XTC - Nonsuch

Nonsuch was released in 1992, but I don't think of it as a 90's album. I don't know anything else released during that decade you could compare it to. The Elephant 6 bands got a lot of attention in indie circles but I've never heard anyone talk about Nonsuch, and that's a shame. Sure, XTC preferred more polished recording techniques (recording with Elton John's producer for godsakes) but their love of pop melodies and weird sound effects strikes me as coming from the same musical place.

The album starts with 'The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead', a wonderful song that follows the adventures of a modern day Jesus figure who does good and is eventually killed for it. The idea is to point out the differences between the church and Jesus' actual teachings. Although that difference has become painfully obvious--it's hard to imagine organizations further from Jesus than most modern churches--it still makes for a good song that I can agree with melodically as well as philosophically.

The next two songs, 'My Bird Performs' and 'Dear Madam Barnum' are two songs addressing the pressures of expectation and performance. The first is by Colin and the second by Andy, and I have to say that Colin wins this matchup, but they're both great songs. "A thousand Cheshire cats grin inside of me." Me too.

Then we've got 'Humble Daisy' and 'The Smartest Monkeys', two songs which I don't like as much as the first set, but which aren't bad. 'The Smartest Monkeys' is just a bit too simple and 'Humble Daisy' a bit too slight. But then we get to 'The Disappointed', my favorite on the album. This is the song the 80's should have had. It's about romantic let downs, but I can't think of any song that addresses the topic in quite this way. He's not destroyed or amazed, just disappointed, and I think a lot of people can relate to that. Many relationships don't end with anger, the way it's usually shown on TV, they end with one party just liking the other more, and it falling apart. One side is is relieved or indignant, the other disappointed. I probably have more experience with the disappointed side. Unless we widen the definition of relationships outside of the romantic. Then I've probably disappointed my good share of folks.

'The Disappointed' through 'Then She Appeared' all deal with relationships--actually I should say they deal with women, why beat around the bush--with the exception of 'Rook' my other favorite song on the album. On the XTC forums, Andy mentioned something about people saying that this song doesn't belong on this album. Allow me to assure you, those people don't know what they are talking about. Placing 'Rook in the middle of the want-to-get-laid, isn't-it-great-I'm-getting-laid songs is a wonderful move. In the song, Andy plaintively asks nearby birds to 'break the code of the whispering chimneys and traffic signs'. He wants to know 'if there's a secret can I be part of it?' The song breaks up the pounding pop beats of Nonsuch with strings, piano, and horns, and it's the only song without Colin on bass.

After observations about different colors of women and whether they 'make your shakespeare hard and make your oyster pearl' and a song about being orgasmically(spell check suggestion--orgasmic ally) devoured, or at least feeling that way, we get to 'War Dance'. Of the three political songs on the album I like this one the most, even though I've seen it described as preachy. You could make an American version of the song by replacing a few nouns here and there and it would be remarkably applicable to our current situation.

'Wrapped in Grey' is a good song about creative people being better than everyone else. I agree of course, and I often feel this way, but I do feel a bit embarrassed listening to it. 'The Ugly Underneath' continues a theme that Andy has addressed in other songs, 'Respectable Street' from Black Sea comes to mind; so-called normal people are really just as fucked up as everyone else, perhaps even more so. Then Colin takes his shot at ridiculous middle class life in 'Bungalow', 'So we're working every hour that God made so we can fly away saving it all up for you -- Bungalow'. And he sings that last 'bungalow' like he's praying to god, it's enough to send shivers up your spine if you're the kinda David Lynch fan that gets off on that kinda thing. 'Books are Burning' ends the album on a nice meaningful note. 'Smell of burnt book is not unlike human hair' may be exaggeration but it's a good lyric.

Overall, I'd say Nonsuch is a complete success. It seems like a much more social album than Skylarking. I'd listen to Skylarking while driving along a country road out by Exeter. The dry gold California grass is a wonderful environment for that album. Nonsuch has more of a city feel. I'm curious how Apple Venus will feel. Onward and Upward!