I think as far as the majority of those who are actually aware of them, XTC is a “love ‘em” or “hate ‘em” type of band with very few people in-between. Arguments range anywhere from production that comes off as being too slick to just what the hell Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding are going on and singing about, a trait that I’ve always found endearing as it lead to a certain amount of mystery and cache over the song’s subject matter. The fact that the band drew heavily from the mid-to-late 60s British psychedelic and freak-beat scene as well as the pastoral sounds of mid-period Beatles while forging ahead towards something akin to original endear them to a whole army of dedicated followers.It’s almost as if the band took every nuance and idea from the Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever double A-side and built an entire career from, all the while never repeating themselves from album to album. They come from an England that is almost extinct as it is here in the States of small town living where contemporaries such as Ray Davies, Richard Thompson and Martin Newell reside.
That being said, it’s an obvious sad fact that a majority of XTC’s fans, myself included, have never seen the band perform live which is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because over the course of the 20 plus years when the band was releasing albums, XTC managed to keep an aura of mystery over both themselves and their songs intact but a curse because said aura has a tendency to lead to a rabid fan base who not only collect everything the band ever released but who desperately want to see renditions of these songs performed in a live setting.
The Transistor Blast box set, which compiles the band’s BBC Sessions as well as two full concerts from 1978 and 1980, probably rectifies this problem as adequately as possible. I recently ripped the contents to my iPod after having not listened to it in years and was reminded of what a wonderful collection it is, well worth dropping the cash on. The set contains songs that not only match but exceed the performances of those found on the original albums. My only complaint is that the BBC studio sessions found on Discs 1 and 2 aren’t chronologically listed making the band’s evolution difficult to follow but the beauty of iTunes and the iPod in general easily rectifies this.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
XTC - "Jason & The Argonauts" (Live @ BBC) (mp3)
XTC - "You're The Wish You Are I Had" (Live @ BBC) (mp3)
(from the TVT 4CD Boxset, Transistor Blast: Best of the BBC Sessions, 1998)
