When punk shook Britain’s music scene in ‘76, it came as a revelation. The DIY spirit of the Buzzcocks’ ‘Spiral Scratch’ EP suggested that anyone could be in a band; you didn’t need to have to have years worth of musical training. Music could also be about capturing an energy and a spirit. Punk’s first wave was relatively short-lived. By 1978, guitar driven bands were mixing the less flashy elements of punk with bigger melodies, resulting in the mod influenced sounds of The Jam and the broader power pop of Elvis Costello & The Attractions. Some were even taking punk’s pure drive and creating what would now be considered goth, and bands like Ultravox! and Wire – arguably the greatest bands to be tagged with the term “post punk” – added strange and angular artiness, shaping the sounds of a generation.
Tag Archives: xtc
The Real Gone Advent Calendar 2023
2023 seems to have flown by. We’ve already made it to December, and that can mean only one thing. It’s time for The Real Gone Advent Calendar!
As is traditional, over the next twenty four days, we’ll be posting a new link. It might be a video. It might be audio only. It might be an old favourite. It might be something brand new and unfamiliar. The only way to find out is by coming back each day and opening a new window!
THE 3 CLUBMEN – The 3 Clubmen EP
XTC’s Andy Partridge is a legend of the alternative music scene. From his former band’s early punk beginnings, through their angular post-punk and dub experiments and, latterly, into a world of epic pop-rock, Partridge’s unique voice always shone through. In terms of grasping off-kilter melodies and making them truly work, he shared a unique talent.
Since the demise of XTC, new music from Andy has been rare, but often very welcome, and this EP from The 3 Clubmen – teaming Partridge with Lighterthief’s Stu Rowe and inventive guitarist Jen Olive – is no exception. It’s a true collaboration, too, giving all three musicians equal space within the arrangements, and feels like something that pushes their artistic agenda into new territory.
COLIN MOULDING – The Hardest Battle EP
After XTC’s career came to a slow and somewhat unceremonious end, with Andy Partridge recording ‘Spiral’ and Colin Moulding recording ‘Say It’ for, in Moulding’s own words, “the XTC album that never was”, Colin retreated even further from the limelight. Fans wouldn’t hear any more from him for almost a decade. In 2015, he appeared as a guest performer on Billy Sherwood’s ‘Citizen’ album before he withdrew again, seemingly having no interest in fame or re-igniting his career on a full time basis.
The previously unthinkable happened three years later, when ex-XTC drummer Terry Chambers returned from Australia and recorded new material with Moulding, instigating new musical project TC&I. Their sole studio recording was a little scrappy, but somewhere within its DIY style, Colin’s gift for melodies remained obvious. The TC&I project really came into its own the following year when the duo took to the stage for three nights of shows in Swindon, resulting in an excellent live document placing the new material in context with some old XTC classics. A few weeks after those shows, Moulding announced his retirement, effectively putting fans back in the mindset of 2006: was that it? Would we never hear from him again?
The Great 80s Project: 1989
…And so, Real Gone reaches the inevitable end of The Great 80s Project, but what an amazing year for music! The charts didn’t always reflect the interesting things going on, but in terms of albums, it’s a year full of wonder.