Customer Reviews

Black Sea (Lp-Facsimile)

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As this album starts, with Andy Partridge's composition 'Respectable Street', the listener hears what appears to be an old phonograph record begin to play, complete with scratches -- a gentle, nostalgic tune...'It's in the order of their hedgerows, it's in the way their curtains open and close, it's in the look they give you down their nose -- all part of decency's jigsaw, I suppose...' and then Andy Partridge's guitar slams into a series of his trademark jangly rhythm chords, and the band is off and running with a look at modern-day suburbia. Neighbors live in close-quartered isolation, peering at each other from behind drawn curtains, wretch over each other's fences, crowd their front gardens with caravans that never move, welcome the Avon lady to fill in facial creases on housewives...and the images go on and on, dead on target, fragments of our society for us to view.

Partridge's guitar style, instantly recognizable, always reminded me of shards of broken glass -- beautiful, vaguely dangerous. It's glass alright, but it's a mirror -- XTC hold up the pieces and we can see little bits of ourselves in each one, microcosms of our world...and what we see is sometimes humorous, sometimes foolish, sometimes beautiful, sometimes ugly. It's not as if Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding (the two songwriters in the band) are pointing fingers, but more like they're just reporting on what they see, allowing us the make the judgement call.

The album continues with Colin Moulding's 'Generals and majors' -- a view of war and carnage as a game played by humans, a worry about where it's leading us. Partridge's 'Living through another Cuba' is next, carrying this theme a bit further. Then comes another Moulding tune, 'Love at first sight' with a look at the eternal drama of the sexes' inevitable attraction -- and its consequences. Partridge responds again, with his love song 'Rocket from a bottle', a more personal view of the subject.

After these observations and outpourings have washed over us, leaving us to marvel at the abilities of these writers to express themselves, what does Partridge hand us but 'No language in our lungs', a song bewailing the writer's inability to find the words to convey his thoughts: 'There is no language in our lungs to tell the world just how we feel, no bridge of thought, no mental link, no letting out just what you think'. Lest we think that Andy is getting too serious, he lets us know otherwise by way of another clever line: '...the impotency of speech came up and hit me that day, and I would have made this instrumental, but the words got in the way...'

The songs go on to deal with such varied topics as the building of the city of London, the role of money in our society, self-analysis and growth, machismo, self-dependency...all done up nicely in quirky but memorable (you'll find yourself humming them) melodies, incredibly insightful and clever lyrics -- the inner rhymes and wordplay are simply amazing -- and the ability through it all not to fall into the trap of taking themselves too seriously. This is pop music, after all, accessable as anything on the radio -- why this album wasn't an instant hit when it came out in 1980 is beyond me...but then, Squeeze never clicked in the US like they deserved to, either (...but that's another story).

Three tracks have been added for the cd release that were not included on the original lp -- they're pretty good for the most part, and it's nice that Geffen chose to add them to the re-released package.

This band has made lots of incredibly high-quality music since their inception ...

I first heard this album in 1982 and ever since then it has never strayed far from my turntable, cassette deck or cd player(yes I have all three versions,) It has become one of what I call my desert island albums, as in "if I were stranded on a..." The moment you hear the opening chords of "Respectable Street",you will be hooked. Songwriter/guitarist Andy Partridge's quirky pop is so catchy you'll find these songs playing over and over again in your head. This album also contains the most MONSTER DRUM SOUND ever heard, each track is dominated by percussion and drums and will have your foot tapping and your ears ringing. If you like the Beatles, you will love this. Black Sea rules,total XTC.

(4.5 Stars)

On 1980's "Black Sea" XTC continued their musical maturation that began with "Drums & Wires". This is pretty much their last real raw, rock album, as the band quit touring shortly after this, and started making quieter, more intricate albums.

After a faux-Victrola piano intro, an insanely catchy guitar riff kicks the listeners square in the crotch with the wonderful "Respectable Street", the best lead-off track on any XTC album (well, Nigel and River of Orchids come close).

Throughout the rest of the album, there's a little new wave pop ("Generals and Majors"), ska pop ("Burning With Optimisms Flames"), turbulent rock ("Rocket From a Bottle"), danceable political rants ("Living Through Another Cuba"), profound ballads ("No Language In Our Lungs"), breezy pop/rock ("Towers of London") industrious 6/4 timed stomps ("Paper and Iron"), and even disco-rock ("Love At First Sight").

The album closes with the eerie "Travels In Nihlion", the musical equivalent of traveling down a nightmarish Yangtze River, battling dragons. The rhythm section's spiraling bass lines and thunderous percussion create an extremely haunting atmosphere.

