Herrera, Ernesto (12 April 2019). " 'Drums and Wires': 40 años de un emblema de la 'new wave' ". Milenio (in Spanish) . Retrieved 27 May 2019. You’re influenced by other people around you when you’re not sure of yourself,” Moulding says, referring to the band’s high-energy former keyboard player, Barry Andrews, who left after Go 2. Guitarist Dave Gregory joined soon after. “Up until that point, we were viewed as a poor man’s Talking Heads or something,” Moulding adds. “People called us ‘quirky.’ But when we came out with Drums and Wires it was like a different band, really. Mainly, that was probably my fault.” I want to cleanse my brain,” he says. “I’ve been doing ordinary things like going to the shops. I purposely didn’t really want to do any music for a while because I wanted to recharge the batteries totally. To come in fresh. It’s like having tennis elbow: the only remedy for it is to take a break.”

In Moulding's recollection, "Up until that point, we were viewed as a poor man’s Talking Heads or something. People called us 'quirky.' But when we came out with Drums and Wires it was like a different band, really. Mainly, that was probably my fault." [65] He was surprised when the label began choosing his songs, instead of Partridge's, as singles. [11] Partridge felt that he was losing the band's leadership and attempted to exert more authority in the group, calling himself "a very benevolent dictator." [1]Bernhardt, Todd (24 November 2008). "Colin discusses 'Making Plans for Nigel' ". Chalkhills . Retrieved 20 September 2017. a b Dahlen, Chris (23 June 2004). "The 100 Best Albums of the 1970s". Pitchfork . Retrieved 23 August 2019.

Drums and Wires (US edition) (liner notes). XTC. Virgin Records. 1979. {{ cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) ( link) Moulding and Chambers reunited in 2017 as TC&I, releasing an EP titled Great Aspirations and playing a run of sold-out shows in their hometown of Swindon. They released a live album in early August 2019, but Moulding isn’t sure they’ll continue with the project. a b Kot, Greg (3 May 1992). "The XTC Legacy: An Appraisal". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved 1 November 2020. The band went on to release several more classic albums — including 1982’s English Settlement and 1986’s Skylarking, produced by Todd Rundgren. And they weathered their share of issues and triumphs as the years rolled on: the band stopped touring in the early ‘80s and focused on making albums, due in large part to Partridge’s distaste for performing live. (“Performing is very physical,” he says. “I’m not a physical [being]. I live in my brain. I barely exist outside of it.”) They also tussled with Virgin over profits. Still, there were bright spots, specifically 1986’s “Dear God,” one of their best known and highest praised songs of all time — despite its anti-religious message.

Xu9O9O.QxU35LYCz5Qnd_Ow9X28sMiwb6MGFXLot0dAu2FE4vYUW3JJ8IzZh2uPBWNiDFdRk5rmpOtn6IMQwxYlYI8flXC5XbuloMpm a b c d Bernhardt, Todd (15 December 2008). "Dave remembers 'Making Plans for Nigel' ". Chalkhills . Retrieved 20 September 2017. In an interesting U-turn, the band opted to hire a second guitarist rather than a replacement keyboardist. The man they chose was Dave Gregory of the Swindon based covers band, Dean Gabber and His Gabberdines. XTC held a “pretend audition” for Gregory, where he was asked to play their 1978 song ‘This Is Pop’. Gregory then asked the band which version they wanted to hear, album or single. To which Partridge remembers that they thought, “‘Bloody oh, a real musician.’ But he was in the band before he even knew.” Making Plans for Nigel” is a prime example of Moulding’s songwriting; the second song on Drums and Wires, “Helicopter,” is pure Partridge. While “Nigel” opens with the booming live drums made famous by Townhouse Recording Studio’s stone room (best known for birthing Phil Collin’s signature sound), “Helicopter” zips in on electric-sounding beats and a playful guitar line. Zippy, playful and futuristic, the song is perfect encapsulation of Partridge’s musical bugbears: novelty tunes heard courtesy of a junked record player his father nailed to a tea trolley. “I think he thought that was swish — that you could move it from one room to another and plug it in in another room,” Partridge says. “It was very perverse.”

Zaleski, Annie (20 March 2016). " "Music is so abused these days": XTC's Andy Partridge opens up about songwriting, painting and developing the "cruel parent gene" toward your own art". Salon . Retrieved 20 September 2017. Partridge formed what would become XTC with fellow Swindon, England, pub mates Colin Moulding and Terry Chambers in the mid ‘70s. For a while, they rode the new wave train with a changing lineup of members, releasing White Music in 1978 and Go 2 that same year. Their punk origins are very apparent on those records, which rip along at an expedient pace — far more jagged and confrontational than subsequent releases. The band chafed under the confines of leather and crew cuts, though, and soon broke free into uncharted pop territory. Another fact to be aware of is neither Partridge nor, especially, Moulding can really sing. They reach for notes and sometimes fail to find them. They speak rather than sing, voices sounding like, during puberty, they failed to break completely leaving them in a halfway house where both highs and lows are a stretch. The beauty of the situation being it suits the band perfectly. Not only are the songs bizarrely brilliant but so are the vocalists.The long-awaited reissue of XTC‘s 1979 album Drums And Wires has been announced, and like the Nonsuch deluxe release from 2013, the two-disc sets (CD+Blu-ray and CD+DVD-A) will offer a massive amount of extra audio and visual material, including new 5.1 surround and stereo mixes. a b c Bernhardt, Todd; Partridge, Andy (6 January 2008). "Andy discusses 'Complicated Game' ". Chalkhills . Retrieved 30 August 2019. Larkin, Colin (2011). "XTC". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th conciseed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.

XTC - Drums And Wires - Producer(s): Steve Lillywhite - Virgin VA13134 (Atlantic) - Genre: POP". Billboard. 1979.

Barcode and Other Identifiers

Between Go 2 and Drums And Wires the band had undergone a personnel change. Out of the door went keyboard player Barry Andrews and into his shoes stepped Dave Gregory – not a straight swap because Gregory was more of a guitarist who could, if need be, play the keyboards. The result is a more stable, rounded sound providing songwriters Partridge and Moulding the foundation on which to build their weird and wonderful creations. Life Begins at the Hop" was released on 4 May 1979 [10] and became the first charting single for the band, [39] rising to number 54 on the UK Singles Chart. [40] They played a 23-date English tour, playing to half- or quarter-full concert halls. [8] In July, music videos directed by Russell Mulcahy were filmed for "Making Plans for Nigel" and "Life Begins at the Hop". [7] From 25 July to 17 August, they embarked on another tour of Australia, which was more successful. [8] [41] Immediately following the tour, the band arrived in Japan and played four dates in Osaka. Partridge recalled the band encountering much fan hysteria in Japan: "We could hardly go anywhere without being screamed at. You'd walk into a hotel lobby and there'd be a crowd of girls sitting around waiting for you." [42]