Reviews: Cryptic Rock, February 28, 2017 Audiophile, August 22, 2016 The Sunday Times, July 17, 2016 KamerTunesBlog, July 17, 2013 Popdose, February 13, 2012 C-Noise, December 5, 2010 Sentireascoltare, March 1, 2010 Listology, November 16, 2009 Being There, circa March 2007 Blogcritics, April 20, 2007 24,000 Dischi, October 2004 Hurtmore!, September 6, 2004 Music Junkies Anonymous, February 21, 2004 Il Paradiso di Cassiel, February 20, 2004 Instant Edification, circa 2003 Clink Magazine, 2003 Ground and Sky, February 21, 2003 A Little Bit of Rockin', January 2003 momZine, January 2003 OTG, 2002 Music Junkies Anonymous, 2002 The New and Improved Fyfeopedia, circa 2002 Pitchfork, November 20, 2002 Another Satellite, October 10, 2002 It.Arti.Musica.Rock, June 2002 Mark's Record Reviews, April 2002 George Starostin's Reviews, circa 2002 Martin Venator, circa 2001 Pitchfork, July 10, 2002 Adrian's Album Reviews, 2001 Cole Reviews, October 2001 Soundi, September 2001 Music Junkies Anonymous, September 30, 2001 Blindsummit, 2001 eye, May 24, 2001 Amazon.com, circa 2000 Berklee, 2000 1-0, 2000 Elidor, September 12, 2000 Ground and Sky, May 31, 2000 Palpable's Domain, April 2000 CDNOW, April 25, 2000 All Music Guide, circa 2000 Dom's Pornographic Wasp Colony, circa 1999 TNT, 1999 Chapters.ca, 1999 MUZE, circa 1999 New Musical Express, May 8, 1999 Mark's Record Reviews, January 1999 Matt Kaden, January 19, 1999 The Old Punks Web Zine, circa 1998 33 RPM, 1997 Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews, February 1997 “Top 100 Albums of the 80s”, Toronto Star, August 5, 1989 Heavy Metal, 1982 Sonido, 1982 Village Voice, July 6, 1982 Creem, June 1982 Rolling Stone, April 29, 1982 Minnesota Daily, April 8, 1982 The Michigan Daily, March 27, 1982 Billboard, March 13, 1982

English Settlement

...a frighteningly ambitious attempt to create a new English music; a polyglot fusion of folk music, psychedelic rock and reggae....homespun, provincial pop theory in practice... -- New Musical Express, 5/8/99 English Settlement XTC British pop at its buoyant, erratic best. “Senses Working Overtime” is probably the happiest piece of '80s music from across the Atlantic — “Top 100 Albums of the 80s”, by Craig MacInnis, Toronto Star, page G1, August 5, 1989. [Thanks to Kenn Scott]

The Sunday Times
July 17, 2017
Culture

MUST-HAVE REISSUE

XTC: ENGLISH SETTLEMENT

(Ape House)

A fans' favorite, this 1982 album (reissued in a covetable vinyl box set, alongside Skylarking) marked the point when the Swindon band turned away from mainstream flirations and embraced expansive pastoral pop. The singles Senses Working Overtime, Ball and Chain and No Thugs in Our House still sound morning-fresh and bracingly strange, but the other 12 tracks are just as compelling, with Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding competing to come up with undislodgeable hooks and sardonic social-commentary lyrics. DC

[Thanks to Ray Hill]

Il Paradiso di Cassiel
February 20, 2004

"English Settlement" [Storia del Rock]

