I've worked for the NHS for over 30 years. I have grown up twins (one of each) but I became a widow...
I've worked for the NHS for over 30 years. I have grown up twins (one of each) but I became a widower in March 2008
Member since:20.11.2005
Reviews:43
Members who trust:3
Well, the title of this review is a bit of giveaway, isn't it? What you have here is actually that well known popular Swindon punky/new wave beat combo XTC hiding their identities under the nom de disque of The Dukes of Stratosphear. And not only that you get two, yes TWO albums ("25 O'Clock" and "Psonic Psunspot") all rolled up into one.
But why did they do this? In December 1984 Virgin (XTC's label) owed them some money, ( for a production job that never happened) but which they gave them in the form of free studio time. The band, along with producer John Leckie found an old studio equipped with 60's gear and decided to record a mini album in homage to the psych bands of the 60's, using only the techniques available during the 60's. The result was the mini-album "25 O'Clock", released on 1st April 1984(!). To keep their true identities secret the band even gave themselves pseudonyms. The album sold so well (better than the 'real' XTC albums!) that in 1987 they did it again with a longer album, "Psonic Psunspot".
So,
what's the music like then? In a word, excellent! What Mr.Partridge (sorry, 'Sir John Johns') and co pulled off was two loving tributes to the music they grew up with. As you'd expect, these songs are swathed in the trademark sounds of that great era. You get bucketloads of mellotron, sitar, backward guitars, phasing, reverb, etc but it is all lovingly done and manages to not sound self indulgent. The warmth of the production belies the fact that it was really made in the 80's and is a marked contrast to other recordings from that time. You can almost hear the joss sticks being lit and the granny glasses being donned...
"Collideascope", for instance, sounds like The Move (the chords and rhythm are similar to "Blackberry Way") fronted by John Lennon.and "25 O'Clock" sounds like a mixture of Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd and The Electric Prunes.
Want more information? "Mole From The Minstry" is The Beatles "I Am The Walrus" and The Moles "We Are The Moles" put through a blender and "You're A Good Man Albert Brown" is a pub singalong amalgam of The Kinks and The Small Faces (Remember "Lazy Sunday Afternoon"?) But you can play spot the influences till the cows come home. I spotted Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Yardbirds, Tomorrow, The Pretty Things, and loads more.
And not only is the music spot on, but the lyrics hit the target too. As with much of the wordplay from that era, the lyrics are just silly, trippy and plain daft, the only difference here being that Partridge and band are doing it on purpose whereas many of the originals had their lyrical ability severely scrambled by (shall we say), ingestion of hallucinogenic Smarties. The good result is that the whole affair is suffused with silly good humour. No bad thing in my book.
All this may sound a little 'Stars in Their Eyes' but with the exception of two tracks, this isn't so. It's more a case of 'heavily influenced by' rather than 'impersonations of'. Of those two tracks, "Vanishing Girl" is a direct pastiche of the Graham Nash era Hollies, all harmony lead vocals and chiming guitars, and is very very good indeed. The other, and the real jewel in the Dukes crown is the final track called "Pale And Precious" that is a stunning (not a word I often use) recreation of Pet Sounds/Smile era Beach Boys. In fact it's so good you could think it is easily a bootlegged unreleased track from those sessions. All churchy, Bach influences to the fore here, just like Brian Wilson was doing back then
But it's all done by XTC! Who'd have thunk it? And that, apart from a single "reunion" track on the Multiple Schlerosis Society's 2002 charity album "The Wish List" (worth tracking down, btw), was it for the Dukes. From this point onwards the stuff they released as XTC (eg Oranges & Lemons) showed more and more of those psych influences they'd only released under the Dukes name, thus making that moniker redundant.
Not a duff track on here and I can't recommend this album enough. One for XTC fans and for those who love the era being pastiched/homaged here. My only gripe is that Virgin's packaging for this is very average and did not use the heavily psychedelic artwork of the two originals
Go out and buy it now, cos it's like so…y'know, COOL. Man.
Track Listing: (The first six tracks are the from the "25 O'Clock" album)
01 25 O'Clock 02 Bike Ride To The Moon 03 My Love Explodes 04 What In The World? 05 Your Gold Dress 06 The Mole From The Ministry 07 Vanishing Girl 08 Have You Seen Jackie? 09 Little Lighthous 10 You're A Good Man Albert Brown (Curse You Red Barrel) 11 Collideascope 12 You're My Drug 13 Shiny Cage 14 Brainiac's Daughter 15 The Affiliated 16 Pale And Precious
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