XTC 

- We need to talk about Nigel

From the get go . . . . . I first bought the 12" 3D-EP Science Friction/She's So Square/Dance Band having seen them on the tele (I think,) as I heard Dance Band first and it made me laugh out loud with it's knowing metapop reference. "I'm In A Dance Band I Think!" . . .I loved that frenetic angular pop pose and the local connection didn't hurt either (they are from Swindon just up the road from where I live although the town are football rivals but I cared less about that) and one release [Go2] contained a map of where the various members got up to no good. . . . . . 

'Making Plans  . . .' was no exception and bought it when it came out of course but it was my least favourite single, curiously along with Towers of London and it seemed more obvious than many previous (or since) . . . still I liked it,      not loved it! I think I have said earlier XTC stand as the loudest band I ever heard and frankly were probably too loud for the Apollo Theatre in Oxford back now to it's former name The New Theatre which is ironic! My ears actually hurt for about three days afterward

On this day in music history: August 17, 1979 - “Drums And Wires”, the third album by XTC is released. Produced by Steve Lillywhite, it is recorded at The Townhouse Studios in London from June - July 1979. Working with producer Lillywhite (U2) and engineer Hugh Padgham (Genesis, Phil Collins), it features the bands first big UK single “Making Plans For Nigel” (#17 UK) which also provides the band with their initial exposure in the US. The album is issued with differing track listings in various countries, with the first 20,000 copies coming with a two or three track 7" single featuring the songs “Chain Of Command”, “Limelight”, and/or “Life Begins At The Hop”. The initial US pressing of the LP (initially released on RSO Records and later reissued on Geffen Records) features the single version of “Ten Feet Tall”, while other pressing include the first recorded version. In 2014, the album is remastered and reissued in the UK on CD, DVD-A and Blu-Ray disc, with a newly remixed 5.1 surround mix. “Drums And Wires” peaks at number thirty four on the UK album chart, and number one hundred seventy four on the Billboard Top 200.

optimisms flames . . .