I think I need to hear this band and need some advice on where to start. The only song I've ever heard is 'Dear God' which is all right, but not really my cup of tea, so I've never sought them out to hear more. Then I started to really enjoy Dogs Die in Hot Cars, one of the those Brit bands that ostensibly sounds exactly like XTC. So, if I love this band that's ripping off XTC's sound can someone point me in the right direction to hear the original sound.

I would usually recommend Skylarking but since you don't really like "Dear God," you might want to start with English Settlement or Drums & Wires, since they're more jittery-ier.

upsy daisy assortment?

im not sure if 'hits packages' are your thing or not, but this album has alot of the bands highlights and worked well for me as an introduction to the band.

If you don't like "Dear God".... definitely go with
Drums and Wires

But, if yer looking for psych pop that ain't quite so orchestral:
Oranges and Lemons is where I started with them.
Or the
Dukes Of the Stratosphear - Chips From the Chocolate Fireball
psych side project.

also if you're looking for good olde English pop you might want to seek out "The Greatest Living Englishman", Andy's collab with Martin Newell.

bort

but yeah Upsy Daisy is very solid. really XTC should have a double disc "hits" package by now, but what are ya gonna do...have someone from obner make one or something. peesh, yeah right.

HEY!!!
You stole my line!!!!

You'll also want to check out "Black Sea", probably before "English Settlement".

Prolly cuz I'm such a big XTC goofball, I'd say every record mentioned so far is a good choice...but for different reasons. The record that hasn't been mentioned and the one that's numero uno for moi, as well as one that's in my Top 20 (Listmania ) would have to be the rockin, magnificent 'Black Sea'.
Big guitars, Big drums. Great songs.

Ha ha, me first.

My vote is for Black Sea followed closely by Drums and Wires and English Settlement. They started their post keyboard sound in this era.
Everyone should read Chalkhills and Children. Great book. They dish the dirt on working with Todd Rungren.

I know there's a few of us on here that have a good mix of their stuff that would be more than happy to hook you up with.

I like White Music and Drums and Wires.

Most of the stuff written about Todd Rundgren just isn't true.

That's right.
You were there, weren't you?

I'm not familiar with the other band you mentioned but I'd guess any new indie band today that gets XTC namechecked as an influence probably sounds mostly like the first four albums (White Music, Drums and Wires, Go 2 and Black Sea) so I'd suggest you start there.

I'd rank them as follows:

Drums and Wires
Black Sea
White Music
Go 2

But if all you've heard is Dear God, you should also know that its a very unrepresentative song of their catalog. There really isn't any album that I would say is unsafe just because you aren't that impressed with Dear God.

I also need to add that Mummer is highly underrated. Its one of my very favorites and never gets the props it deserves. Its pretty mellow though so I wouldn't recommend it as a starting point.

Yes I was. You have a good memory Todd.
The entire time I was there during recording everyone was in great spirits....Andy & Todd (who are both extremely affable) were getting along great and everyone was of the mindset that they were making something pretty great. The only negative thing I could say about Todd
is that he was a lousy ping-pong player.

I'm fairly new to XTC, but here's how I'd rank the ones I have:

1. Drums and Wires
2. Black Sea
3. English Settlement
4. Skylarking

I absolutely love those top 2, and English Settlement is really solid. Skylarking is pretty good, but I prefer the earlier stuff.

I'm not really sure where I want to go next with them, but I've been considering Mummer or the Dukes of the Stratosphere stuff. I wasn't aware that very many people held White Music in high esteem, and I may have to check that one out.

Mcaputo has generously offered to ysi me some XTC later on. Based on all your suggestions, I opted to hear:

Drums and Wires
Black Sea
English Settlement

I'm pretty excited to hear these albums. I think I'll probably end up hearing Skylarking sometime as well. It's not that I hated 'Dear God' it just didn't compel me to hear more, but if it's not a representative single then I'll listen to the rest with an open mind.

I didn't realize that THIS was out of print, but if you can find a copy, it's really friggin' amazing: well-mixed, excellent crowd, great pre-English Settlement setlist; just fantastic. I think it demonstrates the great energy they had performing, and it makes it even sadder that they stopped touring so early in their career.

And I ditto the Drums and Wires/Black Sea/English Settlement choices as a great starting place, and I would go in that order.

Drums and Wires if you're looking for the less Beatlesque-pop stuff.

Thanks for the heads upon the Skylarking fake-drama.
Now, did Phil Spector really pull a gun on Dee Dee Ramone?

Seems to be his M.O.

If you have any adversion to spazziness, go with Black Sea. Drums and Wires still has a touch of the jerkiness of their earliest records, while Black Sea irons a lot of that stuff out. Both great records.

I agree about Mummer. Lovely little record.

'Love on a Farm Boy's Wages is one for the ages.