In some ways I must be like an elephant. I never seem to forget. Memory is one of the primary driving factors that inspire me to and keep me writing this blog. It's an incredibly interesting thing to me memory. I used to have a byline on the top of this page from Nick Cave; 'memory is what we are. Your very soul and your reason to believe are tied up in memory.' I've taken it down now but I still stand by the principle.
XTC's Black Sea was one of the first albums I bought.. I still have and still play it, the memory factor being a contributing driver. It's also just a wonderful record. Over the years since I've bought most of the band's early albums. Including Drums & Wires their third. This came out in 1979 when I was 14 and it was the record when they first came to my attention. They were quirky and oddball, but becoming poppy and approachable. They were getting the tunes. Beefheart and Zappa down in the mix. Beatles and Kinks up.
Making Plans For Nigel was their breakthrough single. It was everywhere for months and my schoolmates were starting to notice them. Just as I was. 'I like that Ecstasy' I said at one point. This innocent comment in a class one day was greeted by a cruel snigger from a classmate who I grew to dislike and others who I went to school with have expressed their disdain for since.
Snide, unkind sort. A refugee from the Lord of the Flies pack of hunters. Roger, who levers the rock onto Piggy at the end of the novel. This guy's since become an artist of some repute but I'll not publish his name here. It's all a long, long time ago. But like I say I don't forget.
As for Drums & Wires, it marks a transitional phase for the band;I'm listening to it now. Off hand and arty but moving towards the sleeker pop sound that they realised so well with Black Sea. Not quite there yet, the primary instinct is still angular but they're ironing out some crumples. There's also clearly a competitive dynamic building. A twin attack. Partridge and Moulding.
Twin attacks were the order of the day in British football in the Seventies. Latchford and Francis. McDonald and Tudor. Keegan and Toshack. There was also another contributing twin attack behind the mixing desk with producer Steve Lillywhite and engineer Hugh Padgham. Frankly the record sounds incredible. There's a definite Dub quality to proceedings which is haunting. Extraordinary.
Drums & Wires saw XTC cut in from the wing like Trevor Francis hurdling the legs of the last defender and zeroing in on goal with a minute to play. Brushing hemselves down in readiness for Top of The Pops and Magazine covers.
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