XTC-PLAY AT HOME-C4-1984-PART 2/3

[@bathsheba56]

Nice to see XTC at home. Certainly one of my favorite bands of all time.

[@andrewgoode2164]

As a Jam fan of the late 70's & early 80's: I have to say that this band were equal, if not better. That is high praise indeed!

[@bandcouver]

Good to see something from the 'Mummer' period. I've grown to love that album. Regular radio In Vancouver, Canada forgot all about XTC after they stopped touring. I ,unfortunately, wasn't listening to CBC Radio at the time. I did start in the later 80's. CBC Radio used to be a good source for new music that regular radio didn't want you to hear. One sadly gone show ,'Nightlines,' had a semi-regular named Young Michael Riches (?) who was a huge XTC fan who would play some lesser known XTC tracks, mentioning XTC were very generous with their fans when it came to extra material that didn't make it onto their albums.

[@jeffblack5024]

"They ain't got a penny to scratch their arse". That quote stayed with me. That's the reality of the music business. This was the 80s - it's even worse now.

[@WynMills1]

Its weird how this country really fails to pay its creative artists well (with a few notable exceptions who make it in the US). We have world class musicians, designers and artists...many who may get the recognition but not the spoils of their talent. Too many hangers on and middlemen.

[@chuckabbate5924]

@@WynMills1 Isn't it always the way?

[@davidsanderson5918]

@@WynMills1 But it's not actually about people not getting paid for what they do. It's about people oweing a fortune first to those who paid out in advance so they could create, distribute and promote their art. Trouble is, it all looked glamourous...being in the biz, but it all needed to be paid for. Unfortunately the public think that these people are living the dream.....which they are to an extent, but at a price!

[@bluebellbeatnik4945]

it's horrible now. i work in it,

[@timjmoran]

Makes one wonder if his tune "Across the Anthill" coulda been inspired by this game that he invented. What an imagination!!

[@Graeck]

Andy is a board gamer and designer? He just went up another notch in my book.

[@bent2]

+Graeck It's nice to have hobbys. I am a drummer in a band myself. I like reading old classics, playing board games and also getting a rediscovered interest in collecting Pokemon cards like I did when I was a child. I think we as musicians find hobbys very stimulating beside making music. Thats the Art-ness in us I guess :)

[@Graeck]

+Invisible Drummer Agreed. I'm a musician as well, and avid board gamer (among other things).

[@GordonBurnsVideo]

Yes - I want to play those games.

[@bradbla]

I wish he would have finished with the rules to his anthill game. I was looking forward to playing it. I'd have to assume that the larger amount of ants would take out the other. What would happen to that die I don't know.

[@Hal9000ize]

Wait until you hear about his son Harry

[@Ian-xz8yq]

Next to the Beatles I think they are the greatest band to come out of England

[@jlboynton]

My favorite band. Always amazed.

[@GordonBurnsVideo]

Well I saw XTC at the Brunel Rooms in Swindon - think it was a thank you gig for the Swindon fans. It was fabulous - a great gig.

[@jeffblack5024]

I saw Dean Gabber & The Gaberdines at the Brunel. Featured a certain lead guitarist just before he joined XTC.

[@WarrenCromartie2]

Andy P should have pursued a career in TV, on the side. I could see him on comedy panel shows, as well as presenting history programmes. He wouldn't be out of place on the bloody One Show. I guess I think he just deserved more success and recognition all round.

[@zpizaman]

I was listening to Supertramp earlier today, and specifically thinking that Roger Hodgson thinks he is the only talent they had. Now here is the guys from Xtc (who I also adore) and there is a painting they are in and so is Rick Davies , the founder of Supertramp. There is a God Andy!

[@BenjWarrant]

"Roger Hodgson thinks he is the only talent they had." What makes you say that?

[@Edward1312]

Good turn of phrase there from Andy "holding my breath until my parents turned blue"

[@synchromystici5m]

Colin's wearing a Residents shirt in the cafe, nice to see the connection going beyond Andy's guesting on 'Margaret Freeman'.

[@chuckabbate5924]

Love the video In loving memory, I have to give the Big Express another go ...as well as Mummer.

[@absolving]

The young chaps at the table with them seem so nice!

[@josephmcguiness6452]

fishing and rocking!

[@davidsanderson5918]

4:34 I was just saying to a friend today that I'm hearing this ALL THE TIME about people in the music business. Mind you I am watching a lot of XTC interviews. :)

[@Al-iv3mb]

Growing up in Bristol I really should have seen the lads play, not least because I was into them from the 3D EP. Unfortunately by the time I was mobile and in a position to travel the 30 miles or so to Swindon I was serving in the Navy which mage things rather difficult.

[@randybackgammon890]

Men after my own heart....Good to know there's someone else out there🙃

[@simonprice1997]

09:51 - is that the Swindon-Gloucester line in the background? Looks like Sparcells to me.

[@timjmoran]

confirms Andy P as possibly the most talented nerd that ever mad a great record !! Hilarious!!

[@alexjames4064]

"They ain't got a penny to scratch their arse" 😁

[@vandalorianvandalorian4769]

“My Love Explodes All Over The World For You” A metaphor for the writing/recording/performing process from Andy and the boys. Not necessarily about sex!

[@glenrichardson6396]

He looks about 13 at the beginning of this. It freaks me out slightly that this is the same man who sang Respectable Street etc four years earlier.

