Todd Rundgren on producing XTC's Skylarking with Andy Partridge
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.พ. 2023
- Todd Rundgren discusses Andy Partridge and the infamous XTC Skylarking recording sessions with Steve Jones in this interview excerpt from Jonesy's Jukebox.
Subscribe to @955KLOS and watch their huge collection of Jonesy's Jukebox episodes (including this one!
Skylarking is an absolute masterpiece. The writing, the performing, the production. Truly magnificent pop music! ♥
I would go so far as to say that at the time of its release it was one of the best XTC albums of all time...
It's one of the best albums ever. In all time. Ever.
Couldn’t agree more!
Skylarking and Oranges & Lemons are two of the best albums to come out of the 80’s.
Yes to everything said here. Amazing album incredible musicians
'Mermaid Smiled,' is breathtakingly beautiful. Skylarking is a magnificent achievement.
I got to chat with Todd at the Iridium in NYC after a show, Todd was in the audience not performing, I introduced myself as the house recording engineer and said I have one word for you", Todd said "ok" I said "Skylarking" Todd said 'Oh one of the hardest records I ever produced." And we talked for a bit before a waitress interrupted us and he had to split, it was so cool to hear about it from him and he was very friendly, It's one of my favorite albums of all time.
He's a wonderfully easy person to talk with, isn't he?
Too bad Todd's a political buffoon.
Todd totally gets it that a space is a powerful as a note.
as did mr g. harrison. to the max, mate.
I will never cease to be fascinated by XTC and Rundgren
Check out the full interview from the description link. Jonesy did a couple interviews with TR.
@@BlackRoomProductions who's this jones character, what qualifies him to speak in such a manner?
haha: i rather like it, perhaps he should do more interviews, yeah?
Steve Jones, guitarist for the Sex Pistols and has also performed on many other peoples' albums.
His interviews are great, in my video description there's a link to 95.5 (the radio station that broadcast his show) where you can browse through a large collection, including this Rundgren interview in entirety.
@@BlackRoomProductions excellent: okay, uh, i've heard of that band, that's quite a feather in any 'cap' i daresay, and would look good on any resume~ thanks, yes, he seems smarter than one might expect, and seems to be a fairly good sport and a decent guy, unlike perhaps certain other members of that band.. does he interview johnny, i wonder, and how's that guy doin', i wonder, as well... 'disappointed' is still one of the coolest tracks, that i know of: wow, so jonesy, is that guy, for real, eh? that's remarkable, to put it politely, eh?
Not sure if he interviewed Johnny but I know they don't get on so probably not. Yeah Jonesy is real cool, pretty sure he just stumbled into the radio thing one day and everyone liked it. What's missing from these interviews is the songs he'd play in between, even though it was an interview it still felt like listening to music on the radio.
Skylarking is one of MANY examples of a beautiful masterpiece album somehow made through personal troubles, fighting, musical disputes etc. Right from the beginning, "Summer's Cauldron" going into "Grass"...Just love that album so much and always will!
In a way it reminds me of David Bowie not really acknowledging what Nile Rodgers did with Let's Dance. Took awhile...ah, the egos.
10,000 Umbrellas is such an incredible song! That 3 song medley is my favorite part of the album.
This is so cool for me because in the late '80s I was a punk/metal-head but somehow fell in love with the Skylarking album. It's one of those albums sort of like Sergeant Pepper's, where every song is a completely different ensemble of instruments and sounds.
Skylarking is one of my favourite albums from the 80s. I'm a Beatles' fan, and always described it as 'the best album The Beatles never released'. It easily stands alongside Pepper and Abbey Road. It’s brilliantly inventive.
Great job by Todd, probably the best production XTC ever got.
sometimes it goes just beyond mixing/arrangements too, Todd only let the band do 2-3 takes for almost all the songs; whereas all the other post English Settlement records Andy would demand god knows how many takes and overdubs. And you can really tell; Skylarking has so much more life to it than any of the other not touring era albums (although Wasp Star definitely has a scrappiness to it (in a good way) too).
John Leckie on White Music, Go 2, and the Dukes
Steve Lilywhite on Drums & Wires & Black Sea
Both are better
Leckie, Lilywhite, and Padgham were all better
Definitive interview on the subject. TR is such an unassuming guy that it’s easy to overlook his status as one of the most important musicians/producers of the last fifty-plus years.
that man sure knew how to write a song
100%. So much so that you have to wonder if he's a total dickhead behind the scenes?
