Reviews of XTC: Song Stories
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Billboard
February 13, 1999
IN PRINT
by Roger Rodriguez
XTC: SONG STORIES
The Exclusive Authorized Story Behind The Music
By XTC And Neville Farmer
Hyperion Paperback Original
317 pages; $ 14.95Written with the full participation of the Swindon, England, lads known as XTC, Song Stories is a fan's dream come true. True to its title, the book relays the underexposed history of XTC by centering on its songs, ranging from the band's late-'70s punk genesis to its '80s art-pop heyday and on to the still-creative present (see story, page 18).
Because de facto XTC leader Andy Partridge refused to tour after 1983, the band's story revolves almost exclusively around its prolific, two-decade-plus career of writing songs and recording them. And in this detailed account we get the tale of the tape directly from Partridge and his cohorts, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory. The trio relates the whys and wherefores of its entire discography, not only spotlighting tracks on A-list albums and singles collections but drawing attention to the stuff of B-side compilations and XTC's brilliant psychedelic-era parody/tribute side project, the Dukes Of Stratosphear.
Typically, Partridge would write 30 songs for a new record, Moulding would contribute his fair share, and guitar ace/master arranger Gregory would add his impeccably tasteful ideas to the mix. And in reading how the members eventually hashed everything out to produce classic albums like Black Sea and English Settlement, you get a sampling of their views on love, marriage, the U.K., the U.S., politics, and the ambitions and emotions that make this thinking man's pop trio tick.
In recounting such prime XTC tunes as "Making Plans For Nigel" and "Senses Working Overtime," the band and co-author Neville Farmer relay enough human interest to reassure the reader that the band has occasionally emerged from its musical obsessions to see what the rest of the world is up to. But it's evident from the book's front-jacket photo (and the serious studio tans it reveals) that this group has lived and breathed its music, for better and worse.
All manner of anecdotes reveal Partridge's autocratic rule of XTC and the focus and frustrations that has entailed. One of the book's most dramatic moments comes with its description of the union of XTC and American workhorse producer/rock icon Todd Rundgren--and the battle of wills between Partridge and Rundgren that nearly split the band. Yet the friction sparked a thing of beauty: the 1986 Virgin album Skylarking. The Skylarking sessions also yielded XTC's greatest U.S. success in the form of the college-radio smash "Dear God." That song was Partridge's least-favorite product of the Rundgren sessions; he fought hard to relegate it to a B-side. (It was eventually added to subsequent pressings of Skylarking.)
One blight on an otherwise fine volume is the lack of a discography. Another XTC book published a few years ago--Chalkhills And Children by Chris Twomey (Omnibus Press)--supplies one, although its text isn't nearly as well-written or insightful as that of Song Stories. And this book offers a surprise development that closes its survey of XTC on a somewhat wistful note--just like so much of the music the band has made so far.
Copyright 1999 Billboard Publications, Inc.
[Thanks to Wes Hanks]
Sunday, December 20, 1998 XTC blasts off again
By DAVID VEITCH
The Calgary SunBritish pop group returns with a box set and a new biography
The 1990s haven't been a particularly good decade for fans of XTC.
The British pop band's only studio album of the '90s, Nonsuch, was released six years ago. After that, Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding and the recently departed guitarist Dave Gregory fought to break their less-than-lucrative contract with Virgin. They finally succeeded, but only after years of self-imposed inactivity -- a painfully long stretch for fans of the band's Beatlesque tunesmithery.
Now set up with their own label, distributed in North America by New York-based TVT, there are finally stirrings in the XTC camp. The long-awaited new studio album, Apple Venus Vol. 1, should be out in late February or early March. In the meantime, XTC has released a four-CD box-set of their BBC recordings, titled Transistor Blast, and an insightful authorized biography written by journalist friend Neville Farmer, Song Stories.
The 317-page tome (Hyperion, $19.95) is a fascinating read for committed fans. Farmer chronicles the group's development from four hard-touring Swindon lads playing noisy New Wave to what they are today, a mature, studio-only entity making the finest pastoral-pop records this side of Rubber Soul and Smiley Smile.
In the process, Farmer gets the band members to spill the beans about studios, producers (Todd Rundgren's a tyrant; Steve Nye had bad gas, apparently) and each other. The interviews between Farmer and XTC are often transcribed verbatim and prove to be as revelatory for the band as for the reader. For fans, though, having Partridge and Moulding discuss the inspiration behind every one of their songs -- comics and drinking early on; family, fidelity and finances later on -- is the book's real selling point.
XTC's decision in 1982 to stop touring -- a result of Partridge's debilitating stage fright -- meant many fans never had the chance to see the band in concert. Transistor Blast offers proof XTC was a potent live act. Two CDs contain essentially two separate gigs in 1978 and 1980, both nervy and exciting though the latter show showed a marked improvement in songwriting and presentation. (By 1980, XTC wisely replaced Barry Andrews and his gothic keyboard style with Brit-pop classicist Gregory.) The other two CDs feature 25 studio performances for the BBC from 1977 to 1989. These tracks just skim XTC's canon yet contain an endless supply of inventive ideas, clever lyrics and unforgettable melodies.
One only wishes the tracks were arranged chronologically, so XTC's exquisite, latter-day songs didn't segue into their early, amphetamine-fuelled bursts of herky-jerky pop. A minor quibble, though, for a set that'll surely satiate loyalists and wow casual fans and the uninitiated.
XTC: Song Stories
[Thanks to Wes Hanks and with permission of David Veitch]
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
November 29, 1998, Sunday FINAL AM EDITION
by Dave Ferman, Star-Telegram Writer
Books about music can be a big hit on gift list
Christmas plus music equals, for a lot of people, the new Celine Dion or Babyface CDs.
Nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't have to be that way. Some of the best Christmas gifts you can give your favorite music lover aren't music at all, but rather books about music.
That's particularly true in 1998, which saw the publication of a number of underpublicized books about, variously, swing music in Texas; zydeco and its place in Louisiana culture; an obscure jazz musician with an incredible secret; and a well-regarded but never riotously popular English band.
. . . And then there's XTC: Song Stories (Hyperion; $ 14.95), an account of the famous (and criminally underappreciated) English band told by the band itself and author Neville Farmer. XTC, you'll recall, has made sublime pop music since the '70s, but they rarely perform because of leader Andy Partridge's stage fright and his on-tour breakdown in California in 1982. After that, they devoted more time to crafting studio CDs.
Much of the book's narrative hinges on band members talking about individual songs. This doesn't sound like it would work, but it does.
Along the way, an interesting portrait of a unique band is drawn.
TOP Magazine
October 1998
XTC: SONG STORIES - THE EXCLUSIVE STORY BEHIND THE MUSIC
by XTC and Neville Farmer (Helter Skelter Publishing £12.99). Thorough examination of the personalities, and lyrical inspirations behind XTC's quintessentally arch and much-missed English pop, with the group members continuing to play their part to the full. (Ruth Morris)
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