XTC "Skylarking" (1986)

2014 cover

Skylarking
release date: Oct. 27, 1986
format: cd (2014 corrected polarity edition)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,96]
producer: Todd Rundgren
label: Ape Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Summer's Cauldron" - 2. "Grass" - 4. "That's Really Super, Supergirl" - 8. "Earn Enough for Us" - 9. "Big Day" - 12. "Dear God"

8th studio album by XTC originally released by Virgin Records is produced by American producer Todd Rundgren, and it follows two years after The Big Express (Oct. 1984). Or does it? Following the '84 album Andy Partridge and Dave Gregory had found a common interest in psychedelic rock of the 1960s and Partridge pursued the idea of making music with bonds to Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd, The Electric Prunes, and Beatles at their most experimental stage. The whole band found it an exciting side-step, and they were joined by Greg's brother Ian Roy and together they initially recorded six tracks with John leckie, 'Swami Anand Nagara' (aka John Leckie) and the band as producers - all four members are credited with new-found names like Sir John Johns, The Red Curtain, Lord Cornelius Plum, and E.I.E.I. Owen - and under the name of The Dukes of Stratosphear, a Mini-album titled 25 O'Clock (Apr. 1985) was released to great reviews and sales numbers (selling the double as their '84 album). That album has been re-issued and remastered and promoted as 'XTC as The Dukes of Stratosphear', and the album has been filed as the eight by XTC, which I find a difficult choice. Perhaps, Partridge an Co. would have likened it to follow The Big Express, but frankly, it's not only due to contractual obligations from Virgin that it wasn't promoted as an XTC album, it's so differently shaped that it's better perceived as an album by a (side-)project-band consisting of the members of XTC.
That aside, Skylarking both follows a style from the '84 album AND builds on the side-project with strong bonds to psychedelic rock but it's not the attempt to put out another album in the style of the 1960s but more so, to present us with a contemporary conglomerate. Thanks to the success of the band's newly recorded '85 album they have made quite a daring move into more experimental neo-psychedelic pop / rock. The recording process wasn't a great success as Andy Partridge and Rundgren didn't communicate that well, and to make things really complicated an error in the recording process made the final release obscured, and only some 24 years later in 2010, as Partridge reissued the album on his own label, the album came out as intended in a corrected polarity edition.
My initial feelings towards the album was that it once again was a fine collection of songs, but at this point of my contemporary fascination for the band, and their music, I had simply grown tired of their style, and I kind of abandoned the band. I stopped buying and even listening to their new material. Duh! Only 20 years later or so, I returned and found that their progression still made sense, so I still enjoy their music and frankly, I don't think they have made a bad album ever, AND this one is definitely worth more than a listen 'cause it's one of the band's better ones. Despite the unintended sound difficulties the album is the first by XTC to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".
The original cover for the album, as drawn out by Partridge, was banned by Virgin and was replaced by another before being released; however, for the 2010 reissue (released by Andy Partridge's Ape House) of the album, the original cover was back and so was the intended sound [ story ]. Having listened to both the 1986 album and the 2010 'corrected polarity edition', I must say that the album could only have received even broader acclaim, had the technical error been addressed back then. It's a must for XTC fans and most music lovers of early neo-psychedelia and a cornerstone in modern music.

Highly recommended.
[ allmusic.com, Rolling Stone 5 / 5, Uncut 4,5 / 5, Q Magazine 4 / 5 stars ]

   

vinyl cover

   

1986 cd cover