A trawl through the music and art work of XTC's single releases (part 1)

If ever there was a band who, as far as I'm concerned anyway, have never released a bad record, it's XTC. With 12 studio albums and over 20 singles, that's an impressive achievement. Releasing their first record in 1977, the heyday of punk, they continued to release some quite brilliant records right through to the early 1990's, and after a hiatus of a few years again in the late 1990's and early 2000's.

For those of you not familiar with XTC's work, a great place top start would be one of their singles compilations. Fossil Fuels is a collection of their singles from 1977 to 1996, starting with Science Friction and going through to Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead, which I think may only be available on CD. Alternatively there are 2 other compilation releases, Waxworks, Some Singles, 1977 - 1992 and Beeswax, Some B-Sides, 1977 - 1992, available on both vinyl and CD.

As I sit working my way through their impressive back catalogue, I'm not only struck by the sheer brilliance of the tracks, but also the art work and the extras which often accompanied each release. I'm going to focus on the singles here but may come back to cover the albums at a later stage, as not only are they all musically wonderful, the packaging of several is worthy of discussion.

So, without further ado, let's make a start as this may take a while.

First up we have Science Friction, released on Virgin records in October 1977, with She's So Square as the b-side. It was originally released as a 7" single but quickly withdrawn to be replaced by a 12" version with an extra track, Dance Band. The 12" version, also referred to as the 3D EP is reasonably common 'out in the wild', i.e. in second hand record shops, and also on Ebay, and Amazon, but I don't think I've ever seen the withdrawn 7". There are a couple of copies of the 7" single on Discogs, without the picture sleeve, for over £200. One for serious collectors I guess - I'm happy to make do with the 12" version.

XTC - 3D EP, Virgin records, c.1977

As 1977 drew to a close and 1978 began, the first wave on punk morphed into new wave, a scene and genre perhaps more fitting for XTC's talents and sensibilities, and they released 3 further singles, as well as 2 studio albums, White Music and Go 2.

Their first single of 1978 was the Andy Partridge penned Statue of Liberty, with Hang On To The Night on the b-side. Early copies has the blue Virgin labels on both sides, whereas later copies have the green and red Virgin labels. I was not aware of this at the time, but perhaps explains its lack of any chart presence, that Radio 1 banned it for the lyric, "In my fantasy I sail beneath your skirt". Hardly offensive or scandalous compared to the lyrics in some of today's music, but enough to get the BBC all flustered back in the day.

Despite being released in 1978, it's reasonably easy to track down a copy, although the sleeve is made from quite thin paper and subject to dirtying and tearing, so finding a decent copy may be more of a challenge. Again Ebay seems to have quite a few.

XTC - Statue of Liberty, Virgin records, c.1978

April 1978 saw the release of XTC's third single, This Is Pop?, written by Andy Partridge, with Colin Moulding's Heatwave on the b-side. The a-side also featured on their debut album, White Music, but the 7" version is different.

XTC - This Is Pop, Virgin records, c.1978

Still yet to trouble the music charts, well at least from a singles perspective, XTC's final single release of 1978 was Are You Receiving Me? Written by Andy Partridge, with Colin Moulding's Instant Tunes appearing on the b-side. The single was released in a fairly minimal picture sleeve, again made of very thin paper and easy to tear, with a huge question mark taking up the majority of the front cover, and a similarly sized exclamation mark on the back of the sleeve. The band's name and song title appear beneath in small type.

XTC - Are You Receiving Me?, Virgin records, c.1978

And so we come to 1979, probably the year most people will have become aware of XTC. Their first single of that year to be released was Life Begins At The Hop, written by Colin Moulding about his experiences as a youth going to 'youth dances' in Swindon. The b-side is Homo Safari, an instrumental written by Andy Partridge, which would become the first of a six part series of ambient tracks gracing the b-sides of this and future XTC 7" and 12" releases.

Life Begins At The Hop is also the first XTC single with, for want of a better phrase, enhanced artwork and sleeve design. Not only did the release come in a clear plastic sleeve, designed to look like a record player, but the vinyl itself was clear too. I had imagined that this limited edition version on clear vinyl would have been hard to track down these days, but Ebay seems to have a few at reasonable prices at the time of writing this article.

XTC - Life Begins At The Hop, Virgin records, c.1979

And now perhaps, if you were to ask someone who had heard of XTC but was not necessarily a die-hard fan, what would be their most recognisable song, then it's highly likely to be their next single release from 1979, Making Plans For Nigel. The track was written by Colin Moulding and taken from their 1979 Drums and Wires album and was their first Top 20 hit. The b-side of the single featured 2 tracks written by Andy Partridge, Bushman President and Pulsing Pulsing, the former being the second in Andy Partridge's Homo Safari series.

Not only a brilliant track, but the packaging of the record was innovative too. The first 20,000 copies of the 7" single came in a fold out sleeve that opened out into Nigel versus his parents version of the Snakes and Ladders game. There seem to be plenty of these available on Ebay but most seem to be the version without the game. 

XTC - Making Plans For Nigel, Virgin records, c.1979

After the success of Making Plans For Nigel, XTC should have gone on to be more of a household name, but their next single, the Andy Partridge penned, Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down, did not sell well and did not even chart. The b-side was Colin Moulding's Ten Feet Tall, taken from the Drums and Wires album, which was also the used as the first single by the band to be released in the USA.

XTC - Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down, Virgin records, c.1980

As 1980 continued, XTC released their fourth studio album, Black Sea, which spawned 3 more hit singles, and 1 that missed, all with interesting art work and in some cases additional tracks. The first single to be taken from Black Sea was Generals and Majors, written by Colin Moulding, with the b-side, Don't Lose Your Temper, written by Andy Partridge.

The single dented the Top 40, peaking at number 32. The first 15,000 copies were released as a double 7" in a gatefold sleeve with the additional single containing 2 further tracks, Smokeless Zone (Colin Moulding) and The Somnambulist (Andy Partridge).

XTC - Generals and Majors, Virgin records, c.1980

Following on from the modest chart success of Generals and Majors came another, limited edition, double single release, which was to be the second single taken from the Black Sea album, Towers of London, written by Andy Partridge. The b-side was a live version of Colin Moulding's Set Myself on Fire, with a live version of Battery Brides and a John Peel session version of Scissor Man making up the extra 7".

The records in the limited edition double release come as 2 separate singles in separate pictures sleeves, encased in a plastic outer sleeve with a silhouette of London skyline printed on it.

XTC - Towers of London, Virgin records, c.1980

And finally for part one of my wander through XTC's singles, is the third track to be released from the Black Sea album, going on to what would be their biggest hit to date, the Andy Partridge written, Sgt Rock (Is Going To Help Me). Its lyrical content seems however to now be a source of embarrassment to him now, with what was supposed to be an ironic take on comic book action heroes being taken at face value and attracting hate mail.

The single features 2 live tracks on the b-side, Living Through Another Cuba and Generals and Majors, which were recorded at the Lyceum in October 1980. Early pressings of the single included a poster.

XTC - Sgt Rock (Is Going To Help Me), Virgin records, c.1980

So, that's the end of the first installment. Many thanks for reading, If you enjoyed it then you can find the second part of this 3 part post at a trawl through the music and art work of XTC's single releases (part 2) which starts with Respectable Street, courting more lyrical controversy with the BBC, but more about that later.

But before I do finally sign off, here are a few links to books about XTC which may be of interest:

 

Complicated Game, Inside the Songs of XTC, by Andy Partridge

The XTC Bumper Book of Fun for Boys and Girls

XTC - Chalkhills and Children, the Definitive Biography