XTC Reel by Real: XTC: Drums and Wires

	The Album Virgin U.S.A. Press Release Burning Shed U.K. Press Release The Songs Recording Info Reviews Discographical Info The Singles Art

DRUMS AND WIRES

"Making Plans For Nigel" is XTC's first English Top 20 hit and both it and the underground gem "Helicopter" introduce America's alternative pop fans to the band. Says Melody Maker: "XTC has broken cover and broken ground." New Music Express insists that the band's music "demands new adjectives."

Geffen CD Release 1991 includes three tracks not on original album: The flashback dance song "Life Begins At The Hop" and the ode to self-love "Limelight" (both written by Moulding) and the infectious disease-fighting anthem "Chain Of Command" (penned by Partridge). "Life Begins At The Hop" appeared previously only on Waxworks.

[Geffen promotional literature, 1991]

Andy: “Twang! Barry goes, Dave comes and the band is reborn. We revel in electric guitars, voodoo tom toms and the discovery of our songwriting muscle (which is becoming delightfully erect).”

Andy: “Suddenly we were a three piece. The songwriting was starting to get half decent and we were revelling in two wiry sounding guitars, twanging bass and voodoo tom-toms.”

The Album was rehearsed against all odds (you know the sort of thing, no lavatory, complaining Chinese waiters from next door) in the cellar of our managers ex-club and in a collapsing barn just outside of town. It was recorded at the Townhouse Studios in Goldhawk Road, London against all odds (blocked lavatories, complaining Ian Andersons from next door). The man who entered a competition of the back of a chocolate fingers packet and assumed he'd win a holiday in Greece was the victim of a very cruel joke, the actual prize being the job of producer for a fortnight. Yes Mister Steve (Space Invader) Lillywhite. They said in the Rules that the winner would be able to bring along a friend. The poor lad with the flip flops and bronzing gel was no other than engineer in chief, Hugh (No Ears, Great Holes Through) Padgham. Dressed very poorly as an airline stewardess, a hotel manager and deck chair attendant to compile the picture were tape operators and tea stirrers, Georgie Chambers and his dog “Lonely” Steve Prestage and Nick Cook. Thanks to Dick Cuthell for being ‘Herb Helpless And His Marihuana Brass’ and for the Vernon Yard Male Voice Choir on “Roads Girdle the Globe”. Smacks of appreciations to Steve (Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Louder) Warren.

BIOGRAPHY

With the release of their first American album, “Drums & Wires,” XTC have achieved the kind of powerful and adventurous maturity which confirms them, after being for so long the barometer by which other groups were measured, as trail-blazers for the '80s.

The present line-up of XTC was formed in Swindon, England early in 1979 when keyboards player Barry Andrew [sic] left and was replaced by guitarist Dave Gregory, formerly with local group Dean Gabber and his Gabberdines. Gregory, a friend of the band for several years, also plays keyboards when necessary.

Previously, guitarist Andy Partridge, bassist Colin Moulding and drummer Terry Chambers had worked together, with others, as Star Park, The Helium Kids [sic], Skyscraper and Snakes before becoming XTC in 1976. Partridge, born in Malta, left school at 15, worked as a teaboy on a local newspaper, then attended the art department of a technical college, while learning to play guitar in his bedroom. Moulding, a map fetishist, was a milkman's assistant, laborer and council worker, and lived on the same block as Partridge. Chambers was suspended from school at the age of 15, for an incident that took place in a garage after the young man in question had ingested large quantities of cider. He wanted to be a soccer player but settled for being a builder's merchant and then a lithographic printer.

Beginning in their home town, the band soon built up a substantial following and arrived in London at the height of 1977's music explosion, causing unrest not by the empty rhetoric of many of their counterparts but by their humor, sharpness and vitality. Their first record after signing with Virgin was “3 DEP,” [sic] released in October 1977. Since then, they have released five singles—the latest, “Making Plans For Nigel,” is in the UK Top 20 at this writing—and three albums; “White Music,”, “Go 2,” and “Drums & Wires,” all of them Top 30 successes in Britain.

XTC are widely regarded in the U.K. as one of the freshest and most innovative young bands around. Paul Morley of New Musical Express recently described XTC as “making multi-layered music of wit and elegance. . . music that demands new adjectives.” Not to be outdone, Melody Maker's John Orme summed up his review of “Drums & Wires” by saying: “With a mix of complexity, contrast, fluency and humour, XTC have broken cover and broken ground.”

The band has already paid one brief visit to the U.S. at the end of 1978, originally just to play a New Year's Eve concert with Talking Heads, but extended by popular demand to include a dozen more dates. In the summer this year they toured with considerable success in Australia and Japan. XTC will be returning to America in January, 1980 for an extensive tour and outbreaks of XTC all over the country are confidently expected.

November 1979

For further information contact the Publicity Department (212) 243-6200

Virgin Records Inc. · 43 Perry Street · New York, N.Y. 10014 · Tel: (212) 243-6200 · Telex: 666640

Burning Shed Records, 2020:

1977 may have been Year Zero for Punk Rock and accompanying newspaper headlines of horror but it produced few memorable albums from the new generation. 1979, by comparison, produced a shelf load of wonders with LP debuts from the likes of Gang of Four, Joy Division, The Specials and Human League, second offerings from PIL (Metal Box) and Magazine (Secondhand Daylight) and - dispelling the myth about “difficult” third albums - Wire (154), Talking Heads (Fear of Music), Elvis Costello (Armed Forces) and Japan (Quiet Life) issued respectively consistent, sure-footed, albums.