But I've never heard any .tales that would indicate such a thing...
Bat Out Of Hell! Case closed.
@Prousto Only the last 50 years? That’s giving him short shift…
Skylarking is one of my all time favorite albums. It also has one of my favorite transitions from track to track "Ballet for a Rainy Day" and one of the MOST beautiful pop songs "1000 umbrellas."
it is far and away THE most satisfying XTC listen--and, believe me, I have heard them all WAY too many times. haha. love them so much that I know them like the back of my guitars. these days, Partridge laments his ego getting in the way. way to grow up and own it, Mayor Simpleton! love Skylarking--what a platter!
I used to work at an FM station in my hometown. One day, at 4:30 in the morning as a long tape was being played with the news, I went to the recording studio and found this album on the console. It was 'Skylarking'. I was impressed with the the cover, so beautiful. I then dropped the needle right on cue the first song hit me! It is 'Summer Caldron'. I loved it! Then came 'Grass' and song after song I was in awe of such wonderful music. Later, I read in a magazine an article with XTC joking about working with Todd Rundgren, that he was hippie and all. I have to say, this is my favorite XTC album and one of my favorites of all time. I only have it on CD, a special Japanese edition that unfortunately does not include 'Dear God' and the font is smaller than a medicine leaflet. I intend to have it on vinyl and emulate that experience I had. By the way, the first song I listened by Todd Rundgren was a live performance of 'Do Ya' on a Warner hit compilation album. It is my favorite version of this song.
just bought this and black sea..I am 72 yrs old and never heard XTC..love Todd and have a signed blackie strat..A great producer, performer and guitarist with Ringo's all star band......
Skylarking is one of those albums that is a barometer for musical taste. Anybody who actually likes music can appreciate what XTC did with this album.
true. I'm not a huge XTC super fan or anything but Skylarking is great.
I always have problems with trying to identify the metrics when people say it’s the ‘best?. I don’t know if it is the best. I absolutely love Drums and Wires in a completely different way, maybe because it’s almost completely different genre to Skylarking. I couldn’t choose between the two it just would seem like a silly exercise.
Opinions…
Drowning here in Summer's cauldron
FACT!
@@tubecated_development Black Sea is my favourite of all the XTC albums and I prefer to listen to Nonsuch, Drums & Wires, English Settlement and Oranges & Lemons before I'd get to Skylarking/Mummer/etc. in my XTC playlist. Each to his own....that's the way of art.
"skylarking" is one of my favorite albums by anyone
Enough for Us is one of my top 5 songs by anyone at any time. Skylarking is a masterpiece.
Yes! Never understood how "Earn Enough for Us" was never issued as a single. Should have been a massive hit.
Great observation and lesson for us home recordists: Stop over filling mixes until there’s no “air” in the track.
“Senses Working Overtime” by XTC is without a doubt the catchiest song on this earth and is my 15 yr old nephew who has cerebral palsy and in a wheelchair favorite song ever.
Thank you Todd! Things we did on grass and all the other gems on that record!
Skylarking is a masterpiece. Lyrically, it’s probably my favorite album of all time as it’s both the most impactful and relatable, and it’s incredibly incisive.
Amazing Todd. Thank you for sharing your experience and present appreciation of the album and all in XTC. As a fan of XTC’s music, your love and care for the music and appreciation of all those involved is heart warming.
I interviewed Andy upon the release of ORANGES & LEMONS. It was like pulling teeth (I hadn't been privy to the cold turkey Valium withdrawals, etc.). Now, I LOVE me some XTC...and I LOVE me some Todd! But when I praised SKYLARKING and asked about working with Todd, the interview was effectively over. Andy would not discuss it, saying he had nothing nice to say about "Mr. Rundgren." Yikes! I was glad to discover, via a couple of recent Chanan Hanspal video interviews with Andy here on TH-cam, that he's in a MUCH better place than he was all those years ago. Andy even mentioned Todd in a non-disparaging manner and actually called him "Todd!"
IIRC the Skylarking 5.1 bluray liner notes also has Andy saying nice things about Todd.
Andy has stated a few times how unpleasant it was to work with Todd. He says the band was abused. Todd asked if Andy bought his jeans from Russia. Just ball busting. But in the end they both knew they created something great.
