XTC - Skylarking
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Free Music Notes for Skylarking
Free Music Review: Xtc's best
Hit: 5 Stars
I really enjoy listening to this CD along with Chips from the Chocolate Fireball, English Settlement, and Go2. My favourite tracks on this album are The man who sailed around his soul, which sounds like a big band James Bond rip off, Mermaid Smiled, which has some very nice singing, Another Satellite which has very clever lyrics, and Earn Enough for Us which was the single. If you like the Beatles I imagine you'd like this.Free Music Review: feel the ecstasy
Hit: 4 Stars
Pro: Sklyarking is full of beautiful moments of ecstasy. "Summer's Cauldron" and "Grass" serve as a moving introduction to the album, and "That's Really Super, Super Girl" and "Earn Enough For Us" are easy-to-enjoy pop songs. Almost all of the songs have breath-taking moments; take for example the string-enhanced cry of 'Misery' on "1000 Umbrellas." As a whole, Skylarking is a carefully-crafted concept album about the cycle of life.Con: While XTC have great moments, they also have a tendency to occasionally wander into the realm of the hackneyed. "Season Cycle" includes lyrics like 'Summer chased by autumn/ autumn chased by winter/' and so on. The verse of "Ballet for a Rainy Day" sounds like it could be the theme song for some 70s sit-com. Also, when slightly whiny Colin Moulding takes over the vocals on songs like "The Meeting Place," it reminds us how valuable the voice of Andy Partridge truly is. Lastly, I must note the "Mermaid Smiled" is far inferior to the rest of the CD, and I wish it were eliminated from the track listing.
Verdict: All in all, I'm glad to own Skylarking. The jubilant moments will force you to listen to it again and again, and it is almost impossible to get tired of XTC.
Free Music Review: Skyloving
Hit: 5 Stars
All of the reviews herein hit it right on the head: At first listen, Skylarking is just "o.k.". It takes a few times to really get it. But now, 17 years later, it's as beautiful as ever. Hasn't ever left my car. XTC fan or not: Must have for all!Free Music Review: Involving
Hit: 5 Stars
Out of all the XTC albums I have absorbed and investigated it took me a long time to fully appreciate the brightly satin sheen of "Skylarking".At first it sounded slow and dull but when fully absorbed upon purchase the albums magic reveals itself most fully such as in bright pop/rockers such as "That's Really Super,Girl","Earn Enough For Us" and "Big Day" which both stand out as celebrations of romance,triumph and responsibility.The rest features such catchy attention getters as the neo-psychedelia of "1000 Umbrella's"."Summers Cauldron",Sacrificial Bonfire" an assortment of pleasurable experiments in world music and jazzy pop textures to make it a diverse collection.And to top it all off is the higly significant "Dear God",a shattered young mans letter to his "almighty" that asks "did mankind make god before he made you and the devil too"-a harsh question but in this case a proper on because ther is certainly no doubting who made "Skylarking"-it is certainly XTC's Sgt.Pepper by artistic definition and even in it's cloudiest moments is sure to bring the a sense of general tranquility.A personal triumph for this band and all who listen.
Free Music Review: XTC's Sgt. Pepper's
Hit: 5 Stars
Todd Rundgren produced this 1986 masterpiece that threads it's songs together by their progressive themes of love's, and life's, joys and transgressions. Beautifully orchestrated, XTC's Apple Venus Vol. 1 sounds like it could have been Skylarking's follow-up album. The string arrangements lift "Ballet For a Rainy Day," "1,000 Umbrellas," and "Sacrificial Bonfire" to new heights. The hit "Dear God" appeared on later releases of this album as an after-thought, after receiving airplay as a single. Skylarking is one of the most beautiful collection of songs XTC has ever recorded.