Amidst this splendid flowering of the post-punk community, replete with the sort of musical diversity that would have been unimaginable two years earlier and sadly unthinkable today, Swindon’s finest, XTC, also produced an early classic album with the Steve Lillywhite produced Drums And Wires. Andy Partridge recalls it as an optimistic time for the band. Dave Gregory’s arrival on guitar (replacing organist Barry Andrews who left following the release of Go2) marked a shift in style with the group now configured as a twin guitar/bass/drums line-up. Despite an endless touring schedule much time was spent honing new material. Both Partridge and Colin Moulding were growing in confidence as songwriters - this album did much to further their reputation for peerless post-punk pop tunes. But it was also Steve Lillywhite and engineer Hugh Padgham’s ability to give appropriate studio support and recording expertise to the more expansive pieces such as Roads Girdle The Globe and Complicated Game that helped to bring a new level of maturity to the overall feel of the release.

Issued at the start of September, Drums and Wires entered the UK Albums Chart where it remained for a total of seven weeks, accompanied by another first for the band, a Top 20 UK (and international) hit single in album lead track Making Plans for Nigel. The optimism of the recording sessions had proved justified.

[Thanks to Darryl Bullock]

Lyrics, Charts and More

1. Making Plans for Nigel
2. Helicopter
3. Day In Day Out
4. When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty
5. Ten Feet Tall
6. Roads Girdle the Globe ⁺
7. Real by Reel
8. Millions
9. That is the Way
10. Outside World
11. Scissor Man
12. Complicated Game

Original U.K., U.S.A., and Australian release of the LP included a bonus single with the following tracks:

1. Chain of Command
2. Limelight

The original U.S.A. LP also included the following:

1. Life Begins at the Hop

Most recent CDs of the album also include the above bonus tracks.

The 2014 CD/DVD includes the following bonus tracks:

1. Chain of Command
2. Limelight
3. Life Begins at the Hop
4. Bushman President (Homo Safari No. 2)
5. Ten Feet Tall (electric version)
6. Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down

The 2014 CD/Blu-ray release includes the following bonus tracks:

1. Life Begins at the Hop
2. Homo Safari
3. Chain of Command
4. Limelight
5. Bushman President (Homo Safari No. 2)
6. Pulsing Pulsing
7. Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down
8. Ten Feet Tall (electric version)
9. Officer Blue
10. Over Rusty Water
11. Sleepyheads
12. The Beautiful People
13. Cheap Perfume
14. I Feel Blue
15. Someone's Been in My Room
16. If I Had My Way
17. I Overheard
18. Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down (Toots Garage)

Recording Information

Recorded at the Townhouse Studio, London, England.
Produced by Steve (Space Invader) Lillywhite.
Engineered by Hugh Padgham.
Tape operators Georgie Chambers and his dog ‘Lonely’, Steve Prestage, and Nick Cook.
Originally released on 17 August 1979 in the U.K.
Reached No. 34 on the U.K. album chart.
Reached No. 176 on the Billboard album chart in the U.S.A.

Dick Cuthell - ‘Herb Helpless and his Marihuana Brass’
+ Vernon Yard Male Voice Choir (including Al Clark).

The working title for this album was Boom-Dada-Boom.

Singles

Chain of Command (U.K. promo only)	Limelight (U.S.A. promo only)	Making Plans for Nigel
Ten Feet Tall (U.S.A. only)	Life Begins at the Hop (non-album)

Art

Drums and Wires front cover	the beautifully simple back of the original UK Drums and Wires LP	USA Geffen Drums and Wires CD cover
Drums and Wires 8-track tape (still shrinkwrapped!)	Drums and Wires 8-track tape	Canadian Drums and Wires cassette J-card
USA Geffen Drums and Wires cassette J-card	the totally beautiful cover of the Japanese Drums and Wires LP	the badass obi from the Japanese Drums and Wires LP
Drums and Wires LP insert group photo	lyrics from Drums and Wires UK LP	liner notes and photo from Drums and Wires UK LP
Drums and Wires picture CD	Drums and Wires 2001 USA CD liner image	Drums and Wires 2001 USA CD liner image
Canadian Drums and Wires LP label, side A	Canadian Drums and Wires LP label, side B	French Drums and Wires LP label, side A
French Drums and Wires LP label, side B	Greek Drums and Wires LP label, side A	Greek Drums and Wires LP label, side B
Italian Drums and Wires LP label, side A	Italian Drums and Wires LP label, side B	Japanese Drums and Wires LP label, side A
Japanese Drums and Wires LP label, side B	Mexican Drums and Wires LP label, side A	Mexican Drums and Wires LP label, side B
Portuguese Drums and Wires LP label, side A	Portuguese Drums and Wires LP label, side B	West German Drums and Wires LP label, side A
West German Drums and Wires LP label, side B	newspaper ad for Drums and Wires	advertisement for the Japanese release of Drums and Wires
Drums and Wires promo poster	Australian Drums and Wires poster	a Drums and Wires promotional poster
Gold disc award for New Zealand sales of Drums & Wires	a Drums & Wires T-shirt	Gold disc award for New Zealand sales of Drums & Wires
back of a Drums & Wires T-shirt	Drums and Wires sticker	Canadian gold record for Drums and Wires
an unauthorised Drums and Wires clock	photograph of a stencilled graffiti

Go back to XTC Reel by Real.