XTC- Ball and Chain REACTION & REVIEW

[@cadanrichards2615]

The album just takes off from here. Jason and the Argonauts and No Thugs in Our House great songs

[@antlermagick]

Not to mention Yacht Dance which is one of my favourite XTC songs, and Melt the Guns which is such a cool sonic experiment

[@andrewgarrett7100]

The synth bit always reminds me of early Genesis for some reason. It feels like it was borrowed from something on Selling England...

[@richardfurness7556]

It never ceases to amaze me how Colin's songwriting developed from the almost unlistenable stuff he contributed to the first two albums into mature, thought-provoking and beautifully structured compositions such as this.

[@sylvanm4216]

I love Colin’s songs from the first two albums. They’re very different than what the group would do later on, maybe even more so than Andy's early work - Colin really leans super hard into the weirdo Beefheart/prog/punk/zolo with tracks like "X Wires" and "I'll Set Myself on Fire". I realize that’s not what the folks who come to XTC for Beatles-esque pop are looking for, but it’s some of my favorite kind of music.

[@rdumontdebeque]

White Music, the debut, is fantastic. Go2 is a little less successful but contains essential XTC tracks.

[@gaiaeternal5131]

Hi JP. DP from UK. They Paved Paradise And Put Up A Parking Lot. Calling Swindon paradise may be a bit of a stretch, but I lived near there in the 60s, and even then they were ripping up the traditional town centre and replacing it with concrete. A catchy Colin Mouldling song that was a minor hit in the UK - their bigger hit, also penned by Colin, comes up next.

[@-davidolivares]

Ref= Joni nice.

[@kevinmottram9491]

The next track, Senses Working Overtime, was written by Andy Partridge, not Colin.

[@gaiaeternal5131]

@@kevinmottram9491 You're right. Apologies, Kevin.

[@warrenbutson349]

Enjoyed your review Justin and always a joy to see you always impressed by an XTC song. This album has such a defined sound probably my favourite of all of them

[@-Ricky_Spanish-]

Skylarking is my favorite XTC album by a bit, but English Settlement is an easy second place. The rhythm section is just top notch, and the balance between boundary pushing and pop perfection is very tastefully navigated.

[@davidwoolbright3675]

I agree wholeheartedly!!

[@gentillygirl545]

Yes. I also like Mummer. My big three.

[@DavidImiri]

Yumm - this album sounds so great, every time. Timeless pop, it's really aged well.

[@jtenaz]

Thanks, Justin. The next, Jason and The Argonauts? One of my favorites in the album.

[@tonybarruk2]

Another Colin song that was picked by Virgin to be a single - Andy was always annoyed that their A&R guy preferred Colin's songs, though that eased off a bit after Senses Working Overtime (an Andy song) was a hit... fantastic drum sound on this song (and across the album), I think it was around this time that Andy said "Terry doesn't play the drums, he *hits* them..." 😂

[@JohnLovesSpain]

Great band, great album, great song - Swindon's finest

[@yes_head]

I always thought that title belonged to Justin Hayward. 😉

[@markdrechsler5660]

This always sounded to me like a leftover track from the prior album, “Black Sea.” Now the real fun begins on “English Settlement!” Things get quirkier and better from here on.

[@swirll360]

JP: simply put XTC are/were a great band that sadly never got universally recognized. I call their music cerebral pop with catchy hooks, off beat tempos often with thought provoking lyrics and filled with dark humor, gotta love it. keep up the great work! PS; also watched the Pateon reaction to Depeche Modes Violator... I knew you'd love it. World in My Eyes I often use to demo my stereo/home theater set-up.

[@johnmavroudis2054]

The rare Colin Moulding double song opener... and it works really well on this album. XTC is always such a joy. This was Terry Chambers' last full album with the band... (He wanted to tour... and it was at this time that Andy was forced to go cold turkey on his prescription for Valium he had been taking since he was 12 years old... and that led to his breakdown... and they stopped touring) He left the band to stay with his girlfriend in Australia. I had a chance to interview Andy and Colin and asked them about Terry leaving the band... and Andy said that they would be moving in a much more pastoral direction with the arrival of English Settlement... and that Terry was the perfect drummer for XTC up to that point. He said he was so great at the "Thump Whack" stuff... but they were looking for more subtlety with the drums after that... so they had a rotating cast of drummers for each album. Terry's drumming on this album was fantastic and his contribution to XTC was important. What a sound! Thank you, JP!

[@frugalseverin2282]

The 1st XTC album I bought was "Waxworks: Some Singles 1977-1982" and this was the last track on it.

