Chalkhills: The XTC Resource: What Was News

Archived news, all the way back to July 1996, for your edification.

2023

2022

June 3: Ilyes Kada would like to share this guitar tab that he's been working on (transcribed from the Steven Wilson instrumental mix).; Joseph Taylor shared his “XTC, Curated” from SoundStage! Xperience.
March 25: Garry Fishpool gave a shot at deciphering the lyrics to Colin's “Car Out of Control” but we could use your help (and ears).
February 18: Doug Downing has some ideas on “Vanishing Girl”.
February 11: Tim Harris has scratched an itch, and posted chords to “Love's What I Want” (a bonus track on The Monkees' CD Good Times!).
November 1: Anna McCue covered “Ten Feet Tall” (thanks to Lisa for the note).
September 5: Tim Harris has contributed chords for “The Hardest Battle”.; Jason Kreitzer writes, “There is a new TV series based on Anne Rice's Interview With A Vampire set to premiere on AMC on October 2, 2022, that uses Lawless' cover of ‘Dear God’ in the commercial.”
February 27: Brendan Milburn contributed a transcription of the lower vocal harmony part of “Merely A Man”.
February 1: Kenn Scott contributed “XTC pops up from underground”, a brief XTC profile from The Toronto Star, January 18, 1980
January 31: Kenn Scott contributed “British band too tough on the old brain waves”, a review of their concert at the Masonic Temple in Toronto in October 1980, from The Toronto Star.
January 30: Kenn Scott sent in a review of Oranges and Lemons, from the Toronto Star, March 17, 1989, a review of Black Sea from the Sherbrooke Record, January 9, 1981, and a review of English Settlement from the Toronto Star, August 5, 1989.; Keith Morris sent in a few corrections to the tablature he contributed for “Life Begins at the Hop”.; Austin Emerson Lucas contributed what he hopes is a thorough tab of “New Town Animal (in a Furnished Cage)”.

2021

August 29: Jeff Farris contributed the chords to fit Andy's new release “Great Day”.; Keith Morris worked out some additions to the “Life Begins at the Hop” tablature.; Todd Bernhardt discovered that his interview with Andy Partridge about “I Wonder Why the Wonderfalls” was missing from Chalkhills, so he sent it in.
February 27: Austin Emerson Lucas transcribed guitar chords for “Runaways”.
February 14: Ali Sueoka transcribed the guitar solo for “I'm Playing My Fano”.; You might be interested in the Without the Beatles compilation featuring Colin's Hermits covering “I Am The Walrus”.
January 23: Ian Roberts reviewed Chips From The Chocolate Fireball and Apple Venus Volume 1.; Ape House writes, "Restoration of multi track tapes is underway for the XTC album APPLE VENUS (vol 1). As soon as the cleaning & rebuild finishes, the man with the expert touch, Steven Wilson, will be making a 5.1 & new stereo mix. Another great quality APE release to look forward to". Peckham roses all 'round.

2020

June 13: Ali Sueoka submitted chords for “Work”. "Keep your fingers busy / Mentally or physically. . ."; Ali also sent in a transcription of the background vocal of “I Don't Want To Be Here"”, to help us copy the band.
May 17: Mike Wilson humbly submits an update to the existing tabs for “No Thugs”.
April 18: Thanks to Bernard for his generous donation!; Keith Morris recently recorded a cover version of “Washaway”, and in the process made charts and tabs for it.
April 11: Keith Morris made an attempt at a chord chart (sorry, no tab) for “Turn Me On, Deadman”.; Ali Sueoka, a college student in Japan, made some tabs for the song “The Good Things”.
March 15: Futureman Records released Garden of Earthly Delights - An XTC Celebration on March 6, 2020. All proceeds from the project will benefit The Wild Honey Foundation. The 2 CD set includes 32 tracks, the digital download includes an additional 17 tracks! Performers include Pop 4, The Corner Laughers, Paul Myers, The Anderson Council, Corin Ashley and Cliff Hillis, and many others. "Thanks to everyone involved, we think you're going to enjoy!"

2019

December 29: Robin Holden did a bit of tab for “Millions”.
September 14: Lots of folks sharing “Andy Partridge and Robyn Hitchcock on Being Old Competitors and Now 'Dismal, British' Collaborators” in Billboard.
September 2: Psurroundabout Ride gathers all of The Dukes of Stratosphear's material on a CD/Blu-Ray pset, with both of the band's albums plus 2 extra tracks, remixed in pstereo and 5.1 psurround by Steven Wilson (approved by Andy Partridge). Originally produced by John Leckie (Swami Anand Nagara) and The Dukes, the set includes a CD with all tracks in stereo, plus a Blu-Ray containing all 19 songs in their original mixes in hi-res stereo, new mixes of 18 songs in hi-res stereo and 5.1 surround plus a final song up-mixed to surround using the Penteo audio system, and complete demos from both albums & instrumental versions of album songs in hi-res stereo. Pre-order now, the set will be released on 18 October 2019 (delayed due to manufacturing issues with the 200g vinyl).
August 4: Shauna Lea McLarnon shared this 1989 Interview from Spin magazine.; Josh Wahl shared “XTC'S Andy Partridge and the Ambitious, Tantalizing Bubblegum Pop Project that Never Happened” from Dangerous Minds.; Keith Dowling shared “XTC's Pop Loses Fizz. . .” from The Michigan Daily, November 1980 (and there are many more reviews in that trove).
August 3: Robyn Hitchcock and Andy Partridge sat down for “tea and a chat, followed by some — typically for both — fine pop song writing, recording, mixing, a celebratory glass of wine and a trip to a restaurant for a curry and a pint of beer. . . all traditions as English in their longevity as the day they arrived on these shores from somewhere else.” The result of this meeting of the mynahs is Planet England, a four-song EP, which will be available from Burning Shed in September. “. . . a unique coupling on dazzling form.”
April 28: Kevin Murray has a new blog called Senses Working Overtime, and he starts things off by reviewing “Respectable Street”.
April 21: XTC have an entire chapter devoted to them in the Allan Jones book Can't Stand Up For Falling Down: Rock'n'Roll War Stories. Jones apparently accompanied them on their very first U.S. tour (December 1978/January 1979). A very interesting time in the band's career.
March 24: Lee Neuman sent in chord charts for “Summer's Cauldron”.
March 22: Peter Pumpkinhead is a “tribute to one of the most creative, melodic and precise bands ever: XTC. [Their] mission is to bring the music of this little known yet very appreciated group of musical geniuses back. [They] lovingly recreate the sound and the energy to a T. Welcome!”
April 21: On Saturday, 11th May 2019, at 02:00, Johnnie Walker's Long Players will feature a segment on XTC's album Black Sea (along with a segment on Talking Head's album Little Creatures). The programme will be broadcast on on BBC Radio 2, London, and is produced by Mark Simpson. A brand new interview with Andy about the album and a longer version (along with the programme) will appear on the Radio 2 website and the BBC Sounds app (for streaming and download for 30 days after broadcast).
January 21: Erich Sellheim has recorded more than 35 cover versions of XTC songs, all in German. Most recently, he released videos for “Spielzeug” (Toys) and “Wüsteninsel” (Desert Island).
January 14: Tim Bowness wrote to say that his new album, Flowers At The Scene, features Andy Partridge playing guitar on one track. The album will be released on 1 March 2019 in multiple formats.

2018

December 29: Chris Rowley has submitted Bass Tab for “No Thugs In Our House”.
December 8: Lee Neuman has contributed chords for “Unwrap You at Christmas” and “Holly Up On Poppy”.
November 11: Andy Partridge Screen Print Series - Part 1: Pre-order of print 1 and 2 in a series of screen prints designed with Andy Partridge of XTC illustrating songs from his back catalogue.
No. 1 - This Is Pop
No. 2 - Earn Enough For Us
SIZE: 18" x 24"
This Is Pop - Printed in 9 colours
Earn Enough For Us - Printed in 7 colours
This is a TIMED EDITION that will close at 23.59 GMT on Monday 12th November 2018
October 14: Kenn Scott "came across two contemporary reviews of XTC albums, from Canada's RPM magazine. The first is by Chris Murray, reviewing Oranges and Lemons in the March 20, 1989 issue; the second is by Steve McLean reviewing Nonsuch in the May 23, 1992 issue."
October 8: Lee Neuman sent in updated chords for “Towers of London” (but it took me even longer to get to them).; Speaking of taking me a long time, Florian Decros contributed bass tablatures for Black Sea and The Dukes Of Stratosphear's Chips From the Chocolate Fireball, but I've only now made them available here. Sorry!
September 30: Gianluigi Alari provided his transcription of “Wrapped In Grey” for guitar. He thinks it improves the current chords on Chalkhills, and some voicings may be closer to the original.; Leslie Gooch writes, "Do you love XTC? [XTC: This is Pop] is a documentary every fan should see, and one you'll want to show to non fans as well. Only available by streaming via subscription channels, and an occasional television airing, this petition is an attempt to prove enough interest to get a Blu-ray or DVD made and available for purchase. Please add your name if you would be interested in a copy of this fantastic documentary."
September 28: Lee Neuman sent in updated chords for “Ladybird” (but it took me a while to get to them).; A BandHouse Gigs Tribute to XTC: April 6, 2019: BandHouse Gigs is a DC area not for profit music collective founded by Ron Newmyer and Chuck Sullivan in 2004 and now involving a dozen other regular volunteers. They enlist some of the area's finest musicians to perform the songs of various bands live. On Saturday, April 6, 2019, The Barns at Wolf Trap will host A BandHouse Gigs Tribute to XTC. "For those new to XTC, this is the chance to hear an incredible pop band's music that reminds one of The Beatles, yet is far more underappreciated."
September 25: Lee Neuman sent in updated chords for “Respectable Street”.
September 23: Graeme Wong See contributed “Colin Moulding: XTC's Backroom Boy” from the April 1999 issue of Bass Player magazine.; Andy Partridge will attend The Monkees Christmas Party! Andy Partridge, a life-long fan of The Monkees, has written the opening track for their forthcoming holiday album, Christmas Party. The song is “Unwrap You At Christmas”. The album is available for pre-order, to be released on October 12, 2018.
July 4: Lee Neumann contributed updated chords for “The Ugly Underneath”.; Marshall Gooch reviewed Andy Partridge's new Apples & Oranges / Humanoid Boogie single.
July 1: Dan Pinder sent in tablature for the chords and solo to “You and the Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful”.
May 24: Andy Partridge: Apples & Oranges / Humanoid Boogie: Andy Partridge made recordings in his newly upgraded shed of Syd Barrett's “Apples & Oranges” and Neil Innes' “Humanoid Boogie”. Mr. Partridge has released these recordings on a four track (both songs in stereo and mono) double-A side 10" vinyl EP in a picture sleeve. The EP is a limited edition of 1,396 copies, available exclusively at Burning Shed. Pre-order now for a June 28, 2018, release.
May 21: Kenn Scott thought he'd share this interview and profile of Andy Partridge, from 1989: “One-day-at-a-time lifestyle pulls Partridge from abyss” from The Edmonton Journal, June 8, 1989.
March 31: Corin Ashley has contributed chords for “Crowded Room”.; Austin Emerson Lucas has contributed bass tab for “Living Through Another Cuba”.; XTC: An All Star Tribute at the Turf Club:
WHAT
XTC: An All Star Tribute - Senses Working Overtime 6
WHO
A bevy of Twin Cities talent will grace the Turf Club stage for a ridiculously fun tribute to British pop giants, XTC. Featuring Adam Levy, Amy Meyer, Chris Beaty, David J. Russ, Devon Bryant, Faith Boblett, Greg Lewis, Ian Flomer, Janey Winterbauer, Jenny Russ, Jess Ford, John Fields, John Richardson, John Robinson, Jon Herchert, Jon Hunt, Ken Chastain, Leah Ottman, Matt Kirkwold, Michael Ferrier, Noah Levy, Paul Boblett, Peter J. Sands, Rick Meyer, Ryan Smith, Scott Wooldridge, Tom Scott and more, this annual event benefits the Pay It Forward Cancer Fund at Ridgeview Medical Center.
WHY
The Pay It Forward Fund helps breast and woman's cancer patients pay basic living expenses while undergoing treatment so they can focus on what's really important - getting healthy. They assist patients at 9 local hospitals including North Memorial, Maple Grove, Unity, Mercy, New River, HCMC, Sibley, Glencoe and Ridgeview Medical Centers.
WHEN AND WHERE
Saturday, April 28, 2018
The Turf Club
1601 University Ave W, St Paul, MN
21+ | Tickets $20
7:30 pm Doors | 8:30 pm Showtime
February 4: Austin Emerson Lucas has contributed bass tablature for “Respectable Street” and “Burning with Optimism's Flames”. How did he do?

2017

December 28

Mark Fisher shared the “MW Questionnaire: Colin Moulding”.

December 23

Documentary: XTC This is POP: The highly anticipated XTC documentary “XTC This is POP”, was broadcast by Sky Arts in October (a petition earlier in the year was circulated to convince BBC to air it). Andy Partridge says, "There may well be a DVD later, yes, if they can get clearances from everyone that owns a slice of us." Steven Wilson says, "I was very honoured to be invited to appear in a feature length documentary about one of my all time favourite bands XTC. . . Directed by Charlie Thomas . . . this is a very serious (but also funny) telling of the story of one of the most creative and intelligent, but also quintessentially English bands to have ever existed." Showtime USA will be showing the documentary on January 11, 2018, at 7PM. (Watch the trailer.)

December 9

Marshall Gooch reviewed TC&I's Great Aspirations and The Dukes Of Stratosphear's 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot LPs.

Check out “Moronophonics 09 | XTC / Skylarking” on The Pods & Sods Network.

Record Collector reviews the Steven Wilson mix of Black Sea.

November 29

Steve Wilcox mentions that "Roland's review [of Black Sea] is up".

November 25

Jay Ditzer corrected some lyrics for “Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down”.

Mark Fisher, editor of The XTC Bumper Book of Fun for Boys and Girls, reviewed the new Steven Wilson remix of Black Sea.

TC&I - 'Great Aspirations' EP

The new EP from ex-XTC's Colin Moulding and Terry Chambers

Colin and Terry put their XTC past behind them for some truly original stuff. . . well . . . maybe and nod and a wink here and there. . .

TC&I present . . . their EP.

November 12

Deeper Cuts: Apple Venus Volume 1 podcast and addendum: “The Influence of Judee Sill”.

Richard Rection took a photo at a concert in 1980.

Will Maher has contributed chords to "Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her".

November 11

Will Maher has contributed a transcription of the guitar solo to "Church of Women" as well as the chords to "Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down" and "Helicopter".

Melanie Bouchard "went to Library and Archives Canada and found an article on XTC. . . It's from Toronto punk serial Shades, from their March-April 1980 issue. It's just titled ‘XTC’."

October 7

Terry Arnett wrote to say, “Just thought I'd let you know that Fossil Fools appears to be an ongoing thing again now.” And are “… officially endorsed by Dave Gregory.”

