Tweets from Andy P. re: Oranges and Lemons

[neil wilkes]

For me, and with my music listeners head on and not my client loyalty head on, I found "Drums & Wires" to be seriously good. The songs are very well crafted and the quality is such that I would go as far as to say Partridge/Moulding could have been a new generation Lennon/McCartney with the right handling the songs are that good. Before I started these, all I really knew of XTC was the usual - a few singles from the early days, Apple Venus (never been without a copy of that one since release) and that was about it. D&W has a lot of very catchy tunes on it that grow and grow.

 

[wavelength]

For me, and with my music listeners head on and not my client loyalty head on, I found "Drums & Wires" to be seriously good. The songs are very well crafted and the quality is such that I would go as far as to say Partridge/Moulding could have been a new generation Lennon/McCartney with the right handling the songs are that good. Before I started these, all I really knew of XTC was the usual - a few singles from the early days, Apple Venus (never been without a copy of that one since release) and that was about it. D&W has a lot of very catchy tunes on it that grow and grow.

I get that same feeling. These guys don't compromise in the songwriting department. Every song is darn near perfect. Whether you like the music or not is personal but still, the quality of the tracks is awe-inspiring.

 

[rtbluray]

For me, and with my music listeners head on and not my client loyalty head on, I found "Drums & Wires" to be seriously good. The songs are very well crafted and the quality is such that I would go as far as to say Partridge/Moulding could have been a new generation Lennon/McCartney with the right handling the songs are that good. Before I started these, all I really knew of XTC was the usual - a few singles from the early days, Apple Venus (never been without a copy of that one since release) and that was about it. D&W has a lot of very catchy tunes on it that grow and grow.

I agree with basically everything said in your post, Neil.
What's your opinion on "Oranges & Lemons" since you have been working on authoring the upcoming Blu-ray release of it, and can we expect any unreleased songs in the set, either from the recording or demo sessions? The unreleased bits found on "Nonsuch" and "Drums & Wires" are quite fascinating indeed!

 

[Laird_Williams]

I know I have drug my feet on XTC...but there seems to be much excitement about this release...so I went ahead and pre-ordered from Burning Shed. Cool....

GOS - as far as I am concerned - this one is the perfect XTC release for surround treatment. XTC, like all truly great bands, changed sound-wise over time. They had a sort of "minimalist bouncy quirky" quality early. You can hear that sound really well in the two Steven Wilson remixes released thus-far. But Oranges and Lemons came later. It retains some of the quirkiness that makes the band so fun to listen to, but it is not nearly as "bouncy" and it is far from "minimalist." It is richly-orchestrated and will almost certainly get a huge clarity/articulation boost with a typical SW surround treatment. I have been listening to this album for decades, and even I am looking forward to hearing things that I had not noticed previously.

 

[rtbluray]

GOS - as far as I am concerned - this one is the perfect XTC release for surround treatment. XTC, like all truly great bands, changed sound-wise over time. They had a sort of "minimalist bouncy quirky" quality early. You can hear that sound really well in the two Steven Wilson remixes released thus-far. But Oranges and Lemons came later. It retains some of the quirkiness that makes the band so fun to listen to, but it is not nearly as "bouncy" and it is far from "minimalist." It is richly-orchestrated and will almost certainly get a huge clarity/articulation boost with a typical SW surround treatment. I have been listening to this album for decades, and even I am looking forward to hearing things that I had not noticed previously.

I think you have your XTC albums mixed up a little bit (at least that's how it appears in your descriptions)
"Drums & Wires" definitely fits the "minimalist bouncy quirky" quality you described that they had earlier in their career, but that's definitely not descriptive of "Nonsuch" in that like "Oranges & Lemons", it is very richly-orchestrated and far from "minimalist", not to mention that "Nonsuch" came after "Oranges & Lemons".

Basically, I think anyone that liked "Nonsuch" in surround will love "Oranges & Lemons", and if there's anyone that didn't like "Nonsuch", I still think they should buy O&L anyway and give it a try.

 

[GOS]

Thanks for all the comments....I truly didn't give Nonsuch much of a chance....I'll have to listen again...and in the meantime, I"ll have O&L to listen to.

