XTC -

Date: 1986
Release: Virgin/Geffen
Cover Art: view / download
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In the pantheon of post-punk new wave bands, few wrote songs with as keen an understanding of melody, harmony, and arranging as XTC, whose innovative songwriting has often been likened to that of The Kinks. Although the band’s quirky style cultivated an avid cult following over the years, the group never managed to capture much commercial recognition. The tightly crafted lyrics and dense arrangements on 1986′s Skylarking make it one of XTC’s most cohesive albums.

Like changing seasons, a prevailing theme on the album, each song flows effortlessly into the next in a production style similar to Sgt. Pepper’s. Andy Partridge’s evocative lyrics and Colin Moulding’s music combined with producer Todd Rundgren’s orchestral arrangements often propel Skylarking to the heights of pop impressionism—”Summer’s’ Cauldron,” “Ballet For A Rainy Day,” and “1000 Umbrellas” are the album’s most lyrically visual tunes. Weaving his way through “One billion salt seas/ Recalled from school atlas/Alas would be full to the “How can I be pleased/ When I’m handed the keys/To a town the call Misery/ Oh oh Misery” on “1000 Umbrellas,” Partridge’s phrasing is in a class of its own. The rich Beach Boys–influenced, multi-part harmonies on “Season’s Cycle” demonstrate that XTC are well versed students of pop history. For all of Skylarking’s supple texture, it was the stripped-down, acoustic atheistic missive “Dear God”—probably the nearest the ’80s ever came to Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall”—that scored any noteworthy radio play, at least in this country.

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