"Black Sea" is a pleasing album for everyone. Fans of XTC's later work will love the infectious hooks and strong melodies. Fans of early XTC will love rocking out to them. Fans of both incarnations will love the whole package. You can't lose on this one!

Best Songs: Respectable Street, Rocket From a Bottle, No Language in Our Lungs, Burning With Optimism's Flames, Travels in Nihlion.

This was the record that really made me a hardcore fan. I was in college at the time, and we would sit around listening to this record along with the Clash, Sousix, etc... and it was a moment in music history that for me, has not really been matched. You could literally *feel* the 70's paradigm crumbling away in thes records.

These best part, though, was that XTC actually toured with this record and came to my college (U.C. Santa Barbara, CA) and played in our basketball gym. I was front row center (3rd seat to the right of the aisle) and the line-up was Oingo Boingo, followed by XTC, and the Police. The gym wasn't even sold out if you can believe it.

But what a concert. Basically most of the people were there for the Police and they did not "get" XTC, so aside from us fans up front, I must say the audience response was rather cold for XTC. We of course screamed our heads off, and to his credit, Sting excoriated the audience for not being nicer to XTC...

At least in the U.S. this was the last time XTC would play live, so I am both happy and sad to have seen this concert. By the way, most concerts of this era (78-85) were amazing displays of raw energy and intelligence. From Talking Heads, to REM, Clash, The Smiths, and even (gasp) early U2, I'm not sure the concerts of the 90's are better. Peace.

A great album by the underrated XTC-- all of the remasters are excellent, except it would've been better if they'd carried the extra tracks at the end of the disc. Also, the packaging is flawed, and 'Black Sea' is one of the worst offenders. Why reproduce the original album covers if the liner notes and lyrics are printed so small that they're virtually unreadable? Is this another attempt by the members of XTC to highlight their view that packaging is inherently worthless? The reproductions should've been made user-friendly.

XTC's fourth album is easily their finest as
XTC: Influental touring rock quartet. They hinted at the greatness that is this album with 1979's masterful Drums & Wires. Let's examine shall we? The LP opens with their best-ever opener, "Respectable Street"- a dig at suburban prentiousness. The song may in fact be their most rockest (is that even a word?) song ever. Followed by the chiming dual guitar attack of "Generals & Majors" which succeeds in making cold war paranoia ultra hummable (or whistle-able if you will). Possibly Colin Moulding's finest single, it also features the now very popular disco/new wave hi-hat action inluenced by Terry Chambers. "Living Through Another Cuba" is cold war paranoia to dance to. "Love At First Sight", another fine Moulding single, is perfect psychedelic new
wave with it's echoing refrain, quirky chorus, stuttering guitar
solo and the always inventive drumming of Chambers. "Rocket From A Bottle" and "Buring With Optomism's Flames" are both upbeat,
optomistic songs with some great, great playing. The former
sounds like The Kinks backing Paul McCartney - tuneful but rocking. "No Language In Our Lungs" may in fact be one of XTC's all-time greatest songs (a feat in itself). The "I would have made this instrumental" & the repeating "way" parts still give me goosebumps. Ouch! "Towers Of London" provided XTC with yet another English folk (folk as in folklore) classic. "Paper & Iron
(Notes & Coins)" points to where people like Damon Albarn & Blur learned a few tricks. It's subject of working-class struggle is common subject matter but this song is above and beyond others
like it as we listen in on a band truly WORKING. "Sgt. Rock", a hit single in England is fun catchy fluff complete with mock hard-rock riffs. "Travels In Nihilon" is possibly XTC's most haunting song. The repetitive thundering drums and spooky bass line create an atmosphere not accomplised often in popular music.
It sounds like stumbling upon a tribe of early homosapiens on a foggy shore or something. The bonus tracks are nice as well "The Somnabulist" is interesting an exceptional. "Don't Lose Your Temper" is a nifty throwaway (with The Jam's Rick Buler on Handclaps for what it's worth) and "Smokeless Zone" is a sub-par Moulding contribution. The Rhythym section of Moulding and Chambers are at the height of their powers. As were Dave Gregory and Andy Partridge's dual guitar attacks. The Album went U.S. Top 40 and spawned five, yes five singles. Melodic, atonal, inspired, inspiring and great/complex/clever arrangements. Complex and intelligent rock never sounded so easy except for maybe that band from the sixties. What were they called again?
Oh yeah The Beatles.