@@denesisdelcorockschool3074 Bought his jeans in Russia? What does that mean?
@@TheEWFX29Todd was just breaking balls all the time, I guess it got tiresome for Andy and the band.
Jeans sold in Russia weren't fashionable, kinda like mom jeans
So validating to hear from somone whose ears are far more advanced than mine why some of the later XTC albums were indeed, as he says, exhausting to listen to. I could never put my finger on it but Todd nailed it. I thought I was alone in my feelings there!
The Big Express is the album Todd was mentioning and now that he describes the album's production, I totally get it. It does sound "compressed ?", is that the right term ? Rundgren is a genius and can do it ALL.
I think a good word would be "turgid." I still love that album though. It's Oranges and Lemons that is far too dense for me.
It is curious that no XTC fan takes sides in this dispute. Andy is a genius and so is Todd.
I think the reason for that is because EVERYONE knows just how good Todd is as a producer / engineer / writer etc . And tbh , even the most die - hard XTC fan would admit that Andy can , and probably always has been quite a difficult character to ' manage ' .
I'm an XTC fan, and I take Todd's side. He brought out the best in Andy and the rest of the group. Too bad Todd couldn't have produced Oranges and Lemons and Nonsuch.
@@thehighllama8101 What I find interesting -- and I'm not taking sides here -- is that the record that came after Skylarking is probably their worst-produced record. It's the only one of their albums that sounds terribly dated now.
Oranges & Lemons and I agree
Beg to differ. I'm an XTC fan and take Todd's side. He brought the best out of the band and wanted great success for them. It's too bad that Andy was too insecure to allow someone of Todd's standing to actually do the work he was hired to do.
It was Todd's name that persuaded me to buy the CD Skylarking without knowing that much about XTC. Its a superb album enough to still be very listenable as most of Todd's work remains.
Skylarking is a beautiful album
Enjoyed this snippet. Always understood it was quite a tense production, especially toward the end. But nice to hear Todd to be so complementary of all the guys, especially Andy…despite butting heads. Would be nice if they could all reconcile, bury the axes (not in their heads) and do something collectively to celebrate one of the best albums ever made. A multimedia speaking tour of how it was all done, with (not so) funny anecdotes. Make it so boys.
Two legends right here! Used to listen to Jonesy’s Jukebox religiously on the radio for years & really appreciated Jonesy’s musical knowledge & down-to-earth vibe. And Todd is an amazing songwriting talent in his own right - his 70’s records are essential. The creative tension between him & Andy wrought one of the greatest pop records ever recorded - thanks for the interview & thanks to Todd for his generous insights🙏
JJ listener here too, check out the main JJ TH-cam channel there's tons of Jonesy stuff. This is just a small clip specific to XTC.
I have a vivid memory of XTC being interviewed on Entertainment Tonight or some other show when I was a kid and Andy saying into the camera, "Todd, we hate you!" I hope he's since come around, because the whole album is brilliant. And Dave Gregory's string arrangement on 1000 Umbrellas is one of the best in the pop canon - up there with Nick Drake's River Man.
Was it 120 Minutes?
It's certainly possible, but I swear it really was more of a daytime mass-media show like ET. It's been 35 years, though, so who knows!@@BlackRoomProductions
Unseen XTC stuff occasionally pops up on YT, if I ever find it you'll be the first to know!
Andy has indeed come around since then.
@@BlackRoomProductions I hope so, since Im sure he's not sending the checks to Todd.
@@BlackRoomProductions has he?! I would be very surprised. (Love the guy though. Genius man)
I’m lucky that I got to see XTC on their final tour. To me they were among the greatest pop band ever. As clever as 10CC and approaching the greatness of the band that starts with a B.
Yes! If there was one single band on the planet that could approach Bananarama in terms of presence or influence, that honour would defintely have to go to XTC.
@cmbsgc lol
@@cmbsgc that’s so funny. I was gonna say the Buggles.
well XTC is most certainly one of my most favorite bands of all time, .... And Todd Rundgren is a master songwriter and recording genius.... And if they butt heads together because they were both involved in creating a masterpiece. Well done every single one of you. That's why we are still talking about it. It reminds me of the Brian Eno Roxy music transitions.... I love it, .... It leaves the albums into a single masterpiece or single work of art. Which is beautiful because in this day of TH-cam single songs.... The album as a painting is still exactly that. And of course XTC has a paintbox of many colors that Todd Rundgren help them place perfectly... As a single painting and album, ... That has a female on and talks about the sky.. She must be Virgo the constellation of August. The womb of the pagan creation story.
