"Paperchase" and "New York Inside My Head" that Andy have written for and with Nicky Holland is two fantastic tracks.
If you haven´t heard them I strongly recommend that you try to find them. Superb lyrics as well:

The words upon the page threw the sky into a rage
So it washed them all away, a waste of paper
Now fragments of the truth swirl above my rainy roof
What my letterbox would call a waste of paper
South wind with your wide mouth
Blow the pieces through the trees
North wind with your cold breath
Freeze my heart, as I gather up a faster pace
I won't go on another paperchase

The trees that must have died as you buried me alive
In a tomb of empty talk, a waste of paper
And all the lakes of ink it took to tell me that you think
A marriage document is just a waste of paper
East wind with your kind face
Stop the mail train, blow it back
West wind will you whistle
Herd the scraps into the bin where they belong
I won't go on another paperchase

I'll trail behind until you tell me face to face
As all of your excuses litter up the place

East wind with your kind face
Stop the mail train, blow it back
West wind will you whistle
Herd the scraps into the bin where they belong
I won't go on another paperchase
I'll trail behind until you tell me face to face
As all of your excuses litter up the place

An other very good popsong that Andy has co-written is "Am I The Kinda Girl?" with Cathy Dennis.

Wasn't there a collaboration with Stephen Duffy? Did anything come of this? Can anyone shed any light on this? Or was it just talk?

Hi Jack, Andy produced "& Love For All" from 1990 for Stephens band The Lilac Time. Andy also plays guitar on "I Went to the Dance" and "The Laundry". I have the record but I haven´t spinned it for many years...

Thank you for the memory jog, Per. The daft thing is I bought the Lilac Time remastered CDs last year, and I can vaguely remember the sleevenotes mentioning Andy. Thats one of the drawbacks to ipods - once the music is on there I tend not to consult the sleeve until necessary. I'll dig them out over the weekend and have a read up, and also spin the Lilac Time cds.

Stephen Duffy also wrote some songs with (or for? Who knows!) Robbie Williams, and also went on tour with him as guitarist. And a few weeks ago Robbie Williams was spotted in a Swindon bike shop. Do you think he may have been lurking for Andy? Or waiting to sing 'Nigel' to Colin?

I have a vague memory of seeing the video for one of those two songs and seeing Andy on it playing guitar? or not, or did I dream it? I dinne noo

OK just went alooking and found this...is it? could it be? I have discovered...a piece of...Partridge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-IQ2OKouJU

Damn, that video is not available in Sweden.

Thanks for the link, Ducksoup - but I didn't see Andy playing guitar on it, only mentioned in the caption as producer. Certainly a blast from the past! You don't happen to know what the programme it was featured on was called, do you? Its the style of the captions..

I'm rather partial to Papersnow (with the Heads) myself ....

Was any of the Blur material that Andy produced (circa Modern Life Is Rubbish) ever in the public domain or was it not good enough for release?

Would be fascinating to hear.

For those who don't already know, Andy plays lead acoustic guitar on the song Little Masterpiece, on Mitch Friedman's new album Game Show Teeth.

Dave Gregory also features on this album, he plays various guitar thingies on The Man That Talked Too Much.

You can hear both songs, as well as the rest of Mitch's lovely album, here:

Game Show Teeth

Andy also appears (and co-writes) on two of Mitch's other albums: Fred and Purple Burt.

(And Dave Gregory is on The Importance Of Sauce.)

Boy, I should learn to read previous posts before I post...

(from the Q & A section on the old XTC Idea forum)

-- Posted by steve on 1:16 pm on Nov. 5, 2002

Q - “Papersnow”, I wonder if Andy could again tell the story of this undertaking with the former Talking Heads, and relate the eventual outcome. Was there ever payment or a thank-you even ? - Idle Hands.

A - In Summer 95 I was approached by the Frantz’s (Chris and Tina) at the suggestion of the enigmatic Dutchman, Hans De Vente, to write them a song. They posted me a DAT tape with 3 looped grooves on, I was to pick one and try to make a song around it. They were all rather repetitive, one phrase over and over really, but hey thats fine by me. Some of my better songs have come from repetition.

‘Papersnow’ came out pretty quickly, being particularly proud of the lyric I posted them a demo. All of the Heads (no Talking at the back!) seemed to like it so they flew me over to their house/studio to record the vocal. It appeared on an album called ‘No Talking, Just Head’ along with songs written and performed by many others including Debby Harry and Shaun Ryder to name but two. I can’t remember if there was an initial payment, I think not.

Also I’m afraid to say I rather fell out with Chris and Tina over royalty questions. I was offered along with any other writer/singer, just 1%. - A.P

Folks, here you can listen to snippets from Nicky Hollands seond album "Sense And Sensuality". The co-writes with Andy are "Paperchase" and "New York Inside My Head". In my humble view two of the best co-writes Andy have done.

http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/arti...,271698,00.html

I'm pretty certain that it was The Chart Show that that was taken from.


I'm a big fan of Papersnow too. I was knocked out the first time I heard it. It was one of those complacent moments where you think you've got Andy pegged and then you hear something new that has a good tug of the carpet beneath you.

From what I've heard of Andy's collaboration with Lighterthief, Papersnow is a decent reference point.

I also really love the songs Andy wrote with Terry Hall on his Home album - I Drew A Lemon and Moon On Your Dress.

Ta Jeff.

Whilst thinking, the Charlotte Hatherley track Dawn Treader is pretty marvellous also ....

'Rocket' - awesome!

"Rocket" is indeed amazing!

The Lilac Time production/collaboration was pretty sweet.

His appearance on Ryuichi Sakamoto'S B-2 Unit was very cool.

The Robyn collaboration was very nice (we need more, more, more!).

I thought the songs he wrote for Terry Hall were great and so was the album it was on (Home).

The Heads song "Papersnow" made that album (have at least one decent track).

The songs he collaborated contributed to were absolutely amazing on the ultra-rare Studio Romantic album Saeko Suzuki (if ever an album was dying to be reissued). I only have a third-generation copied-cassette from the late 80's. A great album.

The Martin Newell TGLEM album was very good.

"Margaret Freeman" was pretty amazing on The Residents' Commercial Album.

But my favorite collaboration was - as should it be several other XTC fans - Andy's ill-fated collaboration with Mary-Margaret O'Hara. If that hadn't fallen through we'd never have had (an excuse for) The Dukes Of Stratosphere!!! Thank the lord that Andy and John Leckie were "heathens" (lol).

BTW the album that Mary-Margaret O'Hara ended up recording was actually very good (if a bit dull).

Plus there were two Collaborations on a later Stephen Duffy solo album (I love My Freinds).
I'd love to hear more new songs (the ones with Robyn Hitchcock, and there must be more with Terry hall, and Apples In Stereo...). And that nevere released song for Sophie Ellis-Bextor...