Drums and Wires

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Most Americans' first taste of XTC came from this CD, originally released in 1979. The band's first full-length without cofounder Barry Andrews, it was a cavalcade of Andy Partridge's neuroses and paranoias. Although it contained two quirky bona fide pop songs--the calling card "Making Plans for Nigel" and the breezy "Life Begins at the Hop"--the music as a whole was as jagged as Partridge's attitude. "Complicated Game" and "Scissor Man" have the singer's haunting howl echoing and whispering throughout like a Fun House operator gone mad, while "Real by Reel," another pop standout, might be the most conventional song on the CD. Drums and Wires is a must-have for anybody who is only discovering the band. Skylarking and the collected singles are the only other releases that come close to capturing the band's early and earnest dementia. --Steve Gdula --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Average customer rating:

Make Plans to Buy This!

4.5 stars

A step forward.

Zany and brainy

For A Totally Different Perspective...

Drums and Wires
XTC
Manufacturer: Caroline
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
New Wave | New Wave & Post-Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
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Similar Items:

Black Sea

English Settlement

Skylarking

Mummer

Nonsuch

ASIN: B00005ATHI
Release Date: 2002-08-06

Tracks:

Making Plans For Nigel
Helicopter
Day In Day Out
When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty
Ten Feet Tall
Roads Girdle The Globe
Real by Reel
Millions
That Is The Way
Outside World
Scissor Man
Complicated Game
Life Begins At The Hop
Chain Of Command
Limelight

Amazon.com

Most Americans' first taste of XTC came from this CD, originally released in 1979. The band's first full-length without cofounder Barry Andrews, it was a cavalcade of Andy Partridge's neuroses and paranoia. Although it contained two quirky bona fide pop songs--the calling card "Making Plans for Nigel" and the breezy "Life Begins at the Hop"--the music as a whole was as jagged as Partridge's attitude. "Complicated Game" and "Scissor Man" have the singer's haunting howl echoing and whispering throughout, sounding like a fun house operator gone mad, while "Real by Reel," another pop standout, might be the most conventional song on the CD. Drums and Wires is a must-have for anybody who is only discovering the band. Skylarking and the collected singles are the only other releases that come close to capturing the band's early and earnest dementia. --Steve Gdula

Album Description

Remastered reissue of 1979 album features the classic 'Making Plans For Nigel'.Virgin Records. 2001.

Customer Reviews:

Make Plans to Buy This!.......2007-01-02

The departure of quirky keyboardist Barry Andrews after only two XTC albums, may have signalled the early death knell of the band. Andrews improvised and manic approach had been one of XTC's unique claims. But the arrival of guitarist and multi instrumentalist Dave Gregory for their third album "Drums and Wires" in fact had a liberating effect on the band. XTC's sound began to broaden and harden with his arrival and the song writing moved from the juvenilia of comic books and science-fiction to socio/cultural topics such as job opportunities, surveillance culture and environmental issues to name but three. The social satire reaches its peak on the hypnotic, persuasive and majestic lead single "Making Plans For Nigel". XTC's first major UK hit and the beginning of a dominant song writing spell for bassist Colin Moulding that would eventually lead to his own solo project. Moulding also pens the delightfully breezy and spacious "Ten Feet Tall", a single Virgin believed would break the band in the US. Partridge's song writing also excels, but his compositions at this time still remain quirky, experimental and at times awkward. Nevertheless "Reel by Real" hints at the very commercial songs that were too follow from Partridge. The album has a beautifully sparse production quality thanks to Steve Lillywhite and with its distinctive cover design helped it become their biggest selling record up to that point and one of their most cohesive and enjoyable recordings.

This digitally re-mastered version presents the album in its best sound quality to date and also includes three bonus tracks in the shape of "Life Begins at the Hop", "Chain of Command" and "Limelight", the latter two tracks are especially precious little gems and are presented for the first time re-mastered and sounding great.

