XTC - White Music
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Music CD Cover
Artist: XTCEdition: Music CD
Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2002-05-14
Music Label: Caroline
Soundtracks:
- Radios in Motion - XTC, Partridge, Andy
- Cross Wires - XTC, Moulding, Colin
- This Is Pop? - XTC, Partridge, Andy
- Do What You Do - XTC, Moulding, Colin
- Statue of Liberty - XTC, Partridge, Andy
- All Along the Watchtower - XTC, Dylan, Bob
- Atom Age - XTC, Partridge, Andy
- Set Myself on Fire - XTC, Moulding, Colin
- I'm Bugged - XTC, Partridge, Andy
- New Town Animal in a Furnished Cage - XTC, Partridge, Andy
- Spinning Top - XTC, Partridge, Andy
- Neon Shuffle - XTC, Partridge, Andy
- Science Friction - XTC, Partridge, Andy
- She's So Square - XTC, Partridge, Andy
- Dance Band - XTC, Moulding, Colin
- Hang on to the Night - XTC, Partridge, Andy
- Heatwave - XTC, Moulding, Colin
- Traffic Light Rock - XTC, Partridge, Andy
- Instant Tunes - XTC, Moulding, Colin
Free Music Notes for White Music
Free Music Review: 2 1/2 stars-- Post punk energy music.
Hit: 2 Stars
Punk, like all great rock music, was a rebellion, in this case against the excesses of the late '60s and early '70s. BUt somewhere along the way, it was unavoidable that bands would come along that loved the energy and honesty of punk and the very material they were rebelling against-- in the case of XTC, the lush pop and psychedelia of the late '60s. But these influences were far receeded on their debut album, "White Music" is firmly lodged in the sounds of punk and new wave and is, more than anything else, an album of energy music.
The net result of this is that hte album is inevitably at odds with the strenghts of the band-- songwriters Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding would come later to excel at lush, detailed arrangement full of unerring pop hooks, textures and harmonies, but here, it's all very stripped back, ska and punk influenced pop. Moulding's trademark slithering bass isn't quite in place yet, though he's already starting to find holes to fit himself in, he primarily forms a solid lockstep with drummer Terry Chambers. Partridge's guitar, for his part, limits largely to angular punk and ska trends-- loud and aggressive, pushing the music along from the front, which leads Barry Andrews' buzzing organ sound to be largely the soloing voice in the band. But with all this, the real weakness was singing voices too used to poor microphones of cheap clubs-- Partridge and Moulding both use an unnatural, clipped vocal style that seems more concerned with trying to annunciate than anything else, to the detrimant of the band's sound.
With all of this creating an unnatural tension on the album, it still manages to hit pretty frequently, helped no doubt by the fact that Partridge's songwriting was already top notch. Standout "Statue of Liberty" best illustrates this-- hints of ska, gentle organ textures, and a funky bassline over which Partridge's clever story of unrequited love can be read out. Nearly as notable are punky opener "Radios in Motion" (full of crackling punk energy), the loose-yet-detailed arrangement of early single "This is Pop?" (featuring the closest Partridge would ever come to snarling punk rebellion, even if it is laden with great pop hooks), and new wave gem "Atom Age", with just enough of a hint of Brian Wilson to pull it above the rest.
On the other hand, there's a lot of largely forgettable material-- Moulding's songwriting feels like it's not quite ready ("Set Myself on Fire") and his vocal is even more painfully forced than Partridge's ("Cross Wires"), and even Partridge has a couple duds ("Spinning Top"). Add to this an ill-conceived ska take on "All Along the Watchtower" that makes Partridge sound like a bad Hendrix imitator and you end up with a pretty mixed package.
The reissue adds quite a bit to the original-- remastered sound that has the net effect of making the record sound a bit more dated than it probably would at least provides clarity to the music and there's seven bonus tracks-- early singles and the "3D EP". Most of this stuff is largely forgettable (Moulding's "Heatwave", Partridge's "Dance Band" and "Traffic Light Rock"), but early single "Science Friction" and its b-side "She's So Square" are pulsing full of nervous tension and energy and make a decent listen.
XTC would find enormous heights in the following decade, and I can't help but color my reviews of their early material based on the heights they'd eventually reach. I have a sneaking suspicion that had I not heard what they'd be capable of in the future, I'd be inclined to give this a much higher rating, but compared to their later work, "White Music" sounds positively amateurish. It's got its moments, but they'd go on to do a lot better.
White Music Poster
24-bit digitally remastered reissue of 1978 album. Includes 7 bonus tracks 'Science Friction', 'She's So Square', 'Dance Band', Hang On To The Night', 'Heatwave', 'Traffic Light Rock' & 'Instant Tunes'.Even if the throbbing "Radios in Motion" had its moments of teenage new-wave sloganeering ("All the kids are complaining that there's nowhere to go, all the kids are complaining that the songs are too slow"), White Music proves that XTC were always something more than bumpkin punks. For a start, Andy Partridge loved the Beatles, a sackable offence in those days. As this 1978 debut album proves, XTC's spiky muse--spasmodic rhythms, Partridge's scuffed guitars, Colin Moulding's stuttering bass lines, and Barry Andrews's spontaneous blurts of crocheting keyboards--was inalienably their own. Clearly more closely aligned to the likes of Wire, Devo, and the Talking Heads than to the big-city brigade, White Music was adroitly experimental and as awkward as it was irritable (as on "Crosswires," "I'm Bugged," and their sputtering dub version of Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower," which outshone the Clash's reggae efforts at this point), but also plagued by crippling commercial misfortune. XTC's indecently stymied career path hit the first of many obstacles when the lyrics to the potentially classic pop single "Statue of Liberty" ("In my fantasy I sail beneath your skirt") fell foul of the BBC's quasi-Victorian obscenity mores and failed to chart through lack of airplay. --Kevin Maidment
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