A present for the XTC fan in your life

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XTC Black Sea Steven Wilson remix review

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Mark Fisher, editor of The XTC Bumper Book of Fun for Boys and Girls , takes a sonic journey into the land of Black Sea, freshly spruced up by Steven Wilson in a stereo remix and glorious 5.1 surround sound . . . SORRY for stating the obvious, but XTC were a studio band for a long time. The last album they played live was English Settlement in 1982 – and then only about half the songs. After that came another seven albums, plus Dukes of Stratosphear outings, all of them created for the studio alone. That's why all these years later, Steven Wilson's remix of 1980's Black Sea , officially released on 24 November 2017, comes as such an ear-opener. What you hear, thanks to the booming bass and thudding drums, is a band at the height of its live powers. This Black Sea is a tight set of adventurous pop gems which, for all its angular arrangements and atypical subject matter (neighbours, navvies and nihilism) is raw, unadorned and ready for action.  Yes, as you’d expec
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Andy Partridge on Psurroundabout Ride and the Dukes of Stratosphear

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Psurroundabout Ride To celebrate the release of  Psurroundabout Ride , Mark Fisher talks to Sir John Johns (aka Andy Partridge) about the roots of the Dukes of Stratosphear, his formative love of psychedelia and what it's been like to revisit 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot in 5.1 surround with ace remixer Steven Wilson. What is the history of the Dukes? Sir John Johns: You'll have to climb into my turdis (it's disguised as a small outside lavatory) and we'll go back to 67. I'll be at school and I'm just loving psychedelic music – or the psychedelic music I can hear, which isn't much. It'll be under the bed clothes with a tranny (that means something totally different) and I'm tuning in to Radio Caroline and Radio Luxembourg because I was one of those geeks that got Fab 208 magazine . I'm listening to obscure psychedelic singles and thinking, "This is fantastic. This is pop music gone upwards towards the stars. I
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Andy Partridge on Unwrap You at Christmas

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FOR XTC's Andy Partridge, the Monkees were childhood heroes. He even won a competition in Monkees Monthly for his caricature of Micky Dolenz . A dream came true in 2016 when he wrote for the band's 50th-anniversary comeback album Good Times! His song You Bring the Summer was one of that record's highlights – as was the bonus track Love's What I Want . Two years later, he proves he can do winter just as well as summer with Unwrap You at Christmas, the lead single from the newly released Christmas Party .  Mark Fisher, editor of The XTC Bumper Book of Fun for Boys and Girls, pulls out the crackers, pours a sherry and asks Andy some festive questions. Our new single “Unwrap You at Christmas” is now available on #Spotify ...written for us by the great Andy Partridge of XTC! https://t.co/ipnUDN1VWo pic.twitter.com/MhHeNddeKZ — Micky Dolenz (@TheMickyDolenz1) 9 October 2018 When I was down in Swindon 18 months ago you played me your demo of Unwrap You at Christma
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