Disco de XTC: “Black Sea”

I first heard this album in 1982 and ever since then it has never strayed far from my turntable, cassette deck or cd player(yes I have all three versions,) It has become one of what I call my desert island albums, as in "if I were stranded on a..." The moment you hear the opening chords of "Respectable Street",you will be hooked. Songwriter/guitarist Andy Partridge's quirky pop is so catchy you'll find these songs playing over and over again in your head. This album also contains the most MONSTER DRUM SOUND ever heard, each track is dominated by percussion and drums and will have your foot tapping and your ears ringing. If you like the Beatles, you will love this. Black Sea rules,total XTC.

This was the record that really made me a hardcore fan. I was in college at the time, and we would sit around listening to this record along with the Clash, Sousix, etc... and it was a moment in music history that for me, has not really been matched. You could literally *feel* the 70's paradigm crumbling away in thes records.

These best part, though, was that XTC actually toured with this record and came to my college (U.C. Santa Barbara, CA) and played in our basketball gym. I was front row center (3rd seat to the right of the aisle) and the line-up was Oingo Boingo, followed by XTC, and the Police. The gym wasn't even sold out if you can believe it.

But what a concert. Basically most of the people were there for the Police and they did not "get" XTC, so aside from us fans up front, I must say the audience response was rather cold for XTC. We of course screamed our heads off, and to his credit, Sting excoriated the audience for not being nicer to XTC...

At least in the U.S. this was the last time XTC would play live, so I am both happy and sad to have seen this concert. By the way, most concerts of this era (78-85) were amazing displays of raw energy and intelligence. From Talking Heads, to REM, Clash, The Smiths, and even (gasp) early U2, I'm not sure the concerts of the 90's are better. Peace.

XTC's fourth album is easily their finest as

XTC: Influental touring rock quartet. They hinted at the greatness that is this album with 1979's masterful Drums & Wires. Let's examine shall we? The LP opens with their best-ever opener, "Respectable Street"- a dig at suburban prentiousness. The song may in fact be their most rockest (is that even a word?) song ever. Followed by the chiming dual guitar attack of "Generals & Majors" which succeeds in making cold war paranoia ultra hummable (or whistle-able if you will). Possibly Colin Moulding's finest single, it also features the now very popular disco/new wave hi-hat action inluenced by Terry Chambers. "Living Through Another Cuba" is cold war paranoia to dance to. "Love At First Sight", another fine Moulding single, is perfect psychedelic new

wave with it's echoing refrain, quirky chorus, stuttering guitar

solo and the always inventive drumming of Chambers. "Rocket From A Bottle" and "Buring With Optomism's Flames" are both upbeat,

optomistic songs with some great, great playing. The former

sounds like The Kinks backing Paul McCartney - tuneful but rocking. "No Language In Our Lungs" may in fact be one of XTC's all-time greatest songs (a feat in itself). The "I would have made this instrumental" & the repeating "way" parts still give me goosebumps. Ouch! "Towers Of London" provided XTC with yet another English folk (folk as in folklore) classic. "Paper & Iron

(Notes & Coins)" points to where people like Damon Albarn & Blur learned a few tricks. It's subject of working-class struggle is common subject matter but this song is above and beyond others

like it as we listen in on a band truly WORKING. "Sgt. Rock", a hit single in England is fun catchy fluff complete with mock hard-rock riffs. "Travels In Nihilon" is possibly XTC's most haunting song. The repetitive thundering drums and spooky bass line create an atmosphere not accomplised often in popular music.

It sounds like stumbling upon a tribe of early homosapiens on a foggy shore or something. The bonus tracks are nice as well "The Somnabulist" is interesting an exceptional. "Don't Lose Your Temper" is a nifty throwaway (with The Jam's Rick Buler on Handclaps for what it's worth) and "Smokeless Zone" is a sub-par Moulding contribution. The Rhythym section of Moulding and Chambers are at the height of their powers. As were Dave Gregory and Andy Partridge's dual guitar attacks. The Album went U.S. Top 40 and spawned five, yes five singles. Melodic, atonal, inspired, inspiring and great/complex/clever arrangements. Complex and intelligent rock never sounded so easy except for maybe that band from the sixties. What were they called again?

Oh yeah The Beatles.

XTC has about 6 truly great CD's, and this is one of them. Guitar solo in "Love at First Sight" is brilliant... you have to hear it to believe it, and I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't heard it.

This is a decent XTC starter CD. Don't buy a greatest hits collection... you need to buy this as well as Drums & Wires, English Settlement, and Skylarking, then you can tiptoe into their other brilliant work (Mummer is an undiscovered masterpiece, and many good moments on Oranges & Lemons).

Andy Partridge had an idea. Take all the advances made in dual-guitar chord shapes and interlocking rhythm/bass/lead playing over the last three albums, apply them to effortlessly melodic, Beatlesque songs and arrangements, and ADD SOME REALLY LOUD DRUMS. I don't just mean "loud," I mean *LOUD*. Blow-your-ears-back loud. Loud like a used-car salesman's tie loud.

Black Sea is the type of album The Beatles would have made had they been frustrated, nerdy intellectuals rather than suave handsome Liverpudlians: painstakingly crafted, catchy songs stuffed with over-literate lyrics and matched to an awe-inspiring crash-boom-bang rhythm section (courtesy of drummer Terry Chambers and producer Steve Lillywhite).

The spectacular VIOLENCE of much of this album is a phenomenon of sound, precisely because even at its most apoplectic (the white-hot "Travels In Nihilon," "No Language In Our Lungs") or even EPILEPTIC (no word better describes the immortal "Burning With Optimism's Flames," which stutters and spits and crams so many lyrics into each phrase that Partridge has to literally stop the band each time before starting into the next one) it's still extremely controlled. The sound concept never overtakes the melodies, or the songwriting, and none of the songs ever escape from their authors.

XTC, at their best (and this is probably their best), were like delightfully gregarious mad scientists: witty and talkative, more than a little insane in their willingness to fuse avant-garde musical concepts with old-fashioned songcraft, but always in complete command of the science and technology of their art. Black Sea therefore represents more than just a platter full of sharp, clever songs - it represents the achievement of an intellectual ideal. To the benefit of us all.