[@jawoody9745]

One of the worst things Colin ever did was purchase that fretless bass. It sounds like "In Loving Memory of a Name" was played on a Tuba!

[@101Volts]

I don't want to say it's a bad idea but I'm laughing... Tuba...

[@jawoody9745]

Still, it remains a very, very good song.

[@jawoody9745]

Nothing against tuba players, or ANY brass players...I'm just saying that Colin played a few bum notes on the fretless, and it wasn't recorded very well, either.It sounds more like a bass "fart" on that song.

[@InParticularNobody]

who are the folks sat round the table with the Three Wise Men, then? Friends, rellies, random Swindonners?

[@BMXOPHY]

InParticularNobody hi, I’m thinking they must be the drummer and some other instrument player.

[@Davross]

Is that Radnor street graveyard? I used to make a few drunken shortcuts through there in my youth.

[@udlman]

Davross Yes it is. I used to work at a place that backed onto that cemetry. I thought I saw ghosts but it turns out it was you all along :)

[@ichnisanchi9557]

OMG...Andy is such a nerd.....lol

[@lavitroladeldiablo]

Are you from US? well you must be. That´s the only fucking place on galaxy where to be smart is hartfully punished.

[@lavitroladeldiablo]

@@UnhappyMerchant Sad words, mate.

[@simonprice1997]

Think you mean 'Across This Antheap', off the Oranges And Lemons album.

[@charliebrown6850]

geezer sat in corner looks disturbed

[@kentborges5114]

BLOODY GR8

[@charliebrown6850]

that knobhead with the tache suggesting using a tax offset for a Swindon gig., :O)

[@geoffjoffy]

Why doesn't Andy have his hair like this now? Instead he has the club bouncer shaved head look

[@WynMills1]

When you get to a certain age its either the bouncer or the monk cut. There’s no other options.

[@geoffjoffy]

@@WynMills1 Oh I see.

[@vincevirtua]

Interesting chat about debt, and performing rights.. if only they'd started to do the bigger tours in US.

[@BenjWarrant]

Andy suffered from crippling stage fright, so much so that it sometimes stopped him from walking.

[@WarrenCromartie2]

They apparently never got paid a penny for any of their live appearances. I know Andy had his issues with stage fright and anxiety, but had they supported better by their label and management, and paid accordingly he may not have suffered so much mentally. I think they were too much musician and not businesslike enough to demand better terms and conditions at a very early stage in their career. Labels were said to be 'queueing up' to sign them following their first Peel session. That's when they should have asked "What are we going to be paid, and can that be written into the contract please?"

[@vincevirtua]

@@WarrenCromartie2 if they didn't get paid their performing rights then that's indeed a con, and maybe even illegal? I can see why Andy was keen to drop performing even in spite of his post-valium withdrawal stage fright saga.

[@WarrenCromartie2]

@@vincevirtua The main problem, IIRC, was that they signed to a management company in the 70's, and it was that company that signed the deal with Virgin. The band didn't sign directly to the label. It's not illegal, just highly unethical.

[@vanishing_girl]

crazy Andy and Colin were making like 30 pounds a week back then, they were so not rich lol

[@highpath4776]

Divide not a lot by the number of members and you can see why. You need the merchandise and the fees from doing other things on TV.

[@chuckabbate5924]

Effing Richard Branson.

[@WarrenCromartie2]

@@chuckabbate5924 Nothing to do with Branson IIRC. XTC signed a deal with a management company in the late 70's, who in turn signed with Virgin, so the management company effectively had the record deal, which meant they siphoned off a lot of money that should have gone to the band. By all accounts they were never paid for live appearances. Their management took all that. Virgin just paid Chambers and Gregory a touring wage as they weren't songwriters. The music industry was and still is (I'm sure) a rotten tight arse affair, and you need a good lawyer from the outset to make sure you don't get shafted so hard your eye's don't pop out.

[@chrisguygeezer]

Had they continued to tour/gig, I reckon they would've made a little bit more money. Virgin were shitesters but, if you stop playing to your audience.........

[@InParticularNobody]

+chris guy yeh! Just like the bloody Beatles - that decision never did them any good either.

[@jsilence418]

so you think the decision not to tour hurt the BEATLES ? ha ha ha ha you're simple .

[@chrisguygeezer]

Whoooosh..

[@highpath4776]

The , as a writer you get money if someone plays your song - like who covers XTC tracks at the average club pub or theatre unless a tribute band ?

[@chrisguygeezer]

@@highpath4776 not quite the same. Playing live will gain you more fans. More fans will buy more product.

[@MoveOverCasanova]

i bet partridge came up with human alchemy after moulding with deliver us from the elements - it is very similar musically and thematically, but like a rip off compared to the visceral passion of mouldings song

[@BMXOPHY]

MoveOverCasanova I think you are thinking in terms of oppressor and oppressed, tyrant and victim, etc. My take on it is that Mummer has a certain quality that both, Andy and Colin were tuned into, which makes the overall sound of the album. Those two songs you mentioned are pure gold enough to feed my soul.

[@pault0910]

Human Alchemy sounds like Coil!

[@bluebellbeatnik4945]

god he's awful. his parents should have disciplined him more.

[@campfortson4387]

Who, Partridge? In what way exactly?