The Dukes Of Stratosphear
Psurroundabout Ride: The Complete Recordings APEHOUSE
ASurround-sound splendour from psychedelic XTC.
t the back end of 1984, three members of XTC – Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory – hooked up to make an album that sounded like it was made as the original summer of love reached its paisley-patterned zenith. The foursome were rounded out by Gregory’s brother Ian on drums, and the resulting mini-album, 25 O’Clock, paid tribute to the music of early Pink Floyd, Magical Mystery Tour-era Beatles, The Move, The Nice and the Small Faces, and one-hit wonders like The Electric Prunes and Tomorrow. Two years later they followed that with the album Psonic Psunspot, and both were repackaged almost immediately as the single collection Chips From The Chocolate Fireball.
The two albums have now been repackaged again, with the almost obligatory phrase “Featuring Steven Wilson 5.1 Mix” marking this reissue as being different from any of its predecessors. 5.1 might essentially be a marketing gimmick to attract those with deep pockets and expensive audio set-ups, but Psurroundabout Ride: The Complete Recordings is perfect for the treatment, and the results are little short of fantastic.
The tracks that make up the collection – which also includes new stereo mixes, instrumentals and demos – are as good as the source material being so accurately mimicked, and the production (by a clearly up-for-it John Leckie) is kaleidoscopic. Throw in cows, birds, rain, thunder, snatches of speeches and radio broadcasts. Loop it, phase it, flip it, reverse it. Add an ocarina solo and a snatch of slide whistle. Nothing is off-limits, and everything works. Mole From The Ministry is literally as good as anything The Beatles did under the influence, You’re A Good Man Arthur Brown outKinks The Kinks at their psychedelic Kinksiest, and Pale And Precious sounds like Brian Wilson at the creative height of his sand-pit period.
Somehow, in the mid-to-late 80s XTC made their two finest albums by pretending to be someone else altogether, as if doing so gave them freedom to be utterly fearless. None of it’s very original, but that isn’t the point. It’s music made with love and affection, recorded without inhibition. It all sounds like a band having more fun than is medically advisable. And Wilson’s mix enables you to sit in the centre of the insanity. ■■■■■■■■■■