October 17

BLACK SEA now in 5.1: Black Sea is the fifth in a series of expanded XTC album reissues, including 5.1 Surround mixes, 2017 stereo mixes and High-Resolution stereo mixes by Steven Wilson, along with a wealth of extra audio and visual material. All pre-order copies sold through Burning Shed come with an exclusive postcard signed by Terry Chambers.

Steven Wilson produced the mixes with the input of founder band member Andy Partridge and the full approval of the band.

This cd/blu-ray edition is presented in special packaging with an expanded booklet and sleeve-notes by Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, Terry Chambers, Dave Gregory and Hugh Padgham.

CD: Features a 2017 stereo album mix by Steven Wilson with bonus tracks (many featuring Steven Wilson mixes).
Blu-Ray: a 5.1 Surround mix in 24bit/96khz mixed from the original multi-track tapes available in LPCM and DTS HD MA. Additional Blu-Ray features include:
- The 2017 stereo album mix in 24bit/96khz LPCM audio.
- Additional songs from the album sessions in stereo and 5.1 (several featuring 2017 Steven Wilson mixes)
- The original stereo album mix in hi-res stereo + bonus tracks.
- Instrumental versions (mixed by Steven Wilson), and several bonus mixes in 24bit/96khz LPCM audio.
- Many album tracks in demo form as recorded (mostly live) at Phonogram Studios prior to the main album sessions.
- Three Andy Partridge demos from Phonogram studios.
- Three Andy Partridge demos from Swindon Town Hall.
- Promo films for Towers Of London, Generals & Majors & Respectable Street.

A definitive edition of XTC's Art Pop classic from 1980.

July 30

As a big fan of Nonsuch and an enthusiast bass player, Florian Decros decided to transcribe the bass parts of all the songs from the record. (Non, you're not seeing double.)

July 23

As a big fan of Skylarking and an enthusiast bass player, Florian Decros decided to transcribe the bass parts of all the songs from the record.

July 3

Rolling Stone published “15 Legendary Tours That Never Were”. Were you there?

According to Music Week, Andy Partridge signs worldwide deal with Warner/Chappell!

June 11

Kenn Scott provided a contemporary review of 25 O'Clock that appeared on page C7 of the Edmonton Journal (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) on May 9, 1985.

Thierry Samzun let us know that XTC's Oranges & Lemons is among ten records inspired by The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Bands according to les inRocks.

Dan Pinder updated the tablature for the guitar solo on “Pink Thing”, 19 years after he originally tabbed it out.

May 21

Paul Ferguson would like to present bass tab for “I Remember the Sun”.

May 10

XTC Convention 2017: Tim Kendrick recapitulates, "There will be a convention of XTC fans the weekend of Sept 15-17, 2017, town of Swindon, in the UK. Friday night and Saturday events will be held at the Southbrook Inn pub, Southbrook St, Swindon. Sunday will be a coach/bus trip to the Uffington White Chalk Horse (seen on cover of English Settlement). There will be an Open Mic evening, Walking Tour of Town Centre, Quiz, Panel Discussion, Tribute Acts and much more. Complainers need not attend. Tickets are £27.50 (non-refundable). All tickets must be purchased in advance. We recommend the Jury's Inn, a 5-minute walk from the train station and about a 15-18 minute walk to the convention spot, with a 20% group discount rate, ask for discount code."

March 26

A.J. Partridge regains his Powers: A long time ago, in a library far far away (well, Swindon, actually), a shy schoolboy who loved books, but was a slow reader, borrowed three science fiction books per week. He didn't read them. Instead, mesmerised by the covers, he imagined his own stories to match the cover paintings which he stared at intently for hours. His response was to record a sort of soundtrack to the paintings which had been so inspirational to him. The resulting album conjures, via 12 enigmatic pieces akin to a virtual Musique concrete (with the computer/editing process replacing the more cumbersome scissors/tape method), a musical accompaniment to the variety of alien landscapes which Richard M. Powers illustrated so profusely.

Now a much sought after album, A.J Partridge's album Powers has been reissued as a mid-price jewel cased CD with 12 pages of sleeve notes and illustrations by long-time Ape House sleeve artist Andrew Swainson.

March 12

Fassine are offering a free download of their cover of XTC's “That Wave” for a very short time.

February 19

Roberto Serrano Bazán shared a link: “The Dukes of Stratosphear – XTC's bizarre side project”.

January 31

Matt Henderson shared a link: “My Favorite Album #185 - Mark Hart (Crowded House) on XTC ‘Drums and Wires’ (1979)”.

January 29

Toshiyuki from Japan made a Bass tab for “That's Really Super, Supergirl”.

January 21

Roberto Serrano Bazán leads us to ‘LOOK LOOK,’ The XTC Home Video Companion in Dangerous Minds, but he can't make us think.

January 16

Boing Boing features a review of Complicated Game: Inside the Songs of XTC.

Tunetribe features “Podcast 96: XTC”, an interview with Andy Partridge.

December 17

Marshall Gooch reviews Complicated Game: Inside the Songs of XTC.

December 11

Melanie Bouchard is happy to contribute “Light! Camera! XTCion!” from Trouser Press, January 1981.

2016

November 15

J. D. Mack has transcribed the bass guitar parts for all of the songs on Oranges and Lemons! A labour of love.

November 12

Graham Fyfe wrote to let us know that the The New and Improved Fyfeopedia is newer and improveder and has moved to a new domain.

October 29

Phil Ciulla was at his local thrift store and food pantry and saw this promotional flying disc with the kids toys! Lightning 100 is a radio station in Nashville, Tennessee.

October 17

SKYLARKING NOW IN 5.1: It's here, the one you've been hankering for. Steven Wilson produced these mixes with the input of founder band member Andy Partridge and the full approval of the band. This CD/Blu-ray edition is presented in special packaging with an expanded booklet and sleeve-notes by Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory.

CD features the 2016 Steven Wilson stereo album mix plus four bonus tracks mixed by Steven Wilson.

Blu-ray features:

A 5.1 Surround mix in 24bit/96khz mixed from the original multi-track tapes available in LPCM and DTS HD MA.
The 2016 stereo album mix in 24bit/96khz LPCM audio.
Four additional songs from the album sessions in stereo and 5.1 mixed by Steven Wilson.
The original (uncorrected polarity) stereo album mix in hi-res stereo, plus 1 non-album track.
The original (corrected polarity) stereo album mix in hi-res stereo.
Instrumental versions (mixed by Steven Wilson) of all 2016 mixes in 24bit/96khz LPCM audio.
A complete alternate album in demo form (as per Todd Rundgren's original suggested running order based on the demo recordings).
Numerous additional demo and work tape sessions showing the evolution of the album and associated recordings.
Promo films for Dear God and Grass.

Treat yourself, or someone you love.

October 2

Micah Brashear corrected the tablature for “Dying”.

Glen Rebyak wrote to say that he was one of the Microsoft Rifff winners. Here are pictures of the autographed copy of Fossil Fuel and of the accompanying letter, written by Chalkhills subscriber Peter Fitzpatrick.

September 25

Todd Osborn thought we would especially like this, “The 10 Most Eccentric British Songwriters”, in Music Aficionado.

American Songwriter features, in its “Lyric of the Week” series, “XTC, ‘The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead’”.

Defending Axl Rose reviews Complicated Game.

September 18

Roberto Serrano Bazán is a busy man. He lets us know that SwindonLink has finally realized that the Complicated Game “Book about Swindon band XTC reveals key details to fans across the world”. He mentioned this review of Complicated Game: Inside the Songs of XTC in the pages of Elmore magazine. He shared “XTC – Live At The Rainbow 1979 – Past Daily Backstage Weekend”. He teases us with “Andy Partridge: The Big Interview” from Prog magazine (annoyingly incomplete because that's how TeamRock rolls). And he points us to “A Chat With Andy Partridge Of XTC - 1992 - Past Daily Weekend Pop Chronicles”.

Rich Kamerman is blogging about his favorite albums of 1986. His latest is “Thirty Year Thursday - XTC “SKYLARKING’”.

Mark Smotroff shared his reviews: “A More Dynamic XTC English Settlement” and “XTC's Skylarking Takes Flight Once Again”.

Mark Johnson shared the fact that XTC is at #143 on Pitchfork's list of “The 200 Best Songs of the 1970s”

Jean-Pierre Morin points out that XTC comes in at #7 in Pitchfork's list of “The 25 Best Music Videos of the 1970s”.

Bob O'Bannon points out that XTC comes in at #7 on Paste magazine's “50 Best New Wave Albums”.

July 31

Darren Keeping provided a review of Oranges and Lemons from Hi Fi News and Record Review, March 1989, and a review of Oranges and Lemons from Melody Maker, 1989.

Ray Hill provided a review of the English Settlement reissue from The Sunday Times.

July 17

gedatsu-kitteh shared her designs for costumes for the characters in her “Scarecrow People” comic.

Wankwinkel covers The Dukes Of Stratosphear's “Your Gold Dress”.

Huw Thomas shared his review of The Big Express that he wrote for an assignment.

Jeff Truzzi posted updated tablature for “Roads Girdle The Globe”.

The State Library of Queensland posted “A Night at Cloudland with XTC, Flowers (Icehouse) and The Numbers (1979)”.

Rockcellar Magazine published this Q&A: Andy Partridge Talks About the Monkees.

Andy Partridge talks about Complicated Game: Inside the Songs of XTC in Episode #461 of the Just Off The Radar podcast.

Paste magazine posted a list of what it thinks are “The 50 Best Post-Punk Albums”.

June 12

Joe Wiseman posted his cover of “River of Orchids”.

May 30

William Barillas points us to this recent interview with Andy: “‘Music is so abused these days’: XTC's Andy Partridge opens up about songwriting, painting and developing the ‘cruel parent gene’ toward your own art” on Salon.

And in other news: Todd Rundgren Reignites Feud With XTC Over ‘Skylarking’ and Andy tweets his reply.

Melissa Spears shared a portrait of Andy Partridge she drew some time around December 2015.

May 29

Fuzzy Warbles 1-3 reviewed: Record Collector · Uncut.

April 24

Tonight saw the first Andy Partridge “/r/IAmA”, answering your questions for more than two hours.

April 18

XTC- Tribute Live- with Special guest : Stephen Warren
Live bar - BEAT IN ( Open to All )
Osaka -2016-5-28 Saturday

March 30

Little World CD - Allyson Seconds with Anton Barbeau: Allyson Seconds has just launched a Kickstarter campaign for her Little World album. The songs on it are written by Anton Barbeau, and they've got that Colin Moulding singing harmonies on the title track. Whereas Anton had to get his courage together to approach Colin to play on his Magic Act album, Colin quite enthusiastically volunteered to sing on Allyson's track. Allyson, like Anton, is a huge XTC fan and is still in the pinching-herself stage. They're currently finishing up a video for the song, trying to work out details with Colin's dog, Pip. For the moment, please take a look at this and help out if you're so inclined! Thanks very much!

March 27

David R Crosby sends us off to listen to “WTF Podcast Episode 691 - Todd Rundgren”.

March 6

Liane Chan compiled her list of “The top 10 best XTC songs”.

February 27

TeamRock+ published this feature: “Heavy Load: Andy Partridge” but it's subscription-only. They also published “A Partridge & T Bernhardt: Complicated Game: Inside the Songs of XTC”, a review, and “The Stories Behind the Songs: Making Plans for Nigel”, but they're subscription-only, too. Anybody care to send me the text? (Thanks, you know who you are.)

February 22

Darryl W Bullock wrote, “The interview I conducted with Andy, for Songwriting Magazine, is out now, unfortunately though only in edited form and via subscription. So here's the full length version for free! Those of you who asked me to ask him pay attention, as some of your questions made the cut.”

February 13

Bob Schaefer says, “Jim DeRogatis and his Sound Opinions cohort Greg Kot have always had XTC's back. This article talks about the ‘At the Manor’ documentary and also includes the chunk of Jim's book Turn On Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock devoted to XTC (and the Dukes, of course)...”

February 19

ATTENTION, PEOPLE OF SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: Scarecrow People perform the music of one of the most influential British bands of the 20th century: XTC. Saturday 26th March at the Django Bar (Camelot Lounge lower level) Marrickville. Plus supporting guest Felicity Fox. Entry $25. Featuring Kendal Cuneo (Petulant Frenzy) - trumpet, John Encarnacio (Nature Strip, Shaggin' Wagon) - guitars, Rob Child (Magic Lunchbox, Nighttime & Child) - bass, Jess Ciampa (everyone!) - drums/percussion, Matt Roberts (Petulant Frenzy) - vocals, Ben Sherwood (the hill, Brookvale Oval) - vocals, Les Rankin (Petulant Frenzy) - too many guitars

February 18

Get Your Humble Daisies to Austin, TX: Strange Brew Lounge Side presents XTC: A Tribute. Featuring Nina Singh, Marvin Pair, Coffee Sergeants, Bruce Hughes, and many others, with The Smartest Monkeys: Jon Greene, Jon Sanchez, Tom Pearson, Derek Morris, Nate Delacretaz, Kris Nelson and Seela. Friday, April 1, 8-10pm, $20 advance/$25 door. Proceeds benefit SIMS foundation.

February 12

Andy Partridge contributes to Good Times! According to The Monkees Live Almanac, “Andy Partridge of XTC, a lifelong fan of The Monkees, took to Twitter to show his excitement for Good Times! ‘The Monkees gave me SO MUCH joy as a kid, it's all I can do to repay it. They are liking 3 of my tunes so far, and I hope they dig the latest?’ Partridge's “You Bring the Summer’ is another lock for the album.” Yes, it's true, the new album from The Monkees is called Good Times! It will be released on June 10, 2016, by Rhino Records, and it will feature songs written by Andy Partridge, Rivers Cuomo, and Noel Gallagher, among others, and will be produced by Adam Schlesinger. It's “. . . about recapturing that 1960s jangly guitar sound. . .”

February 16

XTC: An All Star Tribute - Senses Working Overtime IV
WHAT: The ridiculously fun, deliciously star-studded Minneapolis tribute to British pop giants, XTC. This annual event benefits the Pay It Forward Cancer Fund at Ridgeview Medical Center.
WHO: Featuring Leslie Ball, Chris Beaty, Faith Boblett, Paul Boblett, Ken Chastain, Terry Eason, John Eller, Michael Ferrier, Ian Flomer, Jess Ford, Jon Herchert, Jon Hunt, Matt Kirkwold, Kiki Lane, Mike Lane, Adam Levy, Noah Levy, Amy Meyer, Rick Meyer, John Munson, Leah Ottman, John Robinson, Peter J Sands, Tom Scott, Billy Thommes, Casey Virock, Aby Wolf and more.
WHEN AND WHERE: The Turf Club | 1601 University Ave W, St Paul, MN | Friday, April 22, 2016 | Tickets $20 | 8pm Doors | 9pm Showtime
WHY: The Pay It Forward Fund helps breast and woman's cancer patients pay basic living expenses while undergoing treatment so they can focus on what's really important - getting healthy.

