Customer Reviews

Big Express

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"If Mummer was a gentle chug through the countryside, then The Big Express is a loco derailing itself in the rusty goods yard. An altogether more industrial affair. Slashing electric guitars, sheets of steel bass and diesel oil drums. An iron opera, steam powered and brick encased."
(Andy Partridge)

That description couldn't be more perfect, actually. Thanks Andy! Now, the songs:

"Wake Up" is a fantastic opener (love the syncopated riff); part of it wants to chop yer ears off, part of it wants you to dance.

"Shake You Donkey Up" is a raucous hoe-down; like three brits in overalls, drenched in pig slop. Country-Blues guitar riffs, loud "yeee-hawww"'s, and even a fiddle! What more could you ask for?

Other highlights on the first side include the bubblegum sea chanty "All You Pretty Girls", the poignant post-nuclear holocaust ballad "This World Over", and "Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her", a sort of seafoam-molasses psychedelic reggae shuffle (loaded with lots of eerie synthesizer effects and great lyrics)

Side B opens with the insanely catchy "Small Town", pure brit-pop, ten years before Blur made it popular again.

Then, there's "I Bought Myself a Liarbird" (a nice little slam-dunk to a greedy manager), "Reign of Blows" (an awesome caterwauling mess of blues, pop, and rock with tons of reverb and other cool effects), "You're the Wish You Are I Had" (cocktail jazz + dream pop chorus), "I Remember the Sun" (wistful, Steely Dan like jazz rock), and the deranged, tempo-shifting closer "Train Running Low on Soul Coal".

There's also a few bonus songs at the end (or, in the middle if you have the earlier version). "Red Brick Dream" is the best of the crop - a hazy brew of pea-soup thick dreamy psychedelia.

Don't give up after one listen. It's loud, yes. But there's lots of great hooks buried in this thing. One of XTC's most rewarding and best albums.

Best Songs: Seagulls Screaming.., I Bought Myself a Liarbird, Reign of Blows, You're the Wish You Are I Had, Train Running Low on Soul Coal.

I'm pretty sure this was the second album I purchased by XTC, after I found out that Oranges & Lemons was absolutely brilliant. I liked the cover of Big Express - it just looked interesting.

Now by most reviews, XTC fans have a hard time with this one (good thing I rarely listen to the fans either), because after I heard The Big Express, I had to own everything they ever put out, and I mean everything. I was absolutely caught, hook line and sinker. For one, its producer David Lord, produced one of my all time favourite 80's albums by one of my all time favourite artists, Peter Gabriel. So XTC had one thumbs up from me just on that. But more importantly, it was the songs that stood out on how very very good they were, how much they said and did in 4 or 5 minutes, and how it left you feeling. Like you discovered the band that should have been held up there like The Beatles, but never did. The Band That Time Forgot, XTC.

First off, I'm not saying Moulding and Partridge will suit everyone's tastes. Their singing style might turn some off, but after you get used to it, you realise they are actually perfectly suited for their own compositions. When other artists have covered them, it just doesn't sound right (except for Ruben Blades cover version of . . . . ), and probably the 'sweetest on the ear' is Moulding. And on Big Express he writes two fantastic songs, 'Wake Up' and 'I Remember The Sun'. (Ok, I'm a Moulding fan by proxy, but he's a great songwriter, no more no less than Partridge is). And on The Big Express, what Moulding started doing on Mummer starts picking up steam (sorry!). He starts changing his sound and song topic, each suiting eachother, never moreso than on 'I Remember The Sun'. It is an awesome piece of songwriting, and I think probably the best song on this album (if we're talking 'best' ????) 'I Remember The Sun' is worthy of any Beatles or Kinks album. In some instances, its much better.

The XTC comparisons to McCartney (though they cite him as a major influence) fall apart when you get to XTC lyrics. There is no possible way McCartney writes lyrics like Moulding or Partridge, their style suiting Ray Davies of the Kinks much better and closer. They are storytellers, and their songs are as visually precise as they are literally. The album is about hometown life and growing older, and they paint this picture much richer and with more emotion than 'Penny Lane' offers.

From Partridge you get tales of smalltowns and unspoken love. Of a world destroyed by human destruction, and the sad tale of why. About ex-managers and fame, and certain men who treat women in a way that will get them kicked. Each Partridge song lends itself to an illustration to accompany it, they are so visual in their characterisation of human foible and success.

