Andy Partridge Opens Up His Ape House
Tuesday August 22, 2006 @ 06:00 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

Andy Partridge

XTC's Andy Partridge doesn't tour due to his fear of flying, but that apparently leaves him more time to make music. Diehard fans will soon be able to hear a lot of it, as the Swindon, England songsmith has compiled 161 songs that he'll release in a collection called The Fuzzy Warbles Collectors Album on October 16 via his own Ape House label.

The nine-disc set explores Partridge's archives and features songs and alternate versions of XTC favourites that never made it on to final album track listings, as well as songs that Partridge never completed but revisited and finished for the Fuzzy Warbles series.

Each CD features unique Fuzzy Warbles stamp cover artwork, and the box to keep them all in is designed to look like a stamp album. The box also comes with a booklet called A Brief History Of Home Taping, where Partridge offers insights into his recording process, and a sheet of Fuzzy Warbles stamps.

You can buy the eight volumes separately, but you won't get all of the above extras or the collection's ninth disc. The bonus CD, Hinges, features nine tracks only available with the set.

The 52-year-old Partridge has had a bad year, first suffering a broken tendon in his left hand and then damaging his hearing and being diagnosed with tinnitus. If you want to brighten the day of the man who helped bring you such great songs as “Respectable Street,” “Senses Working Overtime,” “Dear God” and “The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead” over the years, get your hands on these tracks from The Fuzzy Warbles Collectors Album:

Volume One:

• ”Dame Fortune”
• ”Born Out Of Your Mouth”
• ”Howlin' Burston”
• ”Don't Let Us Bug Ya”
• ”That Wag”
• ”That Wave”
• ”Ocean's Daughter”
• ”Everything”
• ”MOGO”
• ”Goosey Goosey”
• ”Merely A Man”
• ”EPNS”
• ”Summer Hot As This”
• ”Miniature Sun”
• ”I Brought Myself A Liarbird”
• ”Complicated Game”
• ”Wonder Annual”
• ”Space Wray”
• ”Rocket”

Volume Two:

• ”Ridgeway Path”
• ”I Don't Want To Be Here” (AIDS benefit version)
• ”Young Marrieds”
• ”No One Here Available”
• ”Obscene Procession”
• ”Miller Time”
• ”You're The Wish You Are I Had”
• ”Ra Ra Rehearsal”
• ”Ra Ra For Rocking Horse”
• ”Everything'll Be Alright”
• ”25 O'Clock”
• ”GOOM”
• ”Chain Of Command”
• ”All Of A Sudden”
• ”Summers' Cauldron”
• ”Then She Appeared”
• ”It's Snowing Angels”
• ”Ship Trapped In The Ice”

Volume Three:

• ”My Train Is Coming”
• ”Lighthead”
• ”Goodbye Humanosaurus”
• ”Humble Daisy”
• ”You Like Me?”
• ”Great Fire”
• ”Work”
• ”Mopti Fake 1”
• ”Collideascope”
• ”Mopti Fake 2”
• ”When We Get To England”
• ”Train Running Low On Soul Coal”
• ”Holly Up On Poppy”
• ”Strawberry Fields Forever”
• ”Autumn Comes Around”
• ”Child's Crusade”
• ”Little Lighthouse”
• ”This Is The End”
• ”Put It On Again”

Volume Four:

• ”Tunes”
• ”Bumpercars”
• ”The Art Song (Something Good With Your Life)”
• ”I'm Playing My Fano”
• ”Zonked Right Out On Life”
• ”All I Dream Of Is A Friend”
• ”Peck The Ground Like A Chicken”
• ”That's Really Super Supergirl”
• ”Brainiac's Daughter”
• ”Blue Beret”
• ”Gangway, Electric Guitar Is Coming Through”
• ”Mechanical Planet”
• ”Helicopter”
• ”The Ugly Underneath”
• ”OMGO”
• ”Where Is Your Heart?”
• ”Hey, It's Alan Burston!”
• ”Season Cycle”
• ”Countdown To Christmas Party Time”

Volume Five:

