Mine is Vol 8, "The Bland Leading The Bland" is a classic

Same here! You also have the wonderful "I Gave My Suitcase Away".

And same here too! Plus you have the outstanding ¨I Don't Want To Be Here (original demo)¨ and ¨Through Electric Gardens¨.

Volume 2 for me, for the previously unreleased gems 'Young Marrieds', 'I Don't Want To Be Here' and 'Everything Will Be Alright'. I shall never tire of the intro to 'IDWTBH'

I can't comment on volume 8 because I haven't got it yet

Lucky you! You really have something special to discover...

I hope so! Once I get my money sorted its off to the shop for the collector's album and volumes 7 and 8!

You will not regret it! The collectors album is a work of art.

Mine's Vol 2, wihthout any hesitation. Just love it!

Can't choose a particular volume- there something special on all of them...

Got to go witrh number 8 aswell. Brill

Another vote here for Volume 8!!!

I don't think I can say with any certainty that this is my favourite, but Vol 1 got off to such a good start straight out of the traps... Dame Fortune, Born Out Of Your Mouth, Everything, Wonder Annual and Rocket all on one shiny 12cm disc... a hard act to beat.

What I find amazing about the Fuzzy Warbles series (or, at least the ones I have, Vols 1-6) is the quality of the songs that didn't appear on official releases. There must be at least 3 albums worth. Andy Partridge is one gifted songwriter. (So is Colin, of course).

Mr Swainson, could you indulge me for a moment?

Out of the artwork you've done for XTC and Andy Partridge, which one gave you the most pleasure to do? My favourite of yours is the Transistor Blast box set. That could be used in a design masterclass, in my opinion. I love the way everything interconnects right from the outer box to the cd cases to the actual cd. Its a stand alone example of how music and art can come together. And the music, again, in my opinion, is XTC at their blisteringly white hot best. Thank you for the artwork Mr Swainson!

The noticable thing for me on the Demos is that often they are better than the final released version. In particlaur the fuzzy version of Liar Bird is so much crisper and clearer...

I had saved up to buy the entire set, so it's hard for me to pick just one disc as a favorite. The collection is like one big cd to me. I'm biased towards I Don't Want To Be Here and Young Marrieds though since I heard those by the Fuzzy Warblers live long before I got the cds.

Stand out track at first and subsequent listens: I'm Unbecome
Sublime at worst!

Thanks for your kind words Jack. I don't know if any one project has given me more pleasure over another - at the risk of sounding like a crawly bumlick, they've all been enjoyable for the most part. I still like The Coat of Many Cupboards set and I'm pretty pleased with the Warbles, both individually and as a set. I also really like the Orpheus packaging but mainly because of Andy and Peter's illustrations. But I can't stress too strongly that Andy is the one driving ideas along... or at the very least kicking them off and then making sure that they stay on track... I'm merely his Mac gimp!

I have to say that the FW Box is a masterpiece, especially for an old git of my vintage, redolent of childhood stamp collecting as it is. I often pick it up and just open the cover and admire it, with its complete signed set of discs. Thank you Andrew.

signed Keltik Krawlybumlick.

Whilst there are great bits everywhere on the 8 cd's and Hinges, today my brain is veering towards volume 6 what with "I Can't Tell What Truth Is Anymore" "Tiny Circus Of Life" "Difficult Age" "Prince Of Orange" "End of the Pier" et al.

Tomorrow who knows which way it'll go!

P.S. Nice work Andrew!

Indeed - the Fuzzy Warbles version of Summer's Cauldron is a thing of great beauty, is it not?

Best sleeve is FW 8!

I absolutely agree - although the Skylarking version is great, I really love the demo. It feels like a different kind of summer to me - hot, dry and dusty - whereas the album version is more lush and slightly damper. Some great guitar and bass playing.

Thanks for the answer, Andrew. The artwork for COMC is also a favourite of mine. I don't mind being a crawly bumlick so I'll say art is a good percentage of the XTC/Partridge/Moulding/et al experience as well as the music, so you should feel justifiably proud for being part of that team. Thanks for that, Andrew!

My favorite is Volume #6, because it has the largest number of great unheard (at least to me) songs:

I Can't Tell What Truth Is Anymore
Tiny Circus of Life
In My Hand
Difficult Age
Prince Of Orange
End of the Pier
and The Stinking Rich Song

I next like Volume #2 which, besides great new songs like I Don't Want to Be Here (tho everybody else seemed to have heard it before) and Ship Trapped In Ice, has my favorite demo - like PA, I love Summers Cauldron.

However, in looking over the volumes I realized I haven't played Volumes 7 and 8 since I first bought them, a deficiency I will seek to correct on a road trip tomorrow

I agree 100%.....Just the discovery of Prince Of Orange alone would give the nod to #6.....

I can't decide! I have all of them. It would be cool if there was a best of fuzzy warbles. I usually shuffle them. I really got a kick out of that wave. Him doing the cure and dylan impersonations makes me chuckle every time I here it. I think a couple more albums would have happened if it wasn't for the greedy label.

It's a winner!

...my favourite cover is most definitely vol. 4- all the covers are wonderful but there's something about volume 4 that makes me want to stick in on more often than the others, purely on the basis of the cover! It's a beautifully rendered, iconic bit of graphic art, nice deer, great type, lovely scrolly bits- i love it!

Can't decide which one is my favourit warble. I love them all.

