ARTIST: XTC                      

TITLE: Go 2

YEAR RELEASED: 1978

CHART ACTION: #21 UK

SINGLES: Are You Receiving Me

OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: I doubt it, unless you’re in the cult.

LINEUP: Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, Barry Andrews, Terry Chambers

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Less-than-stellar follow-up is a case of “I’ve heard this record before…”

SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: Listening to Go 2, you get a sense of déjà vu. The style and songcraft is very much the same as XTC’s debut – all hyper and jittery. This time, though, except for a few exceptions, the songwriting isn’t as good.

They didn’t wait long to write and record this record after their first album, which shows here. It seems they’re the leftovers. There’s melodies, yes, and some charm, but they’re hidden by the quirks here.

This would only be a detour, but it did curtail the interest in XTC in the states a bit (it took another year for their catalog to be released here).

NOTES & MINUTIAE: The album title was a reference to the board game Go.

IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: It all depends – some pressings have the single (and best tune) “Are You Receiving Me?” Some don’t.

GRADE: B-:  It’s not a total failure, and has some charms, but it’s really too similar to their debut to stand out.

ARTIST: XTC                    

TITLE:  White Music

YEAR RELEASED: 1978

CHART ACTION: #38 UK

SINGLES: Statue of Liberty, This is Pop

OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: They cover All Along the Watchtower

LINEUP: Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, Barry Andrews, Terry Chambers

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: A manic, almost too manic, debut album which shows some of their gifts of melody and pop goodness.

SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: After an EP containing the wonderful “Science Friction”, XTC released this album which straddled the punk side a little too much. They had energy, but the energy took away from the songs and overwhelmed what the band was trying to do.

Most of these problems were on Colin Moulding songs (which is ironic because he became the first of the songwriters in the group to get UK hits, but that was later…).  On the really fast ones, XTC really needed to take a breath and relax.

“This Is Pop”, “Into the Atom Age”, and “Statue of Liberty” are the memorable cuts. Others are OK, but the faster they are, the less you can relish.

NOTES & MINUTIAE: The BBC banned “Statue of Liberty” because of the line “sail beneath your skirt”. That’s a shame, because it really could have been a big hit.

IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: Yes, their debut EP 3D is appended (with “Science Friction”) and other b-sides as well are added.

GRADE: B-: There’s some good stuff here, but some I exiled.