Customer Reviews

Drums and Wires

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For those who have listened to XTC's later work (Skylarking, Nonsuch, Apple Venus) this work must seem to come from another band, indeed another planet. The band has spent the last 17 years, it seems, perfecting its Beatles imitation. Now it's time to see where they started. While XTC's first two albums (White Music and Go2) seemed hell-bent on destroying every pop convention and stretching the listener's ear to the breaking point, Drums and Wires is the band's first real attempt to construct a new sound out of the ruins of pop cliché they laid around them. Manic, frenzied beats and sharp, jangling chords give the album not only its name but its feel. Drummer Terry Chambers makes his presence felt from the opening riff of Nigel. His complicated rythyms intertwine with the instruments with precision. This album proves the loss suffered when he wandered off 4 years later to be replaced by session drummers. None of the songs after his departure had the same kick in the teeth. In many ways this album represents the best and worst of XTC. Andy Partidge's odd voice is deliberately strangely ennunciated. The lyrics disturbing, but show unique wit. "Now she's away from Convent, she's grown wild. She's growm from a nice young lady to a child." "When you wake up sticky in the morning, you'll find out an important piece is gone." But for anyone who has a fondness for '80s music, this '79 album is an absolute must. Anyone who has Adam Ant, Oingo Boingo, early Police, English Beat or Devo and not this album in their collection also has a big, gaping hole.

It's the summer of 1979. You've just graduated high school. You're eighteen and know everything about EVERYTHING, especially music. Then one day, quite by accident, you discover you don't know ANYTHING. It seems that somewhere in merry old England (the armpit of Swindon, I believe) a group of four very sharp young men have created something unlike anything you've ever heard before. Each cut on the album proves to be stranger, fresher, and more glorious than the last. In Roads Girdle the Globe, the guitars sound like steamrollers, the drums like jackhammers. In Millions, the band transports you to the exotic far East, dips you in the Yangtze, rinses years of radio pablum from your spongey little brain. All with guitars ad drums... like the Beatles' loopy cousins sending messages from a parallel universe... Drums and Wires is a freaking revelation. And you know what? Twenty-plus years later, it's still as fresh as the day it was released. It still beats the hell out of anything being recorded today. Drums and Wires is pure XTC. Buy this album, and play it LOUD.

Sometimes, when I haven't listened to this album in a while, I forget how great it is. This is often regarded as the first "true" XTC album, as it begins to create the "Beatle-based pop" sound for which the band is now (somewhat) famous, rather than the organ-heavy pseudo-punk of the first two albums (which are also good, by the way). It kicks off with XTC's first hit single, "Making Plans For Nigel," followed by the frantic "Helicopter." Other highlights include the tongue-twisting "Outside World" (about not wanting to know what depressing things are going on in the world, a subject with which I can often identify), the cautionary fantasy (or mockery thereof, perhaps) of "Scissor Man," and the world-weary "Complicated Game." There are also odes to the overwhelming feeling of being in love ("When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty" and "Ten Feet Tall"), and social commentaries on such issues as factory work ("Day In Day Out"), lack of privacy ("Real By Reel"), and devotion to the automobile ("Roads Girdle The Globe"). A great aspect of this album is the way that the music fits the mood of each song. "Making Plans For Nigel" is mechanical; the whirring sounds of "Helicopter" bring an actual helicopter to mind; "Roads Girdle The Globe" is noisy and droning; and "Complicated Game" is delightfully paranoid. I wouldn't say this is XTC's best work (that would be Skylarking), but it is an all-around wonderful album.

This was the first effort I ever heard by XTC. A local new-wave station was playing "Helicopter" and "Making Plans For Nigel" and I just had to have this. I was in no way disappointed. Still sounds fresh to me today. To me this was thier first great effort, with many more classics to come.

"Go 2" showed a band with an increased focus; "Drums & Wires" showed the band backing up that focus with songwriting. It's about the same quality level because about the same number of songs hit, but this is the first XTC album where you can actually pick out distinct, fully-developed songs which in a weird universe might actually come close to being on the radio. I'm speaking of "Making Plans For Nigel," "Ten Feet Tall," and "Life Begins At The Hop," three sublime tracks which showed that Colin Moulding had actually developed talent beyond his superb bass skills. The addition of second guitarist Dave Gregory also helped the band discover a more full, meaty sound than before (Steve Lillywhite's production is also to thank for this) which helped toughen up the material. Only a few duff songs and a surprising lack of energy throughout (very noticeable compared to the last two albums) keeps this from achieving pure greatness. Buy it anyway; it takes a few listens to sink in yet it's very rewarding if you give it time.

What I like about "Drums and Wires" is that it doesn't start off strong and then dissipates. It's good all the way through. Am I the only one obsessed with the song "helicopter"? Anyway, the songs are catchy and sometimes weird, which adds to the quality. This is the epitome of good pop music.

Clearly, this is the best work from XTC. First heard this in 1982 and had to get the CD to replace my worn out Album. People in this review have pointed out the song "Complicated Game" as unfitting. I feel completely opposite of that. Actually, one of the best songs written by this band, that and "Scissor Man" make this album a must. If you can only own 1 XTC album, this is it. It is the core of the band's sound. Everything after that pales in comparison. Excellent Intellegence.

Hey, I don't know what's wrong with the other reviewers, but this album epitomizes what I love about XTC. The songwriting is excellent (catchy tunes, insightful lyrics) and the musicianship is terrific. It runs the gamut from happy pop (Life Begins at the Hop) to paranoid raving (Complicated Game), which, in my humble opinion, demonstrates the range of emotion this band is capable of communicating.

Although their first two albums have their moments, neither WHITE MUSIC nor GO 2 had any sense of artistic direction and lacked the craft that would be characteristic of Andy and Colin's songs later in their career. With the addition of Dave Gregory on guitar(this was his first album with the band), XTC grew into a band that exceeded the boundary of their "new wave" musical ghetto.

Colin Moulding's songs show him flowering as a songwriter. "Making plans for Nigel" was a huge step up for the band and one of their first big hit singles. Likewise, Andy Partridge showed a continuing growth as a songwriter. Initially, he was the better songwriter of the two. Here, Andy shows an uncanny way with strange song structures and melodies(not unlike...Lennon & McCartney).

The bonus tracks are, curiously, stuck in the middle of the album(like most of the Virgin/Geffen cd issues). While, this is distracting, it doesn't disturb the continuity as much as WHITE MUSIC & BLACK SEA.

A minor bit of trivia...the original English issue has "Are you receiving me?" listed on the cd(and the booklet), but the track isn't on the cd. Also, "Chain of Command" and "Limelight" are not listed on the cd, nor are they listed on the booklet. They are(horray!) on the cd at the very end as bonus tracks, not the middle of the cd(making for an unexpected and pleasant surprise!)

A fine XTC album--a pity the band couldn't have had both Dave and Barry Andrews(their former keyboardist)in the band--what a sound they would have made together! Oh, and Terry Chambers plays terrifically throughout the album, too.

I love this one because it is so raw. This is XTC before they finally succumbed to their more polished sound that followed on The Black Sea and etc. This one is more like their first two albums, but with a maturity in the songwriting that you will hear in every album that follows. This album is unique and great because it is the best one from XTC that has the raw sound that defined the Post Punk Era (which I lovingly date from 1978-1983 and was defined by such British bands as XTC, The Police, The Clash, etc.) Anyway, get it because you won't know how good it sounds by reading this crap on this web page and you won't be sorry. Hey--Primus covered "Nigel." Isn't that endorsement enough?