Not my favourite XTC album, and I have everything, (my favourites would be Skylarking, Drums and Wires and English Settlement) but the account of the pressures upon Andy and Colin to produce another hit goes some way to explain this I feel. It isn't that it's a bad album for fans but doesn't have the broader appeal maybe that singles and albums prior to this achieved.
On this day in music history: February 27, 1989 - “Oranges And Lemons”, the tenth album by XTC is released. Produced by Paul Fox, it is recorded at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles, CA in Late 1988. Under pressure from their record label to produce a hit and paired with a first time producer (who later goes on to produce The Sugarcubes, 10,000 Maniacs, Phish), sessions for the album will not always go smoothly. In spite of all this, the end result is the bands most successful album in the US, spinning off two singles including “Mayor Of Simpleton” (#1 Modern Rock) and “King For A Day” (#11 Modern Rock). The albums title is inspired by song lyric from their previous album, which in itself refers to an old English nursery rhyme. Remastered and expanded reissues of the album featuring new 5.1 surround remixes by Steven Wilson, and the original stereo on CD and blu-ray, and an audiophile LP pressing on 180g vinyl are released on Partridge’s label Ape House Records on October 30, 2015. “Oranges And Lemons” peaks at number twenty eight on the UK album chart, and number forty four on the Billboard Top 200. Thanks to Jeff Harris' blog Behind The Grooves
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