Get out your peace grenades, XTC's coming to get you. With the relentless Terry Chambers commanding this operation, Black Sea slams ashore. Black Sea is one of the greatest rock albums of all time. It'll make you want to march over to your stereo and crank it to eleven!

Personnel: Andy Partridge - strategic lyrics and guitar; 'Commando' Colin Moulding - mission-specific bass; and Dave Gregory - tactical guitar.

Your orders: Step away from your borscht and intercept this CD now.

[DW]

XTC has about 6 truly great CD's, and this is one of them. Guitar solo in "Love at First Sight" is brilliant... you have to hear it to believe it, and I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't heard it.

This is a decent XTC starter CD. Don't buy a greatest hits collection... you need to buy this as well as Drums & Wires, English Settlement, and Skylarking, then you can tiptoe into their other brilliant work (Mummer is an undiscovered masterpiece, and many good moments on Oranges & Lemons).

A continuation of the direction they were heading in on "Drum and Wires", "Black Sea" finds XTC charging full steam ahead, and again finding ways to tighten and improve. The songwriting is a step up-- the sort of forgettable material on the previous album is largely absent here, particularly in the compositions of Andy Partridge-- and the expanded arrangements made possible by the presence of guitarist Dave Gregory again are brought forth to bear. But with this album really has that makes it a whole lot better than the previous albums is a sense of confidence in the vocal deliveries.

At its best, the album is straightforward and aggressive, putting together tightly wound pieces that feel like they're ready to explode but never quite get there (opener "Respectable Street", "Paper and Iron"), with some superb details into pop (the simply fantastic "Burning With Optimism's Flame", which points distinctly to the future's swirling pop arrangements), jangly new wave (Moulding's "Generals and Majors", with one of the most forceful and venomous choruses in pop music) and something wholly inconceivable-- closer "Travels in Nihilon" is quite unprecedented in the band's catalog-- a slice of avant-rock, with odd textures, a bubbling, neo-tribal beat, and a hint at Middle Eastern strains, plus Partridge over the top as confident as he's ever sounded doubled by a whisper that's as haunting as no doubt it was intended to be.

Admittedly, it's not all fantastic, there's a couple pieces that are somewhat middle of the road-- "Rocket from a Bottle" is a nice enough piano-driven piece but it's somewhat forgettable and while "Towers of London" seems to be popular with a lot of folks, I've always found it a bit overlong. But the record shines a lot more than it disappoints.

This reissue has been remastered and sounds fresh and clean-- a consistent problem with other recordings from this era. It's also been augmented with a trio of bonus tracks-- "Smokeless Zone" and "Don't Lose Your Temper" are both somewhat extraneous, but "The Somnambulist" is something totally different-- a quiet, almost unintelligible vocal over a throbbing drum and synthesizers, it ends up being one of the more intriguing pieces in the early XTC catalog.

"Black Sea" brought XTC's days as a post-punk/new wave band to a close. It shows signs of growth beyond the band's early sound and points to the future, but it is really the culmination of the band's early works. Recommended.

Andy Partridge had an idea. Take all the advances made in dual-guitar chord shapes and interlocking rhythm/bass/lead playing over the last three albums, apply them to effortlessly melodic, Beatlesque songs and arrangements, and ADD SOME REALLY LOUD DRUMS. I don't just mean "loud," I mean *LOUD*. Blow-your-ears-back loud. Loud like a used-car salesman's tie loud.

Black Sea is the type of album The Beatles would have made had they been frustrated, nerdy intellectuals rather than suave handsome Liverpudlians: painstakingly crafted, catchy songs stuffed with over-literate lyrics and matched to an awe-inspiring crash-boom-bang rhythm section (courtesy of drummer Terry Chambers and producer Steve Lillywhite).

The spectacular VIOLENCE of much of this album is a phenomenon of sound, precisely because even at its most apoplectic (the white-hot "Travels In Nihilon," "No Language In Our Lungs") or even EPILEPTIC (no word better describes the immortal "Burning With Optimism's Flames," which stutters and spits and crams so many lyrics into each phrase that Partridge has to literally stop the band each time before starting into the next one) it's still extremely controlled. The sound concept never overtakes the melodies, or the songwriting, and none of the songs ever escape from their authors.

XTC, at their best (and this is probably their best), were like delightfully gregarious mad scientists: witty and talkative, more than a little insane in their willingness to fuse avant-garde musical concepts with old-fashioned songcraft, but always in complete command of the science and technology of their art. Black Sea therefore represents more than just a platter full of sharp, clever songs - it represents the achievement of an intellectual ideal. To the benefit of us all.