4.5 stars.......2006-07-20

Fans usually cite XTC's songwriting as the band's greatest asset. But it was really XTC's outstanding musicianship that made their recordings special. This remastered "Drums and Wires" reveals more than ever just how powerful the group's performances could often be -- particulary when drummer Terry Chambers was on board, as he is on this album.

Get it.

A step forward........2006-07-20

A huge leap forward in terms of songwriting and arrangement, XTC's "Drums and Wires" is a new beginning for the band, not the least of which due to the personnel changes that occured in the band-- keyboardist Barry Andrews departed, evidentally due to an arguement about songwriting contributions with principle songwriter and guitarist Andy Partridge. Left as a trio, Partridge, bassist/songwriter Colin Moulding, and drummer Terry Chambers recruited guitarist/keyboardists Dave Gregory. With Gregory, the band began exploring concepts of texture in more detail. Looking at the albums over 25 years later without any sentimental attachment to the early material (I was about 18 months old when "Drums and Wires" was released), it's clear that Andrews' buzzing organ sounds were a limitation on both Partridge and Moulding as songwriters, and with Gregory they began exploring more.

Perhaps the most immediately noticable improvement in songwriting comes in Colin Moulding-- whereas on the previous two albums his contributions felt underdeveloped at best, here pretty much all the standouts are his and they benefit from an extraordinary sense of arrangement. Opener "Making Plans for Nigel" features a pulsing rhythm section and out-of-phase guitars chugging along over which Moulding paints his picture of planning your child's life in a calm and developed voice. Really, it's the kind of thing that based on the first couple records, you'd never dream Moulding had in him. Likewise, the spiralling acoustic guitars of "Ten Feet Tall" and the churning excitement of the near psychedelic "This is the Way" grab your attention.

Partridge, for his part, sticks to his guns with the ska/punk new wave stuff, although there's a distinct improvement, both in the confidence of his vocals ("Helicopter") and composition (the goofy "When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty"-- check the two guitar lines bouncing in and out of skanks and lines).

The real problem is that the album seems to fizzle as it goes on, and the second half features a bunch of totally unmemorable tracks ("Outside World", "Reel By Reel"). Throughout, there's also some examples of forced melodrama that just comes off horribly (the reciting of the title of "Complicated Game", although the fierce guitar solo and Partridge's frantic, shouted vocal pretty well absolves this, "Road Girdle the Globe")

This reissue provides remastered sound, presenting the album crisp and clean and allowing its textures to shine. It also adds three bonus tracks-- Moulding's goofy "Life Begins at the Hop" was one of the early songs with Dave Gregory and while structurally, it sounds more like the stuff on their earlier records, it maintains a sense of maturity in the vocals and the arrangements that allows it to sit comfortably alongside the best material on the album, although the other two bonus tracks aren't nearly as memorable (neither is particularly bad... kind of like much of the record).

All in all, "Drums and Wires" is a huge step forward and far and away the best thing XTC had done until now. They'd go on to bigger and better things as they became more overt about their love of '60s rock and psychedelia, but this one is worth investigating.

Zany and brainy.......2006-03-30

On their third album it's bye bye Barry Andrews and organ and hello Dave Gregory and XTC achieve their "classic sound", ie one that lasted through Black Sea and English Settlement. On Drums And Wires Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding really came into their own as songwriters and Terry Jones first displayed his peculiar and inimitable THUD WHACK drumming style. The freneticism of the first two albums was tempered by a growing and unique musical sophistication, yet there's an economy of style that reflects that these songs were supposed to be played live in front of actual people. Andy Partridges' crippling stage fright was still several years off and the complex arrangements of Skylarking even farther. My introduction to XTC was the second album Go2 and so when Barry Andrews was kicked out I didn't know what to expect. Well what I got was one of the nuttiest and finest albums these clever pop hooligans ever made. From Colin Mouldings' early hit Making Plans For Nigel to Andy Partridges' most loopy song Helicopter, it's sheer mad genius.

