XTC: This is Pop
So that cold I was staving off turned to the flu that has pretty much ravaged the entire country at this point. Blargh. Finally better and pleased that the documentary I'd been anticipating since it was released in the UK finally had a debut here on Showtime.
XTC: This Is Pop is a charming and fantastic documentary about one of the best bands ever. It begins with Andy Partridge bemoaning the fact that rockumentaries are boring because they always follow the same trajectory and that XTC, he insists, was not a typical rock star band.
Partridge is at times self-deprecating and at times humblebragging. And at times vulnerable. This last point especially comes across as he talks about growing up with a mother who was essentially filled with some mental health problems which led to his having a thirteen year Valium addiction and subsequent year and a half of terror once he went cold turkey. So yeah it's got some harrowing places.
But it's also got some amazingly fun places, especially the whole electric train motif as well as Andy's excellent art work which reminds me a bit of Peter Max in the best possible way.
My favorite scene talks about his synesthesia and how the sounds of music makes him think of places which then become the lyrics. In one sequence he supposedly plays a chord he's never played before and then riffs a song on the spot, or at least the opening of one.
I've always loved their music and lyrics, regardless of whether it was Colin Moulding or Partridge at the helm. I can't speak for all fans, maybe some of them care who wrote what, but I suspect it's more of a band ego thing.
The biggest shame to me was that XTC weren't bigger in their heyday. Skylarking is an excellent album and that broke them kind of big here in the states. But I have to say, at the risk of sounding blasphemous, I can't stand the song "Dear God." And it's not because of the subject matter although as someone who has always been attuned to spirituality and God that has something to do with it. No, what really bothers me is how ham-fisted it is. Even the music video which shows Partridge emphasizing his words by chopping down a tree (The Tree Of Knowledge?) just puts it into angsty-high-school kid territory, and he's much more of a sophisticated writer than that one.
It's hard to choose one XTC song because like all great bands, each album shows a growth in musical styles. "Science Friction" is just loony fun but "Senses Working Overtime," is on a different level to say nothing of the the Dukes of Stratosphear stuff. Lately, I've come to really love the Apple Venus albums, particularly "We're All Light," off of Wasp Star (Apple Venus 2.)
The opener alone shows off Partridge's world play.
"Don't you know
'Bout a zillion years ago
Some star sneezed, now they're paging you in reception
Don't you know
Jack and Jill-ion years ago
Some dinosaur dropped the pail when it saw our reflection."
And then the chorus....
"So you won't mind if I kiss you now
Before indecision can bite
Don't you know, in this new dark age
We're all light."
Shame they don't do anything as a band any more and by they I guess I mean Moulding and Partridge, but after a few decades you probably feel it's time to find new creative partners. Whatever, that's being kind of selfish on my part. They made enough great music together I'm happy to gobble up anything else they release on their own.
Like a lot of bands who don't put every song they record on the album, the story I wrote based on an XTC song title did not make A-Sides and B-Sides but it might make the volume 2 when I get enough to make another collection. Right now I'm focusing on the debut novel which is currently at the proofreaders so this shiz is getting real.
To tide you over or pique your curiosity, you should know A-Sides and B-Sides is available on iBook as well as Amazon and also Kobo and Nook. Here's what the cover looks like.
There's no video for this song that I could find, but the ear candy is enough.
