XTC

Once again, XTC has managed the difficult feat of sounding accessible even while moving
into evermore abstruse and adventuresome territory. Driven along by the rolling thunder
of Terry Chambers' drumming, the smooth electric glide of Colin Moulding's fretless bass
and the angular guitar work of Dave Gregory and Andy Partridge, the ten songs on English
Settlement take on the world, by turns, in concretely political and dreamily myt... More >

With voices (filters, chants, wimp cool) and melodies (chants, modes, arts cool) ever more abstract, I figured Colin Moulding had finally conquered Andy Partridge and turned this putative pop band into Yes for the '80s. But it's more like good Argent, really, with the idealism less philosophical than political--melt the guns, urban renewal as bondage, o! that generation gap. And fortunately, the melodies aren't so much abstract as reserved, with the most outgoing stolen from Vivaldi or somebody by none other than Andy Partridge. (Grade: B+)