XTC Album: “White Music [2002 Remaster]”

This is XTC's first album and it contains the band at their most nervy and manic. The band obviously had a lot of energy to burn and it shows through on this album. This is the first album I've purchased of theirs and it's so infectious that you can't put this album down. I'm Bugged is an obvious highlight as well as The Statue Of Liberty which would have got airplay only if the BBC didn't pick up on the " I sail the winds beneath your skirt " line. Which is unfortunate really as it really deserved more. It's unfortunate this band didn't do better but then.....that's what happens in life!

I remember buying this import LP and hearing it for the first time. It was very different than what was coming out in the USA, with exception to the great underground punk stuff. The songs show the bands whimsical spirit and their awesome talent. This is a very upbeat album, with exception to I'm Bugged, which drives a beat into your cranium. This music is not for everyone, but if you like to walk on the wild side this is for you! The EP adds alone make this a buy for any XTC Fan. Finally, hands down, best rendition of All Along the Watch Tower ever.

This album wasn't released in the U.S. at the time; nevertheless it made a splash in England, and had a clear influence on a number of other artists. XTC established themselves as a preeminent "new wave" band, one full of squeaky dissonant sounds and manic energy that made them the antithesis of "hippy music", but did so with a greater intelligence, sensitivity, and timelessness than their peers.

The songs originally released on the "White Music" LP are slightly inferior to the tracks released on the "Science Friction" EP and 2 or 3 singles from this timeframe; happily those tunes are included on the CD reissue, making for one highly charged listening experience.

Pop music (i.e. the Beatles) with its calibrated rushes of energy meets the avant-garde (i.e. Captain Beefheart's rhythmically twisted structures). It's, on the whole, amazing.

Great initial touchstones are "Science Friction" (Jerry Lee Lewis meets Captain Beefheart), "She's So Square" (think early Dukes of Stratosphere), "Danceband" and "Heatwave" (two dissonent Colin moulding masterpieces), the would-be dance crazes the "Spinning Top" and the "Neon Shuffle" taken to extremes, the brilliant and wild take on "All Along the Watchtower", the minimal masterpiece "New Town Animal" ... great CD.

This is a great, quirky pop album: manic keyboards, and lyrics bursting out so quickly there isn't time to actually, you know, pronounce them. (The last line of the Crossed Wires sample is "Everything's buzz-buzz, everything's beep-beep", really.) Catchy pop that quickly gets in your head, if you're looking for frenetic fun.

excellent cd,it brought back memories from when i saw them live in 1979 town hall auckland.if memory is correct.i thought andy partridge was great and the quirky music appealed to me (and still does)the bonus song are great.i liked the bizarre organ playing of barry andrews.