Oranges & Lemons

XTC | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 19, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Geffen Gold Line Sp.
• ASIN: B000000OYZ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #335,679 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Garden of Earthly Delights

2. The Mayor of Simpleton

3. King for a Day

4. Here Comes President Kill Again

5. The Loving

6. Poor Skeleton Steps Out

7. One of the Millions

8. Scarecrow People

9. Merely a Man

10. Cynical Days

11. Across This Antheap

12. Hold Me My Daddy

13. Pink Thing

14. Miniature Sun

15. Chalkhills and Children

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A pop masterpiece., May 17, 2006

By 

Michael Stack (North Chelmsford, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oranges & Lemons (Audio CD)

While conventional wisdom points to "Skylarking" as the best album in XTC's catalog, I find it overshadowed by its successor, 1989's "Oranges & Lemons". For me, it's the culmination of the band until now-- the high energy and excitement of the early albums (tempered nicely by the maturity of material like "Black Sea"), the carefully constructed arrangements of "Mummer" and "The Big Express", the unerring pop hooks and cohesiveness of "Skylarking", and a healthy dose of history and tribute drawn from the Dukes of Stratosphear culminate in a record that ended up being pretty much pop perfection.

As evidence of this, I submit the album's leadoff single-- "The Mayor of Simpleton". I've pretty much convinced myself it's the best song Andy Partridge ever wrote and it's got a bit of everything-- a hint at the old guitar skanks that dominated the old new wave efforts, a superb arrangement taking a couple guitar lines and intertwining them to create a full picture, and a series of two and three part vocal harmonies that provide a lovely swirl for Partridge's downright ecstatic lead vocal results in a piece that pretty much stops me in my tracks every time I hear it.

Still, as much as I rambled about one track, the truth is there's at least half a dozen absolutely superb tracks on here from Partridge's pen. Opener "Garden of Earthly Delights" with its cheeky lyric ("just don't hurt nobody / unless of course they ask you") and Middle-Eastern tinged pop hook delivered by another fantastic Partridge vocal sits comfortably alongside John Lennonesque sentiments (the absolutely lush "The Loving" sounds like a Brian Wilson arrangement of a Lennon sentiment), Carribbean-tinged "Poor Skeleton Steps Out", funky and fierce "Merely a MAn" (with some blazing lead guitars), totaly offbeat "Pink Thing" (grunts, groans and falsetto blended over a new wave backing track) and a pastoral take on Wilson (closer "Chalkhills and Children"). Interspersed between Partridge's writing, bassist Colin Moulding sneaks in some fantastic work, including a charming take on self deprecation ("One of the Millions", with a stunning bassline) and one of the most delicate and honest exposures of finding hop in hopeless ("Cynical Days").

The scary thing is-- the bad songs on here are still good-- the worst is gets is an irritating synth line on "Miniature Sun", but even that one is rescued by a syncopated vocal line at the end. That's it, that's as weak as it ever gets.

Add to this the reissue's fine sound courtesy of a healthy dose of remastering (no bonus tracks this time, the double album was squeezed nicely onto one disc though) and you end up with an album and a presentation that are pretty much as good as it gets in pop music. Any proof needed that Partridge and Moulding are the best pop songwriters of their generation can be found here. "Skylarking" may be a bit more digestable, but "Oranges & Lemons" is absolutely fantastic.

31 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the great pop-rock albums of all time, July 18, 2004

By 

Eric J. Anderson (Ankeny, Iowa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oranges & Lemons (Audio CD)

First, let me put the five star rating in context. Five stars are freely given in so many customer reviews that the five star rating has been devalued by overuse. In my opinion, XTC made some music I wouldn't bother to listen to all the way through even once. Less than one star for me. Some of their albums are worth three or four stars.

This album, however, stands at the pinnacle of anything any band has ever attempted or achieved. Not to say that it is better than Sgt. Pepper or other great records. But it holds its own. It must be considered one of the five or ten best albums of the 1980s.

I would call this music chamber pop. It quotes eloquently from sixties-style British pop, but adds elements of jazz, all produced and layered to perfection with XTC's inimitable style. All the elements here are precisely and deliberately placed, like a classical composition (with distorted guitars!). The thought and care with which these musical collages have been assembled created songs that are intensely interesting and musically involving. They stand up to repeated listening and analysis. As an experience, it is a marvel and a wonder to listen to these... I won't call them songs, I will call them compositions.

The recording is only fair, at best. One could only wish George Martin had been there to oversee the recording engineers. I have the remastered GOLD CD version, and really it is only slightly better than the original Geffen release. Since the old Geffen version can be purchased used for $1 or less, there is no excuse not to own a copy of this masterwork.

Andy Partridge was at the height of his lyrical powers, and his quirky harmonic ideas were harnessed and channeled into powerful, communicative, and anthemic songs. Colin Moulding's songs are melodic and beautiful, but his busy bass playing throughout rivals McCartney's work in the Beatles' best tunes. It is great entertainment to listen to this album all the way through, focusing only on the bass parts. Dave Gregory completed the tapestry with his always-appropriate guitars, and his presence was sorely missed on the last two XTC albums, as if both Partridge and Moulding had lost their right arms.

Other reviewers have praised the individual songs, so I won't belabor the point. And what is the point? Just this: if you love pop music, buy this CD.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars XTC swings psychedelic on this masterpiece from 1989, March 21, 2006

By 

Chet Fakir (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oranges & Lemons (Audio CD)

XTC threw us a curve ball with this record. After the lush Skylarking they decided to bring out the guitars and mine sixties pop psychedelic territory for Oranges And Lemons. They took a page from their sixties psych alter-egos The Dukes Of Stratosphere and modernized the sound, the result being one of their most joyful and fun recordings since Black Sea. The everything-but-the-kitchen-sink percussion of Pat Mastelloto, now of King Crimson, really adds quite a bit to these odd-ball pop tunes. Many of which rank among Andy Partridge's best: Garden of Earthly Delights (with the line "Don't hurt nobody, less of course they ask you"), Mayor of Simpleton, Poor Skeleton Steps Out, The Loving (totally joyful) and on and on. Colin Moulding also writes some gems with King For A Day and One Of The Millions, his homage to the ordinary bloke that "never seems to do anything". Dave Gregory is the guitar master as he always is and contributes quite a lot to the dense sound of Oranges And Lemons, and Colin Mouldings bass playing is fantastic. Check out his fluid Paul McCartney on steroids playing on the Mayor Of Simpleton.

What I love most about Oranges And Lemons is they brought back the guitars and the odd rhythms that made XTC such an interesting band back in the White Noise through English Settlement days while keeping their new melodic sophistication a la Skylarking. There's a lot of instrumental muscle on this album. The only real suprise for me is that Oranges And Lemons didn't get as huge as it should have.