2015

December 25

Mark Smotroff wants you to read his review of the new reissue / reinvention of Oranges & Lemons.

December 8

It's a Complicated Game: 31 March 2015 will see the publication of Complicated Game - Inside The Songs Of XTC by Andy Partridge and Todd Bernhardt. Developed from a series of interviews conducted over many months, the book details Andy Partridge songs from throughout XTC's career and provides a unique insight into the work of one of Britain's most original and influential songwriters. Filled with anecdotes about Partridge, his XTC bandmates, and the band's adventures around the world (all told with Partridge's legendary humor), Complicated Game casts new light on the writing of lyrics, the construction of melodies and arrangements, the process of recording, and the workings of the music industry. The book includes pages from Partridge's songwriting notebooks, reproductions of his original artwork designs, a guide to Andy Partridge's Swindon and a foreword by Steven Wilson. All pre-orders sold through Burning Shed/APE come signed by Andy Partridge.

October 17

Jordan Becker “. . . posted a full cover treatment of Skylarking on the Cover Me blog, and have credited Chalkhills for help in finding the covers, many of which come from the fan tributes.”

September 25

Jérôme Pintoux reviewed Black Sea.

The Rock and Roll Chemist reviewed XTC: Song Stories.

September 12

Paul Ferguson copied a pic from the Black Sea CD booklet and used in his 1992 GCSE Art exhibition.

August 20

Francisco Javier Tenas leads us to “XTC: GO 2” on Ultrasónica, but he can't make us think.

The Vagabond Saints' Society is a loose collective of Triad-area (Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point) musicians that gathers semi-regularly to pay tribute to the great – and sometimes the not-so-great – artists of the pop-music era. On Saturday, September 5, 2015, The Vagabond Saints' Society Presents XTC's Skylarking, featuring Chris Stamey, Matt McMichaels, Andrea and Pete Connolly, and Roger Gupton. Doors: 8:00 pm / Show: 9:00 pm, Cat's Cradle - Back Room, Carrboro, NC, $8.00 - $10.00.

August 16

Strange Brew Lounge Side presents XTC: A Tribute. Featuring John Pointer, Darin Murphy, Matt The Electrician, Noelle Hampton, Bruce Hughes, and many others, with The Smartest Monkeys: Tom Pearson, Seela, Kris Nelson, Jon Sanchez, Nate Delacretaz, and Jon Greene. Friday, September 25, 8-10pm, $20 advance/$25 door. Proceeds benefit SIMS foundation.

Steven Wilson's remix of XTC's ‘Oranges & Lemons’: 16th October [update: delayed until 30th October -- Ed.] will see the release of Oranges & Lemons, the third in a series of remixed & expanded XTC classics. The album has been mixed from the original studio masters by Steven Wilson with input from Andy Partridge, and is fully approved by XTC. The CD features a completely new stereo album mix, while the Blu-Ray features a wealth of content, continuing the “virtual box set on a single disc” concept of the first two releases in the series:

5.1 Surround album mix in 24bit/96khz available in LPCM and DTS HD MA
a new stereo album mix in 24bit/96khz LPCM audio
instrumental versions of all new stereo mixes in 24bit/96khz LPCM audio
a flat transfer of the original stereo album mix in 24bit/96khz LPCM audio
2 separate sets of demo & work tape sessions showing the evolution of the album and associated recordings
1 set of pre-recording rehearsals, promos & ID links for radio stations & record companies
a collection of single mixes & XTC's version of Captain Beefheart's “Ella Guru”
promo films for “The Mayor of Simpleton” (3 versions), “King for a Day” and “The Road to Oranges & Lemons’, a rarely seen home-made film by the band explaining the album (and themselves!) to Geffen Records USA.

Presented in special packaging with expanded booklet and sleeve-notes by Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding & Dave Gregory.

July 5

Orit Friedland says that this review of the Apple Venus / Wasp Star reissues is a good one.

Anton Barbeau has a new album in the works called Magic Act. 12 pop songs of varying psychedelic decree. A sudden case of "artistic differences" meant a change in course and Anton found himself making a solo record all over the place with all sorts of people. Colin Moulding from XTC plays bass on one track. Anton is crowdfunding this project via KissKissBankBank. Anton says, “This campaign will cover the cost of studio time, musician's fees, CD manufacturing, video making, PR and postage. I'd like to say that any money made beyond our costs will go towards my purchase of a Greek island, but this is my fourth crowd funding experience and I've learned the easy way that there isn't ever any spare change left over!”

July 1

Roberto Jesús Serrano Bazán says, “From @XTCfans to @PhizLair, these are the best summer albums from 1985 to 1997, ranked”.

June 11

Tom Demi just happened across this article on the Skylarking reissue. Dig the artwork! (?)

June 5

APPLE VENUS and WASPSTAR are back on CD!! To pre-order for June 29th release simply go here: burningshed.com/store/ape/. Your ears deserve them.

May 31

Thanks to Keith and Tony for their generous donations!

May 13

Roberto Jesús Serrano Bazán turns us on to Paste's The 50 Saddest Songs of All Time.

May 10

Paul Ferguson has created a White Music lyrics sheet, adapted from the handwriting on the back of the LP cover. Print one yourself.

April 29

Roberto Jesús Serrano Bazán found “Counterbalance: XTC's ‘Skylarking’”, a discussion on PopMatters.

April 18

Steve Hutchins wrote to Chalkhills recently to say, “As a matter of curiosity, I searched the net and read some of the articles and stories mentioning about me, which were mostly accurate, but some parts ridiculously untrue, so I thought that I would simply set the records straight for posterity and provide XTC fans with the accurate facts.” Read the “XTC ~ The Tapes & Steve Hutchins ~ The True Story”.

April 17

Roberto Jesús Serrano Bazán pointed out “XTC In Excelsis”, a review of Apple Venus Volume 1.

April 7

Senses Working Overtime 3: Paul Boblett would like you to attend Senses Working Overtime 3, the ridiculously fun third annual star-studded Minneapolis tribute to XTC to benefit the Pay It Forward Cancer Fund at North Memorial Hospital. Featuring vocal performances by Faith Boblett, Ken Chastain, Al Church, John Eller, Michael Ferrier, Ian Flomer, and many others, backed up by Chuck Allen, Chris Beaty, Paul Boblett, and many others again. The Pay It Forward Fund serves patients at North Memorial, Maple Grove, Unity, Mercy, New River and Ridgeview Medical Centers. 100% of the funds raised by the organization are used to pay basic living expenses for women in need while recovering from breast and other women's cancers. The Pay It Forward Fund is a partner of North Memorial Foundation. Wednesday, May 20, 2015, at Icehouse MPLS, 9:30 pm. Tickets are $15 advance, $20 door (21+). If you're near, come cheer and drink beer!

April 4

Paul Ferguson tabbed out Andy Partridge's guitar solo in “Garden of Earthly Delights”.

March 24

Roberto Jesús Serrano Bazán points us to “Pure XTC” in The Footy Almanac.

March 19

Gordon Fleming let us know about Dave Bidini's “40 Things I Love About XTC”.

Vagabond Saints' Society Plays XTC: The Vagabond Saints' Society brings together some of Winston-Salem's finest musicians and singers to perform the music of XTC. The concert will showcase one of XTC's most ornate and beloved albums, Skylarking from 1986. The upcoming show will feature a stellar mix of talent including Doug Davis, Jerry Chapman, Susan Snow, Michael Slawter, Patrick Ferguson, Clay Howard, Lee Terry, and Tony Dagnall, and none other than Chris Stamey and Mitch Easter will join VSS to sing a song or two. March 27 at 9 p.m., The Garage, 110 W. 7th St., Winston-Salem, North Carolina, $10 (free with DashPop festival wristband). [thanks to Francisco Javier Tenas]

March 11

Visit Claudecat's Place for a review of The Dukes of Stratosphear - 25 O'Clock.

February 7

Revolution In The Shed: Inside the Songs of XTC, by Andy Partridge and Todd Bernhardt, “…offers a unique insight into the work of one of Britain's most original and influential songwriters. It is also an unprecedentedly revealing and instructive guide to how songs and records are made. Developed from a series of interviews conducted …” by Chalkhills mainstay Todd Bernhardt and originally published on MySpace, the book explores “… the construction of melodies and arrangements, the process of recording, and the workings of the music industry. But it is also filled with anecdotes about Partridge, his XTC bandmates, and their adventures around the world, all told with the songwriter's legendary humor.” Available 1 September 2015 at better booksellers near you.

February 4

Thanks to “We're all Light” for the generous donation!

January 27

Ben Gott was having trouble reading Classic Pop's “Godfathers of Pop: Andy Partridge”.

January 17

Michael Ricci would like you to know that his publication All About Jazz has published this review of Drums and Wires.

January 10

Jeff Truzzi got Andy Partridge to transcribe the chords to “Roads Girdle the Globe”.

January 1

Happy New Year! Vin Maskell wrote to tell us about “A Stereo Story from Australia about first hearing Senses Working Overtime in the blazing heat of January 1982.

Egidio Sabbadini leads us to “Summer's Heaven in Sound: Skylarking by XTC”.

2014

December 17: Dean Skilton discovered “Life at 33 1/3: XTC: Swindon's only pride”.
December 13: Orit Friedland points us to “Senses (still) working overtime: Remixing XTC with Steven Wilson”.
November 15: Augie Krater performed his usual magic on the front and back covers of the French Science Friction 7" single.
November 11: John Morrish found and scanned his “XTC” article from Sound International magazine published in October 1980. Thanks, John, and good work!
October 25: Augie Krater has done it again, this time with the Japanese White Music LP obi, label, side B, label, side A, insert, side B, insert, side A, front cover with obi, and back cover.
October 22: Claude Cat let me know that he also posted on “The Ugly Underneath, Music and Lyrics”.; Andy Partridge wins Q Songwriter Award: Andy Partridge was named the winner of the Q Songwriter award at the Xperia Access Q Awards at The Grosvenor House Hotel on October 22, 2014, in London, England. (Photo by David M. Benett/Getty Images)
October 21: Roberto Jesús Serrano Bazán found that “We're All Light - The Ecstasy of XTC” at Claudecat's Place.
October 18: Egidio Sabbadini turns us on to XTC: The Big Express – A Thirtieth Anniversary Celebration – album reappraisal in Louder Than War.
October 13: Brian MacDonald wrote a little something about The Big Express, which is soon to celebrate its 30th birthday.
September 22: Dave Stafford is scorched !! (Dave Gregory is home at last...)
September 20: Roberto Jesús Serrano Bazán wanted us to know about XTC January 1979.
September 6: Wes Hanks noticed that Slicing Up Eyeballs published details on the forthcoming reissue: “XTC's ‘Drums and Wires’ audiophile reissue to include new 5.1 mix, demos, rehearsal tracks”.
September 3: Ira Lieman shared “Andy Partridge Bleeds for You and Me” from Innocent Words.
August 31: 1000 Times Jeff reviews Drums And Wires.
August 30: Drums And Wires reissues : The revolutionary Drums And Wires, from 1979, is the second in a series of expanded XTC album reissues, including 5.1 surround mixes, new stereo mixes and high-resolution stereo mixes of the original material. Pre-order for 27th October release. All pre-order copies come with exclusive postcards signed by Andy Partridge. Two editions are available, a CD/Blu-Ray set and a CD/DVD Audio set. The Blu-Ray will include a wealth of extra audio and visual material.
August 16: Chalkhills, the mailing list, is now dead. For talk and chat and social networking of all sorts, see Buzzcity Talking.
August 12: Egidio Sabbadini leads us to “A Buyers Guide To XTC” in Backseat Mafia.; Dave Stafford reviewed Skylarking.
August 6: Ade Ransome thought we ought to know that “Self-Confident Weirdos: Kavus Torabi's Favourite Albums” includes Black Sea.
July 7: Barry Andrews writes about being that most unfortunate of rock 'n' rollers, the Keyboard Player.; The Dukes, an XTC tribute band, offer their cover of “Rocket From A Bottle”.
June 26: Eddie Stone writes, “The fantastic American music blog Something Else just posted an article, with embedded video, for ‘The Man Who Died Two Times’. Please enjoy and pass it along...”
May 31: Skylarking reviewed: Ordinary Times.; The A.V. Club asks, “What's a piece of art you know you should like but just can't?”; Yesterday's Cool Album of the Day was Apple Venus (Volume 1).
May 16: The Afterword has a piece on Nonsuch.; Psychedelic Sight has a piece on the Skylarking reissue.; Uncut features an interview with Andy Partridge: “Recording XTC's Skylarking with Todd Rundgren was like one bunker with two Hitlers”.
April 30: Dangerous Minds asks Dear God: XTC's Classic ‘Skylarking’ Album—Fixed?”
April 29: Flipside Reviews Skylarking (Corrected).
April 26: Roberto Jesús Serrano Bazán posted a link to “We Will Rock You: The Twenty Best XTC Songs” in l'étoile.; “XTC fan from Chile appreciates Swindon band”, according to Swindon Link.
April 5: Claude Cat wrote to say that he was moved to write an extensive blog entry on the subject of XTC's late material . . . I've provocatively entitled the post “XTC - Better Than the Beatles?”.; This is Pop. A Tribute to the music of XTC: This is a PROMOTIONAL BLURB. The blurb was DESIGNED to spread the word about a concert. We hope to attract your attention so that you might attend this concert. This concert is a TRIBUTE CONCERT. The subject of the tribute is the band XTC. This is the re-do after January's XTC tribute was CANCELLED due to MULTIPLE AILMENTS. A number of musicians will be performing one to three songs by this band. The concert is going to be held at THE IRON HORSE. This is a music venue in NORTHAMPTON, MA. The concert will happen on MAY 24th. It is to begin at 10:00 PM. The whole night will consist of WONDERFUL MUSIC written by the band XTC. If you are a fan, you know how rare a show like this is. If you are not, well, just TRUST US.
April 1: It may be April Fool's Day, but Paul Myers' story, “XTC's Dave Gregory Plays The Fool”, is not a hoax.
March 29: Augie Krater scanned and cleaned up outer bags from Black Sea and Towers of London; he also scanned more labels from various Drums and Wires LPs.
March 25: Augie Krater scanned the front covers from the 12" and 7" This World Over singles. Does anybody remember vinyl?
March 17: RetroUniverse features a piece they call “XTC - Serious Skylarking”.
March 14: Orit Friedland enjoyed the idiomatic review “Slapp Happy Ecstacy — Peter Blegvad & Andy Partridge's ‘Gonwards’”.
March 10: Senses Working Overtime 2: Anyone near Minneapolis in April should not miss this show, featuring several Twin Cities luminaries, all paying tribute to the band everyone loves while raising money for women's cancer funds. Hope some of you can make it. Senses Working Overtime: An All-Star Benefit Tribute to XTC, Wednesday, April 23rd, Icehouse MPLS, 2528 Nicollet Ave South, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55404, tickets $10 advance, $12 door. Showtime is 10pm. 21+
March 7: Skylarking (polarity corrected) (preorder): “Dear God” attached, Andy Partridge's cover concept realised, and polarity corrected, this is Skylarking as XTC intended the world to see and hear it. Now, some 28 years after its initial recording and release, Skylarking finally appears on CD as it was originally intended to sound and in the packaging as initially envisaged. Available for pre-order now, from Ape.
February 26: Chris Vasi transcribed parts of “Miniature Sun”.
February 25: Daniel Williams thought we might be interested in “45 45s #29 XTC - Love on a farmboy's wages (Virgin, 1983)”.
February 12: Nick Reed calls our attention to this review of White Music, published to coincide with his Quietus review of Oranges & Lemons.
February 11: John Da Silva points out “25 Years On: XTC's Oranges & Lemons Revisited” in The Quietus.; Francisco Javier Tenas serves us “XTC: Crackers in Caracas” in Uncut.
February 9: Roberto Jesús Serrano Bazán shared this photo of Andy Partridge and his mum from Smash Hits, August 6-19 1981.; Bekky Shouty Ant drew this doodle featuring Terry Chambers, based on “All You Pretty Girls”.; Andy Partridge sent Keith Parks this autographed “Mayor of Simpleton” video many years ago.
February 2: Andy Ball writes, “I grew up in Swindon in 60/70/80s, I believe these [this, that, and the other one] to be some of the earliest pics of XTC. At this time one of my classmates, Jon Perkins was keyboard player, the other members were Andy, Colin and Terry. The pics are from a gig at the Town Gardens Bowl Swindon can't remember the date maybe summer 76 or 77. . . maybe as early as 75 . . .”
January 20: Mon Oncle y “XTC o el lado ilustre del pop”.
January 17: Thomas Thomsen reviewed Nonsuch for Volt & Voltage.
January 5: Michael Ricci, founder and publisher of All About Jazz, sent a note to tell us about this review of Steven Wilson's recent remixing projects, including Nonsuch.; Jens G. Clausen found that “XTC's Andy Partridge wants to do the Nasty with the ‘Statue of Liberty’”, at least according to Dangerous Minds.; Nick Harman sent a note to say he found some old negatives in his loft, which happen to be photos of XTC in concert in 1980.