Great to hear Todd acknowledge Dave as an outstanding musician and also: where on Skylarking does Dave sing?? Super-curious to hear his voice now.
See if y0u can get h0ld 0f Rem0ulds by DG, he sings a bit 0n that. I'm n0t enc0uraging piracy but it's 0ut there.
When you consider the unique brilliance and charisma of the drummer and bass player/composer and the complex genius of Andy, it's fascinating to hear Gregory singled out like that - just an amazing band to the core, arguably second only to the Beatles in the pop genre?
Great insights from Todd. Thanks for sharing!
I have the first release without "Dear God." I had never heard that song until months after listening to Skylarking.
Don't underestimate Producers! Kudos to TR. He's right about The Big Express.
wow! great interview...kudos to Todd.
Andy met his match with Todd. Very cinematic.
I think Skylarking has the best production of all their records.
Great little interview. Didn't take much to get Todd chatting away.
Good to hear Todd's side of the story. While Andy has always taken personal swipes at him, Todd refreshingly takes the high road.
Andy has been praising the work Todd did on the album for decades now, and Todd is still occasionally sniping back at Andy, even recently. A little google search will confirm it.
Big Express @2:56. Good for him, that he understood them and stuck W/ it. Summers Cauldron my all time favorite XTC.
The album Todd said was exhausting is 'The Big Express'....which coincidentally is getting a re-release in Sept 2023, remixed by Steven Wilson, who has done a bang up job on 6 other albums so far, so hopefully this new version will meet with Todd's approval 🙂
Good to know! I only have the album on a cassette somewhere -- which hasn't been played in years as I don't have a tape deck. Oh wait, I DO have one in my old Panasonic boom box. LOL
@SpringRubber here's the link for preorder:
burningshed.com/xtc_the-big-express_cd_blu-ray
I was at the LA screening. Way better. Plus all the great extras that come with the XTC 5.1s.
@@BlackRoomProductions LA in Swindon I assume 😜
I love Swindon! Will have a band-related Swindon walkabout video coming out real soon from the rarely seen online XTC Convention @@martinclinton6284
It’s funny how,people hear things.
I personally love the “big express” and if Todd was a big XTC fan he’d of known the album title straight away.
Love Skylarking too by the way.
Can’t wait to hear Steve Wilson’s mix
Wow great observation about the continuity and mix of Big Express
Skylarking and Oranges & Lemons, those are often my moods. The inimitable Andy.
Todd is wonderfully expressive with his arms and hands!
Very cool interview with Mr Rundgren. Didn't know he produced this amazing record.
I think his daughter is singing on Dear God
No air, no dynamics, Todd is describing most popular music from the last 20 years or more. Modern producers fill every millisecond with noise, distortion "ambience" reverb, and all instruments are mixed as forward as possible.
I think more than enough time has gone by for Todd, Andy, Collin, Dave and Prairie Prince to all sit down together for a roundtable discussion at Todd’s place in Hawaii about Skylarking - all of it. Simply, the album would not exist if not for Todd’s intervention and sequencing. He superimposed the unifying theme and challenged the group to make what will always be one of the best concept records in pop music.
I love Skylarking! To this day I am surprised at the music on it.
Skylarking is up there with Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper, and Forever Changes. Just incredible!
Fascinating listen. Great to hear his respect for Dave Gregory musician-to-musician.
The band would play the Addams Family theme tune when Rundgren entered the studio. Andy had nicknamed him "Lurch"
Great interview! Todds still a Wizard!
You know that old saying..."if you were stranded on an island, what 10 albums would you take"? Well....I moved to a tropical island 26 years ago...and "Skylarking" was one of my 10.
"Cast away on a Desert Island
With Great Britain written on its name plate"
Todd's version of events is spot on
And he did a great job too.
I think Todd was thinking about The Big Express album when mentioning Steel Wheels
Funny I said it out loud at that part thinking TR could hear me
I'd love to hear more from Todd about this record!
On that fancy re-release 2LP (via 45rpm) they spelled this genius' name: 'Produced by Tod Rundgren' - not kidding.
Maybe some kind of vengeance...
Great explaination of why some XTC albums are kind of hard to listen to despite the obvious talent.
