Here’s another 12 inch from those former Human League-ers, Heaven 17. “Height of the Fighting (He-La-Hu)” is pretty enjoyable, but I can’t really remember the mixes on the other side. Even if you don’t dig this early electronic music, you gotta love the cover art by Jill Mumford.
XTC -- English Settlement
I went to a hardcore punk throwdown last night with Double Negative, and got to meet my new buddy Kevin, singer of the band. More about that and their new album next Monday.
Today’s record is English Settlement by XTC. Regular readers of this site will know that I’m no card carrying member of the XTC fan club, but this one is better than most. Which is a good thing because it’s a double album. If you’re going to release a double album please put in the extra effort. Otherwise… the obvious. My favorite song is the first one, “Runaways.” This is Mary’s record and I defer to her on the rating.
Sorry about the slightly out of focus album jacket, but I did throw in a pic of one liner sleeve at no extra charge.
Wikipedia has more info about the album and Andy Partridge’s breakdown while touring in support of it.
XTC -- Ball and Chain
I prefer the first song on the flip, “No Thugs in Our House.” Printed across the top of the jacket is:
“Now for those of you watching in black and white…
This one is in Technicolor.”
Those are the barely audible words spoken by Paul Weller that kick-off this brilliant record. I’ve listened to The Gift, all 32 glorious minutes of it, at least five times in the last 24 hours. That’s probably only half as much as I listened to it when I was 15. I bought it as soon as it was released. This was their last album and their biggest hit, at least in the UK. Some fans and critics didn’t dig it, but whatever, this one is probably my favorite. “Inconsistent”? That’s crazy. Every song is great. After a couple hundred listens you’ll agree, if you don’t already.
I use to blast this in my bedroom using the speakers and wearing my headphones at the same time while playing along on my old Ludwig drum kit. It was like I was swimming in the music. What a great feeling, and this is a perfect album for a drummer, with a lot of fast songs, fills, breaks and bashing cymbals. And drummer Rick Buckler even looks the coolest on the album cover (on the left). The drummer boy in me likes the instrumental “Circus” the best, but as I said before all the songs are great. Other favorites include “Happy Together”, “Ghosts”, Precious”, “Trans-Global Express”, “Town Called Malice”, “The Gift”, and the few I left out. We have two copies and we’re keeping both.
Long live The Jam!
Live from Alexandria, VA. More specifically, from the home of our good friends and generous hosts the Brokamps. Robert is sitting next to me typing on his laptop about retirement, and I’m typing about old records.
I’ve said this before: Most records by The Damned are pretty inconsistent. I love the songs “Stranger on the Town” and “Dozen Girls”, but not much else on Strawberries. I probably didn’t give it a fair listen since I was trying to jam in some records before we hit the road. It just doesn’t grab my attention, unlike the cool cover.
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