[@a.k.1740]

Superb compilation that I had in double album with the additional album Beeswax: Some B-Sides 1977-1982.

[@yes_head]

I think it helped these guys as songwriters that they never quite achieved super-stardom. IMO XTC's brand had a lot to do with being a mouthpiece for the average bloke, which this song really demonstrates.

[@kennethmarshall306]

Thanks for introducing me to this very enjoyable song

[@JustJP]

Glad you enjoyed it Kenneth!

[@mightyV444]

It's just gone past Midnight here in NZ, so it'll be bed time for me after listening to this song together with Justin, and for the first time in quoite a whoile, too 😊 Am looking forward to his reaction to 'Jason And The Argonauts' in particular 😀👍 PS: 5:46 - That sounds like a timbale to me, and I did see something like that on his kit in the 'Rockpalast' gig from that time, too 🙂

[@a.k.1740]

Good night, sleep tight.... 😉

[@mightyV444]

@@a.k.1740 - ...and nah, I won't let the bedbugs bite either 😄 Thank you! Also for the chat earlier! 😀👍 Have a great day meanwhile! 😊

[@a.k.1740]

@@mightyV444 Thanks ! 👍

[@johnmavroudis2054]

"Jason and the Argonauts" is up there with my all-time XTC favorites... such a brilliant tune... Andy's lyrics are unmatched. I've always wanted to go to New Zealand... heard it's amazing... and LOVE the music (Big fan of The Chills, The Clean, Straitjacket Fits, and Able Tasmans. Flying Nun is one of the all-time great labels. )... Cheers!

[@mightyV444]

@@johnmavroudis2054 - Yes, some good music does come out of this country indeed! 😊👍 Where do *you* live, if I may ask? 🙂 And I'm actually the opposite: I'd looove to travel *outside* of NZ, after not having done so in eons, due to the funny times we've been living in. And I will eventually, too! Just can't really afford it right now 😅

[@jamesdignanmusic2765]

I love the way XTC twist their titles to something unexpected - a wrecking ball on its chain (another XTC song that does that beautifully is "Don't Lose Your Temper"). Worth noting that the song was written Colin, the bass player, and thinking about the bass in that context. I always love how the guitar line forms a great counterpoint to the singing - and that calming synth line. Another great song with the same lyrical theme is "Build" by The Housemartins.

[@mastertoymaker5249]

It's a Banger! And it's beautiful.. and it wouldn't be the same without Terry's amazing patterns. A high point in XTC's catalog that is mostly made of high points!

[@chrissheldon9427]

Love XTC, try Senses Working Overtime, also Sgt Rock from Black Sea.

[@pete3883]

Big Brother and Holding Company

[@brewstergallery]

Ned from Spain here King JP. XTC's English Settlement is incredible in the single or double LP versions. The production, songwriting and performances are these Swindon magicians at the top of their game before Andy overdosed on Brian Wilson, not a bad thing but got tiresome sometimes. Terry Chambers beat on this is a killer and it's a lot like Sgt Rock from the Black Sea LP. Do more Dukes of Stratosphere please !!

[@-davidolivares]

Good to hear someone else had the single album version. Later, I found an import version and bam, more songs. If only there’d been a single album version of the White album (which I don’t think necessary) there’d be so much less gripes out there.

[@brewstergallery]

@@-davidolivares Yeah, I found out about the 2 LP at a Jam concert in 1982 as they were playing all of it over the sound system. Bought it during a trip to Boston.

[@TZ61]

Leave it to XTC to give you the unexpected. When they did do a love song, it was anything but conventional; take 'Statue of Liberty' and 'Ten Feet Tall' for a couple examples.

[@courtneywallace871]

Just as a matter of fact, with no negativity, for some reason I never got into this album although I own it and I know it’s highly revered. Good track though. I much prefer The Big Express and everything after. Still, glad to see you came back to them!

[@aderyncoch3346]

More XTC is never a bad thing. I love this song to bits but funnily enough I've read that Colin Moulding himself doesn't care much for it.

[@a.k.1740]

Another great XTC song that should have done better as a single. Yes Justin, Terry Chambers was doing a great job with XTC. Too bad he left the band in the fall of 82. When you finish the whole English Settlement album, you should go back and also do the two previous XTC albums (Drums and Wires and Black Sea) in which Terry Chambers was sparking.

[@murdockreviews]

No wonder this was also a single off the album :-)

[@-davidolivares]

Hopefully it’s a long long wait till the grave block. Loving the album so far through your perspective, it’s like yesterday… Terry is the Machine!