 

[edisonbaggins]

Thanks for all the comments....I truly didn't give Nonsuch much of a chance....I'll have to listen again...and in the meantime, I"ll have O&L to listen to.

Such a great album. In constant rotation for me.

 

[blue.monk]

I think you have your XTC albums mixed up a little bit (at least that's how it appears in your descriptions)
"Drums & Wires" definitely fits the "minimalist bouncy quirky" quality you described that they had earlier in their career, but that's definitely not descriptive of "Nonsuch" in that like "Oranges & Lemons", it is very richly-orchestrated and far from "minimalist", not to mention that "Nonsuch" came after "Oranges & Lemons".

Basically, I think anyone that liked "Nonsuch" in surround will love "Oranges & Lemons", and if there's anyone that didn't like "Nonsuch", I still think they should buy O&L anyway and give it a try.

Agreed. As great as those early albums are they came out of the new wave / post punk era and the band was somewhat constricted as to the stylistic content. But they had a broad range of influences and were able to explore their 60's pop and psychedelic side under the alias of the Dukes of Stratosphear in the mid 80's. Brilliant stuff. After that project they felt more comfortable broadening the scope of XTC's music. You see elements of this with Skylarking but for me O&L is when XTC and the Dukes truly merged. As Ryan said the later albums are often more lushly orchestrated and feature intricate vocal work (but still retain their quirky and more dissonant sides). The Brian Wilson influence becomes clearer too particularly with O&L's "Chalkhills and Children" and "Humble Daisy" (from Nonsuch).

They may not be everyone's cup of tea but I'm happy to see so many here discovering and enjoying them through these new releases.

 

[rtbluray]

Thanks for all the comments....I truly didn't give Nonsuch much of a chance....I'll have to listen again...and in the meantime, I"ll have O&L to listen to.

That's the spirit!
I think what helped me get into XTC so much was the fact that I listened to "Nonsuch" so many times in stereo before the 5.1 release came out, and I was able to get used to the music, so by the time I got to hear it in surround, it was everything I had hoped it would be.
Same was true for "Drums & Wires", and I'm sure it will be the same for "Oranges & Lemons" too.

 

[milt]

GOS, to be honest with you, Nonsuch was never one of my favorite XTC albums.
As others have said, XTC, like many great bands went through changes throughout their career.
I consider Go2, White Music and Drums & Wires to be Phase 1.
If you didn't know it, you would not think that D&W and Nonsuch were the same band.
Phase 2, Black Sea, English Settlement, Mummer & Big Express although they continue to change through all of these records.
Phase 3 Oranges & Lemons, SkyLarking, Nonsuch.
I'm leaving out the Dukes stuff just to not make it more complicated than it already is.
My list is simplistic and would reasonably be open to valid criticism.
Given what you said, I would guarantee that Phase 2 is totally in your wheelhouse.
Going back to Nonsuch.
When I got the Blu-ray and listened to the instrumental tracks, it finally got through to me how brilliant this record is.
While I've had D&W from day one on vinyl and CD, I didn't fully appreciate it until I got the Blu-ray.
Like many of the best albums, they can take some patience to appreciate.
Now you may never like all XTC albums, that's cool but being the hi-res guy you are, they are worth risk.
Great, great music that I never dreamed in a million years would be available like this.

 

[rtbluray]

GOS, to be honest with you, Nonsuch was never one of my favorite XTC albums.
As others have said, XTC, like many great bands went through changes throughout their career.
I consider Go2, White Music and Drums & Wires to be Phase 1.
If you didn't know it, you would not think that D&W and Nonsuch were the same band.
Phase 2, Black Sea, English Settlement, Mummer & Big Express although they continue to change through all of these records.
Phase 3 Oranges & Lemons, SkyLarking, Nonsuch.
I'm leaving out the Dukes stuff just to not make it more complicated that it already is.
My list is simplistic and would reasonably open to valid criticism.
Given what you said, I would guarantee that Phase 2 is totally in your wheelhouse.
Going back to Nonsuch.
When I got the Blu-ray and listened to the instrumental tracks, it finally got through to me how brilliant this record is.
While I've had D&W from day one on vinyl and CD, I didn't fully appreciate it until I got the Blu-ray.
Like many of the best albums, they can take some patience to appreciate.
Now you may never like all XTC albums, that's cool but being the hi-res guy you are, they are worth risk.
Great, great music that I never dreamed in a million years would be available like this.

