In 1980 I was 8 years old. My favorite band was The Beatles, and I’d never even hear of XTC. Like many people, the first time I heard an XTC song was in 1986 when Dear God exploded onto the airways. That song was the turning point in my musical taste: I went from liking The Beatles and other stuff to liking The Beatles AND OTHER STUFF. XTC lead to a total expansion. I began to appreciate bands like The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Pogues. Then it was on to darker stuff: The Sisters of Mercy, The Mission, All About Eve, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Bauhaus, Love and Rockets. It seemed that as the days rolled on I was adding a new band to my repertoire. “Why, then,” you might ask, “aren’t you doing Skylarking? That’s the album that brought us Dear God. Haha, we’ve got you there.” Well that’s a good question and I’m glad you asked. The reason is simple. I still listen to Skylarking quite a bit and this blog is about great albums that I don’t listen to as much as I should. I’m sure I will do Skylarking at some point in some kind of logical loophole, or because I just want to do it. Anyway, I chose to do Black Sea as my first XTC album. After I listened to Skylarking a few hundred thousand times or so I realized how long XTC had been around and how many albums they already had out. Determined, I went and got my hands on every one that I could. Between birthdays, Christmas, and lawn mowing money I caught up on as much XTC as I could find. Every album was amazing and could satisfy whatever mood I was in. Did I just want to chill? Mummer was good for that. Did I want to be a quasi-punk? I could choose between White Music or Go 2. Did I want to think? English Settlement was good for that, so was The Big Express… Then again they pretty much were all pretty good if I wanted to think about what I was listening to. For me Black Sea is the album that really had XTC become consistently intelligent songwriters. White Music and Go 2 are fun albums but, while clever and fun and silly, don’t have the same songwriting power as later albums. Drums and Wires, their third album, really begins the XTC songwriting craftsmanship. Black Sea takes it to the next level for them. Brilliant and fun singles are showered through the whole thing. Generals and Majors, Towers of London, Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me), and Respectable Street are all great songs and legitimate singles. But every song on this album is great. XTC became the new Beatles for me because I got something from each song, especially from Black Sea going forward. The heart of XTC, for me, are the lyrics to their songs. Andy Partridge is, literally, a wordsmith. A genius at turning a phrase or just plain using the best words possible for a song. He is a master at carving words into a perfect phrase and, by sheer luck or proximity, Colin Moulding is just as good (though not as prolific). Is Dave Gregory one of the most underrated guitarists in Rock ‘n’ Roll? Probably. I refuse to leave out drummer Terry Chambers. I wish he never left the band, I think he would have been phenomenal in later albums as he was on this one. Respectable Street – The album starts off with a “controversial” song. Several lyrics had to be changed to be clean enough to be a single. Now they talk about abortion, In cosmopolitan proportions to their daughters Was changed to: Now they talk about absorption In cosmopolitan proportions to their daughters And because it was so foul they had to change As they speak of contraception To: As they speak of child prevention Then the big one. To this day it makes my ears bleed to hear this original lyric: Now she speaks about diseases, and which sex position pleases best her old man Thankfully this became: Now she speaks about diseases And which proposition pleases best her old man Otherwise the world wouldn't have been able to handle it. We also, apparently, couldn't handle Sunday church and they look fetching; Saturday night saw him retching over our fence. Because it became: Sunday church and they look fetching Saturday night saw him stretching over our fence Anyway, foul words and all (insert winking smiley face here), it is a great way to begin an album. A great one to get you pumped and ready. But wait, what was he saying? That was pretty funny. The music is great and the words are too? Sign me up. Generals and Majors - We go from one single to another. Generals and Majors was instantly one of my favorites. Great guitar throughout and probably the most signature bass that I know. It took me years to realize that this was Colin’s song, not Andy’s. It has the same intellectual level and is as much fun as any of Andy’s. It wasn't until I saw the video that I saw that it was Colin. Living Through Another Cuba – Back in 86-87, this song was originally lost on me. I wasn't alive during the Cuban missile crisis and it was 7 years after the time that the song was written. But what it did have was an easily appreciated line “get on your knees and pray, and while you're down there kiss your ass goodbye.” I could get behind singing that line. As time went on, I could appreciate the whole song, and in this year of American Dissent I kind of find it amusing how it's just about another 20 years later and people are going to be worried about the same type of thing. Love at First Sight – There was nothing I wanted more in 87 for love at first sight. It didn't happen (at least no one was falling in love with me). Again, these guys just have a way of making a simple concept way more special than it probably should. Rocket From A Bottle - Almost like a continuation, Rocket From a Bottle kind of shows you what happens when Love at First Sight is mutually felt. This song has something else going for it, it's kind of a musical onomatopoeia with the the guitar rocket sound. Perfect. No Language In Our Lungs - How do you craft a song that is genius? Ask Andy. It's songs like this that really influenced me. Very Beatlesque at times, in a very I Want You (She’s So Heavy) kind of way musically. The words hit me specifically as something I felt. “There is no language in our lungs To tell the world just how we feel No no, no no, no no, bridge of thought No mental link No letting out just what you think There is no language in our lungs Lungs, lungs, lungs There is no muscle in our tongues To tell the world what's in our hearts No no, no no, no, we're leaving nothing behind Just chiseled stones No chance to speak before we're bones There is no muscle in our tongues Tongues, tongues, tongues I thought I had the whole world in my mouth I thought I could say what I wanted to say For a second that thought became a sword in my hand I could slay any problem that would stand in my way I felt just like a crusader Lion-heart, a Holy Land invader But nobody can say what they really mean to say The impotency of speech came up and hit me that day I would have made this instrumental But the words got in the way There is no language in our There is no language in our lungs To tell the world what's in our hearts No no, no no, no, we're leaving nothing behind Just chiseled stones No chance to speak before we're bones There is no language in our lungs Lungs, lungs” Many times I felt like I could be Lionheart the Holy Land Invader, only to have my words die on my lips – or in this case, lungs. But what is being said in the background? That's what I want to know. Towers of London - This was, literally a history lesson for me. It's where I first heard of Londinium. It was also the first song that really made me think about tragedies that occurred while making a city, not just La la Londinium. But not just a thinking song, it's a great pop song that just happens to have highly intelligent words and meaning. Paper And Iron (Notes And Coins) - At the time, I was a young teen and not worried about working for paper and iron. Now that I'm married with children this song speaks a lot more to me. While I don't work for a factory, per se, some could argue it's it's own type of factory job. The drums here are my favorite on the album. And as I listened to the album all week this is the song that kept coming into my head. Burning With Optimism’s Flames – I can listen to this song all day. It's a fun and positive song. I appreciate Andy’s vocal gymnastics. Between the singing ‘til he's out of breath to the end where he's loudly impassioned. Sgt Rock (Is Going To Help Me) - It's funny, but this song: a single, and it's title being the name of a comic book character has every reason to be one of my favorites on the album. It turns out that it's probably my least favorite. And for no reason, really. It just strikes me less than the other tracks on the album. But it does gain points for being in the movie Hot Fuzz. Travels In Nihilon – My favorite song on the album. It keeps the incessant, unrelenting beat throughout. I like the whispered echo of singing; it gives the song an unearthly feeling. It also made me feel smarter because I had already learned in my first year of Latin what Nihilism was, so I felt “in” on the song. The end, with the water sounds, always reminded me of something out of Blade Runner for some reason. The musical world would be much better with more XTC.
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