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Product Details
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Track Listings
| 1. Runaways (2001 Digital Remaster) |
| 2. Ball And Chain (2001 Digital Remaster) |
| 3. Senses Working Overtime (2001 Digital Remaster) |
| 4. Jason And The Argonauts (2001 Digital Remaster) |
| 5. No Thugs In Our House (2001 Digital Remaster) |
| 6. Yacht Dance (2001 Digital Remaster) |
| 7. All Of A Sudden (It's Too Late) (2001 Digital Remaster) |
| 8. Melt The Guns (2001 Digital Remaster) |
| 9. Leisure (2001 Digital Remaster) |
| 10. It's Nearly Africa (2001 Digital Remaster) |
| 11. Knuckle Down (2001 Digital Remaster) |
| 12. Fly On The Wall (2001 Digital Remaster) |
| 13. Down In The Cockpit (2001 Digital Remaster) |
| 14. English Roundabout (2001 Digital Remaster) |
| 15. Snowman (2001 Digital Remaster) |
Product Description
Product Description
English Settlement is a watershed work for XTC that provides a valuable link between the band they had been (caustic, high pitched, and quirky) and the band they became (sublime, pastoral, and still undeniably quirky). It reveals a band in transition, coming only months before swearing off touring, due to Andy Partridge's stage fright, and the subsequent departure of drummer Terry Chambers. Despite the internal hemorrhaging, or perhaps because of it, XTC produced their finest record. English Settlement deals largely with the horrors of modern life and ordinary people's attempts to make sense of it all. Racism, violence, and the senseless proliferation of weapons are ingeniously examined in songs such as "Runaways," "No Thugs in Our House," and "Melt the Guns." The record's finest moment, however, plays against these horrors with "Senses Working Overtime," a pastoral piece celebrating life and all its simple wonders--the beautiful as well as the commonplace. With its majestic, sweeping chorus and hilarious lyrics, "Senses" laid the groundwork for XTC's '80s sound and established Andy Partridge alongside Elvis Costello as one of England's premier songwriters. The album also features two of bassist Colin Moulding's finest compositions: the frenetic "English Roundabout," which builds the narrator's disgruntlement with a delirious, staccato guitar attack, and "Ball and Chain," a compelling plea for landmark conservation that would have fit flawlessly on the Kinks' reactionary manifesto, The Village Green Preservation Society. This was the last time XTC would record as a bona fide rock quartet and it presents the band at the height of its playful glory as they enthusiastically trip down a fertile new path into uncharted territory. --Paul Ducey
Album Description
Remastered reissue of 1982 album features the classic 'Senses Working Overtime'. Virgin Records. 2001.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of their best efforts,
By A Customer
This review is from: English Settlement (Audio CD)
I owned this album as a double vinyl when it was first released. Later, it was released as a single disc, discarding several great cuts. Here it is, fully assembled again! And it STILL is as great as the day I first bought it way back when. Andy Partridge's experiments with ska "soften" the previously a-melodic and atonal arrangements found on earlier releases. Nevertheless, this album delivers the infamous awkwardness of XTC with fresh zeal. Far from as commercially successful as "Oranges and Lemons" (an album I still think is weak in comparison to any other album by this group), "English Settlement" will open (or re-open) your ears to the vistas that can be achieved when intelligence meets ska and second wave.Notable cuts: "Snowman"; "No Thugs"; "It's Nearly Africa".
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best of the touring bands work,
By Chet Fakir (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
This review is from: English Settlement (Audio CD)
This is the culmination of all the work XTC put in on the road and studio as a touring band before they became Andy, Colin and Gregsy's studio project. Its the work of a group of guys who were completely in sync with one another musically, and its brilliant. Possibly the best double album of new studio recordings ever released including the Beatles White Album. Very orginal band. Terry Chambers deceptively simple thud, whack drumming is instanly recognizable and PERFECT. After he left their sound changed quite a bit. If you can own only one XTC album this is the one to pick.
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE Modern Classic,
By Pax (Greensboro, North Carolina United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: English Settlement (Audio CD)
This album has aged incredibly well and deserves its spot among the finest albums of all time. English Settlement fits so well in the pantheon of great British albums, yet its integrity, ingenuity and consistent thematic scope makes it perhaps the better of them. Even the title & the packaging, every aspect of this album is nearly perfect.Each song is unique from one another yet weaves together a tale of the modern world so well depicted that I can't think of any other album that compares. From the loss of human agency in the industrial world in "Leisure" to the congestion and pollution of the automobile in "English Roundabout", XTC blend perfect pop with biting social critiques. From "Ball & Chain", where XTC lament urban planning in the name of "Progress" to the mesmerizing "Melt the Guns", where XTC make clear the madness of military aggression. "Fly on the Wall" presents the modern fear of Big Brother, with computers tracking our every move. Domestic social commentary can be found in the haunting "Runaways" and the biting "No Thugs in our House". XTC are even able to pull off adding several songs that add just the right touch of Western adventure and mystery with songs like "Jason & the Argonauts" and "Yacht Dance". English Settlement is a complete album in every sense and should be considered on of the finest albums of all time.
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