Xtc Move Up A Gear Options

[Andy Partridge]

I wrote it to be ambiguous. So that it can be taken as a hymn to the auto or anti auto.

[Chrestus]

Ah, that's good! That makes sense, thanks Andy for the clarification.

I meant to say after my last post that picking any two songs at random isn't really a fair comparison overall, and that I was really interested mainly in defending Joe's work and not in minimizing Andy's. If you stacked up "Real By Reel" against "Janie Jones" for lyrics we all know who wins that one. But that doesn't mean that "Janie Jones" isn't a great song, 'cause it is.

This post has been edited by Chrestus: Aug 14 2011, 12:53 PM

[Jeff Truzzi]

Hey, everyone is entitled to their views. No fault there.
I'm countering Chrestus largely for the sake of argument.
So don't kill me. Okay?

BUT, for the sake of argument:

"London" has some great fully formed lines:

"London calling, now don't look to us
Phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust"

"London calling to the zombies of death
Quit holding out, and draw another breath"

These are very clever comments on the changing of the guard, very prescient that there was a movement, not only in music but in the social culture of the youth, that was rising up. Join us or be left behind.

See, you find these clever, and I just don't. And here's why.

"...don't look to us, phoney Beatlemania has bitten the dust"

So, what exactly was phony about Beatlemania? Girls screaming? I bet the Clash loved it when it happened to them. Or are they saying girls who scream over them are phony?
Or are they merely placing the words 'phony' and 'Beatle' adjacent to each other, like that's really sticking it to 'the man'?
Please. I wouldn't call that clever. But I would call it a diss.

"London calling to the zombies of death/Quit holding out and draw another breath"

Who are these zombies of death? Clash fans? Or are they talking about real, dead but alive zombies?
Or is this line just so amazingly clever it's completely over my head?
And if zombies were drawing breaths, they wouldn't be zombies, would they?
Is that what makes these lines so great - a humanitarian plea for zombie reformation?

And them talking about the changing of the guard was anything but prescient in 1979.
It was totally obvious by then, even in America.
The prog giants had choked and folded, and the best of the New Wave was cutting edge.
But 'join us or be left behind?' Doesn't that make you a phoney Beatlemaniac?

London isn't really calling...unless this is supposed to be an AT&T ad.
It's a metaphor, a figure of speech, a historical phrase from WWII.
I've heard it before.

And cities don't call people - people do.

Bu roads DO girdle the globe.
Another metaphor, but an uncommon and original one that I hadn't heard before hearing this song.
And one that contains truth.

"Concrete robe."
There's another one!
Totally original, totally creative, all kinds of images flash into your head.
It takes Joe a whole verse to create as many images as Andy does with two words.

And the fact that pop songs are usually all about getting everyone on your side and singing along together and all (many XTC songs included) -
and this one ISN'T -
makes it stick out like a rare gem.
It's going completely against the grain by remaining ambiguous and being able to be read as pro or con.
It's messing with the formulas -
which is what so many of us love about XTC, and exactly why so many who don't get them don't.

And that's not even mentioning the music.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[Jeff Truzzi]

Speaking of which, I remember Andy posting the pre-verse/post-chorus chords as something like:

7.x.0.0.7.7

8.x.0.0.8.8

10.x.0.0.10.10

7.x.0.0.7.7

8.x.0.0.8.8

...which, let's see, we could call:

Gmaj7/B
7.x.0.0.7.7

Csus2
8.x.0.0.8.8

Dsus4
10.x.0.0.10.10

...or maybe it was 7.7.0.0.7.7 etc?
That would sure make the chord names a lot hairier.

This post has been edited by Jeff Truzzi: Aug 15 2011, 07:08 PM

[Jeff Truzzi]

A lower guitar voicing?

Gmaj7/B
x.2.0.0.0.2

Csus2
x.3.0.0.1.3

Dsus4
x.5.0.0.3.5

[Jeff Truzzi]

"...ANYWAY, SHE CAME BACKSTAGE AT THE MUDD CLUB - A REAL VAMP, SHE WAS. 
DOG COLLAR, BLUE HAIR, WHITE FACE, LEATHER MINISKIRT, HANDCUFFS, BONDAGE 
MAGAZINE UNDER ONE ARM. HER EYES SAID, "WHIP ME!" I THOUGHT, 
'ELLO - SHE'S NOT HERE TO LEARN THE CHORDS TO 'ROADS GIRDLE THE GLOBE'...

