Disco de XTC: “Mummer [Japan]”

In 1982, after a collapse on stage, Andy Partridge pulled the plug on XTC's touring and the band entered the studio to record their sixth album, 1983's "Mummer". Early in the sessions, drummer Terry Chambers quit the band (contributing only to three songs-- "Beating of Hearts", "Wonderland" and b-side "Toys"), leaving Partridge, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory to soldier on as a trio (and with session drummer Peter Phipps). The freedom from touring and from any notions of having to play this material on-stage allowed the band to begin to experiment with the studio as a tool, and with producer Steve Nye on hand (who had recently helped Japan produce their masterwork and final album in "Tin Drum"), the band put together an album that far outshines everything they had done before.

The drastic changes are apparent right from the onset-- "Beating of Hearts" shows a level of detail and arrangement that was totally absent, even from the material on "English Settlement"-- Middle Eastern-inspired strings doubling and supporting Partridge's thick vocal, skanking guitars and tribal drums, hints at raga... this is something completely unprecedented. Likewise, "Great Fire" with its screeching sax and ragged guitars, synth-laden tension piece "Deliver Us From the Elements" and grunting, groaning, throbbing avant-rock of "Human Alchemy" all point to a band pushing and exploring.

When XTC sticks to more conventional sounds, their work is still detailed and fantastic-- Partridge's "Love on a Farmboy's Wages" is a fine example. Among the best material he's ever written, it's insistent acoustic guitars and muted drums (the latter apparently inspired Chambers' leaving the band) provide a support for Partridge's voice, which manages anxiety, desperation and hope all together. A handful of other great pop songs continue to fill out the album (Moulding's synthy "Wonderland", Partridge's lovely "Ladybird") and help prevent the distinct lack of subpar material that seemed evident in most of the earlier XTC albums. Even the songs that aren't quite as good as the rest ("Me and the Wind") are still quite intriguing and very listenable.

This reissue finds the album remastered and the depth of the arrangements and productions really shine. In addition, it's augmented by no less than six b-sides from the era. It's actually quite amazing some of these tracks didn't make the album-- four of them are pop songs similar in feel to the album tracks. Of particular note are "Jump", a delicate little pop song with an unnervingly catchy chorus and "Desert Island", a tropical, breezy song about a castaway in paradise, featuring a superb arrangement of growing vocal harmonies and a honking accordian lying over acoustic guitars and a slithering bass. The album also includes two ambient instrumentals, one of them is nice enough, though not particularly noteworthy ("Procession Towards Learning Land"), the other is a simply fantastic array of rising and falling synthesizers layered on top of each other. Fans of Brian Eno's work with find this brilliant.

One thing I have left out in talking about this is that as fantastic as the record is, it's probably not a good introduction to the band-- it can be a bit more quirky than can be easily digestable, nonetheless, once one is familiar with XTC, this is definitely one worth seeking out-- it's among the best in their catalog. Highly recommended.

This was the very first XTC record I bought. I had read some rather flattering review of it in some long since forgotten magazine at the time of its release and decided to take a chance on it. I wasn't disappointed. The songwriting reminds one of the Beatles, but with an originality that makes this sound all their own. The lyrics are clever and the musical textures are dense and the moods range from sad to angry, and hopeful to hopeless. Range is the key word here, not only in emotion but in the broad range of musical directions explored here. Several tunes (Great Fire, Love on a Farmboys Wages, Funk Pop a Roll) are so good they would have been radio hits if mainstream radio bothered to play anything other than the same old garbage it always seems to play. And the songs that wouldn't have been the hit singles (Deliver us From The Elements, Beating of Hearts, Human Alchemy, Wonderland--okay this might have been a hit and in fact was released somewhere as a single) would have been given their due back in the days when FM radio played great album tracks, not hit singles. I went on to buy everything that had come out before this and then bought all the new stuff as it got released, all because of this recording. And now I'm in the process of buying these great recordings again in CD format, starting again with this one and being happily surprised by all of the great bonus material included. I'm certainly not what you would call a die hard fan (just look how long it took for me to start collecting these things on CD) and in fact I probably won't even bother writing another review for any of their other recordings as they all seem to be fairly well represented already. But it seemed that this one wasn't getting a great showing of support and as it's such a sentimental favorite of mine I had to sit down and write a tribute to the XTC recording that turned me on to this most X-cellent band.

