Drums and Wires [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED] [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

XTC

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 6, 2002)
• Original Release Date: August 6, 2002
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
• Label: Caroline
• ASIN: B00005ATHI
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #36,941 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Most Americans' first taste of XTC came from this CD, originally released in 1979. The band's first full-length without cofounder Barry Andrews, it was a cavalcade of Andy Partridge's neuroses and paranoia. Although it contained two quirky bona fide pop songs--the calling card "Making Plans for Nigel" and the breezy "Life Begins at the Hop"--the music as a whole was as jagged as Partridge's attitude. "Complicated Game" and "Scissor Man" have the singer's haunting howl echoing and whispering throughout, sounding like a fun house operator gone mad, while "Real by Reel," another pop standout, might be the most conventional song on the CD. Drums and Wires is a must-have for anybody who is only discovering the band. Skylarking and the collected singles are the only other releases that come close to capturing the band's early and earnest dementia. --Steve Gdula

Product Description
Remastered reissue of 1979 album features the classic 'Making Plans For Nigel'.Virgin Records. 2001.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zany and brainy, March 29, 2006

By	Chet Fakir (DC) - See all my reviews

On their third album it's bye bye Barry Andrews and organ and hello Dave Gregory and XTC achieve their "classic sound", ie one that lasted through Black Sea and English Settlement. On Drums And Wires Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding really came into their own as songwriters and Terry Chambers first displayed his peculiar and inimitable THUD WHACK drumming style. The freneticism of the first two albums was tempered by a growing and unique musical sophistication, yet there's an economy of style that reflects that these songs were supposed to be played live in front of actual people. Andy Partridges' crippling stage fright was still several years off and the complex arrangements of Skylarking even farther. My introduction to XTC was the second album Go2 and so when Barry Andrews was kicked out I didn't know what to expect. Well what I got was one of the nuttiest and finest albums these clever pop hooligans ever made. From Colin Mouldings' early hit Making Plans For Nigel to Andy Partridges' most loopy song Helicopter, it's sheer mad genius.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yep., September 3, 2004

By	Stephen Ashley Holt "thrdgll" (South Carolina) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I first heard this one during a very intense, shall we say "chemically altered" state of mind in my impressionable teens. To this day Complicated Game still frightens me a little.

This is a terrific album, one that spotlights XTC at the height of their oddball inventiveness. Sadly, the more Beefheartian aspects of their creativity would soon give way to more traditional song structure, and a tendency to overwork and overproduce their sound. I'm afraid they'll never record anything as twisted and brilliant as Roads Girdle the Globe or Millions again.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of the great LP's ever, February 10, 2003

By	scot lade (hollywood, fl United States) - See all my reviews

XTC were, and still are, essential to anyone interested in quality songs and yet they still rock. The follow-up to this, Black Sea, was heavier and its successor, English Settlement, may be the all-time favorite of many XTC fans; however it is this, their third LP, that has my vote. A little dark and muddy in spite of its poppiness, I think this gives it an edge lacking in every other XTC release. I cannot believe this came out in 1979. It still sounds fresh. Buy it and learn something!