2013

December 14: Check out Dan Chusid's photos of XTC '81 Black Sea tour.; Aquarian Weekly published this interview with Andy Partridge” circa 1999 to promote Apple Venus.; Augie Krater rides again! See the labels of the European (A and B), Italian (A and B), and Korean (A and B) 25 O'Clock LPs, the cover of the original UK English Settlement CD, the cover of the UK Go 2 cassette, and the Canadian The Disappointed promo CD.
December 10: Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: Backseat Mafia.; “Dear God” reviewed: The Dancing Rest · Music Insanity.; Matthew Berlyant of The Big Takeover shares his ten favorite XTC albums. 5 shares 5 Essential XTC Albums.; Skylarking reviewed: Burning Wood.; Mick Jones of The Clash and Colin Moulding of XTC are compared in “Mick and Colin: The Nice Voiced, Hit-Writing Second Fiddles”, at Where's That Sound Coming From?.; The Hesitant Calamari obsesses over “Nuts and Crisps, Paper and Coins”.; XTC as The Dukes of Stratosphear's 25 O'Clock reviewed: VoVatia.; Rock Town Hall rues the “Best Live Band That's Best Known for Not Playing Live: XTC”.; BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert reviewed: Accelerated Decrepitude.; Reselect.com reviews and compares The Dukes of Stratosphear/Pink Floyd: “Bike Ride to the Moon/Bike”.; It's free association time with St. Andrew of Bedroom Rock: Andy Partridge in Blurt.
December 7: The Fire Note reviews Drums And Wires.; Power of Pop reviews Wasp Star.
December 3: Nonsuch reviewed: For Malcontents Only · C-Noise.; C-Noise reviews Oranges and Lemons, Go 2, Mummer, English Settlement, White Music, Black Sea, Drums and Wires, The Big Express, Skylarking and The Dukes Of Stratosphear's Chips From The Chocolate Fireball.
November 26: Nonsuch CD+Blu-ray reviewed: Super Deluxe Edition.
November 24: Marty Willson Piper reviews Skylarking.
November 23: Nonsuch reviewed: Flipside Reviews.
November 16: Record Collector reviewed Nonsuch.
November 12: Mark Smotroff's review of the new Nonsvch 5.1 release is reviewed in Audiophile Review.
November 1: Them's The Breaks: “The Breaks is an album that takes Jen Olive the singer-songwriter and turns her into Jen Olive the recording artist... You can debate all you like whether an artist is born great, achieves greatness or has greatness thrust upon them, all I know is that this is a great album.” — Green Man. Available from 1 November at jenolive.bandcamp.com. (Andy Partridge contributes to six songs.)
October 13: Todd Bernhardt spoke with Pete Phipps. Pete Phipps is now Drummer of the Week.
September 25: Check out all of the XTC songs that Wankwinkel has covered.
September 11: Bill Sherlock let us know about Andy Partridge's thoughts on Swindon and Senses.
September 6: Jay Glacy did arrangements of two XTC tunes that he thought we would appreciate: Senses Working Overtime and Down in the Cockpit. Are there any other tunes you'd love to see transcribed? Let him know!
August 19: Parts 5 and 6 of Rich Kamerman's XTC series have been published.
August 13: Andy Partridge, Daniel Rachel and Isle of Noises: A number of people have mentioned Isle of Noises: Conversations with Great British Songwriters. In this book, the author, Daniel Rachel has an in-depth conversation Andy Partridge and others. “More than twenty of the UK's finest musicians discuss the magic and reveal the secrets behind their art in a rare collection of conversations about fifty years of classic British songwriting. It is an incredible musical journey spanning fifty years, from ‘Waterloo Sunset’ by Ray Davies to ‘The Beast’ by Laura Marling, with many lyrical and melodic secrets revealed along the way.”

“A great set of questions. I'm proud to be part of this project.” Ray Davies
“I want to read what Ray Davies said; a hero of mine.” Andy Partridge
August 4: Paul Ferguson has transcribed the extended solo from “That Wave”.
August 3: October date for Nonsuch 5.1 Remixes: Nonsuch is the first in a series of expanded XTC album editions including 5.1 surround mixes, new stereo mixes and high-resolution stereo mixes of the original material along with a wealth of extra audio and visual material. Steven Wilson has produced the new mixes with the input of founding band member Andy Partridge and the full approval of the band. Presented in special packaging with an expanded booklet and sleeve notes by Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory, two formats will be available including a CD plus DVD-Audio version, and a CD plus Blu-Ray version with many extras.
August 2: Part 4 of Rich Kamerman's XTC series is out now.
July 28: Colin Moulding helped record and mix the album Threads, by Emily Drake. You can hear a few of the tracks on her Bandcamp page.
July 26: Part 3 of Rich Kamerman's XTC series has been published.; Paul Ferguson had a go working out the solo to “Crocodile”.
July 24: Colin Moulding Flies Like an Eagle: James J Myers Jr informs us that “Colin Moulding sings The Steve Miller Band's ‘Take The Money And Run’ on an upcoming tribute album. Of all things...” The tribute album was produced by Billy Sherwood (of course) and is entitled Fly Like An Eagle - An All-Star Tribute to Steve Miller Band. Another quality release from Purple Pyramid Records.
July 17: Rich Kamerman wrote again: “XTC Part 2 — Making Plans And Knuckling Down”.
July 12: Rich Kamerman wrote to say that he has “. . . turned my attention back to [XTC's] catalog, where I'll be discussing their music a few albums at a time in the latest series at my blog.” His first post: “Thoughts On An Artist / This Is Pop”.
July 6: Augie Krater scanned a number of labels from Drums and Wires LPs, including those from Mexico (A and B), Greece (A and B), Italy (A and B), Japan (A and B), and Portugal (A and B), and labels from the Australian Senses Working Overtime 12" single (A and B).
July 5: LêA painted a new picture, loosely based on “Miniature Sun”.; Jim Fitzsimons found this articles in Stuck in the '80s: 'Urgh! A Music War' Week: XTC.
July 3: Tor Lier found “Singles reviewed by Morrissey” from 1984, including XTC's This World Over.
June 11: Dan Cahillane says, “My friend Patrick writes a cycling blog. The recent birth of a son brought up some wonderful thoughts.”
June 10: Wing Beat Elastic reviewed: philipbrasor.com.
June 9: Andy Partridge contributed art direction and additional production on the “3 extracts from the Nobots EP video by Knife Machine.
June 1: Did you know that The Dukes of Stratosphear appeared on Saturday Night Live? It was “The Lost Season”.
May 19: Colin Moulding In Extremis: Britt Conley shared the fact that Colin Moulding sings lead vocals on the song “The Man Who Died Two Times” from the new progressive rock album In Extremis by Days Between Stations. The album is produced by Billy Sherwood, who also plays drums, and he's the most likely connection between Mr. Moulding and the band.
May 10: Douglas Wood transcribed the chords and guitar solo for “Life Begins at the Hop”.
May 3: Allan Knox points this out: “Miles Kane on enlisting music greats Paul Weller, Andy Partridge and Ian Broudie for his new album”, from Wales Online.
April 25: “Andy Partridge Interview: Former XTC Singer 'Can Fart Out Pop Songs' Now” says it all, really. Except that the interview is for Spinner.
April 19: The Atlantic reviewed Gonwards mostly for its artwork: “Gonwards: A Reminder of How Elaborate and Playful Album Art Can Be”.
April 18: Minneapolis XTC Tribute/Cancer Benefit: April 24, 2013, will see an all-star Minneapolis tribute to XTC to benefit the Pay It Forward Cancer Funds at North Memorial Hospital, and Essentia Health. Featuring performances by Adam Levy, Wendy Lewis, Chris Lynch and many other Minneapolis musicians. Great music and a greater cause. The Pay It Forward Fund pays basic living expenses for women in need while recovering from breast and other women's cancers. Some proceeds will benefit the Brainerd Lakes Pay It Forward for Cancer Fund through the Essentia Health-St. Joseph's Foundation. Icehouse, Mpls. Minn., $10 Advance/$12 Door, 10:00pm.
April 5: It's Here: Wing Beat Elastic. Mike Keneally says, “We hope that, if you enjoyed Wing Beat Fantastic, you'll also enjoy this probe into the layers of that album's songs, be interested to hear some of the demos I did with Andy, and appreciate the chance to hear some unreleased music from the sessions as well. . . We'd originally thought that Wing Beat Elastic might be a download-only collection, a low-profile side dish to Wing Beat Fantastic, but after arriving at the song sequence and listening to it a lot, we came to love it and wanted to give it a full CD release treatment. We still love making physical products and I think we always will.”
April 1: XTC were mentioned as a band with a “Grand Slam”, that is, four great albums in a row, in Show 383: Musical Grand Slams of Sound Opinions (thanks to Ryan Anthony).
February 26: Friend Slash Lover's video for their cover of “Dear God” is now on YouTube.
February 14: Tor Lier points out this cool interview on the Shindig website.
February 9: Gonwards reviewed: Prince Faster.
February 3: Roberto Jesús Serrano Bazán wants you to check out some photos of XTC backstage in San Francisco, California, in 1981 from Rock-N-Roll Photos by Chester Simpson.
January 28: Jean-Philippe Bonnet contributed a picture of two XTC badges from his personal collection.
January 27: Wing Beat Fantastic reviewed: Pop Rock Nation · Comarcal.net.
January 23: Mark Fisher leads us to this reprinted feature from The Guardian: XTC: 'Is there a place in rock'n'roll for a Princess Anne lookalike?'.
January 20: Today's deviations: an airbrush and collage of XTC by JSaurer; Oranges & Lemons by lordwindowlicker; “Andy Partridge of XTC - Daily Drawing 1” by SuperRetroBoy; “In Your Dictionary” by CatNior; and finally, Andy Partridge by fig13. Thank you and good night.
January 18: Morgan Fisher comments on Andy Partridge's contribution to Miniatures: “The History of Rock'n'Roll”.; Greg Windwick writes, “I was digging through some of my old negatives and found these two pictures I took with my Pentax K2 and also my ticket stubs for this XTC concert at the University of Victoria on Sunday, March 2, 1980.”
January 17: 5.1 Surround Mix of "Nonsuch" in the Works: On 12 December 2012, XTC (twitter: @xtcfans) tweeted, “Steven Wilson is currently working on 5.1 surround mix of the NONSUCH album, hooray!” Earlier today, XTC tweeted, “5.1 mix of NONSUCH sounds beautiful, we are preparing other goodies for package.” Hooray, indeed! Mr. Wilson has been creating the wonderful surround mixes for the reissued King Crimson and Jethro Tull albums. Mr. Wilson writes, “XTC is one of my all time favourite bands, so this (hopefully ongoing) project is a real honour, especially as Andy is taking a very active role in the remix process.” Very cool.
January 16: Mr. Partridge Take Away / The Lure of Salvage reviewed: I Don't Care About Sleep.
January 15: LêA painted three new pictures, based on “Mermaid Smiled“ (“La Sirena sonrió”).
January 5: A Testimonial Dinner reviewed: The Standard.
January 4: Gonwards reviewed: Tais Awards.
January 3: Popdose has made their choice of the “Top 10 Colin Moulding Songs”.
January 2: Sign Up for Autographed Copy of Sunlit Night: Erica Wexler writes, “I am happy to announce that Andy is not pregnant with twins, but you can sign up for a pre-ordered autographed copy of my album SUNLIT NIGHT at my website.” Andy Partridge acted as executive producer of Sunlit Night.
January 1: Gonwards reviewed: RSI Rete Due · 秋の夜長にティーカップの温もりを.; Wing Beat Fantastic reviewed: RSI Rete Due · Prog Archives · Babyblaue Seiten.

