— Steve Taylor
What I previously said:
UK music critics at the time were crazy about Swindon's XTC — just as North American hacks were similarly gaga for them by the end of the eighties — as this second proto-SOTF in just six week indicates (perhaps it was also to make amends for spurning "Making Plans for Nigel" a year earlier). Spinning a yarn over London's growth and the poor, wretched individuals who built it, the song clangs of hammered iron, which hints at what they'd eventually do on their patchy '84 album The Big Express. Clearly XTC were on course to become a preeminent eighties band. What could possibly go wrong?
So, what exactly did go wrong?
Hints of troubles on the horizon were there as early as 1980. Fourth album Black Sea had only just been released to encouraging reviews. Ian Cranna considered it to be "magnificent", looked on in wonder at how they managed "to be so dazzlingly clever and thoroughly likeable at the same time" and concluded by proclaiming it to be a "compulsory purchase". And he's absolutely correct: if you catch me on the right day, it's my favourite XTC album (I have trouble choosing between it, Skylarking and Apple Venus). "Generals and Majors" had just returned them to the Top 40, albeit just barely. But cracks were already beginning to show.
The same issue of Smash Hits in which Cranna instructs all readers to immediately buy themselves a copy of Black Sea forthwith also includes a feature about XTC in the midst of a swank five year anniversary party for record label Virgin and the filming of a BBC2 special about the band. The fact that they were guests of honour at a such a do indicates the high hopes record company suits had for them. Yet the Swindon foursome are out of sorts in this caviar and champagne environment. Andy Partridge admits to still living in a small flat above in his hometown with his wife's connections allowing them to live rent free. The group was still in debt to Virgin and this is a situation that would remain for over a decade until they finally broke from the label. They were becoming a popular live attraction but their leader was already beginning to chafe at the stress of life on the road and this would come to a head a year and a half later when he permanently quit touring.
A lot would end up being squandered but what exactly were XTC going to lose by gradually alienating themselves from their record company and giving up the road? What didn't change was Partridge's muse which was never going to make a long-term impression on the masses. Black Sea is indeed as "commercial" as Cranna reckons but their leader's subject matter could steer towards the obscure at times. Closing track "Travels in Nihilon" is extraordinary but it would have baffled newcomers, "Paper and Iron (Notes and Coins)" is hectoring and "Towers of London" is about architects and the never-never navvies who built the centre of the British Empire.
Youngsters may not have been rushing to the high street Boots to pick up a copy but enough people bought "Towers of London" to give XTC their second Top 40 hit on the bounce, ending Partridge's dubious streak of chart failures (notably, from this point on, he would pen all four of their remaining hits as Colin Moulding ended up running dry). It wasn't a major success but it was a respectable performance. The misunderstood "Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)" took them back to the Top 20 so there was some momentum that they would promptly piss away. Nevertheless, "Towers of London" is a superlative single that builds into a singalong in spite of the lyrical content. They say that people like Marvin Gaye could sing the phone book but only Partridge could write a songbook based on the Farmer's Almanac. The commercial potential may have been limited but it was so worth having someone there to do so
A note on my quote from above. While I still agree with myself that "Towers of London" anticipates the Industrial Revolution rock of The Big Express, there is the difference of locale. Partridge putting his stamp on the British capital indicates that he still had an interest in worldly matters but this had vanished four years later when his perspective had narrowed all the way down to Swindon. Instead of mythologizing La-la-Londinium, he was happy to explore the Small Town he came from. And that's his call and good for him but, again, what exactly went wrong here?
~~~~~
Also Reviewed This Fortnight
Yellow Magic Orchestra: "Nice Age"
Definitely this fortnight's runner up for best single. Yellow Magic Orchestra had an uncanny ability to nick from all over the place and still make themselves sound like no one else. Yeah, as Steve Taylor says, there's some Bowie and Sparks in there but this is too playful for Dame David and the Maels would have had to hammer home some irony. Again, not especially commercial which is a shame considering how irresistibly catchy it is. All hail groups like XTC and the Yellow Magic Orchestra because they were so far away from the tediousness of The Cars.
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