I’d been reading Bob Lefsetz the other day when he pontificated, “Can we bring Todd Rundgren back for a victory lap?”
Fine by me, I thought at the time–the guy really needs to be given his due. (Ever see the (overly long) flash intro to his site displaying the records upon records he’s produced? One word: amazing.)
But at the same time I thought, “Well, there are quite a few others who are due a victory lap…” and just like that I was off on a theme and a graphic. Yes, sometimes these things just write themselves.
XTC! Oh, how long did it take me to embrace your full charms? How long did I wander alone out in the cold purposefully eschewing the warmth of your poppy/hooky/catchy hearth? F’n long I tell you.
Why, I may have even had a disparaging word or seven…’navel-gazing’, ‘too clever by half’, ‘fussy and tiresome’. Wrong I was however–and now in possession of the entire catalog (Thanks Rick!) those years out in the ether have ended.
Yet, MY XTC-switch aside, the band clearly has not garnered the acclaim they’re due. Oh sure, Trouser Press editors and be-specticle’d fan boys have swooned for ages, but today we’re righting a wrong SO wrong that we’re kicking off this week’s series of shout-outs and underscores with the best of the lot.
Ladies and gents: this is pop!
XTC – Making Plans For Nigel [Live on the BBC Dec 1980] (Mp3)
XTC – Generals And Majors (Mp3)
XTC – Senses Working Overtime (Mp3)
XTC – When You’re Near Me I Have Difficulty (Mp3)
XTC – This Is Pop (Mp3)
