And so for the third and final installment of my trawl through the music and artwork of XTC's vinyl single releases. If you've not seen the previous posts then check out part 1 and part 2.
This post sees us in 1986, where XTC released a new album, Skylarking, but just one single, Grass, written about a park in Swindon as opposed to cannabis, was taken from the album. Grass was written by Colin Moulding, with the b-side track, Dear God, written by Andy Partridge, which would go on to become a single in its own right in later years, although again not without controversy over the lyrics. The 12" version contains the additional track, Extrovert. The single only managed to get to number 100 in the UK charts.
XTC - Grass, Virgin records, c.1986
Moving on to 1987 now, the next single release by XTC was the Colin Moulding penned track, The Meeting Place, again taken from the latest album, Skylarking. The track tells the tale of a man meeting his wife outside a factory, in this case the Swindon railway works, whose hooter features as the track starts. The b-side is The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul, written by Andy Partridge. Initial copies of the 7" single came on clear vinyl in a printed plastic sleeve. It was also released with a conventional picture sleeve.
The 12" version has both the 7" tracks on the a-side, with 4 XTC home demos on the b-side: Terrorism, Let's Make a Den, Find The Fox, and The Troubles. Although many of the earlier XTC singles turn up 'in the wild' from time to time, this one never seems to, in any of its formats. Ebay currently has a few copies with the prices reflecting the seeming rarity of the release.
XTC - The Meeting Place, Virgin records, c.1987
XTC's next single was Dear God, which had already been released as the b-side of Grass. Lyrically contentious, questioning the existence of God and the existence of evil, Partridge again attracted hate mail. The record only made it into the very lower reaches of the UK chart, and although not included on early pressings of Skylarking it does feature on later re-pressings. The b-side is Big Day, written by Colin Moulding. The 12" release features an extra track, Another Satellite, written by Andy Partridge.
Although this post is only about vinyl, I will make an exception briefly to mention the CD version of Dear God, which includes all 6 songs from the Homo Safari series, which as far as I'm aware have never been released on a single vinyl compilation, only as b-sides to their various singles.
XTC - Dear God, Virgin records, c.1987
1988 was a fallow year for XTC, with no releases at all. In 1989 XTC released another studio album Oranges and Lemons, from which a further 3 singles were taken. First to be released was Mayor of Simpleton, written by Andy Partridge with Colin Moulding's One Of The Millions on the b-side. There were 2 different 12" versions of this release. A conventional one, featuring a cover version of Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) song, Ella Guru, taken from his 1969 Trout Mask Replica album. The other version of the 12" was a limited edition release containing 3 previous singles: Dear God, Senses Working Overtime, and Making Plans For Nigel. The single reached number 46 in the UK charts.
XTC - Mayor of Simpleton, Virgin records, c.1989
The next single to be release from the Oranges and Lemons album was King For a Day, written by Colin Moulding, with the Andy Partridge penned, Happy Families on the b-side. A 12" version was released which featured a 12" mix of King For a Day, as well as the 7" version and Happy Families.
XTC - King For a Day, Virgin records, c.1989
The final XTC single to be released in 1989 was The Loving, again taken from the Oranges and Lemons album. The Loving was written by Andy Partridge, with Colin Moulding's Cynical Days on the b-side. The original version of this release had white paper labels but later versions have silver injection labels. The 12" version has an extra track, The World Is Full of Angry Young Men, written by Colin Moulding. The release failed to make any impact on the UK charts.
XTC - The Loving, Virgin records, c.1989
There now followed a 3 year hiatus before we were treated to another XTC release. 1992 saw the release of their album Nonsuch. This was the time when CDs were much more prevalent than vinyl, and original vinyl pressings of this and their subsequent albums go for quite a hefty sum on Ebay. The first single to be taken from Nonsuch was Disappointed, an Andy Partridge composition about people who have been turned down romantically and have come together to join "the disappointed". On the b-side was Colin Moulding's The Smartest Monkeys. It was also released as a 10" single, with Humble Daisy, written by Andy Partridge, as an additional track. The single reached number 33 in the UK charts but was the last time XTC troubled the UK Top 40.
XTC - The Disappointed, Virgin records, c.1992
The second single to be released from Nonsuch was The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead, telling the story of a man who helps the poor but is then killed off by the government. The b-side is Wardance, written by Colin Moulding, Ebay has plenty of this release for sale on CD, but not so many copies on vinyl, and it would seem, according to the discogs pricing history, that it's relatively hard to find.
XTC - The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead, Virgin records, c.1992
The third and final single to be released from Nonsuch was the Andy Partridge penned, Wrapped In Grey, however it was quickly withdrawn by Virgin with only a few thousand copies having been pressed. As such it's quite a collector's item. The CD version goes for £100's on discogs, but no one is selling the 7". Following this release XTC effectively went on strike following a dispute with Virgin records. The b-side features 2 versions of the track Bungalow, written by Colin Moulding.
XTC - Wrapped in Grey, Virgin records, c.1992
And so we come to the end of XTC's vinyl single releases. They did not release another single until 1999's Easter Theatre, but that along with subsequent singles were only released on CD, so I've not included them here.
Once again, thanks very much for reading. I hope you've enjoyed it. If you missed them then part 1 and part 2 are also available to read.
Here are links to a few books about XTC which may be of interest:
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