ANDY PARTRIDGE
on 11 XTC albums

ANDY PARTRIDGE on 11 XTC albums

WHITE MUSIC (1978)
"Naive, charming, desperate. Borrowed voices: a soupçon of Buddy Holly with a dollop of Steve Harley and a seal bark to get through crappy PAs."
Best tracks:
"Science Friction", "Statue of Liberty", "This is Pop"


GO 2 (1978)
"A squabbling band made that album. A maelstrom of a session. Plus we were living together in a situation reminiscent of The Young Ones."
Best tracks:
"Are You Receiving Me?"


DRUMS AND WIRES (1979)
"Suddenly we were a three piece. The songwriting was starting to get half decent and we were revelling in two wiry sounding guitars, twanging bass and voodoo tom-toms."
Best tracks:
"Making Plans For Nigel", "Ten Feet Tall"


BLACK SEA (1980)
"Recorded at the height of touring mania. We were about as muscular sound-wise as we would ever be. It sounded like our live set, raucous and very tight and pumped up."
Best tracks:
"Generals and Majors", "Respectable Street"


ENGLISH SETTLEMENT (1982)
"Why don't we make an album we don't have to reproduce on stage? We can use acoustic instruments, we can overdub keyboards, we can use pianos. . . The first of the multi-coloured records."
Best tracks:
"Senses Working Overtime", "Ball and Chain"


MUMMER (1984)
"I feel like a 30-year old musical vandal. I can do what the hell I want and I don't have to answer for anything."
Best tracks:
"Great Fire", "Love on a Farmboy's Wages"


THE BIG EXPRESS (1984)
"Call me stupid, but these were good records. If you bastards don't want to buy 'em, what can I do? I had faith in my art."
Best tracks:
"All You Pretty Girls", "Wake Up"


SKYLARKING (1986)
"When we delivered Skylarking, they told us it didn't have any singles on it and we should go a write something in the style of ZZ Top."
Best tracks:
"Grass", "The Meeting Place"


ORANGES AND LEMONS (1989)
"Oranges and Lemons is all about the compact craftings of the psychedelic single. Dedicated to all the bands who made my school days so very purple."
Best tracks:
"Mayor of Simpleton", "King for a Day"


NONSUCH (1992)
"I love chords that have triangular, star-shaped points to them. I'm not keen on the round ones that just slip down porridge-like."
Best tracks:
"The Disappointed", "Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead"
More Info

APPLE VENUS VOLUME 1 (1999)
"It sounds unlike anything else out there at the moment. It's pagan, verdant, greasy, idiosyncratic, salacious."
Best tracks:
"I'd Like That", "Greenman"

Rolling Stone, Australia
June 1999
by Michael Dwyer


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[Thanks to Paul Culnane]