XTC- I Can’t Own Her [Apple Venus]

 XTC - I CAN’T OWN HER (Apple Venus)

#xtc#andy partridge#apple venus#i can't own her

https://www.tumblr.com/jt1674/768668984932450304/xtc-i-cant-own-her

XTC - Senses Working Overtime - BBC2 TV - TOTP 1982 | HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDY PARTRIDGE!

Happy birthday to Andy Partridge, born in Mtarfa, Malta on this day in 1953. 

There's food for the thinkers and the innocents can all live slowly.

Top of The Poppermost! XTC - Sense Working Overtime

Thursday 28 January 1982, TOTP (BBC2-TV) Broadcast " Senses Working Overtime" filmed the day before introduces by Simon Bates 

This is the band's fifth appearance on the show.

XTC - ‘Dear God’

Thanks as ever to 

Route

Pop classic revisited! | XTC - Mayor of Simpleton (demo) - Andy Partridge |Le Ramasseur De Mégots,

Mayor Of Simpleton [Demo]Andy PartridgeOranges & Lemons [Demos and Work Tapes]

Le Ramasseur De Mégots

Dukes of Stratosphear (contd.) Psonic Psunspot |Twilightzone

The Dukes Of Stratosphear "Psonic Psunspot" 1985

"On Psonic Psunspot the Dukes took it a little bit further. They tell stories about Jackie that disappeared, many open questions, no Answers, and everything in colourful pictures of the 60s. (...) ... also a musical discovery even today." (Good Times, February / March 2020)

What can follow a masterpiece like Skylarking? Well, at a distance, the answer would be two albums that were just as good: Oranges & Lemons and Nonsuch. But in the wake of Skylarking, an album that developed very slowly from a commercial point of view and culminated many months after the original release, XTC retreated to their alter egos, not as masked criminal street fighters in the main streets of Swindon, but as psychobilly followers who echoed the spirit of 67 with Psonic Psunspot, with 10 perfectly formed songs, culminating in "Pale and Precious", one of the best songs of the decade. - jpc

Performer: E.I.E.I. Owen, Lord Cornelius Plum, Sir John Johns, The Red Curtain (you know who they are!?)

01 Vanishing Girl 

02 Have You Seen Jackie? 

03 Little Lighthouse 

04 You're Good Man Albert Brown (curse you red barrel) 

05 Collideascope 

06 You're My Drug 

07 Shiny Cage 

08 Braniacs Daughter 

09 The Affiliadet 

10 Pale And Precious

XTC | THE DUKES OF STRATOSPHEAR “25 O’Clock” 1985 | TWILIGHTZONE

The Dukes Of Stratosphear "25 o'Clock" 1985

“When I was a kid I wanted to be in a group, and that group are The Dukes.” 

- Andy Partridge, Swindon. December 1987.

If you are a fan of psychedelic rock then this album is a must have. A very rare find on record, it is worth every second of your time to obtain a copy. I picked up this album sifting through a stack of LP's in an auto bodyshop. Having never heard of the Dukes of Stratosphere and feeling skeptical of the 1985 release date, I finally decided that it was worth the 50 cents to buy out of pure intrigue. (Not to mention the fantastic album art.) So I took it home and gave it a spin. After 30 seconds I was blown away. Opening with the title track,"25 O'Clock", the album blasts off immediately and takes you back to 1967. "Love Explosion" and "Mole from the Ministry" are two more of the six far-out tracks on this oddity of an album. Influenced strongly by late Beatles and very early Pink Floyd, XTC wrote the best music of their careers under the top secret alias, Dukes of Stratosphere. If only more musicians droped acid instead of blowing all of that coke in the 80's; then maybe we wouldn't have all of these Yuppies running about today.
These is a real fun album doing a good impression of psychadelia in rocky/poppy late 1980's sort of way. It is actually XTC behind this. I had it on tape when it came out because I was a huge XTC fan. It was actually a really nice surprise because it is very different from XTC's normal output at the time - which was good too. C McGuigan

Dukes:
Sir John Johns (Andy Partridge), Red Curtain (Colin Moulding), Lord Cornelius Plum (David Gregory), and E.I.E.I. Owen (Ian Gregory).

Twilight Zone

More ANDY PARTRIDGE with ROBYN HITCHCOCK - ‘Cause It’s Love (Saint Parallelogram)

'Cause It’s Love (Saint Parallelogram) - Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 (2006)

Another stellar Andy Partridge co-write, this time with Robyn Hitchcock!

Le Ramasseur De Mégots

 

Andy Partridge (XTC) on Strictly Personal! |captainbeefheartandthemagicband FACEBOOK page

XTC Andy Partrdige on Strictly Personal | Spin.com

captainbeefheartandthemagicband FACEBOOK page

Andy Partridge: 

'But I really love “Trust Us,” which is like a sort of Chinese blues. There’s a lot of those Oriental things [demonstrates harmonies on guitar]—a lot of those intervals. I can’t hear too much Beefheart. It’s like a really strong alcoholic drink. I can’t have too much of it, and I love it dearly.'

sourced from

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band

Gary Lucas

XTC - BLAME THE WEATHER | Le Ramasseur De Mégots

Blame The Weather

Le Ramasseur De Mégots

Left off English Settlement for reasons best known to someone else there is this B-side to Senses Working Overtime 1982

1. Single version, 3'37.
   Produced by Hugh Padgham and XTC.
   Engineered by Hugh Padgham.
   Recorded during sessions for English Settlement.
   Released in January 1982 as a B-side of the Senses Working Overtime 7" single in the U.K.
   Also released as a promotional single with copies of Trouser Press magazine, April 1982, in the U.S.A.
   Also available on Rag & Bone Buffet.

