Disco de XTC: “Go 2 [2002 Reissue]”

The songs here are very much the epitome of what "New Wave" is supposed to sound like, with the possible exception of Elvis Costello's early work. Barry Andrews' plastic organ was essential to XTC's flavor at this point in their history. This is a much darker album than their debut, WHITE MUSIC. Darker because Barry and Andy Partridge were fighting for dominance within the band. The tense competition between these two made for some really exceptional tunes. Unfortunately, Andrews was to leave the band after this record.

The first track, Meccanic Dancing, alludes to "a disco song from Germany." It is followed by the second track, a mechanical sounding Battery Brides wherein Partridge tips his musical hat to German techno-heads Kraftwerk in tribute.

Barry Andrew's two tunes, Super Tuff & My Weapon are good enough to be on the album, but he would later make a much bigger mark for himself as a songwriter with the band SHRIEKBACK.

I am not surprised critics and Andy Partridge consider this XTC's worst release. To be honest I am more surprised so many people are sticking up for this one. I always thought I was alone in my appreciation of this release. I am surprised that everyone that likes this album hates the Barry Andrews songs. I absolutely love "Super Tuff" and "My Weapon". "My Weapon" may have juvenile lyrics, but they are also rather truthful and the music adds power to Andrews frustration. Why is this song hated so much? "I Am The Audience", "Jumpimg In Gomorrah", "Battery Brides" and "The Rhythm" are also favorites. I love the lyrics to "Life Is Good In The Greenhouse" and the atmosphere, but the bass can be annoying and is mixed too high. "Meccanik Dancing" has grown on me a lot. The rest is annoying, though "Red" seems to be another song I am starting to like. Finally is the clssic, "Are You Receiving Me", which is the bonus track. Another ace. This is a consistently enjoyable album that will probably be out of print soon.

Unarguably, this is the group's least liked album, and though it stands far above most of the drivel that other bands release these days, it falls short from the usual excellence with which XTC has rewarded its admirers (and there are more out there than most people may realize!).

There are a handful of eyebrow-raising moments here, like the lyrics to "Jumping in Gomorrah" and "My Weapon," and the band's experiments with atonality and noise are realized on tracks like "Meccanic Dancing" and "Beatown," two rousing rockers; however, dull tracks like "Super Tuff," "Buzzcity Talking," and the excruciatingly boring "Battery Brides," which is perhaps the only forgettable song written by Andy Partridge, fail to match anything on their debut album, "White Music," a much more polished and groundbreaking collection of songs.

XTC newbies ought to investigate the band's other albums first before taking a chance on this lukewarm offering that only the most devoted collectors should own.

The follow up to "White Music" and the last by the original band (Barry Andrews took his squawling keyboard to the underrated Shriekback after this LP). It was an improvement over "White Music", more refined, though the lack of bonus tracks here make WM a superior CD as they are now issued.

"Meccanic Dancing" ... whew ... music doesn't really get much better than that track in my opinion. "Battery Brides" is a stunner also (its sustitle is "Andy Paints Brian", and it appears to be an attempt to write a song in Brian Eno's style. Eno deferred on an opportunity to produce this record, saying the band had enough ideas of their own and didn't need him ... thankfully, John Leckie remained on board and recorded this in strong and clear style).

The rest of the LP is mostly slightly charming, but potentially annoying ... wordy songs with somewhat precious lyrics. Most of the songs have their charms, but aren't everyone's cup of tea. Notice the great band sound in "Beattown". Notice that "Crowded Room" sounds like a Talking Heads parody. Notice that that song and Molin's other 2 songs on Side 1 have a strong, almost pub-rock feel to them.

This is the album that turned me on to XTC. Go2 is their second album and for those that haven't heard their first two albums you are in for a big suprize. This is the last album to feature original keyboardist Barry Andrews who was replaced with multi-instrumentalist Dave Gregory for the next album Drums and Wires. And largely because of Barry, the music is radically different from subsequent albums. At this stage of their career XTC were playing '60s inflected absurdist, speed freakbeat new wave punk pop. Energetic as a live wire and drastically spastic. XTC's take on pop/punk music was completely original, sounding like nothing their contemporaries were playing circa 1979, owing as much to the British invasion of the sixties, and krautrock as punk rock. From the disco on acid Meccanik Dancing to the totally incorrect My Weapon to the heroin electro haze of Battery Brides to the wonderful upbeat punk of Crowded Room, this is XTC at their most unconventional, energetic and for me their most original, with lyrics as irreverently clever as the music is daring. I love Barry Andrew's crappy sounding spastic organ playing, and Andy Partridges herky jerky slash and burn guitar. It's not their best album, that would (probably) be Black Sea or Drums And Wires and it's far from their worst album, the mannerist exercise in tedium that is Mummer. But hey I'm a guy who liked Big Black Express much more than their overheated and overproduced "masterpiece" Skylarking. I like drums and guitars not violins. Go2 is XTC at their irreverant best, before the gorgeous pop pretentions of Nonsuch and back when the band thought that guitars were "fishing rods for girls." I have this on vinyl and the album cover was one of the funniest and most subversive I've ever seen basically explaining what the function of what an album cover is, telling you that you are being duped while duping you, very funny and cynical.