2012

December 30: LêA painted two new pictures, loosely based on “Playground” and “Don't Let Us Bug Ya”.; Wing Beat Fantastic reviewed: Kulturterrorismus.
December 20: Gonwards reviewed: Luna Kafé.
December 18: Wing Beat Fantastic reviewed: San Diego Troubadour · Record Collector.
December 5: Gonwards reviewed: Audiophile Review.
December 2: Gonwards reviewed: Green Man Music (thanks to Stu Rowe).
December 1: Gonwards reviewed: Le blogue de Nicolas Houle (thanks to Thierry Samzun).
November 30: Stu Rowe found this new zoo review of Gonwards.; The New Yorker published a review of Gonwards they call “The Peter Priniciple”.; Gonwards reviewed: Ondarock.
November 17: Gonwards reviewed: Distorsioni · New Statesman.
November 16: XTC man Andy Partridge discusses new album, Gonwards, on the Bowers & Wilkins Society of Sound blog (thanks to Egidio Sabbadini).
November 12: LêA painted a new picture, loosely based on “Dame Fortune”.
November 11: Gonwards reviewed: Groovers on Manoeuvres (thanks to Stu Rowe) · Record Collector · Society of Sound.
November 9: Richard Higgins let us know that Tony Visconti chose Mummer as one of his favourite albums.
October 12: Peter Blegvad and Andy Partridge have released another film from their forthcoming set Gonwards. This one is called “Worse on the Way”. Film by Mitch Friedman.; Bekky Palmer sometimes makes some fan art, including these illustrations of “Dear Madam Barnum” and “The Wheel and the Maypole”.
October 11: Peter Blegvad and Andy Partridge have released another film from their forthcoming set Gonwards. This one is called “The Devil's Lexicon”. Film by Marina Lutz.
October 9: Neil Sheppard and Ivan Carboni write to tell us about John Peel's Record Collection: X is for XTC.; Ricardo Juarez lets us know about an article about XTC conventions: “The XTC Manchester Conventions”.
September 26: Andrea Baroni reviews Wing Beat Fantastic for Storia della Musica.
September 19: Record Collector features “Reaching a Settlement”, about the creation and painful aftermath of English Settlement.
September 18: Peter Blegvad and Andy Partridge with Stu Rowe have released another film from their forthcoming set Gonwards. This one is called “From Germ To Gem”.; Gonwards available to pre-order: Gonwards, the new collaboration between Peter Blegvad and Andy Partridge, is now available for pre-order. Ape House will publish the set as a standard CD, via download and in a limited edition CD/DVDA autographed box set. The box set will include many extras, including extra tracks and films, an exclusive card game, and a lyric book. The set will be available on 22 October 2012.
September 15: SmashingMelons contributed a painting of “Ballet For a Rainy Day”.
September 7: Gordon Fleming found the “Top 10 end-of-summer songs” on Jam! Music.
September 2: Jeff Truzzi updated the chords to “Humble Daisy” to “include the last chord that Andy told [him] about!”
August 21: First video release from Gonwards: Stu Rowe posted this: “First video release from the new Peter Blegvad/Andy Partridge album Gonwards - out in October on Ape House...” It's the video for “Sacred Objects”. Film by Stu Rowe and Andy Partridge, lyrics and vocal by Peter Blegvad, music by Andy Partridge and Stu Rowe.
July 11: “Fantastic” News: Mike Keneally writes, “Fellow humans! Hail! Finally it's time to say this, and it's a sincere pleasure to do so: Wing Beat Fantastic, my new album made up primarily of songs co-written by myself and Andy Partridge, will be released on July 24! Of this year! And it's available for pre-order now! It's available on CD and/or digital download (mp3 or FLAC, beginning July 24). There's also a Wing Beat Fantastic T-shirt. . .”
July 8: Daniel Pinder sent in new transcriptions of the chords to “Season Cycle” and “Summer's Cauldron”.
June 24: Fossil Fools have been unable to replace their fourth member, so they have hung up their hats.; Jerry Ewing wrote to say that Prog Magazine has a four page feature on XTC in their latest issue, including new interviews with Andy Partridge and Dave Gregory.
June 23: Mark Caro writes “Bad celebrity tweet triggers word dilemma” (although calling Andy Partridge a “celebrity” is perhaps an exaggeration).; “Fantastic” News: Mike Keneally writes, “. . . we'll soon be announcing pre-order for information for Wing Beat Fantastic, my new album of songs written by me and Andy Partridge. Because it's done. Finally. It's done. Mastered, packaged, the lot. The release date is July 24 but we'll make it available for pre-order before then.”
June 10: Jon Holden-Dye points us to My Wall of Tapes.; Check Point Karma? Check: Progmeister Billy Sherwood has produced two all-star albums which will see an August 14, 2012, release. The first is Songs of the Century — An All-Star Tribute to Supertramp, on which Colin Moulding sings “It's Raining Again”, a hit for Supertramp in 1982. The second album is entitled The Prog Collective, on which Mr. Moulding sings an original song by Mr. Sherwood entitled “Check Point Karma”.
June 2: Egidio Sabbadini shared a photo: Central Park, December 1980.
May 30: Joshua Crime learned the solo for “The Smartest Monkeys” on guitar, and now he's gone and transcribed it for you.
May 23: Here's a little article in Italian: “Il Ripasso 10: XTC”.; Blur release Andy Partridge productions: On 30 July 2012, Blur will release Blur 21: The Box, a deluxe 21 disc set, featuring three never-before-released recordings produced by Andy Partridge (of XTC): “Coping”, “Sunday Sleep (Sunday Sunday version)” and “7 Days”. (Blur went on to rerecord those songs with producer Stephen Street for their album Modern Life is Rubbish.); Erica Wexler gives away “Flesh”: Erica Wexler has announced a free giveaway of “Flesh”, a track from her forthcoming debut album Sunlit Night (executive producer: Andy Partridge). The album is due to be released on 3 September 2012, preceded by an EP entitled Wildflowers scheduled for 25 June 2012.
May 19: Rob Hill points us to “The Brit List: Five Great XTC Songs Every Household Should Own” on BBC America.
April 28: Ray Hill shared some magazine covers: New Musical Express, October 21, 1978, New Musical Express, 20 September 1980 and Record Mirror, October 11, 1980.
April 21: Augie Krater writes, “Good lord it has been forever... but that means a bunch of wonderful goodies!” GO+ front and back; Go 2 back; English Settlement front and back; Japanese Skylarking obi; White Music back; and the (ultra-snazzy) Japanese Life Begins at the Hop cover!
April 12: Gerhard Satke has built a printable CD booklet for the Hinges CD from the Fuzzy Warbles series. Download and print yours today.
March 10: Nick Prol shared “This World Over” by anchormoth.; Check Point Karma: Billy Sherwood is in the process of recording two albums, a Supertramp tribute and an original prog-rock album. Colin Moulding of XTC will appear on the former album singing “It's Raining Again” and on the latter album on a track called “Check Point Karma”.
February 28: Brian O'Connor gives us a heads up on an interview he and his colleague did with Mr Partridge for episode 8 of their songwriting podcast, Sodajerker on Songwriting.; Another compilation that Andy and Colin won't make any money on: XTC: ESSENTIAL
(EMI Gold UK G6440982, 19th March 2012)
February 14: Dan Wiencek, once a Chalkhillian and now a contributor to Popdose, wrote this 30th anniversary review of English Settlement.
February 11: Thanks to Darlene Miller for her contribution!
February 8: Rob Hill found that XTC made the list in “Revenge of the Nerds: 10 Great Geek Bands”.
February 6: Kay Brown notified us of “A Watershed Moment: XTC's Andy Partridge On English Settlement”.
February 5: I may be slow sometimes, but I do eventually get around to it. In this case, I received some images from Bill Wikstrom two years ago. Here they are: XTC with Dave Mattacks rehearsing for the Nonsuch album at First Play Records, Gorse Hill, Swindon, March 8, 1991 (1 2 3 4 5 6); XTC, Eastern Sound Studios, Toronto, 31 May 1989; Colin's handwritten “Wake Up” lyrics, the awesome “How to Make Your Own Mummer Suit” feature, and the order form for The Bull With The Golden Guts from The Little Express; and an XTC encyclopedia entry from an unidentified book.
January 29: Some time ago Graeme Wong See sent in scans of “Pure XTC - Art for Art's Sake”, from Music Connection and “Down Your Way - XTC: a fresh helping of Ye Olde Englishe Pop” from Select. I converted them to web pages today.
January 26: Phil Poulton wrote to tell us about a “quick snap of Andy Partridge we took & tweeted yesterday - just 5 mins before a Royal visit in Swindon”.
January 25: Rob Hill pointed out “New Music for Old People: Beatlemaniacs” in which Al Kooper says that XTC “always reminds me of what the Beatles might sound like if they had stayed together and lived longer.”
January 21: Dan Coggins sends in chords for “The Diſappointed. Check out his Oxfordshire-based covers band the The Vinyl Vandals.
January 16: Scott Nuckles sent in a sampling of scans, and I'm gradually working through them. Today's batch includes an Australian gig poster for the Cloudland show, 28-July-79, a UK advert for the Electric Ballroom show, 17-Nov-78, an autographed copy of Chalkhills and Children, and a batch of items from Paris Promotions (run by Rob Wyborn, Andy Partridge's then-brother-in-law): a pen, a catalog (front and back), an insert included with the catalog, and an apology letter. Scott also sent in this review of 3D·EP from Trouser Press (passed out at the 1993 XTC Music & Friends Convention in Princeton).
January 15: Scott Nuckles provided a pile of pictures: a promotional pack of “baseball cards” featuring a card for The Dukes of Stratosphear's Chips From the Chocolate Fireball (front) and (back), and a card for XTC's Oranges & Lemons (front) and (back), and XTC Music & Friends Convention 1993 program and ticket, and 1991 ticket.

2011

December 23: Scott Nuckles sent in a cleaner copy of the “Andy Partridge Christmas card” distributed in 1990 through The Little Express. Scott also sent in pictures of a White Music promo banner/poster and a one-piece, hanging, Black Sea promo display.
December 18: The Three Wise Men are mentioned as some of the A.V. Club's “Best Christmas music”.
December 11: Dean Skilton found an XTC article in a box in his loft. From Biz, a colour supplement to The Mail On Sunday, August 30th, 1987, it's “XTC: ‘We're the Same Plebby Carrots We Always Were’”.
December 7: Robert Wegmann covered “Sgt. Rock” and put the recording up on Soundcloud for all to hear.
November 24: Keith Newman transcribed the chords for “I'm Unbecome”, a reject from Apple Venus Volume 1.
November 11: For the practicing Duke, J. D. Mack sent in tablature for the vocal parts for ”You're My Drug”, the other is the guitar duet from “The Affiliated”.
October 16: When Gerhard Satke recently sent in some promotional photos, he also included a scan of the 1999 May “XTC: This is Pop!” feature from Gitarre & Bass magazine.
October 15: Beware the Ides of October! Did I mention that Chalkhills now has a Facebook presence? Visit us and join today!
October 11: Fossil Fools with support from The Florida Recounts: A happy combination of an active XTC forum and the rise of the band created an amazing series of gigs culminating in a gathering of XTC fans in Swindon in 2005. As an XTC tribute, the Fossil Fools know that such circumstances are unlikely to happen again, but that doesn't diminish the pure pleasure they get from bringing XTC songs to life. Come and join us! Saturday, November 12, 7:30pm, at The Dublin Castle, 94 Parkway, Camden Town. Tickets: £7 on the door; £6 in advance. Opening band is The Florida Recounts. Fossil Fools - "the official XTC tribute" - Dave Gregory.
October 5: Many thanks to John Powell for his donation.
October 1: Jeff Truzzi got the chords from the horse's mouth for “Extrovert”.; Lawrence Makow transcribed the piano intro and chords to “Pale and Precious”.
September 28: Rob Hill leads us to “Biff! Pow!: 10 Great Tunes About Superheroes”.
September 25: Gerhard Satke sent in three promotional photos, taken by Valerie Phillips, from the May 1999 issue of Gitarre & Bass magazine: Andy, Colin, and XTC.; Todd Osborn found this review of Black Sea.
September 24: The National Post says, “Let's all stop getting the 1980s wrong”, and remember XTC instead of Sting.
September 4: The Living Hamsters name-check The Dukes Of Stratosphear in their song “All In My Head” (thanks to Bob Gaulke).
September 2: Paul Ferguson tabbed out the guitar solo from “Rocket From a Bottle”.
July 16: Jared MX contributed chords to “Statue of Liberty”.
July 8: XTC's “Season Cycle” from Skylarking makes the A.V. Club's list of “Worst lyrical rhymes in popular music”.
June 25: The new book edited by Shigemasa Fujimoto: Wonderland Presents XTC Chronology 1966-1999. The new book edited by Shigemasa Fujimoto who brought you Wonderland: XTC Discography, 1991-1997. With contributions from Dave Gregory, Colin Moulding, Andy Partridge, The Little Express, and many others. Limited edition available soon by mail order only from EphemeraFile Canada.
June 11: Ape House moves to Burning Shed: Burning Shed has recently taken over ordering and fulfillment for the Ape House store. Rumour has it that the Ape House web site will be completely overhauled in the coming months.
June 3: Molly Fanton has a friend, Ghosty, who has a radio show called That Modern Rock Show. Ghosty is interviewing Andy Partridge on June 4th and June 11th thanks to Todd Bernhardt. You can listen to the show on WFDU 89.1 FM.
June 1: A Canadian teacher of English was suspended after playing “Dear God” for his class.; Peter Darvell wrote to let us know about “Chonk”, a Fuzzy Warble orphan.
May 21: Paul Ferguson used his new toy (Tablature 1.36) to transcribe the “finger-burning blister-fest” from the ending solo on “Outside World”.
May 7: Check out this cover of “Mayor of Simpleton” by The OneNeeders. Blood For Butterflies also rewrote the lyrics to “Dear God” for their cover. (Thanks to Per Aronsson.)
May 2: Chalkhills Children (K4AD tribute) now online: Lee Rosevere from Happy Puppy Records wants to let us know that Richard Pedretti-Allen has given permission to re-release the original King For A Day tribute songs (in MP3 format) in volume sets. Volume 1 is now available for download. Richard also has a few CDs available. Order yours today.
April 29: Augie Krater scanned the labels from The Dukes Of Stratosphear's 25 O'Clock: Side 1 and Side 2.
April 26: Fossil Fools gig on 9 July: Fossil Fools, the Official XTC Tribute Band, will be performing the songs of XTC on July 9, at The Vic, Swindon.
April 25: Aaron Kupferberg wrote to say, “A brand new interview with Andy Partridge has been posted today. Please check out www.powerpopaholic.com.”
April 21: Joe Lepper wrote to let us know that Neon Filler named Drums and Wires no. 3 in their Top 100 [indie and alternative] Albums of all time list.
April 17: The Master of Covers, our own Per Aronsson, has found a cache, a veritable horde, of XTC cover songs over at SoundCloud, including SchizoBrainiac's take on “This Is Pop?” and many others.
April 6: Per Aronsson, on yet another fishing expedition, found this new folky cover of “Dear God” by Freya Abbott Ferguson.
April 4: Per Aronsson, on another fishing expedition, found this cover of “Thanks for Christmas” by EXOHXO.
April 3: Per Aronsson has discovered two covers of XTC's song “The Mayor of Simpleton”, one by Cat Dail & the Magnets, and another by Losers Beat Winners. Mr. Aronsson has also found that Easterling & Gildersleeve have recorded a song entitled “XTC”, written about, yes, that English pop band by that name.
April 2: Friday, March 18, was Cool Music Friday # 16 for XTC on Mindless Mirth.
March 29: Nick Dellow “recently acquired a large number of reel-to-reel tapes, previously owned by an engineer at Capital Radio. Amongst several very interesting items was a tape of XTC's "This Is Pop". . . Also with the reel. . . was the attached letter. . .”
March 23: Bill Wikstrom noticed that Swindon Viewpoint is now featuring a number of videos of and about XTC, including, to name a few, “Dean Gabber - 'another partridge bites the dust'”, “XTC Are you receiving me”, “XTC - I am the Audience”, “XTC Manager Ian Reid”, “XTC: Super Tuff”, and more...
March 22: Keneally Records Collaboration with Andy Partridge: Mike Keneally posted an update, which says, in part, “Last week was centered around recording for the album based on the MK/Andy Partridge collaborative material (code name Dag Ol' Vedanta). I started recording final versions of two of the approximately eight songs that Andy and I have written together.” (Thanks to Remco Engels.)
March 9: JustPressPlay chose XTC as artist Number 60 in their “Fifty Years of Great Music: The Top 100 Artists” survey article. Vagalume chose XTC's Apple Venus as examples of “5 Discos: Álbuns com continuação”.
February 21: To honour the memory of Paul Culnane, I've posted his unabridged 1998 interviews with Andy Partridge and Terry Chambers from The Little Lighthouse.
February 17: Augie Krater presents a scan he's been wanting to do for years: the the beautifully simple back cover of the original UK Drums and Wires LP.
February 13: Bill Wikstrom contributed a scan of this 1983 Melody Maker piece about the album which would become Mummer, and “Brian's Children”, a Rolling Stone write-up of Skylarking. (Bill sent me all these scans in July 2009, and I'm slowly working through them still.)
February 12: Bill Wikstrom contributed a scan of this review of Nonsuch from The New Music Scene penned by Chalkhills contributor Doug Mashkow, and this story about the Acoustic Radio Tour from People.
February 11: Joe Lepper wrote to let us know about a new feature on Neon Filler: “Top 100 Albums”. Number 91 is Psonic Psunspot.
February 6: Bill Wikstrom contributed a scan of this review of English Settlement from Creem.
January 24: Australian Flood Appeal at Shepherds Bush Walkabout: Dave Gregory's band Tin Spirits will be appearing at The Walkabout on Shepherds Bush Green, London, on Saturday, 29th January. They will be taking part in a charity fund-raising day for victims of the floods in Brisbane, Australia. They expect to be on stage at around 5pm, and will play for 45 minutes or so.
January 21: Back in 1996, I recorded a demented version of XTC's “Another Satellite” mashed up with “Ypsilanti Hornpipe” and called it “Another Aerostar”, and it was included on Ian C Stewart's Skylacking - The XTC Fans' Tribute cassette. Out of print for years and now available to download.
January 18: Augie Krater scanned and cleaned and removed the ringwear on his copy of the gorgeous Grass single.
January 4: Nigels With Attitude, 2011: Nigels With Attitude, Atlanta's premier XTC tribute band, will be performing Black Sea in its entirety at Variety Playhouse, January 21, 2011, at 8:30pm. Featuring guys from Jellyfish, Sheryl Crow, You, Sarah McLachlan, and Yacht Rock Revue. Don't miss it.
January 2: I just realized I screwed up last year and did not change the volume number of the Chalkhills digest. Well, and so I engaged in a bit of revisionism and changed it now. Retroactively.