   Andy: “From English Settlement.”

when your love's flown out the window    and the
pain comes through the door    once again you've
missed the boat and you're stranded on the shore,
And you find out that what you had     was never
yours at all,   friends and lovers that you knew
so well     will never take your calls
So.......  you blame the weather, oh-oh,   blame
the weather, oh-oh,     blame the weather, oh-oh
can't you see you're in your prime,       you're
turning creases into lines.
If you play the game you've got to be   prepared
to take a knock,        you get put down so many
times     but you keep on getting up,     so put
your tears away and don't forget        to worry
is a crime,     nothing bears thinking about too
much,   you'll be old before your time
so -...    you blame the weather, oh-oh,   blame
the weather, oh-oh,     blame the weather, oh-oh
can't you see you're in your prime,       you're
turning creases into lines.
the pool of tears you left to drown in   (dry up,
dry up)   the helping hands that never came (dry
up, dry up)    the years you lost out to another
all went up in flames
so ....    you blame the weather, oh-oh,   blame
the weather, oh-oh,     blame the weather, oh-oh
can't you see you're in your prime,       you're
turning creases into lines.

           composed by c. moulding

The Dukes of Stratosphear - 25 o’clock | URBANASPIRINES

The Dukes of Stratosphear - 25 o’clock | URBANASPIRINES

The Dukes of Stratosphear were an English rock band formed in 1984 by Andy Partridge, Colin 

Moulding, Dave Gregory, and Ian Gregory. Modelled after psychedelic pop groups from the 1960s, the Dukes were initially publicised by Virgin Records as a mysterious new act, but were actually an XTC spin-off band. They recorded only two albums: 25 O'Clock (1985) and Psonic Psunspot (1987). In the UK, the records outsold XTC's then-current albums The Big Express (1984) and Skylarking (1986).

Andy Partridge's Birthday today (69)

XTC - DEAR GOD 

Andy Partridge was born this day in 1953 at Mtarfa Royal Navy Hospital in Mtarfa, Malta to English parents. He grew up on Penhill council estate in Swindon. Andy suffered from delicate mental health and stopped playing with his band XTC in 1982 when he collapsed not least from the affects of touring and playing plus an addiction to prescribed medication given to him since childhoodand whilst trying to come off his medication by himself and with no professional
help during a live televised show in Paris, he had a massive panic attack and afterwards was found backstage in the foetal position. He has gone on to prosper (at the time of his 'breakdown' he had £300 in the bank it is reported!) and he remains highly creative post XTC. 

The same age as me [slightly younger!] he is 70 next year and I have been a lifelong fan who owns pretty much all his extant work commercially available

More on Andy here . . . . The Guardian interview on losing his muse

 This from the early fanzines . . . . trust Andy P to be a curmudgeon! Hah!

  XTC

GO 2

Now I have said before what a fan of XTC I was (still the loudest band I ever heard at a theatre here in Oxford) and one of the albums that struck me at the time was the brilliant GO 2 album and not least because it was clever and eye-catching in it's ground breaking cover art (Hipgnosis)

I think it is so clever and the first self referential meta-language text for an album I have ever found and it impressed me so much at the time. Finding it again now it was a source of great pleasure and still makes me smile . . . . .I think I bought everything they did as a band and tried to keep up with their off shoot projects, (Dukes of Stratosphear etc) solo antics and so on. I still greatly admire Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding's creativity and for what it's worth I still consider Terry Chambers amongst the very best of drummers and he regularly would feature in ky top ten pop drummers of all time. Andy & Colin possibly as among my favourite pop writers  . . . . . . . Oh we go!

 

This is a video of the Song Battery Brides (Andy Paints Brian) the second track on the album GO 2 by XTC

This is a video of the Song Jumping in Gomorrah the ninth track on the album GO 2 by XTC

This is a video of the Song Meccanik Dancing the first track on the album GO 2 by XTC

This is a video of the Song Are You Receiving Me? by XTC this is not on the album GO 2 by XTC but is a single to try to get a single song in the charts for pop sales. I bought this and others when they came out from my local record store.

Wonderful radio 4 interview with one of my all time heroes, Andy Partridge from XTC talking about his career as an artist and 'pop star'!
The Voices of . . . . . Andy Partridge

Brought up on a council estate in Swindon, Andy Partridge's escape from the poverty of his working class upbringing followed a classic path - art and music. At 15, he enrolled in what he calls the 'art floor' of the local college - Swindon didn't boast an actual art college. Then, he discovered the magnetic power of carrying around his Dad's old guitar. He didn't even have to play it to find himself the centre of attention. In the years that followed - and in the wake of the punk explosion - he tasted celebrity and success with his band XTC. His curious vocal style and angular compositions were distinctive and influential. XTC built a cult status with songs such as Making Plans for Nigel and Senses Working Overtime, as well as albums including the acclaimed Skylarking.
But Swindon didn't lose Andy for long, despite the lure of London and New York. He lives there still, now with his American partner. And he's still writing songs - including for the recent album by the reformed Monkees.
In this programme, he talks about the trajectory of his career and the 'art blood' that has consistently flowed through his veins.
Produced by Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Hope it remains available and is a really interesting document from this fascinating artist and unique singer/songwriter. Semi-reclusive and self admitted loner he stands as a contemporary Dadaist, thinker and truly creative musical composer who fascinatingly goes on the record saying it has taken him until now to find his 'voice' and earlier on always said he can't play the guitar. Self deprecating and brutally honest he remains a true artist hero of mine