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eric on Nov 16th 2008 at 1:48 pm Music, Records

Yet another haul… XTC’s first nine on vinyl!

Today Smartz and I wandered down to Jive Time Records again. I wanted to pick up a couple XTC albums. I knew they had some, though I didn’t know that they had their first nine albums. Instant XTC collection! I’m only missing two (well.. three if you count both Apple Venus volumes).

I got into XTC a few years back when my goodly friend Brad loaned me some Andy Partridge demos. These were great and I was hooked. I ran out and bought all of their CDs (they were the ones from Japan that were made to look like tiny LPs… for some reason Circuit City was selling them for $12 each). Now I have them all on vinyl. I’ll pick up Nonsuch (their 10th album) eventually. That’s a bit harder to find and not really my favorite.

I also picked up a first pressing of Duran Duran’s Rio (for three bucks!), Duran Duran’s Decade (greatest hits) and an album that I’ve been looking for since I got here, When in Rome’s LP (for a buck).

Good job, Eric!

Smartz was looking for a Georgia Satellites album that she saw last time she was there, but someone must have bought it out from under her. That seems amazingly difficult to believe, but it seemed to be true. Instead, she bought an REO Speedwagon LP.

Let me again reiterate that she does not listen to these things ironically or to make people laugh. She honestly likes REO, Bread, Georgia Satellites, ELO, etc. It’s good that it’s an honest liking, I guess. I’m just glad it’s not disco.



Related posts:

  1. Another haul of 80’s records… Thanks, Jive Time!
  2. Well, it’s ’bout time for another haul!
  3. Mega-haul of new used records for me! I went crazy.
  4. I love the smell of vinyl in the morning – it smells like music
  5. Another haul (It’s very Tears for Fearsie)

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Comment by CalderNo Gravatar
2008-11-16 18:31:14

It’s a cruel decade for fans of 70s rock. I think there is a post irony movement gathering momentum, however she’ll still need to ride the storm out. I’m waiting until it’s ironic to like the Spin Doctors and Stone Temple Pilots, then I’ll be ironically happy.

Comment by ericNo Gravatar
2008-11-16 21:35:47

What’s good (I’m not sure “good” is the right word) about it being ironic instead of actually enjoyed is that the hipsters aren’t buying the records. Sure, they’ll buy a few to make their friends laugh, but overall, the records are in the bargain bin. Smartz picked up REO from the dollar bin. You (sadly) can’t say that about 80’s vinyl.

With the 80’s, you’ve got a mix of irony and collectors. There are 80’s nights, but no 70’s classic rock nights. Hipsters like the 70’s look, but like the 80’s music (maybe even actually like it, though it’s doubtful).

 
 
Comment by ScottNo Gravatar
2008-11-16 21:27:22

Oh man, what a find. I listened to Skylarking so many times I wore the tapes out. It still remains one of my all time favorite albums. Man, as a teen (and at the time a freshly minted atheist) Dear God was like a subversive anthem for me. Then the rest of the album just sang to me. Man, I know what I’ll be playing on the way to work tomorrow.

Comment by ericNo Gravatar
2008-11-16 21:32:51

XTC are pretty amazing. I have a different album for each season. Oranges & Lemons, for example is summer. Skylarking is spring (even with “Summer’s Cauldron”). Autumn is Big Express. Winter pretty much has to be Nonsuch. Their other albums can be categorized like that too.

“Dear God” still rings true for me. It’s one of the ways I came to terms with a “Christian” God and moved on to broader idea of God via Gaudia Vaisnavism. It defines the fundamental misunderstanding of God. Of course, I don’t agree with the song, but nevertheless, it is true.

 
 
Comment by scottNo Gravatar
2008-11-17 16:36:11

Of all albums, Skylarking sparked more debates in college about whether it was about a man’s life or a year in his life etc. It’s just one of those albums.

Reminds me of a friends song that I loved because how deep it was. It had lyrics about driving back from Houston with a trunk full of pieces, sitting in her living room not having enough glue to put it all back together like she’d seen before. Thought it was about a big break up (which she had gone through) or a major life change (which she’d also been undergoing). That was until we were talking after a show and she mentioned her Ikea song. It was about one time that she came back from Houston (Austin had no Ikea) and having to put furniture together and not having any glue.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar I guess.

Comment by ericNo Gravatar
2008-11-17 17:01:46

I like that. Sometimes things really are what they say they are. Though sometimes we write stuff and don’t know that it’s got a bigger meaning. However, I don’t smoke enough pot to talk about stuff like that. :) (I don’t smoke any pot, btw).

I’m listening to English Settlement right now. And it just occurred to me that I got the 1 LP version. It was originally released as a double LP. I’ll have to remedy that. However, right now, it’s my favorite XTC album. It’s got some more rock-type songs and some more mellow ones. Also, there are live versions of most of the songs floating around out there. The English Settlement “World” Tour was the last for XTC (they played 9 shows of it and canceled the rest due to Andy’s nervous breakdown).

Anyway, I personally think Skylarking is about a life. Yours, mine, everyone’s. But again, not enough pot to talk about this.

 
 

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