No way I can’t believe I didn’t know-Todd and Andy are two I really look up to. No wonder anymore
The big express is the album Todd couldn’t remember.
I cannot imagine that working with Todd or Andy would be difficult. However the result was a masterpiece!
English Settlement is my fav XTC album but Skylarking is a different genre. Not raucous but comforting across all tracks. Maybe that cohesiveness is due to a single man, TR, doing the final mix. Dear God has stood the test of time but when I first heard the song, I'm with Andy Partridge, very weird having little kid voices on it. But I love Summer Cauldron into Grass, Ballet for a Rainy Day into 1000 Umbrellas and Dying into Sacrificial Bonfire.
Yes English Settlement to me was their masterpiece.
For me also.@@ER-me1ii
XTC were a great band and no doubt that Andy is in many ways a genius but Todd is a genius in every respect. It is worthwhile tracking down his appearances where he discusses not music but social and political issues.
If you grew up in the 1980s, or you were a young adult you remembered XTC. They usually got airplay on indie rock stations.
Todd has never stated that he was “a fan” of XTC when handed the project. Certainly he would never speak of the scene in the book “Chalkhills And Children” where he gave the band the ultimatum - “I’m going up to my house now. When you all decide you’ll do the album THE RIGHT WAY you can ring me and tell me to come back… goodbye”.
This feud is legendary...Andy and co.they loved Todds droll sense of humor. Todd is oddly opinionated and wasn't taking their bull. It would of been crazy if they had any footage of their debates.
Dave G. Is a remarkable musician
Thanks for this
Np, check out the full interview at 955 KLOS they got tons of Jonesy's Jukebox there
Skylarking is probably XTC's best record and Rundgren's production deserves lots of the credit. The Big Express is a very suffocating record as TR explains (without naming it). I've never been able to listen to it all the way through.
Check out the new Steven Wilson 5.1 mix of The Big Express coming out in a month. Much easier on the ears and makes TBE worth a revisit.
@@BlackRoomProductions Wow, that's interesting--will definitely check that out, thanks!
right on, even w/out 5.1 system those discs are great, lots of extras (instrumental only for instance) @@rockturtleneck
REM XTC ELO tour. Make it happen, God. Loved "Generals and Majors" and "Senses Working Overtime".
I got the two disc 45rpm box set with expansive notes and original art concept, as well as with the corrected polarity. Supposedly the error slipped by the engineers and made it to countless early pressings, but I never noticed.
That's interesting. Because there was a lot of talk about that so called "inversed polarity" problem and how now we would at last listen to Skylarking as it should have sounded since the very beginning...
There's something about TR productions, both on his own music and the albums he produced, and it's that the bass is never ever upfront in the mix. It's rather muffled compared to other producers sound choises. But that's him.
It wasn't uncommon for bands to hate what producers did with their music - especially when the album was praised as one of their best. It drives the members of the band crazy that someone else gets credit for something they would never have done. The success of Forever Changes drove Arthur Lee crazy, and its one of a handful of true rock classics. And the orchestration on the Bridge Over Troubled Waters album that was added after S&G left drove Paul Simon nuts. As often as not, the band themselves weren't the best judge of their best work.
Smart comment.
You have a point. I've seen many "Genius" artists take credit for the work of their underlings, and then push them to the side or even get rid of them when the media comes calling. Ego is a helluva drug!
The previous album he can't remember is The Big Express (1984)
Interesting he says you feel exhausted after listening to it. I got it on LP close to when it came out, already an XTC fan, and the album did strike me as dense and thick, a heavy listen.
@@BlueArcStreaming Yeah I like it though for all it's "heaviness" :)
I'm going to a listening session of the 5.1 remix of TBE next week, very excited
Oh? Are they doing something with that album? Is Wilson involved this time too?
@@bent2 yep exactly that. No idea when it will be released (I'm guessing September/October this year) but heard the 5.1 with my own ears and Andy made the announcement himself at the 2022 Convention. I'll release video of Andy's announcement with a link to preorders once they're available. FYI in case anyone is wondering I get nothing from it and have nothing to do with AP or Convention, I'm just a fan who gives back to other fans and wants to help Andy sell cds. You'd be surprised the crap I've gotten for doing that.
