release date: Feb. 21, 1989
format: cd (2015 remaster)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,42]
producer: Paul Fox
label: Ape House - nationality: England, UK
Track highlights: 1. "Garden of Earthly Delights" - 2. "The Mayor of Simpleton" - 3. "King for a Day" - 5. "The Loving" - 9. "Merely a Man" - 10. "Cynical Days" - 11. "Across This Antheap" - 15. "Chalkhills and Children"
9th studio album by XTC with American producer Paul Fox is originally released as a double vinyl album issued on Virgin. With it, the band takes on another journey into neo-psychedelia pop / rock. Stylistically, it's not on the continued path laid out on the predecessor Skylarking but instead it presents a take on a more traditionally styled pop / rock universe pointing back to The Beatles and Beach Boys as evident sources and adding more to the styles of Mummer from 1983 with its more simplistic and harmony-founded pop / rock. On the other hand, Oranges & Lemons doesn't point to the new wave starting point of XTC but embrace some of the stylistic experiments heard on the two studio albums by the project-band The Dukes of Stratosphear, 25 O'Clock (1985) and Psonic Psunspot (1987), which were made as mere artistic and musical outlets of the three remaining members of XTC, Partridge, Moulding and Gregory.
The album is supposedly best known for containing the single "The Mayor of Simpleton" - a song I always found too simple and a bit tedious - a song that made it all the way to the top of the US Billboard's Modern Rock chart. The album itself also fared well reaching number #28 on the UK albums chart list and it generally received positive reviews praising its humour and detailed compositions. Compared to the predecessor, the album doesn't exactly reflect the same willingness to experiment, and instead XTC has made shorter and more mainstream compositions - perhaps with broader appeal. Oranges & Lemons is far from bad, but comparing with the band's extensive back catalogue, I think this is where they settle with a more uniform style and sound, and for fans of their readiness to explore new territories, it may seem like a less innovative album, but really, just give it a chance 'cause the music and lyrics are of highest quality as usual.
The album was re-released in 2015 as part of "The Surround Sound Series" in a highly expanded two-disc version consisting of a cd with a new mix of the original album (crafted by Steven Wilson], and a blue-ray disc consisting of extensive material.
[ allmusic.com, Q Magazine, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]
