XTC ‘Apple Venus – Volume 1′ Cooking Vinyl (2003)

January 26th, 2012 by GRTR! HQ

Ahhh XTC a fine band who started out in the late 70′s New Wave boom and have since spread their musical wings in any direction that takes their fancy. Sadly due to main man Andy Partridge’s stage fright problems they have been a studio based band since the early 80′s onwards. After leaving long standing label Virgin following the usual label hassles, XTC released this little pop rock gem. From the opening drip drop strings on ‘River Of Orchids’ you just knew this was something special. The musical arrangements are simply breathtaking be it the school production effects – recorders and woodwinds on ‘Harvest Festival’ through to the lush sound of ‘Knights In Shining Karma’. Andy Partridge hits the English love of whimsy right on the head with the excellent ‘Frivolous Tonight’ – an absolute pop rock gem. Elsewhere his then recent relationship troubles result in the cutting ‘Your Dictionary’. Get this, as well as ‘Volume 2′ for some of the finest pop rock music around.

Where are they now?

XTC is basically now just Andy Partridge. The band released ‘Apple Venus Volume 2′ and then there were the Apple Venus demos released a few years ago plus Andy Partridge has been releasing lots of his own musical wanderings under the ‘Fuzzy Warbles’ title. An extremely talented writer and musician who never really gets the accolades he deserves.

Track listing:

1 River of Orchids

2 I’d Like That

3 Easter Theatre

4 Knights in Shining Karma

5 Frivolous Tonight

6 Green Man

7 Your Dictionary

8 Fruit Nut

9 I Can’t Own Her

10 Harvest Festival

11 The Last Balloon

Album credits:

Andy Partridge Guitar, Vocals

Colin Moulding Bass, Vocals

Steve Sidwell Trumpet

Mike Batt Arranger

Guy Barker Trumpet, Flugelhorn

Haydn Bendall Keyboards, Engineer, Producer

Nick Davis Keyboards, Mixing, Engineer, Producer

Simon Dawson Mixing

David Gregory Organ, Piano, Guitar, Mellotron

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

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In 2023 he signed a recording deal with Sony in Canada and released a new single on 15 September.

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David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 3 November 2024.

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Power Plays w/c 11 November 2024

ARCANE MOON Hello Sun (indie)
S8NT ELEKTRIC XTC (Long Branch Records)
ARCANA KINGS Here We Go (Curtain Call Records)
KLOGR face The Unknown (Zeta Factory)
BEYOND UNBROKEN Dance With The Dead (FiXT)
REVENGIN Decadent Feeling (Wormholedeath)

Featured Albums w/c 11 November 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2003-2023 (Singer Songwriter)