ANDY PARTRIDGE, MELODY MAKER 8.3.81

http://www.optimismsflames.com/animals-page22.htm


  AS DEDICATED FOLLOWERS ARE ONLY TOO AWARE, MUCH OF THE STYLE OF OUR
MUSIC RELIES UPON THE SOUND OF TWO OR MORE INSTRUMENTS DISAGREEING WITH
EACH OTHER - FOR EXAMPLE, TWO OR MORE GUITARS PLAYING DIFFERENT CHORDS
SIMULTANEOUSLY. HOWEVER, RATHER THAN WRITE OUT TWO SEPERATE GUITAR
CHARTS FOR EACH SONG, WE HAVE COMPROMISED SLIGHTLY, WHERE THE NEED
ARISES, AND WRITTEN A SINGLE CHORD COMBINING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
TWO OR MORE IT HAS REPLACED. THE OPENING CHORD TO "THIS IS POP", FOR INSTANCE,
IS A MUTANT HYBRID OF D MINOR 7 AND D7SUS4. IN THIS RESPECT, IT IS
PERHAPS FORTUNATE THAT "ROADS GIRDLE THE GLOBE" IS NOT INCLUDED HERE!

DAVE GREGORY
http://www.optimismsflames.com/animals-page1.htm

This post has been edited by Jeff Truzzi: Aug 15 2011, 03:07 PM

[Jeff Truzzi]

I didn't mean to come down so hard on Joe, but dammit, Chrestus forced my hand.
So I admit that London Calling made a much better single than Roads Girdle The Globe.









"But 'Roads' was never released as a single."
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[Chrestus]

I should freely admit here, Jeffrey, that I was probably seeing more into your original post about the two songs than maybe you were actually trying to get across. I took the "Hey look what one guy was doing now look at what the other one was doing" aspect of it and sort of mentally inserted the unspoken addendum of "it's no contest!" whyich may not have been your original thought on it. I took that as a jumping off point.

Now, I didn't say that "Roads" isn't any good or that I don't like it or appreciate it, because I do. My main point was supposed to be primarily that "London" gives the listener more to chew on, more to work with, simply. As you say, apples and watermelons.

I can't argue with your dissection of "Roads", perfectly fine there. I agree.

Your dissection of the lines I quoted from "London":
Well...you're just going for the jugular there! (smiley-winky face).
"Phoney Beatlemania" - I don't think it's a diss at all, I think it's much more deeper and profound than that. I think what that line is dismissing is Beatlemania, not the Beatles themselves. I.E., the surrounding hysteria, or the youth movement music treated as mindless entertainment or a commodity for merchants and TV reporters. I think the phrase "bitten the dust" was saying "We can't go back to that kind of time, that kind of mindset anymore." I think Joe was talking more about the culture than he was about the Beatles or their music, or their influence. Even the Beatles themselves grew beyond that and particularly Lennon seemed to espouse the same type of philosophy about it as Joe does. Even apart from all that, the line could also be taken to mean a complete abandonment of hero wroship of any kind, but especially as it relates to rock stars. I thought this same way about the line back then and I was a Beatle freak.

"London calling to the zombies of death/Quit holding out and draw another breath" - Come on, that's a great line! I think you've characterized it maybe a bit too literaly there, good Truzzimatic! Surely, it's some kind of metaphor. Who are the zombies? Maybe it's the youth of that period or the creative artists on the charts at that time. Back then, I saw it as us, the fans, the then-current youth movement. Draw another breath, keep taking it in, keep moving forward. I think it's a great line, a great artistic turn of a phrase. it can be interpreted in other ways, I guess, but in the context of that period, of what that youth movement was saying and what they were railing against, especially musically...I think it perfectly - perfectly - nails down the general feeling of what the hip kids were saying to the older kids, their older siblings, say. You know all this part by heart - out with the bloated, pretentious dinasour bands. Join us or be left behind - I think Joe was simultaneously prodding and mocking the generation of kids of that time. I think the fact that he was mocking them at all is a worthy and meaningful aspect of the lyrics, perhaps that would be something just as prescient as anything else the song may be about.

Prescient - yes, it was pretty clear by then that the kids were rising up with a new type of musical voice. But...it was ll new back then, who knew where it was all leading. The punk ethos was anarchy. Destruction. Violence. Rage. Fear. All out in the open. It all died pretty quickly, presumably because it wasn't altogether sustainable or palatable. But what took it;s place, what changed exactly? Didn't we all eventually get right back to recycling stuff and re-commercializing rock and pop music? Didn't "phoney Beatlemania" eventually come right back, with New Kids On The Block and Madonna and later on N'Sync and Justin Beiber?