2010

December 22: Augie Krater, frustrated by the absolutely horrendous versions of the original Psonic Psunspot cover on Chalkhills, rather recklessly set about fixing it himself. Check out the result.; A Wizard A True Star: Long time Chalkhills subscriber Paul Myers has written a book entitled A Wizard, A True Star: Todd Rundgren in the Studio. The book includes an entire chapter on the recording of XTC's Skylarking. (Thanks to Bill Wikstrom.)
December 5: Augie Krater recently acquired the totally beautiful Japanese Drums and Wires LP, then he scanned the front cover and the badass obi.; XTC/Idea Records is Dead: Apparently XTC/Idea Records is no more. The web site now redirects to Andy Partridge's Ape House Records. Stay tuned to this station for more information as it becomes available.
December 4: For some reason I hadn't noticed that Paul Myers had spoken to Dave Gregory about the making of Skylarking with Todd Rundgren.
November 28: I was looking at some scans from Graeme Wong See and I noticed that Rolling Stone completely changed their web site recently. XTC no longer has an entry. Fuck 'em.
November 19: The last two pictures from Gerhard Satke's recent contribution: the Apple Box and Apple Set at a glance.
November 17: Graeme Wong See found a review of Nonsuch in an old issue of Vox magazine.
November 11: Veteran contributor Augie Krater has provided the following: a nicer scan of the front cover and a new scan of the back cover of the UK Sgt. Rock single, a nicer scan of the front cover of The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead CD single, and new scans of the nicely done front and back of the liner note insert to the Korean LP of 25 O'Clock.
November 10: I'm still working through Gerhard Satke's contributions. Now available are the following photos: the back cover and booklet and content card from Apple Box; the covers of the Apple Venus, Wasp Star, Homegrown, and Homespun CDs included in Apple Box; the front and back covers and the pictures made by assembling the front and back covers of the first 12 singles in Apple Vinyls; and, finally, the badge included in Apple Set.
November 9: Gerhard Satke sent in a huge package of photos and suggestions for Apple Box and Apple Vinyls. I think he'll be taking over as web designer.
November 5: Andy Partridge Appearing On Tim Smith (Cardiacs) Tribute: Andy Partridge will appear on Leader Of The Starry Skies: A Tribute To Tim Smith (Songbook 1), released to benefit Tim Smith, lead singer and guitarist of Cardiacs who suffered a debilitating stroke in 2008. All profits from the sale of this record will go directly to Tim Smith. (Thanks to J. D. Mack.)
November 4: XTC Tribute Gigs: Fossil Fools: Fossil Fools, the latest XTC tribute band in the UK, will be playing a number of gigs in 2011: February 26, Riff's Bar, Swindon; March 26, Dublin Castle, Camden; July 9, The Vic, Swindon.
November 3: Thierry Samzun wrote in to let us know that an article called “Utopie pop: l'héritage négligé de XTC” was published in Les Inrockuptibles.
November 2: Adrian Warren was looking though some old music mags retrieved from his loft and came across this advert for Psonic Psunspot from Melody Maker, August 8th, 1987.
October 26: Reissued Skylarking LP now Available for Pre-order: The remastered and “sonically corrected” 45-RPM heavyweight vinyl double LP of Skylarking packaged in the “original” picture sleeve is now available for pre-order from the Ape House. Be the first on your block!
October 8: Patrick Bouchez wrote with some great news: “the french audiovisual institut [INA] has converted two live shows of xtc from vhs to numéric and everybody can buy them (one show of 8 mns from 1978 for the price of 0.99 euro,the other from 1979 with the genius dave gregory on guitar (20 mns) for the price of 2.99 euro).” Thierry Samzun wrote soon thereafter to say that INA has also included the December 1978 performance of “This is Pop” on their new Chorus 3 DVD set.
October 1: October already! Augie Krater scanned the front and back covers of the Dutch Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down single and the front cover of the UK cassingle of The Diſappointed.
September 22: Brandon Rios wrote to mention that on his downtime at work, he covered “Earn Enough for Us” using Ableton Live.
August 20: In 2005, Euron Griffith interviewed Andy Partridge for the BBC. In that interview, Mr. Partridge made a list of his favorite XTC tracks. (Thanks to Chris Handy and Euron Griffith.)
August 6: Augie Krater scanned the cover of the Virgin UK White Music LP.
August 5: Thanks to Augie Krater for pointing out the obvious answer to my question regarding the Wake Up single, which was “Why 7:46?” The answer is that the catalog number of the single is VS746. Silly me.
July 22: Augie Krater did some shopping and scanning: the front cover and back cover of the Virgin UK This Is Pop? 7" single and the front cover of the Virgin UK Life Begins at the Hop 7" single.
July 11: Bill Sherman transcribed the lyrics to “Didn't Hurt a Bit” from Coat of Many Cupboards.
July 7: Augie Krater would like to present the back cover of the æsthetically and sonically beautiful Wasp Star LP package.
July 2: Paul Ferguson audaciously contributed tablature for Dave Gregory's guitar solos on “That's Really Super, Supergirl”, “Real by Reel” and “Dear God”.; Today's offering from Augie Krater is the totally awesome back of the “Ball and Chain” 7" single.
June 28: Nick Prol said, about Chalkhills, “Fantastic website!” and contributed a piece of fan art.; Augie Krater found this cool 1978 promo pic of XTC.
June 12: Duncan Watson scanned his copy of the promotional DVD-ROM of the Fuzzy Warbles Collectors Album. Does anybody have a spare copy they can send me?; Duncan also contributed images of the front and back covers of his UK cassette single of The Diſappointed.
June 10: Colin Moulding News: Duncan Maitland writes to say, “My new album, called Lullabies For The 21st Century … features Colin Moulding on bass! Colin plays (beautifully as always - the part is a real Moulding work of art!) on the opening track - ‘Your Century’. I don't know if I have my facts straight but might this be his first bass outing in about nine years? Either way, I know XTC fans certainly won't be disappointed with his playing and may rather enjoy my album into the bargain!”
June 5: Steven Campbell wrote to inform us of his new music-focused website called Nightfly Press and his feature “In The Limelight” showcasing great musicians.
June 4: Fossil Fools move to The Rolleston: The Fossil Fools show has moved from The Furnace to The Rolleston! That's right, Fossil Fools will be playing a FREE gig at The Rolleston, in Swindon, playing the music of XTC in the home of XTC on Friday, 11 June 2010. The fun starts at 8.30pm. 18 years and older, please.
June 2: Graeme Wong See contributed a scan of an ad for Nonsvch from the 2 May 1992 issue of NME.
May 31: Graeme Wong See contributed a scan of “XTC in Germany (or It's the Fort That Counts)” from a February or March 1982 issue of Smash Hits.
May 15: Thierry Samzun wrote with some news from France: “One of the best french rock critics, François Gorin, has a blog : disques rayés. Four pages about xtc can be seen here.”
May 4: Augie Krater found this pre-release Oranges and Lemons promotional cassette.
May 2: Ricardo Juarez sent in a photo of a review of Nonsuch from the April 1992 issue of the Canadian music magazine Network.
April 23: The Musical Box features two articles about XTC: “Dukes of stratosphear. E che la psichedelia degli Xtc sia con voi”, and “Xtc, this is pop”.
April 22: Tim Harris has contributed chords to “Tin Toy Clockwork Train”.
April 19: MusicKO reviews Chips From The Chocolate Fireball, Fossil Fuel, and Upsy Daisy Assortment.; Sentire Ascoltare reviews English Settlement.
April 17: I'm doing some site maintenance. See what you will see.
April 16: A.V. Club writes about The Dukes of Stratosphear in “Mariachi El What? The Bronx and 6 other bands with alter-egos”.
April 14: Per Aronsson found a new cover of “Generals and Majors” by Danger, Ltd.. Give it a spin.; This is Wiltshire puts the Spotlight on...Andy Partridge.
April 11: Graeme Wong See sent in this review of Nonsvch from On The Street magazine.; The Everyday Story of Smalltown: On Thursday, 15 April 2010, 11.30am, BBC Radio 4 will feature Black and White Towns, wherein John Harris takes a look at British inbetweenland suburbs and provincial towns, examining their importance in the development of British pop music. He'll be talking to Andy Partridge of XTC, Damon Albarn of Blur, Louise Wener of Sleeper, and others, and contrasts this to the poetry of John Betjeman and Philip Larkin.
April 10: Robert Mallows sent in this Lost Treasure from this month's issue of Q.; Augie Krater found this cassette of Oranges & Lemons from the Philippines (and the sleeve, too), but so far as I know did not actually buy it.
April 3: Swindon on a Thin Wire: The January 10, 1980, issue of Smash Hits mentioned that Andy Partridge of XTC was to release an album to be called Take Away (The Lure of Salvage). (Thanks to Brian Damage.); The March 20, 1980, issue of Smash Hits included a free flexi-disc with a new version of XTC's “Ten Feet Tall”. The issue also included the lyrics. (Thanks to Brian Damage.)
April 2: “The Kinks, the Jam, Blur, Arctic Monkeys - all sang about the drabness and conformity of small towns and their ‘respectable streets’. For Wilmslow boy John Harris, these lyrics are part of a tradition that takes in Orwell, Larkin and Betjeman: The sound of the suburbs and literary tradition”, The Guardian. (Thanks to Rob Hill.); Augie Krater bought the Mayor of Simpleton cassette single and scanned its cover. Here it is.; And in other news: XTC FAMOUS: OFFICIAL! (Thanks to Brian Damage.); Smash Hits reviewed Mr Partridge's Take Away in their March 6, 1980, issue. (Thanks to Brian Damage.)
March 27: The only notes that count are the ones that come from Wilts: “The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindon”, Smash Hits, November 1, 1979. (Thanks to Brian Damage.)
March 26: Mark Fisher let us know about Artrocker's review of “XTC: The Complete Works”.; Check out these Smash Hits Reviews: Singles - by Andy Partridge of XTC in which our intrepid hero predicts that “Video Killed The Radio Star” by The Buggles won't be a hit. (Thanks to Brian Damage.); In case you ever wondered how to play the “Making Plans for Nigel” game, Andy Partridge is here to help. He was Making Rules for Nigel in the October 4, 1979, issue of Smash Hits. The lyrics for “Making Plans for Nigel” are featured later in the same issue. (Thanks to Brian Damage.)
March 23: Brian Damage is gradually putting up an issue of Smash Hits every fortnight, on the 30th anniversary of the original publication date. The September 6-19, 1979, issue features an advertisement for the limited edition Making Plans For Nigel game single.
March 19: Nick Reed has done a full career review of XTC (more or less).
March 8: Jean-Jacques Massé convinced me to transcribe the Go 2 promotional biography.
March 4: Les Meilleurs avec XTC: Michael Kijser wrote to let us know that the French band Les France Cartigny released their latest album Les Meilleurs in 2008. On the cover, you can see the musicians and a few record sleeves in the foreground. Look carefully, and perhaps you will be able to identify one of their influences.
March 1: New Nigels With Attitude show in Atlanta: The tribute band Nigels With Attitude have announced their next show! The show will be on Wednesday, April 14, 2010, at The Earl in East Atlanta. Come see the best musicians of Atlanta perform the music of XTC! (Thanks to Rob Leary.)
February 27: Bill Wikstrom scanned “XTC: Ninjas of the Mundane” from Rolling Stone, April 1989.
February 25: Per Aronsson located a few more covers of XTC songs, including recordings by Household Names, My Friend Rachael, and In Time.
February 20: Bill Wikstrom contributed a scan of “The X Factor: Andy Partridge of XTC” from the January 1988 issue of Guitar.
February 19: Doug Bailey scanned the cover of the Hinges collection CD included with The Official Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album box set. He also noticed a missing version of “King for a Day”.
February 17: Tyler Hewitt was the first to let us know about “Parcels from a Patchouli Past: An Interview with Andrew Partridge” in PopMatters.
February 14: Bill Wikstrom has provided an updated version of “XTC: Free at Last, Free at Last” from the April 1992 issue of Reflex magazine.; Augie Krater bought the Statue of Liberty single and scanned it.; Tributosaurus Signature Series: XTC 2: Tributosaurus returns for two XTC tribute shows, so here's your chance to see and hear a reconstruction of XTC's unique production style in a live venue. They will be playing two shows (7pm & 10pm) on March 3 at Martyrs' in Chicago. Don't miss them this time!
February 12: Ape Loves Haiti: Ape Loves Haiti is a download-only compilation, all proceeds of which will go to the Disasters Emergency Committee, so please be generous. There are a few surprises and exclusives, and beautiful artwork has been donated by Andrew Swainson. The album is offered through July, so buy early and buy often. You can also donate an extra £3 or £5 when you buy, so please support the people of Haiti and hear some great music in the process.
February 8: Bill Wikstrom provided this review of Skylarking from The Georgia Straight.
February 4: Augie Krater noticed that it'd been far too long since there was any news, so he did the obvious thing and bought the Japanese Making Plans for Nigel single, and scanned it, which was a bit tough due to the condition of the cover. And then he scanned the back cover for good measure.
January 26: Bill Wikstrom points out that XTC's “Dear God” video is #62 on VH1's “100 Greatest One Hit Wonders Of The 80s” list.; Augie Krater presents this detail from the cover of Skylarking. Snipping, snipping, snipping goes the Scissor Man.
January 24: Augie Krater scanned and tweezed and huffed and puffed and was ultimately defeated by the cover of Skylarking. That'll do, pig.
January 18: Duncan Watson provided higher quality scans of The Official Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Sampler front cover, back cover, and CD.
January 17: Leisure does XTC: Last September, the Ohio pop band Leisure (formerly The Bees) received a request to play an entire evening of XTC songs as a surprise for the bachelor party of a diehard XTC fan. They're going to reprise the show for public consumption next month. Don't miss this show if you're anywhere near Cincinnati. Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 9:30pm, 3rd floor, Molly Malone's, 112 East 4th Steet, Covington, KY. $5, ages 21+.
January 13: Bill Kopp noticed I tagged him, so he sent in some more articles, including “Monstrance - Don't Call it a Jam”, originally published in the September/October 2007 of Skope, and a review of Dave Gregory's Remoulds, published in Skope in 2008.
January 10: Augie Krater scanned and tweezed and cleaned up and perfected the front cover of Oranges & Lemons.
January 7: Mark Bignell clued us in to this Album Review: The Dukes of Stratosphear - The Complete and Utter Dukes by Bill Kopp for Musoscribe.
January 4: Joshuacrime sent in tablature for Dave Gregory's solo on “Extrovert”.; Augie Krater scanned and tweezed and cleaned up and perfected the front and back covers of the Wake Up single. Question: why 7:46?
January 2: Orpheus in Orpheus: Orpheus, a new ballet by John Neumeier, is being performed this month at the Hamburg Ballet. The ballet, “dedicated to the mythical figure Orpheus — Champion of boundless civilization, poet and singer, unquestioning lover, mediator between this life and the hereafter, son of pagan gods and harbinger symbol of Christ”, features the music of Stravinsky, Ignaz, Biber, and four songs from Orpheus — the Lowdown by Peter Blegvad and Andy Partridge.