Almost every XTC album puts the rest of the pop world to shame. While this one has at least two great tracks, MUMMER is their most ambitious, but least sucessful album. Clearly a transitional record, the band attempted to stretch beyond the conceits of new wave by creating(for then)a number of daring new sounds.

The problem wasn't with the ambition, or the sounds, but the songwriting. Andy Partridge delivers two great songs; one reflecting the pastoral theme that crops up throughout the album, "Love on a farm boy's wages" and the other, "Funk pop a roll"(essentially a rewrite of Elvis Costello's "Radio, Radio")that brims with fire, brimstone and acidic wit.These two tracks bookend some of the least interesting tracks the band has recorded. "Beating of hearts", the opening track, has merit as well, but, again, the concept is better than the execution.To give the album its due, though, there is always something interesting to listen to, but usually the songs don't amount to much beyond the "sound". MUMMER shares many of the flaws that crop up in McCartney's middle solo years--tuneful, melodic pop without direction, or purpose.

Andy, Colin and Dave would do much better with the focused, tuneful THE BIG EXPRESS which followed this album in 1984 and would continue after that to produce a series of exceptional albums that would redefine the rock/pop world. That is if everyone would just listen.

I am not surprized others have different opinions of this work, but I am amazed when someone comments about the writing. This is possibly the best concept album I have ever heard. Mummer is poetic at so many levels. Its colorful and completely filled with a circus of sound sensations I find so pleasing. When I listen to the intertwined nature of the words and music I think ONOMONOPIA. I am no professional critic, but to listen to "Me and the Wind" and "Great Fire" and not feel the wind and flame - I think you missed it.

The album begins with an actual opening tune. "Beating of Hearts" and its toms bouncing throughout opens the door. "Deliver Us From the Elements" is placed in the middle and ties the work together, clarifying the point pretty clearly. Vocals are stretched and pulled into circles and continually emphasized by the drums. I can never listen to the end of that tune without thinking of Todd Rundgren either(W,ATS).

I know the middle 6 tunes were not on the album, but they are all so lively and fit like a large intermission. "Procession..." is like a magnet slowly rolling closer, all the while picking up pieces of noisy scrap metal. Porceline sinks,pieces of car doors, a kid's bicycle, and rusted roofing all clanking and scraping against each other. Larger and larger it grows - and then you turn to watch it disappear. As it moves beyond earshot it must be huge. What a cool tune!

I don't know if Andy was the originator of the conceptual idea behind "Human Alchemy", but it is certainly a bit of genius. I have been so bored with white guilt for too many years now to feel any personal emotion such as guilt when I hear it, but the clarity of the truth conveyed is unmistakable. It is rare for me to wish I had written something someone else wrote, but Robert Frost's "Dust of Snow" and William Carlos William's "The Red Wheelbarrow" are about the only 2 poems sitting in front of "Human Alchemy" on my list.

The closer "Funk Pop a Roll" is a biting, cynical and fun tune to listen to, but if you cannot see the boat and feel the rudder when Andy sings "Feel like a ship with no rudder" in "Me and the Wind", then you missed it. Try and listen to it again and smile.

i sold this back twice. i bought it on cassette used and ported it around with me in my car. "great fire" and "love on a farm boy's" nothwithstanding, this takes a long time to sink in. once its sunk, however, you'll be beatifully bogged. not as lugubrious and pastoral as any number of persnickety XTCites maintain, not as majestic and etherally lovely as "Skylarking"--

as essential, however, as "Black Sea" or "Oranges and Lemons".

get it, kittens & cats.