Word: albums
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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They said XTC was dead. After years spent in and out of mental institutions, fans and critics believed lead singer and lyricist Andy Partridge was permanently committed. After a soaring success with the 1986 album Skylarking and its hit single "Dear God," the group was reportedly breaking...
Suddenly, things are looking up for this English band, which has just released a strong new album and a possible Top 40 hit. Rumor has it XTC is even planning an American tour this summer, in spite of the group's decision years ago to quit touring because of Partridge's frequent nervous breakdowns on the road...
...album, Oranges and Lemons, released last week, is a departure from the smoothly orchestrated Skylarking. Instead of presenting gently coasting instrumentation, the group returns to the hard-hitting style of 1984's The Big Express and its earlier albums. Oranges and Lemons features a fair number of XTC's traditional energetic social statements, although it does show a suspicious tendency toward bouncy, top-40ish love songs and includes, not surprisingly, one or two utter failures...
...album starts off strongly with a dose of XTC's typical weirdness in "Garden of Earthly Delights." Dave Gregory's electric guitar adds an Arabian Nights effect above a barrage of tambourines, drums, and other percussion. Partridge's lyrics show a rare optimistic view of life ("This is your life and you be what you want to be. This is your life and you try it all,") while his voice stretches from one end of the scale to the other in a carefree lesson of the world's goodness...
...best songs on the album is "Merely a Man," which contrasts with "Skeleton" and "Antheap" in its optimism for mankind. Partridge suggests that "With logic and love we'll have power enough to raise consciousness up and for lifting humanity higher." This is one of the few instances on Oranges and Lemons that Colin Moulding has a chance to come through with a powerful bass line, making the song one of the album's strongest in spite of Gregory's unneeded and sometimes overdone guitar solos...