For A Totally Different Perspective..........2006-01-05

Unlike most XTC reviewers, I was in at the beginning. For me this is the LAST great XTC album. Don't get me wrong, there are fleeting moments of interest on some subsequent offerings but this was the last of their albums that I enjoyed from go to whoah.
The singles are fine but its the "album" tracks that really make this. Complicated Game is one of the most amazing songs I have ever experienced, especially when they did it live on their last Australian tour, and the other songs here provide links with both the past and their future. Helicopter and Outside World have all the manic intensity of their early albums whilst Millions and Ten Feet Tall point the way to their infinitely more mellow future work.
Interestingly, the LP I owned included the single Life Begins at the Hop and it even appears on the track list of the original CD, although on the disc the song is Day In Day Out. This remastered version at least includes Life Begins... as a bonus track. Even better, they put the bonus tracks at the end, not between side 1 and side 2 as was done on all the original XTC CD releases.
This album is definitely the pinnacle of their career for me, it takes all the energy and quirkiness of the first two releases and adds great production and a certain maturity to it. The result is timeless.

Average customer rating:

Good Adventurous Pop Music
Great album; not an essential, though
A revelation from Swindon
The blossoming of XTC
This is where it started for me

Drums and Wires
XTC
Manufacturer: Geffen Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

New Wave | New Wave & Post-Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Black Sea
Oranges & Lemons
English Settlement
White Music
Go 2

ASIN: B000000OMR
Release Date: 1991-03-19

Tracks:

Making Plans For Nigel
Helicopter
Day In Day Out
When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty
Ten Feet Tall
Roads Girdle The Globe
Life Begins At The Hop
Chain Of Command
Limelight
Real By Reel
Millions
That Is The Way
Outside World
Scissor Man
Complicated Game

Amazon.com essential recording

Most Americans' first taste of XTC came from this CD, originally released in 1979. The band's first full-length without cofounder Barry Andrews, it was a cavalcade of Andy Partridge's neuroses and paranoias. Although it contained two quirky bona fide pop songs--the calling card "Making Plans for Nigel" and the breezy "Life Begins at the Hop"--the music as a whole was as jagged as Partridge's attitude. "Complicated Game" and "Scissor Man" have the singer's haunting howl echoing and whispering throughout like a Fun House operator gone mad, while "Real by Reel," another pop standout, might be the most conventional song on the CD. Drums and Wires is a must-have for anybody who is only discovering the band. Skylarking and the collected singles are the only other releases that come close to capturing the band's early and earnest dementia. --Steve Gdula

Customer Reviews:

Good Adventurous Pop Music.......2002-01-16

Frankly I don't like this album as much as I do its two predecessors ("White Music" and "Go 2"), but it's a respectable effort and the beginning of the rest of XTC's career (two guitars, no Barry Andrews).

This was to be their "breakthrough in the States", with young whiz kid Steve Lillywhite producing. Lillywhite cranks up the drums, as he later became famous for doing, and fails in my opinion to deliver as sparkling and true a sound as John Leckie had previously acheived. The fidelity here is quite good, I'm just saying that it represents the band's music less impressively than Leckie had in my opinion.

The band do at least one track here that tries to be poppy. "Ten Feet Tall" isn't far off the mark of Fleetwood Mac. (Seriously, try to imagine Christine McVie singing it). Not a bad song, but not something to really aspire to. Much of the other material is pretty adventurous though. The U.K. hit "Nigel" wears its Captain Beefheart influence proudly. "Millions" is a brilliant, beautiful soundscape (an impressionistic portrait of Asia, with wonderful guitars [i.e. "wires"] and drums). Songs like "Real by Reel" and "Roads Girdle the Globe" demonstrate the band's energy, flawed though they may be (like Elvis Costello's work from this time period, they don't add up to much coherent). Moulding's "That Is The Way" and "Day In, Day Out" are memorably lanquid.

