The Big Express
	Produced by David Lord and XTC
	Released on October 1984
	UK CHART POSITION #38 . . . US CHART POSITION #181
	Find it at GEMM
24054-2 cover [high resolution scan]

A n immaculate tantrum. Producers Hugh Padgham and Steve Nye tactfully sublimated XTC’s antisocial tendencies on English Settlment and Mummer. David Lord actually amplifies them, adding the intricate designs he brought to Peter Gabriel’s Security. Pop fans may find the results offputting: “Reign of Blows,” “Train Running Low on Soul Coal,” “Shake You Donkey Up,” “Wake Up.” You’d find the same sentiments on a “Respectable Street” or “Funk Pop A Roll,” of course, only less abrasive. Oddly, the same approach makes the sweeter songs seem treacley: “You’re the Wish You Are I Had,” “The Everyday Story of Smalltown.” It’s not that The Big Express is a subtantially different album than Mummer or Skylarking. Rather, it’s the sense that little has changed, a certain sameness where volume replaces innovation, that makes it one of my least favorite XTC albums. A mediocre XTC album is, I needn’t tell you, better than most things including even beer on a very hot day, so I’d never steer you away from this. “All You Pretty Girls” is an absolute gem, “I Bought Myself a Liarbird” a left-handed treat, and both “You’re The Wish You Are I Had” and “Wake Up” are far too clever to frown upon. There’s your ten dollars put to good use, and you won’t get a penny’s more worth out of buying the expanded reissue for the three piggies in the middle. The only thing worth noting about the bonus tracks is that they run right smack into the tracks before and after regardless of whether or not they really fit, in order to preserve the album’s stitched-together feel as a bigger morality play (shades of Skylarking after).

GHS 24054 front cover [high resolution scan]

TRACK LISTING

1. WAKE UP    (Colin Moulding)
2. ALL YOU PRETTY GIRLS
3. SHAKE YOU DONKEY UP
4. SEAGULLS SCREAMING KISS HER, KISS HER
5. THIS WORLD OVER
6. THE EVERYDAY STORY OF SMALLTOWN
7. I BOUGHT MYSELF A LIARBIRD
8. REIGN OF BLOWS
9. YOU'RE THE WISH YOU ARE I HAD
10. I REMEMBER THE SUN    (Colin Moulding)
11. TRAIN RUNNING LOW ON SOUL COAL
    
    CD bonus tracks (which appear between tracks 5 and 6 above)
    
12. RED BRICK DREAM
13. WASHAWAY    (Colin Moulding)
14. BLUE OVERALL
    
    All songs written by Andy Partridge unless noted
    

CREDITS

DAVE GREGORY -- electric guitars, piano, mellotron, synthesisers
COLIN MOULDING -- vocals, bass guitar
ANDY PARTRIDGE -- vocals, electric guitars, Linn drum, harmonica, sleeve design
Stuart Gordon -- violin, viola
Annie Huchrak -- choir (1)
David Lord -- choir arrangement (1), engineer, mixing
Peter Phipps -- drums
Steve Saunders -- euphonium (4)
Glenn Tommey -- additional engineering
XTC -- mixing
Phil Thornalley -- mixing
Gavin Cochrane -- sleeve photography
Ken Ansell -- sleeve design
The Design Clinic -- sleeve assembly

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