But I will waffle on about some other observations:

- My favourite album start has to be on Vol.3: My Train Is Coming + Lightheaded are two of my favourite warble-songs and the transition is pure magic! Sometimes those transitions can get annoying when I want to use songs individually for mix-tapes or something like that, but those two songs are a perfect pair. When the final chord of My Train sinsks in the softness of Lightheaded my hair climbs erect. ;-)

- It seems like everyone but me really LOVES "I don't want to be Here". Yes the lyrics are very good and I like the verses, but there is something with the chorus that takes away the tension of the song. (Never liked the chorus of "Easter Theater" that much, eather.
...
OK, great start: Second post and nobody likes me...)

- Blue Beret is one of the best songs Andy has written. Why isn't there a XTC studio version? In a perfect parallel-universe Blue Beret would be Track 5 or 10 on Oranges and Lemmons.

- I love the demo of "Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her". (The transition from "C Side" is almost as magic as the one mentioned above.) The way Andy sings "It whispers “Fool!” then slides away" is a very intense moment that is missing on the studio version: On the demo the way he pronounces "Fool" sounds like a wave breaking on the coast.

More things to come. ;-)

(Just love talking about all things XTC.)

They are all good so my vote goes to 'Collectors Album'

1, 2 and 3 because I purchased them in sequence (anal) and am most familiar with them so play them more. But really like shuffling through all of them as there are some weird and wonderful juxtapositions that way. Fave track: Rocket. And a strange affection for Mechanical Planet (some spacey connection?) off 4.

Volume 1 for 'That Wag' and 'That Wave' alone, but also it was the first I bought. Then Vol.6 for 'The Laugh Track'. I know it still appeals to Andy: he snipped a bit of it for the end of 'Tin Toy Clockwork Train'. But every one of them is precious. Can't really do without any.

Yeah, That Wag is one of my favourites! I love the Dylan part so very much, that I want this song to be covered by the man himself.

"The Laugh Track" is just one of the best recorded laughs ever! ;-) I crack up every(!) time I listen to it. I love how one part of it is used in "End of the Pier". My favourite part of the song.

Click to view attachment My favourite label. The Noble Worker Andy, and the mock-Cyrillic font, are just outstanding. This on it's own would be somehting to be proud of; in the context of the Collector's Album, it's a masterpiece.

Yeah, that is a superb sleeve! Click to view attachment

Probably have to say Vol. 6, too. I feel silly that I just recently looked through the whole package and realized that each volume has pictures of Andy sequentially growing up and getting older, one for each volume!

I'm the proud owner of two complete sets of Fuzzy Warbles. Having already diligently collected all eight volumes as they came out individually (including the box etc) I still entered Andy's competition on Mark Radcliffe's Radio Two show a couple of years back. And for the first time in my life....I won! So when I pop my clogs, there will be no disputes...both my daughters will get a Fuzzy Warbles box set - whether they want it or not!

That's great - well done!
I was listening to a recording of this show last week and I wondered who won the box set.

Thank you Andrew. I wasn't even offended by Andy's 'Jock' comments or saying he'll wrap the Warbles package up in a tartan shortbread tin... purely on the basis that Mark Radcliffe said I lived in Glasgow. For all Andy knew I could have been a Swindonian in exile who'd moved up to Glasgow to weld on the shipyards. As it happens I am a Jock (and I'm not a welder!) but you get my drift.

Anyway, well done for all your brilliant artwork on Partridge/XTC releases over recent years. I love all of it (it's great when your favourite band produces great artwork too). I think Homegrown deserves a special mention for it's, eh, organicness! Keep up the fine work

Hello Forum,

Just like to say that it's good to know that an XTC appreciation forum still exists. What happened to the one I joined a year and something ago? Anyway I'm here now and using the same pseudonym.

I've been updating my XTC collection. I have recently added Wasp Star, Homespun and Fuzzy Warbles 4 (thankfully autographed by the great man AP).

Really like the track on FW4 "All I dream of is a friend".

Does anybody know what is being planned in the way of new material?

Hello to you all.

Melt the guns hey!

The old forum went caput sometime in April/May last year. So sadly is it buried in some digital graveyard.

No planes for new material. But check out the re-mastered Dukes albums with both new material and demos. Soon also Virgin will release some of the backcatalogue (with added material, unknown what).

http://www.ape.uk.net/acatalog/XTC_as_The_...ratosphear.html

Oh, and welcome.Now you´re also an APE! Click to view attachment

I'm not an Ape! I'm a Smart Monkey!

This Dukes of Stratosphere album. I must get it.

Nope, you´re an APE. If you had been a smart monkey you should have known it is two Dukes-albums!

Hello, complicated! I was anothersatellite on the Idea forum. Good to see you.

Well hello! Humanoids, Apes, Monkeys, Chimpanzees. Idea forum XTC aficionados.


Did you check out Red Beat? I was the drummer.

Favorite volume, hmm, that is really difficult for me. If I have to start narrowing them down I would say Volume 2, 4, 6, and 7 are my favorites. Getting even closer, I'd have to choose between 2 and 4, but which? I guess Volume 4 is my all time favorite. What really calls it for me is The Stinking Rich Song! Probably in my top three favorite "unreleased" Andy Partridge tunes. I really like those James & The Giant Peach Songs. Other than that, the songs that make it for me are End Of The Pier, Omnibus, My Love Explodes, The Tiny Circus Of Life, and The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul.

Hello all. I was also a member of the Idea forum way back and am sorry to see it go but now I am here! I was wondering where would be the best place to get the Fuzzy Warbles full set or individuals? I never did get this set before but I have almost the whole XTC catalogue and the Dukes as well(except for the new rerelease) Thanks all! Mostly I will just be a Fly On The Wall around here.

Here is the best place:

http://www.ape.uk.net/acatalog/Andy_Partridge.html