[@ijustneedmyself]

Random, but what is with these random numbers that have started showing up at the end of our handles? 🤔

[@-davidolivares]

@@ijustneedmyself Been wondering that myself, guess that’s how many clones there are of us. Thought they broke my mold but I guess not. It’s a link, I think. I googled it and it brought me back here.

[@ijustneedmyself]

@@-davidolivares "Go to 'your channel ->customise channel -> basic information -> Handle'. Then, at the top left click 'publish'. If you don't someone else can claim your username." I didn't see any "publish" option, but I said see my handle and simply removed the numbers and my handle was "available" so I guess no one decided to claim it 🤷🏽‍♀️

[@mightyV444]

By the way, Justin: Which version of the album are you checking out, please? The full-length double album with 16 songs or the 'single-LP' version with only 10 songs?

[@jfergs.3302]

Quite political these days aren't we JP, Sting and Northern Ireland, XTC, and the horrors of Thatcher's Britain... Anyhoo, re the tune, one of my faves this. Very catchy, despite the subject matter, with a definite jaunty swing to it, in the main. And then that interesting, lilting little synth line they drop in its midst. CM's on fire, wrote it, great bass, vocal, though apparently he didn't think much of this after the fact. Ah well, I like it, and that'll do for me.

[@LowKeyTired-q7d]

The best XTC tunes for me are Sgt. Rock and Generals and Majors ... in that order ... but this tune is a good one, and they do have a lot of good tunes ...

[@jasonbrandt5504]

I have my own predictions which songs you will love on this classic work of art. But I will keep them to myself so as not to jinx it. After all, I thought you would love mike Oldfield Taurus 2. Lol.

[@delllittle5692]

I wish Terry Chambers had been patient with Andy's issues with playing live. He's one of my favorite drummers.

[@-Ricky_Spanish-]

A major problem I had with The Big Express was that they went from a great, creative drummer like Terry to using a LinnDrum, which was already sounding dated by '84.

[@sylvanm4216]

​@@-Ricky_Spanish- The vast majority of the drumming on The Big Express is actually just Pete Phipps, and I think he does some great work. The only track with no acoustic drums on it is "Seagulls". People like to blame the LinnDrum for how 80s that album sounds, but I think it has more to do with how big and overdubby and non-live the production is more generally.

[@randydoak6638]

I think they needed a change. Terry was a great exponent of 80's style drumming and that whole sound. By the time they XTC to The Big Express the huge gated drum sound became unbearable to my ears.

[@XFLexiconMatt]

"English Settlement" may not top for me "Skylarking", but it comes pretty close!

[@a.k.1740]

Oh! to me English Settlement does better than Skylarking. The latter is great except for its production too mid-80s sounding for my taste. I think Todd Rundgren should have put away a few extra synths that don't really fit with the 60s psychedelic retro pop style. On the other hand, I can't find anything to complain about the compositions themselves.😉

[@gentillygirl545]

Not something as obvious and superficial as marriage, but life circumstances.

[@imbwildrd3693]

JP, seriously, marriage is the first thing you think of when you hear "ball and chain"???

[@LowKeyTired-q7d]

Sounds like a rototom, overdubbed afterwards maybe ...

[@sylvanm4216]

Back in the English Settlement days, they would still have been playing nearly everything together in the studio. It’s really only during the Big Express sessions that they fell in love with overdubs.

[@eboethrasher]

Ball and Chain is a classic. 'Nuff said, Spiderfriends.

[@sicko_the_ew]

Great song. (But then it's XTC, as you say.) *Living Colour* did a song with a similar theme: *Open Letter to a Landlord* kzbin.info/www/bejne/bIeYh56DprJjbdU (no mincing words, either.)

[@jpbliss1]

Great example of why I like XTC so much. While other bands incessantly recycle the same tired themes, XTC sang about a wide variety of issues, political and personal, serious and silly, romantic and rambunctious.

[@pentagrammaton6793]

Meh, not unpleasant but pretty average all round. I guess they thought the big singalong chorus would sell units...did it work?

[@markdrechsler5660]

This was one of the songs released as a single. According to Wikipedia it reached # 58 on the charts. So I guess not really.

[@pentagrammaton6793]

@@markdrechsler5660 thanks! 🙃

[@annother3350]

I remember it being pretty big

[@ijustneedmyself]

I'm trying to understand the appeal 🧐

[@markdrechsler5660]

@@ijustneedmyself I think they clustered a lot of the “radio friendly” songs first. Give us your opinion after the rest of the album. I think it gets much better and more interesting from here