Still, the disc's few acid-y japes remain enjoyable. Bad trip reconstruction "Collideascope" (dig that Turtles "Sound Asleep" sawing in the middle) and the gloriously dopey, San Fran-influenced "Little Lighthouse" remain personal faves. To these ears, the only track that works more as a concept than an actual song is the gender bending "Have You Seen, Jackie?" Maybe it's the insertion of that irritating little girl's voice in the middle of the song.
Ape House's new reissue of the disc contains six demo versions of songs from the disc — no unfamiliar songs on this 'un. (A video for Partridge's pub crawl tribute, "You're A Good Man, Albert Brown," was also planned for the disc but is unfortunately M.I.A.) Of the demos, the most intriguing proves to be Moulding's "No One at Home," an early version of "Vanishing Girl" with less mysterious lyrics in its chorus. I miss Dave Gregory's sparkle-icious guitar work on the finalized "Girl," though.
To fans who already own Psunspot from its CD release as a part of the Chips from the Chocolate Fireball set, Ape House's new release may not have the advantage of less familiar extras to pull in the hard-core collectors. But for latecomers just coming into this criminally underappreciated art-pop band, this set might be the one to select. Where the original "Dukes" releases (including the Chocolate Fireball CD) contained no acknowledgment of the group's "true" identity, Ape House's two reissues plaster "XTC as The Dukes of Stratosphear" on both the cover and CD label.
Rather like the moment Stephen King had his "Richard Bachman" books reissued with his real name splayed on the cover. Yanking the (red) curtain aside brought an audience to those obscure early works that would otherwise have missed 'em. Perhaps Andy is hoping that something similar will occur for the Dukes' oeuvre. If so, that alone justifies both discs' re-release.
Article comments
1 - ScienceFriction
Good review, but once again Shiny Cage is a Colin Moulding composition! Cheers.
2 - Bill Sherman
That's the problem dealing with pseudonyms - it's difficult keeping all the false identities straight! (It's been corrected.)