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July 20, 2004
andy touched this!
what many-- but not all-- of you know about me is that i'm a huge XTC geek.
i hesitate to say "huge fan". i used to be a huge fan. now i'm less of a fan, but the impulse to collect XTC materials remains like a vestigal tail. i don't often indulge it, however.
one thing i've been considering doing for years is re-buying their albums on CD. i've got tons of stuff on vinyl-- much more than is available on CD, actually-- but virtually nothing on CD, which makes it quite difficult to fulfull mary and christa's long-standing request for an XTC mix.
starting this month, I decided to proceed with this in an orderly fashion. the CD's are now available pretty much directly from the band-- via a very small label in England-- over the web. the big up side to getting them this way is that they're autographed! and of course, i suspect (hope!) that a lot more of my money is going directly to andy and colin (who could definitely use it, after many years under a contract that bled them dry, which they're now out from under).
my first two cd's arrived yesterday-- skylarking (widely considered their best) and go2 (my long-time favorite from back in their punk/post-punk days).
i plan to order two cd's a month directly from them. ideally, i'll also digitize some of the vinyl i've got that's not available on cd-- but we'll see. at the very least, i need to try and preserve some of the rarer cover art by scanning it.
Posted by lisa at July 20, 2004 11:20 AM | TrackBack
Comments
ooh, I want a Dukes sweatshirt! Wish they had girl sizes.
Posted by: Sarah on July 20, 2004 12:14 PM
And XTC tell you everything you need to know about Swindon!
Posted by: B. W. Ventril on July 20, 2004 10:43 PM
indeed-- should i ever actually GO to swindon, i will be sure to bring moulding's map-- which is currently hanging on the wall of my office.
Posted by: lisa on July 21, 2004 09:23 AM
Well I am a huge Todd Rundgren geek so here is where our paths cross: Todd produced Skylarking and there are famous stories about the conflicts he and Andy had in the studio. I don't have enough XTC in my collection--thanks for the info on how I can change that and help the musicians while doing so.
Posted by: minty on July 21, 2004 09:59 AM
Skylarking is one of those bittersweet things... everyone loves it (including me)... except, reportedly, Andy.
As always, Andy is his own worst enemy.
Posted by: lisa on July 21, 2004 10:36 AM
the funny thing is I landed on this site looking for stuff about Clinton Kelly of WNTW and I wound up finding stuff about XTC. I love lots of their stuff (and hate lots of their stuff). Its quite a lonely existance being an XTC fan since not everyone appreciates Andy's incrediblly insightful, and sometimes dirty (heh..heh..heh..) lyrics. I got hooked with Dukes of the Stratosphear many moons ago, and can't break free. Got fuzzy warbles 1 and 2 but haven't decided yet whether it is worth buying 3 and 4. Nice to meet others who enjoy the lads from Swindon.
Posted by: Maypole on July 21, 2004 11:50 AM
While in Swindon, why not visit the Oasis Leisure Centre, home of one of south-west England's most impressive water slides. And yes, it was the inspiration for that band's name. And people say Swindon is boring...
http://www.swindon.gov.uk/oasis
Posted by: B. W. Ventril on July 21, 2004 04:15 PM
ok, so a) your comment won't post right away because i have to approve it first and b) you might get a server error but your comment probably posted anyway and c) previewing doesn't work so i've removed the preview button.