[amyjared]

Hey all,
I've been absent for some time on here, and may have missed this but I was watching it and my mouth was agape! XTC, for those of you who don't know, are one of the most incredible bands to have come out of the '70's/'80's "punk" movement. They have several albums, but Black Sea and English Settlement are two of the greatest albums ever made. The production alone on ES is enough to elevate it to superstar status. And for us guitar players, just listen and try to play some of this stuff: it's quite intricate and completely original. If you need a sample, google "Respectable Street", "Senses Working Overtime", "No Thugs in our House" or "Melt the Guns". Unfortunately, Andy Partridge was completely stricken with stage fright, so they rarely played out. Those of us lucky to have seen them got a treat. While the music was labeled "punk", it's quite tame in this day and age and yet still vibrant and incredibly melodic. I don't think I've EVER seen a band cover these guys. I have loved them since they started, so imagine my surprise when I saw this guitar lesson from their lead singer and guitar player. And just wait until about 2 minutes in...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uteEVnyJgRw

[NSP]

I'm not familiar with XTC or Andy Partridge, but really dug that clip. Seems like a very cool guy with some mighty fine chops. Gotta love the Dark Star reference...

[tcsned]

I really dug those guys back in the 80s - that was really cool. Thanks!

[tigerstrat]

The punk comment is kind of interesting... I agree XTC (whom I love) is not really punk, but most of what is called that today is either unrecognizable to me as "punk", or laughably softball. You pretty much have to back before the Grunge Era to find something that will really sink its teeth into you.

[Charlie]

XTC were marketed as a Punk band in the early part of their career as was Ian Dury, Elvis Costello and a number of other English artists who's music was actually far more sophisticated but just happened to be around at the same time as Punk took off in 1977. Similarly the Talking Heads whose album 'Talking Heads '77' was branded punk because of it's timing and the fact that they used to play at CBGBs.

I was a big fan of XTC in the late Seventies/early Eighties and still think their stuff is some of the most creative music to come out of that era. They had some really strong hooky pop songs like "Life begins at the Hop", "Generals and Majors", Making Plans for Nigel", Love on a Farm Boys Wages", as well as the classic "Senses Working Overtime" which has got to be one of the great pop songs of the Eighties.

I still have a few of their albums on vinyl but I'm gonna go check em out on youtube now.

[zambiland]

Melt the Guns is one of my top ten favorite songs. Great band! They in a documentary called Urgh! A Music War: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urgh!_A_Music_War.

[desireindisguise]

I covered "Making plans for Nigel" once at my jam night. Drummer requested.