The Big Express

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s Apple Venus was originally intended to follow in 2020, but the project was ultimately canceled due to the source material being woefully incomplete. Nearly every single song on here (with the exception of This World Over, and maybe I Remember the Sun) are insane dense miniature sound worlds of pop songs. Played up up up, booming like crazy, and pummeling you with themselves. It's like walking into a room of full grown dogs that act like puppies and just being enthusiastically body slammed by them one after the other. And some of them are huskies, so they're constantly noisy too. If that sounds like a miserable experience? Consider this all tampered by these truly being some grand songs under it all. And distinct ones! Because all this noisy hubbub isn't exactly random, there's some reason behind it all! The Everyday Story of Smalltown" introduces side two with the sounds of kazoo and drums. [3] Partridge described the Swindon-inspired song as "all autobiographical", including the mention of a milkman who "lift[ed] his foot off [the] accelerator. It woke me up one morning and I thought, That's got to go into a bloody song." [39] Its sampled brass band marked the band's first use of an E-mu Emulator. [23] One of the guitar lines was taken from the Beatles' " Fixing a Hole" (1967). Gregory was enthused with the song and hoped it would have been released as a single, later opining that it was "twatted by a lousy mix". He said: "The big finale of the song features one of Andy's soon-to-be-favourite production techniques-- the over-layering of earlier vocal and instrumental themes as a counterpoint to the main chorus. It clatters off in jubilant canonic style, neatly cross-fading into the languid guitar introduction to 'I Bought Myself A Liarbird' -- a nice moment." [28] "I Bought Myself a Liarbird" [ edit ] Bernhardt, Todd; Partridge, Andy (11 May 2008). "Andy discusses 'Rook' ". Chalkhills . Retrieved 30 October 2018. All You Pretty Girls” scatters percussion and harmony vocals all throughout the listening space, with Andy Partridge's lead vocal nicely anchored to the center speaker. There’s a great moment during the chorus reprise at 2:25, when his harmony vocal (“write a little note…”) pops up directly behind the listener’s head.

Andy Partridge (Part 2) - Episode 27". YouTube. The ProgCast With Gregg Bendian . Retrieved 24 February 2022. Mummer had sounded flat and slightly lifeless but for The Big Express and in keeping with the themes prevalent on the album XTC opted for a harsher, mettalic edgy sound that recalled earlier works like Go2 and Drums And Wires yet managed to still sound unique, exciting and new. Thanks to it's production and choice of subject matter The Big Express may well be XTC's artiest album, a fully formed concept whose musical arrangements and production perfectly mirror it's lyrical content. The intention for The Big Express was to "let the music have a more boisterous feel" and for the lyrics to be more worldly. [15] For the album title, Partridge wanting something that was reminiscent of his hometown Swindon, which was well-known for its railway repair workshop, the Swindon Works. [16] Working titles included Coalface, Head of Steam, Shaking Skin House, Bastard Son of Hard Blue Rayhead, The Known World, Bull with the Golden Guts, [17] Mindless Sax and Violins, and Under the Rusting North Star. [18] The Big Express was chosen for its double meaning, referring to express trains and artistic expression. [19] Partridge envisioned the record as "industrial pop. We come from a railway town, and I was like, 'Well, let's wallow in that; in the imagery and the sounds. Let's make an album that's riveted together and a bit rusty around the edges and is sort of like broken Victorian massive machinery.'" [20] He said that the record "might be a concept album by stealth" since most, if not all of the songs he and Moulding wrote were autobiographical to some extent. [21] Two were of a political bent (" This World Over" and "Reign of Blows"). [22] The majority of Partridge's songs were composed on an open E-tuned guitar [23] with a broken E string. [24] LinnDrum samples are a prominent feature of the album The Big Express (liner notes). XTC. Virgin Records. 1984. {{ cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) ( link) Album and Additional Mixes by Steven Wilson [Dolby Atmos TrueHD 7.1, DTS HD-MA 5.1, and 24/96 LPCMStereo], 2023 Instrumental Mix [24/96 LPCM Stereo] [00:54:18] + [00:53:57]a b c d Bernhardt, Todd; Partridge, Andy (14 June 2009). "Andy discusses "Train Running Low on Soul Coal" ". Chalkhills. The heart of "The Big Express" lies in its captivating storytelling and autobiographical elements, reflecting the hopes, dreams, and memories of the band members. Join Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, and Dave Gregory as they invite listeners into their world through a vibrant post-punk soundscape. WTF Podcast (22 March 2016). "Todd Rundgren - WTF Podcast with Marc Maron #691". YouTube (Video). Event occurs at 1:26:20. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 . Retrieved 22 September 2018. impression on Andy. He hadn't had a musical guru before now. David Lord could hold his own in any musical conversation and piqued Andy's interests in unexplored musical areas." [12] Moulding was not as effused and said he was unable to relate to Lord on a musical level. [13] XTC subsequently negotiated a deal that allowed them to work as much as they want on their next album at his studio. [8] In April 1984, about a month into the new album sessions, the group learned that ex-manager Ian Reid had incurred them an outstanding value-added tax bill of several hundred thousand pounds, and they immediately pursued litigation that would last for the next five years. [14] David Lord adds: "This story about me turning down the Beatles as 'not serious musicians' is nonsense! I think it grew from something I told Andy once - as a music student in the days when 'Sargeant Pepper' was being recorded, a number of us were invited to be part of the cheering crowd at Abbey Road; sadly I was already committed elsewhere and couldn't make it! That's all!" The remixes also add some much-needed ‘warmth’ to the album, smoothing out some of the brittle highs in the digital percussion and applying newfound presence and ‘punch’ to the rhythm section. The big tom-tom rolls across the rear speakers in “Wake Up” that used to sound thin in the original stereo presentation are now thunderous.