20/02/2004 14:30 MUSICA — Storia del Rock XTC “English Settlement” (1982) La new wave inglese ha consegnato al rock molte opere e molti gruppi che hanno dato un considerevole contributo alla sua storia. Ma sono essenzialmente tre le band fondamentali del panorama britannico, che più di ogni altra hanno influenzato decine e decine di musicisti e hanno portato ad evoluzione alcuni tratti importanti di questo tipo di musica. Innanzitutto i Clash, che partiti dal punk hanno poi condotto un personalissimo lavoro sul rock tradizionale, rinnovandolo inserendo sostanziali elementi di black music. Poi i Joy Division capostipiti di tutto il dark, ma che con il loro messaggio musicale, radicato nel rock sanguigno degli anni sessanta, sono rimasti pressochè ineguagliati. Ed infine gli XTC. Un discorso compiuto su questo gruppo è alquanto difficile e complesso. L'importanza che hanno avuto nel rock dalla fine degli anni settanta in poi, ma soprattutto nel pop beat è senz'altro pari a quella avuta dai Beatles negli anni sessanta, almeno dal punto di vista dei contenuti. Da quello della fama, purtroppo no. Il rock è anche questo. Troppo spesso preso a seguire i fantasmi dello sciocchezzaio di gruppi quali gli Oasis, non riesce a discernere, pubblico, ma anche critica, quali sono invece gli artisti da tenere in debita considerazione. Inoltre gli XTC hanno fatto di tutto per restare lontani dalle luci dello show business, limitando le loro apparizioni live solo ad inizio carriera, per poi condurre una ricerca musicale attraverso lavori esclusivamente da studio. Andy Partridge e Colin Moulding come John Lennon e Paul McCartney? Certo ma non solo per il fatto di incarnare l'anima dei loro rispettivi gruppi. Ma soprattutto per il filo musicale analogo intessuto nel corso di diversi decenni. Certo è innegabile che gli XTC sono venuti dopo, e senza i Beatles forse non sarebbero neanche esistiti. Ma è anche vero che Partridge, Moulding e compagnia non si sono limitati alla pura emulazione, anzi il loro discorso musicale è ed è stato del tutto originale e in parte anche più ricco di quello del quartetto di Liverpool, andando avanti con immutata freschezza per molti anni. Non sono solo canzonette quelle degli XTC, ma sono anche esercizi intellettuali molto raffinati, lavorando in maniera precisa e dettagliata su alcuni particolari della canzone pop, elevandola con gusto innovativo decisamente unico. Quattro sono gli album di questo gruppo assolutamente imperdibili: "Drums & Wires", "Black Sea", "English Settlement" e "Skylarking". Il terzo è forse il disco più bello e raffinato. Originariamente un album doppio dove ogni brano ha una sua essenziale importanza, dimostrando come la semplice canzone pop può evolversi, quando è trattata con diverse influenze. Una sorta di manifesto del beat. Quindi troviamo fusi insieme al british pop, di volta in volta, la psichedelia, la musica etnica, il progressive e il semplice rock'n roll. Quindici canzoni semplicemente esemplari.

A Little Bit of Rockin'
January 2003

1982

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XTC : English settlement (Virgin) Bien que j'ai toujours acheté régulièrement les albums de XTC lors de leurs parutions respectives, c'est seulement petit à petit que je suis devenu un fan du groupe de Swindon. J'ai apprivoisé la discographie de XTC tout simplement en laissant le charme agir, ce qui fait que je n'arrive pas à trouver un de leurs disques mauvais ou juste moyen... je les aime vraiment tous sans exception ! Le double album "English settlement" le cinquième, mérite peut-être un peu plus d'attention que les quatre précédents, car il marque un certain tournant dans la démarche musicale et artistique du groupe. Désormais, XTC ne se produira plus sur scène, tout comme les Beatles, préférant consacrer son énergie et son temps à créer et peaufiner des chansons aux mélodies et aux arrangements beaucoup plus complexes, comme on peut déjà en trouver dans cet "English Settement", ou plus tard dans les magnifiques "Skylarking" ou "Apple venus". Le tandem Andy Partridge et Colin Moulding n'a donc pas encore fini de nous enchanter. Vivement le prochain album de XTC... une des dernières valeurs sûres de la pop anglaise.

momZine
Issue #38 - January 2003
Resurrection Alley

Caroline Records is in the process of reissuing XTC's first 10 records (and their first bout of psychedelic homage/parody as The Dukes of Stratosphear). Some of 'em are coming with bonus tracks, but not English Settlement. That record, XTC's third, originally appeared in 1982 as a sprawling, double LP set that fits comfortably on a CD and still stands, to my mind as perhaps the band's finest achievement. The record is held together by the loose theme pointed to by its title; songwriters and band mainstays Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding *riff off England both as a particular, contemporary nation-state and as an idea or proxy for modernity and the West with songwriting that is undeniably engaging even as it displays the uncomplicated viewpoint of youth. So "No Thugs in Our House" provides a bellowing snapshot of brownshirt resurgence (and parental cluelessness), while "Melt the Guns" castigates militarism, and "Leisure," "Ball and Chain, " "It's Nearly Africa" and "English Roundabout" give critical commentaries on the relentlessness, the freneticism, and the destructiveness that sometimes accompany modern western life. There's also songs that attempt a longer view--of sexual relations ("Down in the Cockpit"), of the irredeemable strangeness of human beings ("Jason and the Argonauts"). The music is as remarkable and wide-ranging as the lyrics, and more varied, more assured, more expansive than the band's previous work; it's all pop, but it moves from the jagged, angular sound of the band's earlier albums to lush, layered, complex acoustics to power-pop muscularity to world-beat propulsiveness, most of it threaded together by the singular vocal gymnastics of Partridge. It's an album that was conceived as a studio album and consciously made not to be played live (which reflected the fact that it was the first record the band made after Partridge retired from touring due to stage fright). For all these reasons, it was a watershed record, one that took what the band had done to that point, incorporated it, and went to an entirely different level, while at the same time marking the path for what came after.