Though this is a noisy album, and some songs get a little buried by the barrage of electronics, it still doesn't hide the actual song and what it has to say. On 'Train Running Low On Soul Coal' all those whistles and stops tell the tale just as much as the words, and though some may feel this could have been done just as easily without electronics and gadgets, The Big Express is what it is, and what it says it is. The small little grasshopper than can be found on the front cover (about to be rolled over by this big wheel) is just as much an accidental metaphor for what was happening to XTC at the time, and this album captures it in every sound, every groove, pretty much every note.

There are tons of songs left off of this album that Partridge's Fuzzy Warbles project is seeking to release, and one of my favourites has always been 'Work'. No one else in the band liked it, but I would have been pushing for that one had I been around to lend a hand.

...sort of. They haven't progressed to making the shiny, flawless pop that would be shown on their later albums, but instead pounded out an abrasive, messy album that brings to mind a studio-based version of "Black Sea". And it RULES. The singles "Wake Up" and the gorgeous "This World Over" are two of my favorite XTC songs, and there's also some clunky, kickbutt material in "Seagulls Screaming," "Shake You Donkey Up," and the magnificent closer "Train Running Low On Soul Coal." The bonus tracks this time around are pretty weak, and most of the album doesn't gel at all, but I don't really care, because it RULES. Out of the 11 songs that make up the actual album, not one is a duffer, and all are nearly perfect. Buy it, even though no one else seems to like this one as much as I do.

The fact that this album ranks 11,565 on the Amazon list is a crime. Although the album has a couple of minor flaws, THE BIG EXPRESS is a snapshot of the band at their prime. The irony was, no one was listening, or buying their albums. This album bears the same relationship to SKYLARKING as RUBBER SOUL does to REVOLVER: the great building was complete, but here some of the scaffolding and tools were still visible.

Both Partridge and Moulding demonstrate a boundless creative ability on this disc. David Lord's production(finished by the band when the production schedule was exceeded)is nearly flawless. One of the few producers who understood the XTC universe(along with Lilywhite & Rundgren), Lord provides a solid classical anchor so that Partridge and Moulding can frolic in the musicial water without fear of losing sight of the boat.

Highly underrated and misunderstood, THE BIG EXPRESS captured the elements that made early XTC so stellar and became a roadmap for the band's excursions to other vistas.

while we all are entitled to our opinions, i'm having difficulty understanding why this classic release would leave people scratching their heads. after all, this isn't 'ascension' by john coltrane or 'zero tolerance for silence' by pat metheny or something highly dissonant like those recordings. in my opinion, there are few albums that are as creatively, tunefully, and beautifully crafted as 'the big express'. from start to finish, it flows as one complete artistic statement, while each individual track has plenty to offer in and of itself. and contrary to other reviews, i would venture to say that 'mummer' and 'skylarking' are the weaker recordings (particularly 'mummer', although there are certainly great songs on it), with 'the big express' the superior, overlooked one sandwiched in between. a desert-island disc that i never tire of - HIGHLY recommended.

As with any composition, people will either love it or hate it. This XTC album is no different. Some people think it's a masterpiece; some think it's a flop. Who do you believe? Don't ask me...ask yourself. You're the one listening. But let me clarify some things. First of all, THERE ARE NO BAD XTC COMPOSITIONS! Period. Some are just better than others. Second, there is no such thing as an "overproduced" song. It can be underproduced, but saying XTC overproduces its songs is like saying George Martin overproduced the Beatles.

Now, as far as I'm concerned, because even XTC fans dislike this album, I must say that it is definitely their most underappreciated album. I can only assume that because the lads incorporated new styles this time around (a preview of things to come) this has made some uncomfortable. XTC has always been evolving, from their Go 2 days, to Drums & Wires and Black Sea, to ...Settlement, and now this. Why are XTC fans so shocked about their evolving sound? They probably don't like "This World Over" (a poignant song showing maturity and Andy's never-ending stabs at global machinations). They might hate "Youre the Wish..", and "I Remember the Sun" (too much jazz...XTC doesn't play jazz). BTW, "I Remember the Sun" has the most chilling lyrics in any of Colin's compositions.

I'm glad that XTC doesn't listen to anyone other than their own collective conscious when they compose. If they listened to some fans, they would have made 12 "English Settlement" albums, or 12 "Black Sea" albums. And that's why XTC is a great band. Because Andy and Colin are polished composers who aren't afraid of stepping outside what people expect. You can't predict what they'll sound like next and that is where genius begins.

You do what you want to do...I'm gonna give "The Big Express" another listen!