• ”Welcome To Volume 5”
• ”Young Cleopatra”
• ”I Defy You Gravity”
• ”Ice Jet Kiss”
• ”Broomstick Rhythm”
• ”Earn Enough For Us”
• ”Dear God” (Skiffle version)
• ”Crocodile”
• ”Motorcycle Landscape”
• ”Rook”
• ”Don't You Ever Dare Call Me Chickenhead”
• ”Mermaid Explanation”
• ”Mermaid Smiled”
• ”Aqua Deum”
• ”Me And The Wind”
• ”Smalltown”
• ”Blue Overall”
• ”Red Brick Dream”
• ”Jacob's Ladder”
• ”My Land Is Burning”

Volume Six:

• ”Last Laugh Track”
• ”The Stinking Rich Song”
• ”Can't Tell What Truth Is Anymore”
• ”Candle Dance”
• ”The Tiny Circus Of Life”
• ”The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul”
• ”In My Hand”
• ”Difficult Age”
• ”Pink Thing”
• ”Shaking Skin House”
• ”Bike Ride To The Moon”
• ”My Love Explodes”
• ”Omnibus”
• ”Across The Antheap” (Skylarking demo)
• ”Across The Antheap” (Oranges & Lemons demo)
• ”Human Alchemy”
• ”Moonlit Drive”
• ”Price Of Orange”
• ”End Of The Pier”

Volume Seven:

• ”2 Rainbeau Melt”
• ”Thrill Pill”
• ”Sonic Boom”
• ”I'm Unbecome”
• ”Ballet For A Rainy Day”
• ”1000 Umbrellas”
• ”Ejac In A Box (MGOO)”
• ”C Side”
• ”Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her”
• ”Ladybird”
• ”Candymine”
• ”Visit To The Doctor”
• ”Cherry In Your Tree”
• ”Desert Island”
• ”Scarecrow People”
• ”Holy Me My Daddy”
• ”Books Are Burning”
• ”Bobba De Boop De Ba De Boobay”
• ”Open A Can Of Human Beans”

Volume Eight:

• ”Through Electric Gardens”
• ”Skate Dreams Wet Car”
• ”The Bland Leading The Bland”
• ”Silverstar”
• ”I Gave My Suitcase Away”
• ”Extrovert”
• ”Another Satellite”
• ”These Voices”
• ”Song For Wes Long”
• ”Happy Birthday Karen”
• ”REM Producer Enquiry”
• ”The Loving”
• ”Shalloween”
• ”Was A Yes”
• ”Genie In A Bottle”
• ”Disque Bleu”
• ”Poor Skeleton Steps Out”
• ”I Don't Want To Be Here” (original demo)
• ”Chalkhills And Children”

Hinges:

• ”Gold”
• ”Now We All Dead (It Doesn't Matter)”
• ”Rain Of Blows” (early version)
• ”Reign Of Blows”
• ”Jump”
• ”Shake You Donkey Up”
• ”Happy Families”
• ”Here Comes President Kill Again”
• ”Beating Of Hearts”

Apples In Stereo Plan Live Internet Album
Thursday February 08, 2001 @ 03:00 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

Denver's power pop indie heroes Apples In Stereo are preparing to become Apples in Cyberspace with the release of an MP3 only album later this month. Recorded at a Chicago club called Schuba, the collection of live tracks will include a previously unreleased version of "Heroes And Villains," a song by the heavily Apples-influential Beach Boys. The recording will be available as of Tuesday, February 20 at www.emusic.com.

Not one to rest on his live laurels, frontman Robert Schneider is already working on a side project known as Symphonie Fantastique. The project is proving to be quite an experience for him and has already included a collaboration with XTC's legendary Andy Partridge. The two have written a handful of songs together, which will be released on the project's forthcoming album.

XTC's Andy Partridge: The True Wasp Star
Friday September 29, 2000 @ 11:30 AM
By: Chris Burland

It's been a very prolific period for Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding of XTC. After many years of silence, as XTC attempted to sever their relationship with Virgin Records, suddenly with in the last 18 months ago, two albums of new material have seen the light of day (plus an album of Apple Venus demos called Homespun). The duo's latest album Wasp Star: Apple Venus Volume Two contains material written back in 1993 and recorded at the same time as 1998's Apple Venus. As Partridge explained, "Wasp Star focuses on the pop element of XTC," rather than the lush sound associated with the first volume [of Apple Venus]."

Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding of XTC

XTC has always been surrounded by uniquely XTCian controversy. Partridge's well-publicized stage fright ended the bands stage career, in part leading to the departure of the band's original drummer, Terry Chambers, in 1982. The band scored some major radio airplay with songs like "Making Plans For Nigel" and "Senses Working Overtime," which led to interest from Geffen to release their albums in the States. But due to the "Britishness" of their material, vocals and lyrics specifically, XTC never had any commercial success in America except for the release of the controversial "Dear God" in 1987. Even with the added heat the blasphemous song created, neither Virgin nor Geffen knew how to market a quirky, eccentric pop band with highly intelligent lyrics. It similarly foreshadowed the continued inability of the industry to successfully market anything that isn't musically and vocally aimed at the lowest common denominator (U2, Radiohead and a handful of others being the big exceptions to this rule).

With the release of Wasp Star, XTC can now count 12 full-length studio albums plus two pseudo-psychedelic Dukes Of Stratosphear albums and countless singles, greatest hits and retrospective albums, bringing the XTC discography to over 65 releases. If you've heard any of those records, you'd know Partridge and Moulding have produced an enormous collection of great songs over the past 23 years since the release of the debut, White Music.

Indeed, while most of their contemporaries are on to reunion tours, XTC just keep making great music, coming up with fresh subject matter for his material. The opening track on Wasp Star, "Playground," sheds light on his new muse, his children. The song came about after Partridge ran into bully problems at school. "['Playground'] is not a positive look at school for me. It really reflects my kids' experiences in school," explains Partridge. "When I was a kid my parents told us to run away from bullies. I told my kids to whack the bullies and stand up for themselves." Generally Andy Partridge has difficulties with the British school system. "Schools are really a training ground for breeding cruel adults. The lessons you learn in school solidify the basis for developing cruel adults... When I first recorded the demo for the song, I shouted out the line, 'You may leave school, but it never leaves you.' And I realized that was the essence of the song."

The albums continues more of Partridge's observations on modern life. Partridge has always been able to write material that reflects and focuses on the minutia of his personal life, and reflects on the development of British society and the world events with equal ease. In the past songs like "Living Through Another Cuba" and "This World Over" pessimistically speculate on the end of the world. The range of Partridge's subject matter continues to cover the wide range of human emotion. "Stupidly Happy" centres on the optimism of a new relationship, while "The Man Who Murdered Love" takes a humourously twisted look at the pessimism of relationships. There is a dark side to Partridge's world illustrated by "Wounded Horse" that explicitly details the shocking revelation that your former significant other is in the arms of another man.

Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding of XTC

Partridge's continued love of the homeland arises on a couple of songs on Wasp Star, most notably "You And The Clouds Are Beautiful" where Partridge proclaims that life in England is wonderful... no matter what the weather.

When asked specifically about his songwriting inspiration, Partridge admits that as time goes by, it gets tougher to come up with new material to plunder. "The biggest concern you have as a songwriter is to not repeat yourself," Partridge admits. "The process of songwriting is an internal battle. You reveal so much of yourself in songs. With a good song, you strip away all of the barriers of self to reveal the naked structure of your soul."

On the issue of touring in the future... "THERE AIN'T GOING TO BE ANY SO STOP ASKING!!!!" Partridge leaves this area to the tribute bands. There are two or three out there currently. "I met myself... well, a fatter version of myself with a hat that wasn't quite right," he recalls.

"We were doing an in-store in Boston, or was it New York last year, and this fellow came up to me and introduced himself as me. He said he played in a band called The Nigels or something. And the only thing I could think of as I spoke to him was, 'You better lose some weight if you want to play me'."

CD REVIEWS
Tuesday May 23, 2000 @ 02:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

XTC Wasp Star: Apple Venus Volume 2 (TVT/Universal) There are not many of the original English punk/new wavers of the late '70s still active in the new millennium, let alone still making great music. The majority of Wasp Star stands up to their past oeuvre, mixing the rhythmic dramatics of Black Sea with the urban spaciousness of The Big Express. Whittled down to a duo of Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding, XTC has aged well. Wasp Star is really the second disc of the original double CD Apple Venus. Recorded together, but separated into volume one and two, this set of songs are both stripped down (compared to the strings-laden songs from AV 1) and a bit more upbeat. Partridge is at his reflective/intuitive best with the opening track "Playground" that depicts schools as a training ground for cruel adults , while Moulding chips in a couple great tunes including the subversive relationship ditty, "Standing In For Joe." -Chris Burland