The material tries for diversity, but it doesn't all work - particularly, Partridge occasionally gets too wordy and silly, as on "When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty". But it's a decent record by a band that was to become great.

Great album; not an essential, though.......2001-10-29

Let me get this out of the way first. XTC is, in my opinion, the greatest band of all time. All of their albums are great stuff, this included.

This is, however, one of the lesser of their albums. It was basically the last 70s punk/new-wave sounding album they had before they moved onto "Black Sea" and beyond. That being said, for their early sound, I'd rather turn to the edgier and more agressive "Go 2", the previous album.

Now for the positives. It features some great songwriting a year before the album that supposedly began their great songwriting era ("Black Sea"). I don't consider the album to be terribly consistent, but the good songs are really good, e.g. "When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty", "Making Plans for Nigel", and my personal guilty pleasure, "Scissor Man".

I'd reccomend this album, but make sure you get most of the other XTC albums first. If you have "Go 2", "Black Sea", "English Settlement", "Skylarking", "Nonsuch", and "Apple Venus" Vol. 1 and 2, then by all means get this. Its a missing piece in your collection. If you don't own any of the aforementioned albums, then perhaps you'd like to get them first, or at least the earlier works (they changed a lot moving into the mid 80s).

A revelation from Swindon.......2001-10-14

It's the summer of 1979. You've just graduated high school. You're eighteen and know everything about EVERYTHING, especially music. Then one day, quite by accident, you discover you don't know ANYTHING. It seems that somewhere in merry old England (the armpit of Swindon, I believe) a group of four very sharp young men have created something unlike anything you've ever heard before. Each cut on the album proves to be stranger, fresher, and more glorious than the last. In Roads Girdle the Globe, the guitars sound like steamrollers, the drums like jackhammers. In Millions, the band transports you to the exotic far East, dips you in the Yangtze, rinses years of radio pablum from your spongey little brain. All with guitars ad drums... like the Beatles' loopy cousins sending messages from a parallel universe... Drums and Wires is a freaking revelation. And you know what? Twenty-plus years later, it's still as fresh as the day it was released. It still beats the hell out of anything being recorded today. Drums and Wires is pure XTC. Buy this album, and play it LOUD.

The blossoming of XTC.......2001-05-24

Sometimes, when I haven't listened to this album in a while, I forget how great it is. This is often regarded as the first "true" XTC album, as it begins to create the "Beatle-based pop" sound for which the band is now (somewhat) famous, rather than the organ-heavy pseudo-punk of the first two albums (which are also good, by the way). It kicks off with XTC's first hit single, "Making Plans For Nigel," followed by the frantic "Helicopter." Other highlights include the tongue-twisting "Outside World" (about not wanting to know what depressing things are going on in the world, a subject with which I can often identify), the cautionary fantasy (or mockery thereof, perhaps) of "Scissor Man," and the world-weary "Complicated Game." There are also odes to the overwhelming feeling of being in love ("When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty" and "Ten Feet Tall"), and social commentaries on such issues as factory work ("Day In Day Out"), lack of privacy ("Real By Reel"), and devotion to the automobile ("Roads Girdle The Globe"). A great aspect of this album is the way that the music fits the mood of each song. "Making Plans For Nigel" is mechanical; the whirring sounds of "Helicopter" bring an actual helicopter to mind; "Roads Girdle The Globe" is noisy and droning; and "Complicated Game" is delightfully paranoid. I wouldn't say this is XTC's best work (that would be Skylarking), but it is an all-around wonderful album.

This is where it started for me.......2001-05-18

This was the first effort I ever heard by XTC. A local new-wave station was playing "Helicopter" and "Making Plans For Nigel" and I just had to have this. I was in no way disappointed. Still sounds fresh to me today. To me this was thier first great effort, with many more classics to come.