who's sisters were much older, I learned life DID begin at the hop. Also glad I had my parents who made no plans for me. What a fun way to convey their message. Great reaction, L33. You just keep getting better my the minute. Blessings all.
Every epoch has it's own great music but I do feel lucky to have have been a college radio listener in the late 70's through the 80's. A lot of stuff played there that mainstream didn't touch. Glad to see XTC finding new fans 40 years later.
I was playing XTC on KXLU in Los Angeles back then. Were you listening?
Makin' Plans For Nigel was a wake up call. World...pay attention to these XTC guys...really good!
Primus introduced me to these guys but years/decades later mi late wife really got me into them. Generals & Majors, senses working overtime,
Respectable street, etc
I’m excited for this 😻
YES! It's SO GOOD! Lol
I've been listening to the album since it came out when I was 16. What I'm really noticing 45 years later is what a melody factory XTC was. Every song has distinct and gorgeous melody. I want you to hear every album, but I'm really looking forward to you listening to the epic that is "Oranges and Lemons," almost a decade on from this album.
Great reaction, as always. XTC have always been a favourite of mine. Interesting that you mentioned the production of the album. It’s produced by Hugh Padgham, who also worked with The Police, Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins
I think Steve Lillywhite produced and Hugh engineered… they’re both great!
Making plans for Nigel was such a huge deal in the alternative music world. I think one reason why I really immediately embrace them was I had grown up on that late 60s and early 70s rock and then into the late seventies rock, and then as hair metal took off in the early eighties, I went to college and discovered this whole other world of Iggy Pop and big black and the Suicidal Tendencies and the talking heads and The B-52s. I was in a post-punk band and my drummer who was just 18, was in a very popular Regional band that played a lot of ska add police covers, and this guy was really good even at that age. And he and I fell in love with XTC at the same time and we just listened to it so intensely and tried to learn a lot of the stuff. It was so refreshing to do that after all the automatic Blues Licks and rock idioms that have become just so popular in overproduced about three or four years before. It was a total Revolt from that, like the sex pistols and the ramones, but this was postponed, it had elements of that it had elements of everything basically but it had a focus on minimalism to still create something incredibly kinetic and emotional at times.
My favorite XTC album!!!!!!!
Mine too.
Black Sea is an awesome fun record....it willl stay with you forever
I highly recommend the documentary "This Is Pop", the story of the band.
Oh boy this will be fun
Nigel is such a great song 😊
You are the best channel in this space❤ always something new and something old. I love it ❤
That was a fun session
''Making plans for Nigel'' is my fav XTC song just love it!!
Great stuff from a truly great band. But “COMPLICATED GAME “ is sitting right there. A sonic masterpiece. Check it out! Cheers!
Great reaction! Can't wait until to hear the rest of this album, I absolutely love XTC.
Interesting, Gail, thank you.
I really enjoyed this. Thank you Gail.
Love you guys. My favorite reaction channel, and family. Audiophiles of the world untie!
This band is sooo underrated. Brilliant.
Front to back, this is one of my favourite albums, full stop.
I really like "Dear God" and "Senses Working Overtime". Great band.
My favorite band. The next , Scissor Man and Complicated Game , the last two songs froem the same album.
This album is just flat-out FUN!!!! Thanks, L33!
I remember singing along to MPFN in the car with my parents when I was young
Happy memories
I love the polyrythmic aspects of XTC
XTC so underrated
So much bounce! Yeah that is a great way to describe it. Although songs like Complicated Game are kind of the opposite, but it's also a masterpiece. I bet you would love one of their biggest hits, Respectable Street. Total banger.
I love this album. Nigel was their biggest hit up to that point in time but the whole album has many good songs. Still influenced by the punk scene.
XTC really were very good. They reminded me of more modern The Kinks for reasons I cannot work out.
Defiantly British?
Great band. Try generals and majors from(I think, the black sea album) As a bonus there's a video that features Richard Branson.
My other XTC top three: 'Senses Working Overtime' 'Generals and Majors' and 'Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me).'
'Making Plans for Nigel' would have been in there, but not sure which one to drop.
I've been buying XTC's music since their first album. Sacrificial Bonfire is great, they also do a cover of Dyan/Hendrix All Along The Watchtower
I prefer XTC's alter ego 60s flavored psych band, The Dukes of Stratosphear. Their 1985 debut 25 O'Clock, is an 80s pop psych gem.
Yeah, XTC, swinging back and forth between sweet and dystopian. One of alternative 80's best bands. That album had a number of excellent tracks. Good choice.
Goddamn so many nights dancing to this album up with my roommates . Love XTC
What an awesome start to my day! 🤩☀️
Thank you Gail, thank you Lee!
😀👍
You have absolutely got to react to complicated game from the same album!!!
Last track on the album "Complicated Game" is like nothing else you've ever heard. Amazing!
The Beatles were another big influence on them. I say that because I know you have become quite the Beatles fan.
Good vid again.
Great choices fella.
Noticing your Tull hat,I wondered if you had reacted to anything from their criminally underrated album….Crest of a Knave?
It’s their heaviest work,guitar heavy and wonderful.
Start with Steel Monkey from the album.
If you need any further convincing to listen to Drums & Wires in its entirety, you should know that the best song on the album, "Complicated Game", was not included in this excellent selection.