Every bit the equal of the classic album that followed it, The Big Express is certainly one of XTC's finest accomplishments. This remaster puts the previously issued version to shame! The sound is crisp, sharp and has none of the analog artifacts that made the previous CD sound so poor. The albums original running order has been restored with the b side single bonus tracks added at the end of the CD. The location of the b sides in the middle of the previous CD never bothered me that much as this is one of the few albums where the b sides were for the most part every bit the equal of the album tracks.

The limited edition CD version of this album resembles the original vinyl right down to the round album cover. Although not the band's most accessible work (Skylarking and Oranges & Lemons both belong in that category), BE is one of the richest XTC albums the band produced. Coming after the uneven but interesting Mummer, BE was a fine return to form.

I am a bit disappointed that no demos are included on this CD (I suppose Virgin is saving those for their boxed set coming out later this year). Regardless, the sound quality alone makes this worth paying the extra money for. Drums & Wires, Black Sea, The Big Express and Skylarking all outclass the original CD releases in terms of sound quality and packaging.

how drastically my opinions about xtc clash with everyone elses. ive been a musician/composer for 12 years, maybe thats why. if youre a serious musician too maybe this will help you out. for one thing disregard 98% of the reviews above us here. in my opinion this is their best record. if not their best(which is a pretty ridiculous statement i guess)its as good as whatever your favorite is right now, be it skylarking, black sea, whatever. i detest drum machines and im telling you, you will not notice synthetic drums on this record unless you go out of your way to. it does not affect the brilliance of these songs at all(im having a hard time sympathizing with these people saying the drums 'swallow the songs whole'). as far as the bonus tunes, theyre the highlights for me. and just to make the old school fans really disregard my opinion-blue overall is the best song on the album. thats right. it rocks beyond belief, its odd meter, and andy screams alot. thats enough for me. i love the pretty stuff, but theres not enough straight up rocking on the next generation of albums(i.e. ugly underneath, no language in our lungs, etc.)and it abounds here. the perfect mix of kickass rock and the beautiful/strange stuff that xtc are masters of. also it opens with colins best song ever(well, tied with the world is full of angry young men). there you have it. if youre unable to choose between english settlement and this, make the smart decision and buy english settlement later.

This album took a little while to grow on me, but when I finally got it, it was absolutely life-changing. It is my favorite XTC album among many strong contenders and one of my favorite albums all-time. The mystery of this album is the fact that those of us who get it have little luck trying to convey its majesty to those who don't. To those folks I say keep trying, you will be amply rewarded. "Wake Up" and "Train Running Low on Soul Coal" are tracks beyond description. With encroaching age, I feel the pull and power of the latter track more every year. Consider this an album to grow up and old with - gracefully!

I've been enamoured with XTC since, oh, the early 1980s sometime, so folks may consider me biased. The Beatles of the '80s some used to describe them as, and that's not an entirely off-center remark, especially given the obvious influence on The Big Express (more compositionally, less sonically). I began listening to the Big Express again about six months ago - it had dropped out of rotation for years because there is so much music to listen to (old jazz, new electronica, other XTC records, etc). Playing it now, I feel as if I never properly listened to it. If you aren't familiar with XTC, this might not be the best of their repertoire to begin with - unless you have an expansive pallet (it can be edgy and irritable sounding). I know that critics of the band complain of Andy Partridge's somewhat nasal voice - so be warned that he is not Eddie Vetter (sp?), Ian McCullcoh, Elvis Costello, etc. but I like it, and he is a good vocalist with unusual intonations.

TBE is an odd work, familiar as pop because of the basic song structures (3-4 minutes, mostly verse chorus etc., but no leads\soloing to speak of), yet unusual in its mixture of sounds and instrumentation (horns, tympany, reverse reverb used on the guitar, symphonic bits and pieces, harmonica, quick-strummed jangly quitar...)and rather unusual lyrical subject matter(as compared to most pop, but not XTC). It can sound goofy ("The Every Day Story of Small Town), evocative ("I Remember the Sun"), and frenetic ("Shake You Donkey Up"). It's a little challenging, perhaps not immediately "accessible", but musically rich and varied. One of XTC's strengths is that they are musically onomatopoeic - that is, their music sounds like what they're singing about. This album doesn't quite reveal this quality as much as others (listen to Mummur), but rather, the various states of mind and emotions as expressed in the lyrics are well reflected in the music. Other reviewers describe it as a weak effort from the band (and still give it four stars? that's dogmatic fandom!). I think it's good as anything they've done.
If you get it and don't like it (horrors!), even after listening, putting it away, going back to it, listening again, don't give up on one of the few truly brilliant bands of the past two decades. Get English Settlement, Oranges and Lemons, or Black Sea.