This is a RECORD COVER. This writing is the DESIGN upon the
record cover.  The DESIGN is to help SELL the record.  We hope
to draw your attention to it and encourage you to pick it up.
When you have done that maybe you'll be persuaded to listen to
the music - in this case XTC's Go 2 album.  Then we want you
to BUY it.  The idea being that the more of you that buy this
record the more money Virgin Records, the manager Ian Reid and
XTC themselves will make.  To the aforementioned this is known
as PLEASURE.  A good cover DESIGN is one that attracts more
buyers and gives more pleasure.  This writing is trying to pull
you in much like an eye-catching picture. It is designed to get
you to READ IT.  This is called luring the VICTIM, and you are
the VICTIM.  But if you have a free mind you should STOP READING
NOW! because all we are attempting to do is to get you to read
on.  Yet this is a DOUBLE BIND because if you indeed stop you'll
be doing what we tell you, and if you read on you'll be doing what
we've wanted all along.  And the more you read on the more you're
falling for this simple device of telling you exactly how a good
commercial design works.  They're TRICKS and this is the worst
TRICK of all since it's describing the TRICK whilst trying to
TRICK you, and if you've read this far then you're TRICKED but
you wouldn't have known this unless you'd read this far.  At
least we're telling you directly instead of seducing you with
a beautiful or haunting visual that may never tell you.  We're
letting you know that you ought to buy this record because in
essence it's a PRODUCT and PRODUCTS are to be consumed and you
are a consumer and this is a good PRODUCT.  We could have
written the band's name in special lettering so that it stood
out and you'd see it before you'd read any of this writing and
possibly have bought it anyway.  What we are really suggesting
is that you are FOOLISH to buy or not buy an album merely as a
consequence of the design on its cover.  This is a con because
if you agree then you'll probably like this writing - which is
the cover design - and hence the album inside.  But we've just
warned you against that. The con is a con.  A good cover design
could be considered as one that gets you to buy the record, but
that never actually happens to YOU because YOU know it's just a
design for the cover.  And this is the RECORD COVER.

This is the back of a RECORD COVER.  Catalogue No. V2108.
This writing is the DESIGN on the back of the cover.  This
design is not like that on the FRONT.  Its aim is to impart
information about the RECORD and the GATEFOLD INSERT within
rather than trying to sell it by being impactful or clever
or any of those things.  We have kept it in the same style
so that the entire package has a sense of IDENTITY which-
ever way you see it.  The record is by XTC.  This is their
second album.  We won't attempt to describe their music
because all you have to do is play it and you can describe
it for yourself.  XTC is made up of Andy Partridge, Barry
Andrews, Colin Moulding and Terry Chambers.  We have shown
photos of them below because this is regarded as commer-
cially sensible and helpful in creating their image.  And
if you're curious at all you might find it interesting to
see what the musicians actually look like.  And there are
more pictures and words on the very colourful insert
which you can only see if you buy the whole thing.

Many people think it helpful and       useful to know some details
about the songs on the record in      side, so here they are:-
1. Meccanik Dancing (Oh We Go!)      2. Battery Brides (Andy
Paints Brian) 3. Buzzcity Talki     ng 4. Crowded Room 5. The
Rhythm 6. Red 7. Beatown 8. Li     fe is Good in the Greenhouse
9. Jumping in Gomorrah 10. My     Weapon 11. Super-Tuff
12. I am the Audience.  You m    ay also be interested to know that
the record was produced and     Engineered by John Leckie with
assistant engineers Haydn Be       ndall and Pete James at Abbey Road,
also, Andy Llewelyn and Jess          Sutcliffe at Matrix and that Barry's
Roots photos were by Dave Eagle.         We have to repeat the catalogue
number on the insert for bureaucratic       reasons and here it is V2108.

Lastly we would like to make it clear that this is a
product of Virgin Records Limited, partly because they
wanted us to and partly because it is a legal necessity.
Virgin Records' head office is located at Vernon Yard,
Portobello Road, London W.11. and is (P) Virgin Records
1978 and (c) 1978 Virgin Music (Publishers) Ltd. This
sleeve was written and photographed by Hipgnosis and
printed in England by James Upton Ltd.

XTC
This is a record company biography which, unlike a real
biography, tells you only what is convenient for you to
know.  Its style and appearance, which will be
applauded by some as iconoclastic and dismissed by others
as pretentious, corresponds closely to that on the cover
of XTC's new album 'Go 2'.  Its function is to provide
information about the group for the recipient, usually
a journalist, to employ when writing about them.  Often,
a biography exceeds that function by expressing
carefully programmed opinions in persuasively vacuous
biz-speak.  This provides the company representative
with some vague sense of purpose and the journalist with
an opportunity to paraphrase the results without recourse
to such tiresome activities as thought, the eventual
intention being that the public should view the band
exactly as wished by their record company.  All that
need be known about XTC, other than what is written
about them by those who are not duty-bound to enthuse,
is that the present line-up was formed early in 1977
when keyboards player Barry Andrews joined.
Previously, guitarist Andy Partridge, bassist Colin
Moulding and drummer Terry Chambers had worked
together, with others, as Star Park and The Helium
Kidz.  Beginning in their home town of Swindon, the
band soon built up a substantial following.  Their
first record after signing with Virgin was 'XTC 3D EP'
(VS 18812), released last October.  With the assis-
tance of constant touring, this sold out its listed
edition of 30,000 copies and was subsequently re-
issued with the catalogue number VOLE 3.  Their
first LP 'White Music' (V2095), which contained
eleven XTC originals and the group's interpretation
of Bob Dylan's 'All Along The Watchtower', was
released in January 1978.  It was preceded by the
appearance of a single 'Statue of Liberty'/'Hang
On To The Night' (VS 201) and a European tour with
Talking Heads, and followed by a 33-date UK tour of
their own.  A second single 'This Is Pop?'/'Heatwave'
(VS 209), was released in May 1978.  Their new album
'Go 2' (V2108), recorded this summer, contains 13
new songs and two more, 'Are You Receiving Me?'/
'Instant Tunes', are released as a single.  A 'dub'
EP of album tracks follows soon after.  Adjectives
employed most frequently when describing XTC are
'attractive', 'energetic', 'unique', 'bizarre',
'addictive', 'intelligent', and 'inventive'.