Each song on English Settlement — from the amusing "Leisure" to the trippy and zippy "Fly on the Wall" — acts as a chapter in a musical novel about love, loss, hope, and heartache. Whether the song is about razing buildings ("Ball & Chain"), celebrating womanhood ("Down in the Cockpit"), or destroying modern civilization ("It's Nearly Africa"), XTC presents each topic without condescension, sarcasm, or haughtiness.
Sadly, English Settlement did not provide XTC the commercial success they had been looking for. Soon after the album was released, Partridge suffered a nervous breakdown while performing in France; soon after that, the band stopped touring altogether. While there were some minor hits along the way — "Dear God," "The Mayor of Simpleton," and "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" being the biggest — the world, by and large, never quite caught on. This is a damn shame.
Oftentimes, know-it-all music reviewers like myself talk about the musical moment that changed my life, man. For some, it's the first time they heard The Rolling Stones on the radio or watched The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. For others, it was hearing the sounds of Joni Mitchell or Marvin Gaye during that summer when __________ happened. For me, though, this moment didn't happen under such earth-shattering circumstances. It was simple, really: it was the moment, sitting in my dorm room in high school, when I put English Settlement into my roommate Jon's CD player and pressed the "Play" button. It may not have involved fireworks or a glimpse of God, but I will never forget sitting in the chair at my desk and closing my eyes; skipping history class and hitting "Repeat" so I could listen again.
And again.
And again.
Article comments
1 - Triniman
Excellent article.
XTC are one of my favorite bands. While it's a shame they never reached the global popularity that they should have, it's also nice that they remain a hidden gem for the serious pop fans to seek out and be rewarded with.
You never heard "Making Plans for Nigel" before "The Smartest Monkeys"?
2 - Reno Rambler
A nicely written piece on one of what I would consider to be the best albums that has ever been recorded. I've always wondered if Andy hadn't had that meltdown (or they had made better choices in singles) if they wouldn't be a household name and be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame now. They deserve for the extraordinary output of quality material they've unleashed on the world. Regarding Monstrance, I don't believe it is a GREAT album. But it has some GREAT moments that make it worth the price of admission.
3 - Tom Johnson
I've always found it simultaneously humorous, frustrating, and insulting that just because you strongly dislike something by an artist (and a side-project in this case!) means that you aren't really a fan. Fine, then, I'm not a "real fan" and I don't want to be. I haven't bothered to buy Monstrance based on the clips available because, frankly, it sounded horrible. I was able to find a full song somewhere and it sounded just as your review describes - exactly what I don't want to hear, and I have a very open mind when it comes to music. Sorry, Andy, but this isn't good improv music, and I wish most rock musicians would stop doing this kind of stuff because 99% of them lack the chops to pull it off. Leave improv to the jazz guys, otherwise you end up looking like Spinal Tap Mark 2 performing their "jazz odyssey." But, I guess, don't tell the Chalkhills folks - they don't seem to take kindly to anything contrary.
Anyway, yes, English Settlement, one of my favorites! Glad to see another XTC fan around Blogcritics.