2009

December 31: Remco Engels wrote to say that two XTC songs appear in the Dutch Radio 2 Top 2000 of 2009 list: “Senses Working Overtime” at Nr. 1682 and “Making Plans for Nigel” at Nr. 1367. He also notes that this is the first time any XTC song has made it to the list.
December 27: Gerhard Satke provided scans of the front and back cover of the Spiral / Say It single from the Apple Vinyls set (along with some additional information as you will see).
December 26: Ben Gott scanned a couple of XTC items from his collection (he was cleaning his basement). Here's an advert for the 1991 XTC Convention (from the Little Express) and a 1979 promotional photo of the band.
December 23: Kiytaka Aimoto wrote to tell us that Yukiko Hayashi covered “Dear God” on her album Timbre in 2007.
December 14: Jeff Truzzi sent in the chords for “Thanks for Christmas”. 'Tis the season, etc.
December 9: Jean Christophe Prunet sent in a pic of his ticket to see XTC at Le Palace, Paris, on the fateful night of 18 March 1982 when Andy Partridge stumbled off the stage, the victim of exhaustion, valium addiction and an uncaring music business machine, and three snapshots he took of the band performing: Andy, Colin and XTC (although only the headstock of Dave's guitar is visible).
December 8: Fossil Fools at the Furnace: Tin Spirits, featuring erstwhile XTC guitar slinger Dave Gregory, will be performing at The Furnace, Swindon, on Friday, 29 January 2010. Tin Spirits is a prog rock band covering the likes of Yes, Radiohead, Genesis and more, but on that night Mr Gregory will also be supported by XTC tribute band Fossil Fools. Tickets are £8 advance/£10 at the door. Thanks to Status Promotions!
December 7: Nonsuch reviewed: Vinyl Tap.; The Complete and Utter Dukes reviewed: Blogcritics.
December 6: Many hours of effort went into reconstructing “Permanent Bliss: The Immutable Pleasures of XTC”, a tribute piece from Filter magazine, September 2007. Thanks to Bill Wikstrom for the scans and Microsoft OCR for the text.
November 30: The Economic Voice features a piece on “Great British Bands: XTC”.; Bill Gibron enjoys the entire XTC catalog as one of his “20 Indirect Beatle Memories” at PopMatters.; Augie Krater scanned and tweezed and cleaned up and perfected the front cover of the Dukes of Stratosphear's You're a Good Man Albert Brown single and the front and back covers of The Colonel's Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen single.
November 29: Thanks to Stuart Draper, who identified this photo of Andy Partridge as originating in Smash Hits, 1982.; Graeme Wong See scanned “XTC: Next!” from a 1989 issue of Countdown magazine.; Another eBay score: the Philippine 7-inch single of King for a Day”.
November 28: Bill Wikstrom scanned this Psonic photo of The Dukes of Stratosphear.
November 27: Bill Wikstrom sent in a scan of “Rock's Lost God” from Christianity Today, 1987.; Mr. Partridge is not Lightheaded: Years ago Andy Partridge worked with animator Mike Dacko on music for a short film called Lightheaded. Apparently Mr. Dacko has more recently worked with Thievery Corporation and has decided not to use Mr. Partridge's music. The film has gone on to win numerous awards.
November 24: eBay is always an interesting source of XTC memorabilia. Yesterday I found the following: a “Top Concerts” poster from Billboard, a Virgin U.K. tour poster from September 1979, a band poster from Smash Hits, and a page from a magazine featuring Andy Partridge reading Tales From The Dark Continent.
November 23: Here are two Oranges & Lemons promo photos, one by Sheila Rock and another by Greg Allen, courtesy of Bill Wikstrom, who also provided this review of Oranges & Lemons from High Fidelity magazine, which I have just now transcribed.
November 22: Long ago Bill Wikstrom sent me this acoustic radio tour report from Rolling Stone. I finally got around to transcribing it.
November 21: Bill Wikstrom sent in this Virgin U.S.A. press release for Drums & Wires.
November 15: Bernward Meier reviewed The Big Express for Musik Express/Sounds magazine in November 1984. Last April he scanned the review and finally I got around to transcribing it.; Ben Gott scanned the cover, booklet, back insert, and CD of the Homo Safari in Beantown bootleg CD.
November 12: Matt Neal wrote to alert us to his latest musicological blog entry, “Five songs about the Cold War”, in The Standard.; Jared Morris sent in chords and tab for “Bland Leading The Bland”.
November 11: George Gimarc “Found a few goofy fotos from the distant past that might amuse. We've got a snap from the recording of that Skylarking interview LP for Warner Bros., a pix taken during the BBC sessions in north London. Andy was mixing ‘Seagulls Screaming...’ and I asked him for an action shot. And Andy and I in some of the mummer suits that were still around at the time of Skylarking. I couldn't take one home (no room in the suitcase) so I asked for a photo instead !”
November 10: Keneally and Partridge News: Remco Engels sent a note recently in he said, “. . . big big and huge compliments for your fantastic Chalkhills site!” But he also pointed out that Mike Keneally says that he is working on “. . . a collection of new songs co-written with Andy Partridge . . .” Of course, Keneally said the same thing in April 2008 and the project appears to have kicked off in some small way in May 2004. Patience. Patience.
November 8: Tin Spirits Play Stompbox: Stompbox, the UK's first dedicated effects pedal shoppe, is hosting a launch party on Wednesday 18th November at their shoppe located in Northwood, North West London. The band Tin Spirits, featuring Dave Gregory on guitar, perform live at neighbouring Woody's Music Bar. There will also be a charity raffle to raise money for Cancer Research UK.
November 3: David Mead writes about “Dear God” in American Songwriter.; Atlanta XTC tribute to play again: The great XTC tribute band Nigels With Attitude (featuring Tim Smith and Peter Stroud from Sheryl Crow's touring band) is playing again. Their little septet also features Nick Niespodzani, Kevin Spencer, Geoff Melkonian, Mark Cobb and Mark Bencuya. The show starts at 8:30pm on Tuesday, November 24, 2009, at The Earl, 488 Flat Shoals Ave. SE, Atlanta, Georgia. Tickets are $10 in advance. (Thanks to Andisheh Nouraee.)
October 25: More backlog from the collection of Bill Wikstrom: a May 1982 news story from Creem; a 1984 review of English Settlement from Heavy Metal; and a review of Best Hits from Stereo Review.
October 24: Here's a Rolling Stone review of Psonic Psunspot and a Sydney Morning Herald review of Fossil Fuel, thanks to Graeme Wong See.
October 23: I just discovered The Beat Patrol in which I found many XTC articles and reviews. Good stuff!
October 22: Graeme Wong See scanned some articles, enabling me to pull an Augie Krater on “XTC: The Reluctant Gods of Smart Pop”, Guitar Player, June 1992.
October 18: More backlog from the collection of Bill Wikstrom: tour poster from May 1982 cancelled performance at the Ritz, NYC, XTC as “Virgin Soldiers” from Flexipop magazine, early 1981, Andy and Bill at HMV, NYC, the advert for the HMV appearance, autographed Live & More, autographed Oranges & Lemons promo photo; three photos of Colin and Andy at Tower Records in February 1999: with Bill, and without Bill; and six photos of an XTC in-store appearance at Record World, June 29, 1989: advertisement, displays, displays, displays, Colin and Andy, and an autographed keepsake.; Find the Silver Key: The Silver Key has been released and the treasure hunt has begun! Dave Gregory plays on two tracks on the rather unusual album by The Weirdo Deluxe. “Somewhere in the United States is hidden The Silver Key. All the clues needed to find it are hidden in this album.” The initial shipment to CDBaby has sold out, and the album is also available for download there and at iTunes.
October 17: Augie Krater found a big 10-inch vinyl copy of The Diſappointed. Give thanks for his scans of the front and back covers. You won't be disappointed.; I'm working through my backlog again: today we feature images of front and back of the XTC Discography (Brad Nelson, Bremerton, Washington), a 1982 promo photo from Epic Records USA, and a 1989 promo photo from Geffen Records USA, all from the collection of Bill Wikstrom.
October 11: D. Gstalder sent in some tab for “Statue of Liberty”.; Bill Wikstrom contributed pictures of various Geffen USA Oranges & Lemons releases, including the front and back covers and the back cover of the booklet of the CD and the J-card from the advance cassette.
October 9: Paul Myers says, “Didn't win Nobel Prize, but my XTC interview is up at Crawdaddy.com. Go read it (if you're so inclined) and if you do, leave a (kind) comment in their (not my) comments area so they know that people actually read these things. Thanks!”
October 3: XTC is one of Five bands who pretended to be different bands (The Standard).
October 1: Psonic Psunspot reviewed: Neon Filler.
September 30: Harry Partridge has created this animated short which briefly mentions XTC.
September 29: Augie Krater scanned more pics from the liner notes of his English English Settlement LP, including these photos of Terry Chambers, Dave Gregory, Colin Moulding and Andy Partridge.
September 28: Joshuacrime contributed tablature for the guitar solo to ‘Rocket From a Bottle”. Stretch your fingers out, boys. And girls.
September 25: Dave Roberts created a series of xTc Mega-Medleys featuring bits and pieces of all his favorite XTC songs.; Augie Krater found an original English English Settlement LP, and here's the proof.
September 17: Joe Lepper mentions that XTC made it into their Top Ten Indie/Alternative Music TV Moments.
September 9: Black Sea reviewed: Glorious Noise.
September 7: Egidio Sabbadini shared this “XTC — General Introduction” from MusicKO, which also features reviews of White Music, Drums & Wires and Black Sea.
September 6: Another round of scans from the collection of Bill Wikstrom has produced these lovelies: a magazine advert for Transistor Blast, Canadian The Big Express cassette, Caroline USA The Big Express CD, lyrics from The Big Express CD, Geffen USA The Big Express cassette, advert for February 23, 1999, in-store appearance at Tower Records, NY, NY, half-page advert for Wasp Star, cover of White Music Epic USA cassette, photo from White Music CD booklet, cover of Geffen USA White Music cassette, cover of Virgin UK White Music cassette, side one and side two of the Virgin UK White Music cassette tape, back and front covers of the Waxworks CD, cover of the Geffen USA Waxworks cassette, liner notes and band photo from Japanese Live & More mini-LP, liner notes and cover of the Geffen USA English Settlement cassette, a poster advertising XTC at CBGB in January 1979, and Look, Up In The Sky, a bootleg cassette of the Skylarking demos.
September 5: Skylarking images from the collection of Bill Wikstrom: Geffen USA cassette covers, Mark I (with “Mermaid Smiled”, Mark II (with “Dear God”, liner notes to the same, and an alternate promotional photo.; Duncan Watson sent in a scan of the cover of the Virgin UK Psonic Psunspot cassette.; Wasp Star remembered: The Wall Street Journal.; Skylarking remembered: Otago Daily Times.
August 30: Bill Wikstrom has provided a pile of images that I am slowly digging myself out from under: Go 2 (back, poem from the LP, Barry Andrews' photos from the LP, a piece of “Science Friction” cardboard, Virgin International cassette cover, side one and side two; Mummer CD back cover, cassette cover and back cover; Nonsuch 2001 CD cover, CD back cover, cassette cover, UK CD case and LP back cover; Oranges & Lemons cassette; Rag & Bone Buffet cassette front and back cover; and lastly, a tour poster from My Father's Place for Dec. 2, 1980.
August 29: More images from Bill Wikstrom, this time including various Drums and Wires (cover of the Geffen US CD, lyrics and liner notes from the Virgin UK LP) and English Settlement (cover of the US Caroline CD (without The Horse), cover of the US Caroline CD (with The Horse), cover of the Italian cassette, and an advert from Musician magazine), and Studiosongs 1-11 bootleg images.
August 26: Thierry Samzun let us know that Guts of Darkness had reviewed Drums and Wires, Black Sea and Orpheus — The Lowdown.
August 23: More images from Bill Wikstrom: the cover of the US Psonic Psunspot cassette, Drums and Wires 2001 US CD liner image, another Drums and Wires 2001 US CD liner image, and the cover of the US Drums and Wires cassette. More to come.
August 20: Andisheh Nouraee reviewed the recent XTC Tribute Show at Eddie's Attic in Decatur, Georgia.
August 19: Augie Krater scanned and tweezed the obverse and reverse of the Are You Receiving Me? single pic sleeve.
August 17: Songs The Dukes of Stratosphear Taught Us: The English Psychedelia That Influenced The Dukes of Stratosphear: Picture yourself in a boat on a river that leads from 1967's jolly wonderland of English Psychedelia right up to the paisley lollipop of 1984's 25 O'Clock by the Dukes of Stratosphear. DJ Robby will play an upsy-daisy assortment of classic English 60s psych that directly influenced the Dukes (and a healthy bit of the Dukes as well!). And if that ain't enough, continue further up selfsame river to 2 hours of Robby's favourite XTC songs on WXDU's Mystery Show immediately thereafter. 9pm-Midnight Sunday August 23rd, 2009!
August 16: Prairie Prince discusses “Apple Venus Volume 1” and his rôle in the album.
August 9: Bill Wikstrom contributed more scans: UK 25 O'Clock cassette, Australia 25 O'Clock cassette, disclaimer from UK 25 O'Clock, Black Sea LP inner sleeve front and back, and finally, the liner notes from The Bull With The Golden Guts.
August 8: Bill Wikstrom has been scanning his collection and contributing to Chalkhills: US Black Sea cassette, Japanese Black Sea CD obi, UK Black Sea CD liner pic, US Apple Venus Volume 1 cassette, TVT USA advert for Apple Venus Volume 1, and another such advert.; Richard Schilke has transcribed the lyrics to ‘Do the Dwarf” from the so-called ‘Drunken Jam Sessions”.