XTC - English Settlement (Caroline)

© 2003 Miles of Music. All Rights Reserved.

Chapters.ca
1999

English Settlement
XTC

As the '80s marched on, so too did XTC. 1982's English Settlement is a pivotal album in their development, shying away from their overly frenetic sound to an only slightly frenetic sound. That may sound like a slight to the seminal new wave band, but it's quite the opposite. This watershed album marks the moment when promise turns to greatness. 'Runaways' opens the album with the band's more bucolic sound, but 'No Thugs In Our House' stomps with all the ferocity of their former work. Testing the waters is XTC's forte and on this particular album, Partridge and company dive in headfirst.

Heavy Metal
1982

[Thanks to Bill Wikstrom]

Sonido
la revista musical
N. 14, 1982

XTC
“Institucion Inglesa”

1981 FUE EL año de consolidación y aventura para XTC.

Consolidación, en la forma de una creciente apreciación por el grupo, tanto en Europa como en América y aventura, desde el punto de vista de que una vez más XTC ha demostrado su espíritu bravo, para hacer giras por lugares que otras bandas de rock inglesas jamás han soñado. Este año, XTC abre nuevos caminos al presentarse en Caracas, la capital de Venezuela y en Barcelona, España.

A fines de 1980, XTC lanzó su cuarto lp, "Black sea" y el disco due recibido con la probación unánime de crítica y público. "Generals & Majors", junto con otras tres piezas no incluídas en el álbum, se lanzó como sencillo y fue un hit en agosto y septiembre de 1980. "Black sea" les dió tres éxitos más con los sencillos "Towers of london", "Sgt. Rock" y su único lanzamiento de 1981 "Respectable street".

Siguiendo sus giras por el extranjero, a fines del verano de 1981, XTC comenzó a preparar la grabación de su quinto álbum. Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, Dave Gregory y Terry Chambers, han iniciado un cambio de dirección y después de la chispeante diversificación de "Black Sea", todo es posible. Con el productor Hugh Padgham, quien trabajó con ellos tanto en "Drums & Wires" como en "Black sea", como ingeniero de Steve Lillywhite, XTC regresó a los estudios Manor y comenzaron a trabajar en "English Settlement" (Institución Inglesa). Tal fue el prodigioso trabajo de composición de Andy Partridge y Colin Moulding, que "English Settlement" se due haciendo más y más grande, convirtiéndose eventualmente en un álbum doble de quince canciones, con once compuestas por Partridge y cuatro de Moulding, incluyendo la pieza que abre, "Runaways", un perfeto ejemplo de la diferencia de sentimiento que expresa "English Settlement". La diferencia se crea por la decisión de XTC, de trabajar un rango más amplio de instrumentación; en "Runaways", Colin toca el bajo sin trastos, Terry Chambers se aplica diligentemente a un sintetizador de batería y Andy conecta su guitarra semi-acústica de doce cuerdas. En otra parte, (en "It's nearly Africa") Andy tiene una vuelta en el saxo alto.

El resultado general, es un disco con un sentimiento ligeramente más suave que en "Black Sea", pero debido a la profundidad y la calidad de las canciones, "English Settlement" no carece de el impacto de su predecesor. El álbum fue lanzado en febrero 12 y el primer sencillo de él, una pieza compuesta por Partridge titulada "Senses working overtime", aperecido en enero 8, vuelven a los primeros lugares de popularidad en las listas de Inglaterra. El sencillo de 7'' contiene además, dos canciones extras: "Blame the weather" y "Tissue Tigers", mientras que la versión 12'', incluye tres piezas (las dos antes mencionadas, mas "Egyptian Solition (Homo Safari Series N. 3)". XTC ha comenzado 1982, con una venganza y sus actividades van a continuar, durante todo el año, con giras por varias ciudades de Europa y Estados Unidos.

En Estado Unidos y México, el álbum "English Settlement" será editado como un sólo lp, que contiene las diez mejores piezas: "Runaways", "Ball and chain", "Senses working overtime", "Jason & The argonauts", "Snowman", "Melt the guns", "No thugs in our house", "Yacht dance", "English roundabout" y "All of a Sudden (It's too late)". ¡No te lo pierdas!

[Thanks to Jon Rosenberger]

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