I was fortunate enough to see XTC play all of these songs live when they came on tour to Los Angeles and performed at The Whisky in 1980, and they were great. Lots of punk pop fans pogoing to the beat. So sad that Andy gave up touring soon afterwards because of stage fright. The opening act, oddly enough, was The Troggs, already over the hill but attempting a comeback. Yes, they played Wild Thing. ❤
Drums and Wires. Black Sea. English Settlement. Skylarking. As good a 4 album run as any in rock history.
While most of my friends were still listening to Styx, Kansas, etc. I had caught wind of bands like The Ramones, The Clash, Television, and many others. I saw a video of 'Nigel' on either Night Flight or MTV and bought this album the next day, and their first two albums the following day. In a couple months or so 'London Calling' was released; need I say more.
The version of this album that I originally had started with 'Making Plans for Nigel.' 'Life Begins at the Hop' was a separate single.
Still listen to XTC (2nd on my Spotify Wrapped) and particularly love Andy Partridge's vocal gymnastics. So many favourites- Mayor of Simpleton, Love on a Farmboy's Wages, No Thugs in Our House, Then She Appeared, Garden of Earthly Delights and many more. Hugely influential band.
"She got to be 'ob-seen' to be 'ob-heard'"; "I object to all the 'air male' that she pick up" - the lyrics of "Helicopter" are a joy.
I'm glad my vinyl of DaW is the U.S. release (a lot of the punk/wave LPs my friends/I bought late '70s/early '80s were imports - very pricey ones): the U.K. one didn't have "Life Begins..." on it, as that was a single there - those were usually not included on LPs, unless as a re-done version.
Love the beat on "Nigel". Kinda industrial in fact. Great song.
One of the most brilliant XTC songs is "Greenman." From Apple Venus. There are a bunch of versions out there.
My favorite XTC album, although there are many more. The earlier the better for me!
These guys were so sharp and criminally fun. My ex father in law was a Nigel and he hated that song as much as I loved it 😇
This set is basically an 'early XTC greatest hits'. This was the album where guitarist Dave Gregory replaced keyboard player Barry Andrews (whose next gig was with Robert Fripp's 'League of Gentlemen'), plus it was their first with young star producer Steve Lillywhite -- hence the awesome mix and drums production. But this is the album that firmly announced XTC as a band to watch, and it gave them a bonafide worldwide hit with "Making Plans for Nigel". BTW, if Andy Partridge's vocal style seems a bit quirky, it's safe to say he was 'on the spectrum'. 😉
The 1989 double album Oranges & Lemons was their best in my opinion. Many great songs, including Mayor of Simpleton, Merely a Man, The Loving, and King for a Day.
Because I am 64 years old I would love to hear you explore new stuff that you feel is as bold and boundary pushing as XTC or Kate Bush or any of the best of the earlier eras. Thanks for your work!
Nice comments at the end. What we know is but a drop, what we don't know is an ocean. - some German philosopher, possibly schopenhauer.
Wow!! Talk about timing! Just recommended 'Roads Girdle the Globe' to Alex of Andy and Alex. Love the album. Video of 'Life Begins At the Hop' a favourite.
Love the palm-muted/pizzicato guitar solo.
Terry Chambers is a beast.
"Got to be obscene to be obheard" is a long-time fave line!
'Real by Reel', 'Millions', have at it, mate.
Happy Tuesday.
🖖🏼😊🎶❤️🍁❤️🎄🥃✨️🕊
I know 'going down a rabbit hole' has become an overused saying but XTC reside down a very deep one.
I had an early release w day in day out,10 feet tall. Mummer and skylarking are also very good records.
You asked about Phish being influenced. Absolutely, Fishman in particular…listen to Melt the Guns from XTC, then Maze by Phish…Jon even talked about it on XM radio.
I love all these - they're XTC, greatest band ever - but damn if Helicopter isn't my jam, "she's got to be obscene to be ob-heard" should sound stupid, but it doesn't - it's just a brilliant line. Also love that Andy's voice is tearing apart in places (the Drums & Wires recording sessions were largely live, his voice fracturing slightly is a measure of that, and it still sounds great!)
Primus does a solid cover of Nigel.
R×R awesome unexpected bonus. Recommended in my other comment. 'Respectable Street' a gem of social observation. ✨️💎
Name generally pronounced Ex-tee-see. Ecstasy too much of a stretch at the time maybe, when I thought they were to be Lennon and McCartney for the 80s!! 🙄🤯🤪👍🏼🎶❤️🍁❤️✨️🕊
Thaks Gail for sponsoring this. Love this stuff. Definitely play "Generals and Majors," Music Video for: th-cam.com/video/p-JeQduJ0f8/w-d-xo.html.
Making Plans for Nigel Music Video: th-cam.com/video/AiIlcew-GVM/w-d-xo.html
"The Mayor of Simpleton," and "King for a Day." from 1989. They waned and ebbed, kind of like Madness did after 1982.
Nigel is 5/4 time....reggae!
Not a bad album but such a shame you picked out some pretty ordinary (for XTC) tracks to listen to. Millions (about China) and Complicated Game would have displayed their true genius.
I mean, if you want hear something special from XTC, try Church of Women.
One of the most brilliant XTC songs is "Greenman." From Apple Venus. There are a bunch of versions out there.