And it's all there in the title: London Calling. London was the heart of the original British Wave. The Beatles may have come from Liverpool but they had to go through London to get anywhere. Ditto obviously the Who, the Stones and the Kinks. I think the lyrics are very clever and very wily nail all this down, and it's a lot to get from just one song.

And to be fair, looking back at your first posts, I don't think you were knocking Joe that much, if at all, and I just jumped on it solely, or mainly, because it gave me an excuse to go somewhere with it. As you say, for the sake of argument.

[Jeff Truzzi]

(IMG:http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y136/relientk1119/Misc/CrossedSwords.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Andy Partridge]

ROADS is not my best lyric to be fair folks. But is LONDON Joe's?

[spidermage]

I thought that this album was unimprovable - then they added Life Begins at The Hop.

[Jeff Truzzi]

ROADS is not my best lyric to be fair folks. But is LONDON Joe's?

I'm not familiar with enough Clash songs to really say.
It's sure better than "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" is.
But I really like the story in "Rock The Casbah."
"Thinks it's not kosher" - now that's clever...AND funny!

I intentionally paired a lesser 'Drums & Wires' lyric with "London" -
just to keep things fair.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Andy Partridge]

Well,APE's re-issue of D+W is really being held up by EMI having 'lost' side one of the master mix tape.

[xTC]

Well,APE's re-issue of D+W is really being held up by EMI having 'lost' side one of the master mix tape.

What a bunch of f*ckwits! Sorry to hear that Andy. Hope the problem is rectified pronto!

[Jersey Joker]

Well,APE's re-issue of D+W is really being held up by EMI having 'lost' side one of the master mix tape.

WTF?

How the F does that happen, anyway?

Great discussion of "Roads..." vs "London Calling". Without taking sides, I'm more with Truzzi here, in that I hear the music before I hear the words. And when I finally DO hear the words, they're all wrong!

Drums & Wires is MY first XTC album. Living on the East Coast here in the States (yeah, "the cause of the plague, in the land of the free and the home of the brave" ... sure, it's a different album, but it's true, innit?), I remember plunking down a few extra bucks for the UK Import -- the one that had the sticker that said "INCLUDES FREE 7" SINGLE (WITH TWO PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED TRACKS)". That was one of those things I couldn't resist way back then -- and sure enough, that was the better package, because it came with that great insert with lyrics for "White Music" and "Go 2", as well as those great liner notes that described the recording conditions ("... complaining Ian Andersons from next door ...")

I LOVE that record. There IS something about "your first"... and that one is fantastic -- not a duff track on it (including the free single, I LOVE "Limelight" and "Chain Of Command".) It sucked me in to XTC like a black hole, a vortex. I LOVE "Roads Girdle The Globe". I LOVE "Millions", with that flanged bass line -- LOVE it. What a moody track. I LOVE "Complicated Game", one of the songs I could easily hear the words to, because Andy practically whispers them, and so they caught my attention right away -- and, it really doesn't matter where you put your vote, someone else will come along and move it (boy, is THAT ever true!)

But then I LOVE "Helicopter", and "Nigel" and "Day In Day Out" and "Scissor Man" and "Difficulty". And "Ten Feet Tall". And I got sucked in even more, when I picked up my first two XTC singles -- these were US releases, both with Picture Sleeves, but these were really cool, because they were EP's, with 3 songs each on them (something you didn't see much of in the US): "Nigel" on the A-side, and then "This Is Pop" and "Meccanik Dancing" on the B-side -- and, surprisingly, a DIFFERENT version of "Ten Feet Tall" (UK Single B-side version, on the US A-side), and then "Helicopter" and "The Somnambulist" (a future Black Sea B-side, and ANOTHER really great, really moody track!) on the B-side. Still have these singles, still in the picture sleeves (it was right around that time where I really began to take care of my records, so these are in NM shape!) But how cool to hear all this great music on the album, and then hear MORE great music on these singles ... I couldn't get enough!

THEN I scored the clear UK single "Life Begins At The Hop" (didn't hear that yet, because I didn't have the US LP), and heard "Homo Safari", and then got the UK "Nigel" single, because I had to have "Bushman President" and "Pulsing Pulsing" ... it was SO much fun discovering all they're great B-sides ... it just became an obsession.

I remember how jarring it was to finally get "Go 2" and "White Music" ... no Dave Gregory, a balding keyboard player instead. I've since really come to love Barry's banging around, but it was a shock at first after hearing D&W. Still have those original albums, too -- and they're still in NM shape.

The rest is history -- I've loved them ever since.

And I STILL don't know all the words to "Outside World" -- even with the lyric insert.

This post has been edited by Jersey Joker: May 26 2012, 05:53 AM