I've loved electronic music my whole life....whats that got to do with this? Nothing except i love XTC, their songs and production are so imaginative, sophisticated and incredible. XTC is easily as great as Talking Heads IMHO
Skylarking is the case in point of why Robert Fripp’s maxim that the producer “must always protect the artist” is so true - sometimes it’s even protection from themselves😂!!
The song that DEAR GOD replaced was MERMAID SMILED.
Masterpiece
XTC A GREAT BAND LOVE ALL THE SINGLES AND LPS
Welcome to my channel, you will find much XTC here.
Todd makes some good points.... Artists tend to have big egos and be perfectionists, so often times they will claim that a work of theirs would have been better with more time, more money etc... But as Todd points out, an artist can drown themselves in meticulously working and re-working something for ages, with no real improvement made.
I met Colin Moulding in a London studio ( power plant formerly Morgan) a while after skylarking came out. Sitting at the bar I asked him how he felt about it as I was bemused at Andy’s comments being a big fan of the record myself. Colin told me he liked the record and was very happy with it 💫
Nice to hear Dave Gregory mentioned , he is a fine musician.
Good interview
He meant "Big Express", not "Steel Wheels". It's the image of the 'steel' locomotive train wheel that put the name in his head.
Interesting to hear his perspective, he's certainly been painted as a bit of a bad guy by XTC (or by Andy Partridge at least) but hearing him talk about it he seems quite passionate about the way he produced it
Funny my ex hated XTC but loves Todd Rungren's music. I should've told her about this
I was literally talking to a friend this week about finding some XTC albums a bit of a chore and I couldn’t quite express why that was given that the songs are so very very good. “No air” is exactly it. Too dense in the mix. Still love ‘em but Skylarking is a class apart to my ears.
Todd and Andy are both control freaks but the album was perhaps the best work that XTC ever made.
English Settlement
Easily their best album. So visual, like a full-colour graphic novel.
It's easily their best to you. I think Nonsuch is their best.>>raises eyebrows at you.
@@flexiblestrategist9922 Nonsuch does have gems like Bungalow and My Bird Performs plus some radio singles (that probably never got played), but it also has a fair bit of filler. Skylarking is a complete work of art with a genius collaborator.
White music fools!
@@flexiblestrategist9922 Agree with you about Nonsuch - the best songs on that album are some of the best in their catalog - but the other bloke is right that Skylarking is undeniably a masterpiece.
Black Sea
Big Express is the album with the wheel on it. And I agree, it's pretty forgettable. Todd may have pushed them off balance in just the right way and they accidentally made a great record again. It lasted through Dukes of Stratosfear and Oranges and Lemons. then it's back to the wall of relentlessness and more and more people lost interest. Still, so much great music from XTC. Todd is a class act.
Turns out it's the best album they made...
It was titled "Big Express" Todd
I went to this little new music store in town and said i wanted some new tunes but different. And the guy let me take skylarking (just released) to check it out for the night. Bought it the next day and its still on my play list
@ASHole71 You have just boarded the train to XTC land. Any questions just ask, I'll talk about my favorite band all day long.
Lol I boarded the train a long time ago
Doh I missed the "just released" part
Lol NP
I listened to them on the bus everyday while reading Interview with a Vampire and then Lestat
I bought the Steve Wilson blu ray b/c of this XTC Rundgren story. I'd never heard the lp before. Had heard most of their others. Always a lot going on in the XTC lp mixes. Sometimes there is air. I am partial to Nonsuch myself. The Disappointed has some air in the mix.
"Skylarking" is in my top-10 albums of all-time. I love it. The ONLY song I cannot stand is "Dear God." Regardless, TRundgren did a great job, as he did with "Forever Now"! Wahi' Valleys
I like "Dear God" as a song fine enough, but it simply does not fit in well with the rest of the record. Listening to "Skylarking" with "Mermaid Smiled" instead of "Dear God" is far more enjoyable.
Yep! Wahi' Valleys @@kobayashiMaroo
Liv Tyler still calls him Dad🙂
Got all XTC s albums. And at time of Skylarking - yes it was immaculately produced. A gorgeous record. But it's funny both Skylarking and Oranges and Lemons are not the albums in their catalogue I go back too. I go back to their more striped down less plushly produced records.
Same here, Skylarking's near the bottom of the list for my listening ears.
English Settlement, Mummer, and Drums and Wires are my favorites.
Oh yeah all great
Two words: BLACK SEA
Awesome