White Music Music Cd

Xtc - White Music

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White Music      Artist : XTC      List Price : $15.98 USD        Your Price : $15.98 USD      ProductGroup: Music      Release Date : 2002-05-14      Studio : Caroline      Label : Caroline      Avg. Customer Rating : (22 reviews)

Reviews Customer Reviews for White Music      2 1/2 stars-- Post punk energy music.      Rating:      Punk, like all great rock music, was a rebellion, in this case against the excesses of the late '60s and early '70s. BUt somewhere along the way, it was unavoidable that bands would come along that loved the energy and honesty of punk and the very material they were rebelling against-- in the case of XTC, the lush pop and psychedelia of the late '60s. But these influences were far receeded on their debut album, "White Music" is firmly lodged in the sounds of punk and new wave and is, more than anything else, an album of energy music. The net result of this is that hte album is inevitably at odds with the strenghts of the band-- songwriters Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding would come later to excel at lush, detailed arrangement full of unerring pop hooks, textures and harmonies, but here, it's all very stripped back, ska and punk influenced pop. Moulding's trademark slithering bass isn't quite in place yet, though he's already starting to find holes to fit himself in, he primarily forms a solid lockstep with drummer Terry Chambers. Partridge's guitar, for his part, limits largely to angular punk and ska trends-- loud and aggressive, pushing the music along from the front, which leads Barry Andrews' buzzing organ sound to be largely the soloing voice in the band. But with all this, the real weakness was singing voices too used to poor microphones of cheap clubs-- Partridge and Moulding both use an unnatural, clipped vocal style that seems more concerned with trying to annunciate than anything else, to the detrimant of the band's sound. With all of this creating an unnatural tension on the album, it still manages to hit pretty frequently, helped no doubt by the fact that Partridge's songwriting was already top notch. Standout "Statue of Liberty" best illustrates this-- hints of ska, gentle organ textures, and a funky bassline over which Partridge's clever story of unrequited love can be read out. Nearly as notable are punky opener "Radios in Motion" (full of crackling punk energy), the loose-yet-detailed arrangement of early single "This is Pop?" (featuring the closest Partridge would ever come to snarling punk rebellion, even if it is laden with great pop hooks), and new wave gem "Atom Age", with just enough of a hint of Brian Wilson to pull it above the rest. On the other hand, there's a lot of largely forgettable material-- Moulding's songwriting feels like it's not quite ready ("Set Myself on Fire") and his vocal is even more painfully forced than Partridge's ("Cross Wires"), and even Partridge has a couple duds ("Spinning Top"). Add to this an ill-conceived ska take on "All Along the Watchtower" that makes Partridge sound like a bad Hendrix imitator and you end up with a pretty mixed package. The reissue adds quite a bit to the original-- remastered sound that has the net effect of making the record sound a bit more dated than it probably would at least provides clarity to the music and there's seven bonus tracks-- early singles and the "3D EP". Most of this stuff is largely forgettable (Moulding's "Heatwave", Partridge's "Dance Band" and "Traffic Light Rock"), but early single "Science Friction" and its b-side "She's So Square" are pulsing full of nervous tension and energy and make a decent listen. XTC would find enormous heights in the following decade, and I can't help but color my reviews of their early material based on the heights they'd eventually reach. I have a sneaking suspicion that had I not heard what they'd be capable of in the future, I'd be inclined to give this a much higher rating, but compared to their later work, "White Music" sounds positively amateurish. It's got its moments, but they'd go on to do a lot better.     Customer Reviews for White Music Cd      More Entertaining than Nonsuch      Rating:      I much prefer this album and its hyper, intense rhythms to the stale flat "mature" sound of their work on albums like "Nonsuch". This might not be the case if they could produce more than one great song from these recent releases. "The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead" and "Easter Theatre" give hope for XTC's direction, but the whole albums are very disappointing. I got on too much of a tangent. Sorry. Back to White Music. This has two classic songs on one release. "This Is Pop" and "Statue Of Liberty" are two of the best songs they have done period. The rest is hit and miss with more hits. Songs like "New Town Animal", "Atom Age", "Science Friction", "Radios In Motion" and the cover of "All Along The Watchtower" being standouts. Too bad they abandoned this sound so quickly. An entertaining debut.