XTC's "The Last Balloon"

First off, hello again, fellas - it's been too long. Work business (busy-ness) kept me away from most of my extracurricular internet activities for most of the first 7 months of the year. But now I'm back in the ol' TP saddle and damn if it don't feel just right!

Listening to Apple Venus today for the first time in years and am again pleased to be reminded of just how nice an album it is (though Colin's songs really don't do much for me on this one). But another thing struck me as I was listening to "The Last Balloon" and I knew that only my pals on the TP board would be geeky enough to get what I was talking about.

Has anyone besides me taken note of that magical moment near the end of the song where Andy holds a vocal note and then it seamlessly blends into the trumpet/flugelhorn line that carries out the song? It's just a really beautiful thing and it kinda chokes me up every time I hear it, like the very end of the Shoes' "Too Late" or another similar heavenly moment on XTC's "Season Cycle."

That is all.

I hear ya, Rhett. Apple Venus remains a spectacular album. From those first sounds that open "River of Orchids" to the fade-out of "The Last Balloon," it never fails to sustain my interest. For me, it peaks with "Greenman" -- that clownish oboe leading into that blazing, full-orchestral score thrills me every time. Even Colin's two songs on this disc have grown on me.

Hmm. That's the one XTC album I've never heard. I should buy a copy. It has to be better than "Nonesuch." That it followed that debacle is what had stayed my hand for lo, these many years. After all, I eventually bought "Wasp Star" over a decade ago [not bad].



Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

Oh, Apple Venus is way better than Wasp Star. After enjoying my listen to AV last week, I pulled out Wasp Star last night to listen to it for the first time in easily a decade. Pleasant enough, but hardly anything there that measures up to what I expect from XTC. I think we have Delvin to thank for the update in the XTC entry and I think he hit the nail on the head in his assessment of both of those last two albums.

Wasp Star is the only XTC album that I can't recall one single song from.

Gonna stick up for Wasp Star.

AV1: The Moulding songs were pleasant, but "Knights," "Greenman," and the cloying "Can't Own Her" hurt the momentum. They were a little too sticky with the whole Orchoustic arrangement/production. "Easter Theater," "Your Dictionary," "Harvest Festival" and "The Last Balloon" are certainly classics (and they don't lean on that sound the way the rest of the disc does.)

I don't know, it was a little too heavily painted, or aggressively pastoral, or something. Too polished.

So WS, was a relief to me. Maybe it's only half as good, but I always managed to just let its lesser songs play rather than skip the track. "Man Who Murdered Love, " and "Church Of Women/Wheel And Maypole" are as thrilling as any of the first disc's classics.

I dunno, I guess I just find Apple Venus a little exhausting, whereas Vol 2 is plain at worst. It's like they fractionated Oranges & Lemons into separate streams and added filler to each. One is too-rich wine and one is sweet, fizzy soda pop.

But yeah. "The Last Balloon" is great, though it seems like "Chalkhills & Children" Part Two. It's trumpeter, Guy Barker, always knocks me over on the tracks I've heard him on. We've probably all heard him on three or four discs in our collections.

My other reason why I didn't pick up "Apple Venus" and "Wasp Star" immediately, was before they were released, I had gotten copies of "Chalkhills + Children" and "Song Stories," and between the two of them, a picture of Andy Partridge was painted that I didn't find flattering at all. He seemed to be a bossy, tyrannical child [prone to tantrums] within the band context. I read those two books [the latter was an authorized bio] and felt really sorry for Gregory and Moulding. Coupled with the unappealing "Nonesuch," my ardor for XTC has cooled.



Post Edited (08-26-15 09:12)

Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
For further rumination on the Fresh New Sound of Yesterday®

Gotta say I'm very partial to "Stupidly Happy," "I'm the Man Who Murdered Love," and "We're All Light." But, I've always been a sucker for Andy Partridge's pop songs...