I Bought Myself a Liarbird" is about Ian Reid, the band's former manager. [40] The title is a pun on " lyrebird". [1] In the 1998 XTC biography Song Stories, the song's entry simply states: "Due to a legal arrangement with their former management, XTC is unable to discuss the lyrical content of this song!" [39] "Reign of Blows" [ edit ] a b Bernhardt, Todd; Partridge, Andy (17 February 2008). "Andy discusses 'The Everyday Story of Smalltown' ". Chalkhills. Reign of Blows (Vote No Violence) takes us deep into the reality of a world where super powers still fought each other, but just used other countries to do it in. “And iron maidens will slam, and by the half-light of burning republics, Joe Stalin looks just like Uncle Sam” captures the era perfectly and with a screaming guitar and thumping drums, you almost feel as if your pleasant train journey through the shires has suddenly taken a nasty diversion through the US invasion of Grenada. Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th conciseed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.

Farmer, Neville (1998). XTC: Song Stories: The Exclusive Authorized Story Behind the Music. London: Helter Skelter Publishing. ISBN 190092403X. In late 1983, XTC released the holiday single " Thanks for Christmas" under the pseudonym Three Wise Men. It was produced by David Lord, owner of Crescent Studios in Bath, who impressed the band with the story that he had turned down an offer to arrange the Beatles' " She's Leaving Home" (1967). [11] He met Partridge while working as an engineer on The Naked Shakespeare. According to biographer Neville Farmer, Lord was "a world's away from XTC", having turned down the Beatles offer because he believed the Beatles were not serious musicians, and "made a deep Brasor, Phillip (16 March 1999). "XTC colors songs with earthy palette". The Japan Times . Retrieved 22 September 2018.

Although the LP reached a higher chart position than Mummer, [53] it sold a lesser number of copies. [54] The album spent two weeks on the UK charts, reaching number 38. [55] In the US, the album spent 7 weeks on the Billboard 200 album charts and reached its peak position of number 178 in December 1984. [56] A year earlier in 1983 XTC had released the pastorally triumphant Mummer, an album that still serves as the perfect foil to The Big Express, Venus to Mars in the Solar System of the XTC catalogue. Drums have always been so essential to the XTC sound and Pete Phipps had stepped in for Mummer and kept the stool for The Big Express, and what a performance he turned in. There is a distinct hammering beat throughout the album, with the drums seemingly higher in the mix as the sounds conjure pictures of this great steam engine powering through the mid-80s landscape. This image is reinforced by the cover shots of the band dressed as engine drivers and a wheel-shaped sleeve design that I misguidedly thought at the time would be rare.a b "UK Official Charts: The Big Express". Official Charts Company. 2017 . Retrieved 27 February 2017.