Skylarking

XTC

album cover

In the Shadow of the Beatles, and Still a Universe Away

It's impossible to overstate the influence of the Beatles on musicians who grew up in the 1960s and '70s. The quartet's sunny, visionary records eventually impacted just about everyone involved in music, from singers to symphonists. The Beatles changed longentrenched notions of vocal harmony, overhauled verse-chorus song form, and fully exploited the creative possibilities of multitrack recording. Worshippers have been contending with (if not puzzling over) these innovations ever since.

In the crowded pantheon of post-Beatles pop, XTC looms as one of the few bands to not simply learn from the Fab Four, but to take the inspiration into significant new realms. The British outfit built around singer-songwriter Andy Partridge and bassist-songwriter Colin Moulding started out in 1977 as a New Wave guitar band. Its first few records are notable for their determined edginess—jabbing, jolting guitar lines support easy-to-remember hooks. That sound worked for a while, through the aptly named Drums and Wires (1979). And then, somewhat suddenly, XTC went arty. Partridge and Moulding began augmenting the guitars with keyboard parts, and elaborate string-orchestra padding, and "Strawberry Fields"–ish vocal processing. By the time the band made this gem, which was produced by Todd Rundgren, another Beatles obsessive, its sound resembled Abbey Road. Except the lyrics come with a cynical New Wave smirk.

Skylarking is XTC confronting the Beatles influence, after years of running from it. The overall organization recalls James Joyce's Ulysses—it follows some too-sensitive souls through the activities of a single day. The curtain opens with the sound of crickets chirping in the morning ("Summer's Cauldron"), and then rolls through moments of reflection and idyllic lateafternoon frolics ("Grass"), eventually ending with a child's bedtime prayers (the plaintive "Dear God," which was added to the sequence after it became a hit in the U.S.). Skylarking is the result of equal parts rash inspiration and painstaking craft. It's possible to hear the Beatles influence, but on much of this metaphysically minded work of chamber pop brilliance, the melodies are all XTC. And sheer ecstasy.

Genre: Rock
Released: 1986, Geffen
Key Tracks: "Grass," "That's Really Super, Supergirl," "Ballet for a Rainy Day," "Season Cycle," "Dear God"
Collector's Note: The remastered 2002 version contains "Mermaid Smile," a sparkling song that was excised from the original version to make room for "Dear God."
Catalog Choice: Drums and Wires; English Settlement; Nonsuch
Next Stop: Todd Rundgren: Something/Anything?
Book Pages: 878–879

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Comments:

#1 from Kathryn Bogue, Wichita, Kansas - 11/19/2009 7:21

This band music has been a long time favorite of mine.

This band’s consistant mixing/folding of serious emotional and intellectual subject matter, cleverly crafted lyrical prose, and compatibly stirring musical accompanyment earns my vote as the thinking (wo)mans rock band. 

I hope for a comeback or “retirement fund” world tour from XTC!

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About 1,000 Recordings

Celebrate the joy, the revelation, the mystery, the fun, the sheer shivers-up-the-spine pleasure of great music.

Essential operas. Milestone rock albums. An education in the blues. The world of world. Classical from Bach to Bartók to Beethoven to Brahms. And dozens of unexpected gems, surprising discoveries, and long-lost masterpieces.

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