By Jason Ferguson

This odd 2004 release (just issued in the U.S.) finds art-popper Partridge (XTC) and prog-rocker Blegvad (Slapp Happy) gathering the results of more than a decade of casual collaborations. The pleasant result is cohesive and artful. Blegvad was always the most pop-oriented of the Rock in Opposition types, while Partridge's weird streak ensured XTC's shining melodies were never mired in syrup; Orpheus, however, is not the place where their melodic approaches coincide. Instead, abstract poetry and affected, semi-avant sonic constructions make for challenging listening. Composed of brief fragments (many pieces don't cross the two-minute mark) and extensive experiments (the haunting seven minutes of “Noun Verbs”), Orpheus is daring work for both musicians. And that's saying something.

By William Dean Hinton

There should be a warning label on any CD with lyrics like "you and the clouds will still be beautiful." You wouldn't expect such trite expressions from a band like XTC, which has made a living for more than two decades by mixing clever wordplay with Beatlesque melodies. But remaining members Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding somehow twist the ordinary into some creative moments on "Wasp Star," the band's 12th record.

Take "In Another Life," for example. It's a bouncy, midtempo song that Moulding wrote about the fairy-tale things he and his wife could do to recapture their marital bliss. No big deal, unless you realize that the cause of their problems is his wife's agoraphobia.

Mostly, though, "Wasp Star" celebrates guitar power-pop and, in "Stupidly Happy," "We're All Light" and "Playground," the giddiness of living in a world we'll never quite understand. It's a theme XTC knows well. Thankfully, they haven't worn it out.

By Billy Manes

Born of various acrimonious situations surrounding the band's five-year hiatus (leader Andy Partridge's divorce, squabbles with record labels Virgin and Geffen, and the departure of longtime guitarist Dave Gregory), "Apple Venus Volume 1" could be the most necessary -- and gratifying -- album of XTC's 15-year career.

For a band of admitted art-rock obscurists, the grand flourish of an orchestral concept album can be a bit risky. Luckily, Partridge has always been a bit classical in his complexity. Partridge's sing-songy musings seem at home here betwixt the chambered indulgences (courtesy of woodwinds, brass and strings) and the high-end sonic contributions of chief collaborator Colin Moulding.

Still present are the simple ironies of pained realization. "H-A-T-E, Is that how you spell ‘friend’ in your dictionary?" croons a hurt Partridge on "Your Dictionary." "K-I-C-K pronounced as ‘kind.’"

XTC have gone one better than their previous quirk-pop leanings, crafting something completely new by using the old musical trick of orchestral instruments.