Great post, except I *might* put "Black Sea" more in the Phase 1 category than in Phase 2, but it is a little iffy though where it really belongs.
But who cares? It's one heck of an album, and I hope they find the tapes for that one (and others) very soon!

 

[milt]

rt, no way.
Black Sea is solid phase 2.
But who's quibbling.

 

[Laird_Williams]

I think you have your XTC albums mixed up a little bit (at least that's how it appears in your descriptions)
"Drums & Wires" definitely fits the "minimalist bouncy quirky" quality you described that they had earlier in their career, but that's definitely not descriptive of "Nonsuch" in that like "Oranges & Lemons", it is very richly-orchestrated and far from "minimalist", not to mention that "Nonsuch" came after "Oranges & Lemons".

Basically, I think anyone that liked "Nonsuch" in surround will love "Oranges & Lemons", and if there's anyone that didn't like "Nonsuch", I still think they should buy O&L anyway and give it a try.

I agree - and yes, I had my sequence flipped. That being said, O&L is super-lush sound-wise - even more than Nonsuch IMO. There are times in the O&L mix where there is so much going on that it is easy to get lost. A good discrete surround treatment will really help with articulation.

 

[jdmack]

That being said, O&L is super-lush sound-wise - even more than Nonsuch IMO. There are times in the O&L mix where there is so much going on that it is easy to get lost. A good discrete surround treatment will really help with articulation.

Here's what Andy said about "Oranges and Lemons" in the book "Song Stories": “Because Paul (Fox, the producer) kept adding more and more options, there were a lot of decisions put off and put off until the mix. You’d record maybe three different hi-hat patterns for a song and say “let’s pick it in the mix.” But it never got picked in the mix. We’d have all three.”

This explains the overly busy arrangements found on this album (which, personally, I love).

 

[jdmack]

That being said, O&L is super-lush sound-wise - even more than Nonsuch IMO. There are times in the O&L mix where there is so much going on that it is easy to get lost. A good discrete surround treatment will really help with articulation.

Here's what Andy said about "Oranges and Lemons" in the book "Song Stories": “Because Paul (Fox, the producer) kept adding more and more options, there were a lot of decisions put off and put off until the mix. You’d record maybe three different hi-hat patterns for a song and say “let’s pick it in the mix.” But it never got picked in the mix. We’d have all three.”

This explains the overly busy arrangements found on this album (which, personally, I love).

(I don't know why this posted twice)

 

[Laird_Williams]

Here's what Andy said about "Oranges and Lemons" in the book "Song Stories": “Because Paul (Fox, the producer) kept adding more and more options, there were a lot of decisions put off and put off until the mix. You’d record maybe three different hi-hat patterns for a song and say “let’s pick it in the mix.” But it never got picked in the mix. We’d have all three.”

This explains the overly busy arrangements found on this album (which, personally, I love).

Great quote - thanks for sharing that. I love the "overly-busy" arrangements on this album too - just can't wait to hear them a little more clearly.

 

[blue.monk]

BTW some may not know that King Crimson's Pat Mastelotto is the drummer on this album. It was recorded a few years before the formation of the double trio.

 

[milt]

Great quote - thanks for sharing that. I love the "overly-busy" arrangements on this album too - just can't wait to hear them a little more clearly.

I have no inside knowledge, but I'm going to venture that Oranges and Lemons is going to be a huge revelation of what that recording was really meant to be in the band's mind.
Stay tuned...

 

[blue.monk]

A couple of intriguing (and promising!) recent tweets:

Great day,mastering and tweaking XTC outtakes for a future release at Stu Rowe's studio.

All for a forthcoming 5.1 release {secret,tee hee}.

 

[rtbluray]

A couple of intriguing (and promising!) recent tweets:

Great day,mastering and tweaking XTC outtakes for a future release at Stu Rowe's studio.

All for a forthcoming 5.1 release {secret,tee hee}.

I saw those as well!
I really hope it's for an 80s album. Any of the five albums from the 80s that haven't been released yet in surround would be excellent candidates for the next release!