FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1999. All Rights Reserved

Music by FFWD Staff Forgotten already? Probably. Then again, that’s in keeping with the pattern and maybe the plan. For those who need a reminder – and in a world where the Backstreet Boys set sales records and Ricky Martin elicits Beatles comparisons, maybe we all do – XTC released its 11th studio album (not including solo projects or albums under pseudonyms) several months ago after a seven-year hiatus. Apple Venus Volume One was the latest chapter in the tale of the world’s best and most under-appreciated pop act and its release was a relief to more than just the long-suffering XTC faithful. "Imagine having a cork banged in your creative ass for seven years," says XTC’s visionary Andy Partridge. "Imagine when you get in the lavatory – i.e. the studio – and you can let rip. You’ll have a whale of a time. "You’re also going to be trepidatious: ‘What’s going to come out...?’" What came out was a rich orchestral pop album reminiscent of the work found on the band’s earlier albums, such as 1983’s Mummer and arguably their best effort, ’82’s English Settlement, and the critics – even the hard to please and ever fickle English press – ate it up. And then, fittingly, after the initial excitement generated by the band’s return died down, all’s quiet on the XTC front. Even the release two weeks ago of the demo versions of all of the songs from AV 1 on a disc titled Homespun registered nary a blip on the public consciousness, save for the ranks of devoted XTC fans. That, one would assume, suits Partridge just fine. "I don’t like this kind of celebrity ‘There he is, go touch him, go and talk to him, go and breathe on him.’ I don’t go in for that," Partridge says. "I’m no different from anyone.... If they were to get off their lazy asses and try writing some songs, anyone could do it." Hardly. Not just anyone could amass such a stunning repertoire of melodious masterpieces that it – and not, sadly, Ricky – should seriously rival Lennon and McCartney’s output. In their 25 years together, Partridge and songwriting partner Colin Moulding – the only two remaining members of XTC after longtime mate Dave Gregory (or as Partridge refers to him due to Gregory’s endless negativity in the end, "Dr. No") was punted/quit this year – have perfected the craft of guitar pop while the world has orbited around them, intent on other musical spheres. Only on a handful of occasions has the band achieved any notable success and those were more by accident than design. There was the notoriety of Partridge’s ode to the man upstairs, "Dear God," which was originally a non-album B side from the sessions for the 1986 album Skylarking. Then there was the Crash Test Dummies’ unimaginative rendition of the Partridge-penned "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead," which became a hit when included on the Dumb and Dumber soundtrack, when, ironically, and quite fittingly, it had recently all-but failed as a single for XTC. But for every step forward, Partridge has, consciously or sub-consciously, guided the band back two. Be it the epic clashes with producers (especially the recording of Sylarking with Todd Rundgren – "One bunker, two Hitlers," says Partridge), bandmates, or XTC’s record label Virgin, from which the band finally split last year, the biggest roadblock in Andy Partridge’s career has always been Andy Partridge. Since a nervous breakdown – real or imagined – in the early ’80s, the man has even refused to allow XTC fans see a once legendary live band perform. "Why do you need to?" Partridge asks, incredulous that anyone should still care. "Why do you need to verify that we exist? Or, what: ‘They can do it?’ Yeah, they can do it." They can – they just won’t. Or more specifically, he won’t. However, Partridge is more than willing to accommodate, on his own terms, the thirst for more XTC music. Before the more electric Apple Venus Volume 2 is delivered sometime next year, the band is hoping – Virgin willing – to release seven or eight volumes of unreleased and B-side demo material from their past. "I like the people that say, ‘Oh I’m devoted to finding the demos,’ I think that’s rather charming. And if I like somebody I like to hear their sketches.... You can see how people’s brains work towards what they’re trying to achieve," he says. With Homespun, the guess work is virtually removed. Presumably because the songs had been gestating since the early ’90s, there isn’t much variation between the early sketches and the songs that were finally released as AV1. In fact, talking to Partridge, who admits to being ultimately pleased by the final project, that relief spoken of earlier was more than a little hard to come by, and the minute differences between versions is testament to that fact. "When we went into the studio I felt so delicate about these songs, because some of them had been in existence five years prior to that. You’d have the demo and as badly recorded or as foggy in places as the demos were, you’d got used to every nuance by then. And of course you want to better it, of course you want to be more passionate and broader and just paint bigger strokes, but you’ve got to fight that ‘Oh my God it doesn’t sound like the demo.’ "You have to make that mental jump from making a model of a yacht to making a real yacht." Let’s hope when Apple Venus Volume 2 is finally released, Partridge steers for open seas and not, as the pattern has dictated in the past, straight for the nearest iceberg.

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