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| original round vinyl cover |
release date: Oct. 15, 1984
format: vinyl (wheel-shaped cover - VG 2325) / cd (2001 remaster)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: David Lord
label: Virgin Records - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Wake Up" - 2. "All You Pretty Girls" (4 / 5) - 3. "Shake You Donkey Up" - 5. "This World Over" (4 / 5) (remaster) - 8. "Reign of Blows" - 11. "Train Running Low on Soul Coal" (4 / 5)
7th studio album by XTC produced by David Lord credited as "The Good Lord". Where Mummer had elements of 'folk' and presented the band in a highly positive and warm spirit, this album has a sensation of blues rock and soul-inspiration throughout without ever becoming any of those genres. It's first and foremost new wave and art pop. The band remains a trio with Partridge, Moulding and Gregory without drummer, and as was the case on Mummer, Peter Phipps plays drums on an album that also contains electronic drums on several tracks.
The Big Express is one of my favourite albums by the band, although, I don't rate it as high as English Settlement, Black Sea, White Music, or the fine follow-up Skylarking. These albums are not just major albums, including great songwriting, but are also classic albums of their period, which this is not - at least to the same extent. In that regard this is just a statement of fine craftsmanship. "All You Pretty Girls" is a giant pop track, and "This World Over" is a beautiful philosophical song that I shall never get tired of, and the end-track "Train Running Low on Soul Coal" is one great uptempo metaphor of a song.
Production-wise, it's much better than most releases of the 1980s.
[ allmusic.com 4 / 5, Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5 stars ]
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| 2001 remaster |