August 2: Colin talks about “Ball and Chain” with our top man at XTCfans.
July 31: John Lane let us know about “XTC: The Never-Ending Obituary” in Popshifter.
July 28: XTC tribute at Eddie's Attic Aug 12 in Decatur, Georgia: Peter Stroud and bandmate Tim Smith have pulled together a group of friends including Nick Niespodzani, Kevin Spencer, Geoff Melkonian, Mark Cobb and Mark Bencuya, to play An Evening of XTC. The show starts at 8pm on Wednesday, August 12th, at Eddie's Attic, Decatur, Georgia. Tix are $10 in advance/$12 day of show. (Thanks to Andisheh Nouraee.)
July 20: Find the Silver Key: Dave Gregory plays on two tracks on The Silver Key, a rather unusual album by The Weirdo Deluxe. “Somewhere in the United States is hidden The Silver Key. All the clues needed to find it are hidden in this album.”
July 19: Alright, all you xtcfans, this week's song is “Human Alchemy”.
July 14: Rev. Syung Yung Me wrote a review of 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot for Kittysneezes.com. Another review of those albums can be found at Psychedelic Sight.; Robbie Spargo reviewed Psonic Psunspot for Buzzin Music.
July 13: Augie Krater scanned the photo from the Drums and Wires lyrics sheet.; Ricardo Juarez contributed this photo of Stewart Copeland of The Police wearing his Drums and Wires T-Shirt.
July 12: Andy says, “I'm the Man Who Murdered Love” and that's also the xtcfans song of the week.
July 1: “XTC Oranges & Lemons...20 Years Old!” Bill Wikstrom wrote a whole article on the phenomenon.
June 28: Ab Stammeshaus found an old cassette tape containing the Dutch radio broadcast of the XTC concert at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. He ripped it and removed some hiss and has made it available for download. Is there a higher quality download available elsewhere? If not, this one's for you.
June 27: Famous Jonny Mambo has a radio show called “Mojo Ballroom” on WCOM FM, Carrboro, North Carolina. It will be an all XTC/Andy Partridge show this Tuesday, June 30, 2009, from 10pm to midnight. WCOM is an all-volunteer, non-profit, community-oriented radio station and a labor of love. The show should appeal to both hardcore and new XTC fans.
June 24: Zak Schaffer has a Los Angeles-based XTC tribute band called Terry and the Lovemen. They will be performing Black Sea start to finish at the Bootleg Theater (2220 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, 213.389.3856) on July 3, 2009.
June 15: Here are “Fricke's Picks: The Dukes of Acid” in Rolling Stone.
June 14: On day 37 of the very Merry Month of May, The Vinyl Villain had this to say, “I remember the first time I ever saw XTC . . .”; The xtcfans song of the week is “Train Running Low on Soul Coal”.
June 12: Augie Krater has provided this very nice scan of the original 25 O'Clock front cover.
June 11: Jamie Lowe let us knowe about The Popdose Interview: Andy Partridge.; Paul Wilde writes, “I'm now looking at an XTC 20th Anniversary Music and Friends Convention early 2010, venue TBC, in Manchester, UK. I have the archive material and now looking for a suitable venue. I'm looking at making it a special event worthy of the group and fellow fans. I feel well equipped to stage the event having the experience of organising the original set between 89 - 93. As content I have down to include archive XTC interviews, a live recording of XTC from Andy's shed plus all the rare music videos! ALSO 'live music' and an XTC DISCO through to the early hours! ALL THIS PLUS a celebration of Ape House! Anyone interested please contact me at: wildecartoons at btinternet dot com”
June 9: Per Aronsson sent in these pics of a promotional Wasp Star baseball cap: front and back.; Augie Krater has completed his final exams, so now he's back at work scanning and tweezing. Here are the labels of the Limelight c/w Day In Day Out/Chain of Command single.
June 8: The Dukes of Stratosphear reissues reviewed: Talk About Pop Music.
June 5: Platomania reviews Psonic Psunspot and 25 O'Clock.
May 31: The XTCfans song of the week is “Outside World”.
May 30: “Andy Partridge hails the Dukes, buries XTC, chides Robyn Hitchcock and considers himself done” in an interview with Pop Machine's Mark Caro in the Chicago Tribune.; Oranges & Lemons reviewed: 3 Minutes, 49 Seconds.
May 24: Augie Krater rescanned and cleaned up various pictures from the Coat of Many Cupboards book, including the band circa 1980, Barry Andrews circa 1978, and three live pictures circa 1978 ( a, b, c).
May 18: Augie Krater scanned and cleaned up the cover of Wasp Star and the CD from the US I'm The Man Who Murdered Love single.
May 16: Augie Krater scanned and cleaned up the front and back of the Senses Working Overtime 12-incher and re-did the Skylarking illustration.; The Psonic Psunspot and 25 O'Clock reissues reviewed: Atlas and The Anchor · The Pulmyears Music Blog · Blurt · Treble · Outsideleft · CityBeat · File Under.
May 14: Augie Krater has contributed a scan of the J-card cover of the Mexican English Settlement cassette.
May 11: Bill Wikstrom noticed that Eugene Merinov Photography posted some photos of XTC playing CBGB in 1979.
May 10: Part of an ongoing series of interviews by Todd Bernhardt with Colin Moulding about the songs they feature on MySpace. This week's song, "Life Begins at the Hop," was released first as a single in the UK and included as the first track on the American release of 1979's Drums and Wires.
May 9: Reissued Dukes as XTC The Dukes of Stratosphear have revealed their unsavory pasts as erstwhile members of one hit wonder proto-punk band XTC. Seeking absolution for their sins they have gone back and remastered both 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot from the original analogue tapes. Both albums are now available on CD, packaged in high-quality digibook sleeve with lyrics, photos and liner notes. And, lest we forget, the CDs also include many bonus tracks and demos. Get yours today!
May 7: 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot reissues reviewed: The Fire Note.
May 6: Augie Krater has been keeping himself busy on these rainy days. He has contributed high-quality images of the covers of the UK Nonsuch CD and the Go 2 LP.
May 5: 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot reissues reviewed: AllGigs · The Big Takeover · Synthesis (thanks to Per Aronsson).
May 4: August Krater scanned and enhanced yet another XTC pic. This time it's the band photo from the liner notes of White Music.
May 1: Rob DeChaine sent in his work-up of Andy Partridge's unreleased classic “Pearl”.; August (his name, not the adjective) Krater recently furnished a few more scans: the front cover of the US Nonsvch CD, and two live pictures from the original Black Sea CD: one (1) and two (2).
April 29: Absolute Iain and Andy: Big XTC fan Iain Lee, from UK's Absolute Radio, has announced he will be interviewing Andy Partridge at some point this week, and the result should be broadcast on his national radio show, The Sunday Night Show With Iain Lee, Sunday 3rd May 2009, beginning 10.00 p.m. Listen on 105.8 FM in the UK or online internationally. (Thanks to Adrian Warren.)
April 27: This week, “It's Nearly Africa”, all you XTC fans!
April 25: Ab Stammeshaus recently dug up the slides he shot at the 1980 Paradiso Amsterdam concert.; August Augie recently finished two more scans: the front and back covers of the 3D EP.
April 24: Per Aronsson notes that the reviews of the Dukes reissues are pouring in: BBC · Prefix · Treble.; Also, read this and weep: “The Dukes Of Stratosphear explore the psychedelic universe”.; Psonic Psunspot reviewed: BlogCritics.; 25 O'Clock reviewed: BlogCritics.
April 23: Augie Krater spends his free time “scanning and digitally perfecting cover artwork” which often takes many hours. Examples of his work include these lovely images: the cover of the Drums and Wires LP, the front and back covers of the Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down single, and the front and back covers of the Japanese White Music CD, as well as part of the lyrics insert from the Japanese English Settlement CD.
April 17: Egidio Sabbadini sent in the covers of the new promotional CDs of 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot.
April 14: Robert Harrison contributed tablature and chords for “Where Did The Ordinary People Go?”; Daniel Garrett sat down with Andy Partridge and the resulting interview is available from BBC Wiltshire.
April 13: The XTC fans song of the week is “25 O'Clock”. Time!
April 2: 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot reviewed: Pitchfork.; Radio Bandcouver Working Overtime XTC - "Senses Working Overtime" A Celebration in Two Parts. Mark Bignell would like you to know that he is “. . . producing two 90-minute XTC radio specials. They're on April 23 & 30, 2009, 10:30-Midnight UK time on Co-op Radio 102.7 FM from Vancouver, BC, Canada. A commercial free, corporate free, listener-sponsored radio station. Audience participation is greatly encouraged as there will only be room for about 30 tunes from their long and illustrious career. You can send your requests to: mark at bandcouver dot com The show can be heard live and as a podcast at www.myspace.com/bandcouver”
March 29: Colin Moulding is back, and tonight he talks to us about “Frivolous Tonight”.
March 28: Francis Begbie has contributed tablature for the first verse of “Have You Seen Jackie?”.; Paul Wilde wrote a rather long note and also included this “photo of the first XTC Convention in Manchester, 1989”.
March 26: AP on the BBC Jamie Crampton turned us on to the fact that “Mr P will be on the Radcliffe & Maconie show on BBC Radio 2 Monday 6th April between 8 & 10 PM, not sure what he'll be doing/plugging but no doubt will be enlightening.”
March 24: Daniel Garrett writes again to say that he found “another clip of Andy on RPM . . . [an] interview he did in early 1983 discussing his recent decision to quit touring”. Thanks, Daniel!; LêA wrote to point out Pete Fowler's lovely illustration of The Dukes of Stratosphear which was used in Shindig! magazine.; Trip Inside This House has a feature called “Voyage Du Homage” which glowingly reviews 25 O'Clock.
March 23: Daniel Garrett writes to say he found a “segment from an early 80s regional music BBC TV programme called RPM which sees a young Andy Partridge taking a tour of his hometown of Swindon”.
March 21: Sydsvenskan published a review of Skylarking entitled “En bunker — två Führer”.
March 14: Bill Wikstrom sent in improved images of the front and back covers of the 3D Single.
March 9: This week XTCfans speaks with Prairie Prince, drummer extraordinaire for The Tubes and the “time bomb” on Skylarking.
March 7: Did you know that “Skylarking is a Rare Gem and a High Mark for XTC!”? I thought so.; Brent Dougans pointed out this lovely photogallery: “Vinyl fantasy: The classic album art of Hipgnosis”.
February 28: Graeme Wong See contributed a few more articles and reviews, including a review of Nonsuch from the Sunday Morning Post, a review of Fossil Fuel from the The Sun-Herald (Sydney), and a review of Apple Venus Volume 1 from the Sydney Morning Herald.; Stephan Seynaeve contributed some guitar chords for “This World Over”.
February 25: Martin van Rappard points out that Pitchfork is reporting XTC to Reissue Dukes of Stratosphear Side Project.
February 22: Our — I say ‘our”, but really, I have nothing to do with it — song of the week is “Dear Madam Barnum”, brought to you by XTCfans.
February 21: Tributosaurus becomes XTC -- again! Jerry Kaelin wrote in to point out that Tributosaurus becomes XTC again on Saturday, April 11th, 2009, at 7:30pm, at Park West, 322 West Armitage, Chicago. Guests this time include Steve Frisbie (Frisbie), David Blamires (Pat Metheny Group), Jeff Freling (Jeff Freling and the Rock Squad, Blue Man Group) and noted XTC fan and Chalkhills friend Dag Juhlin (Poi Dog Pondering). According to the Tributosaurus web site, they've decided to do an XTC show every year as a part of their “Signature Series”!
February 9: This week's Andyview covers “Radios in Motion”.
February 1: Thanks to Derek Joyce for his donation.
January 25: This week Colin Moulding talks about “The Meeting Place” on the XTCfans blog.
January 23: Reissued Reissues: Benjamin Lukoff wrote to point out that the recent issue of Mojo mentioned expanded two-disc reissues of English Settlement, Skylarking, Oranges and Lemons, 25 O'Clock, Psonic Psunspot, and more, will be released during 2009. Colin Moulding, in his Rundgren Radio interview, also mentioned that some additional recording has been done and some previously unfinished and unreleased tracks may also see the light of day as part of this round of reissues. Let's hope they don't bungle the mastering again.
January 19: Bill Wikstrom notes that Skylarking is featured in the proffered soundtrack to “Investing Survival Guide: Financial Independence: A Soundtrack” in BusinessWeek.
January 18: Today, we have been treated to Dave's memories of “Across This Antheap”.
January 17: John from Oslo wrote to say, “You might find that the Finnish humppa Band Eläkeläiset has a version of ‘Making Plans for Nigel’, called ‘Tajuton Humppa’, on their 2008 release Humppa United (TWIN 98).”
January 12: Over at the XTCfans MySpace site, the song of the week is “Across This Antheap”.
January 2: The Mysterious XTC? A.J. Hartley writes to let us know that his new mystery/thriller novel What Time Devours will be published next week. He says, “it is dotted with XTC references which have both plot and thematic function.” Sounds like a must-read.
January 5: If you sent me a message concerning Chuck Sabo, it got marked as spam and I emptied my spam folder before I realized it wasn't spam at all. Sorry! Please resend your message.
January 1: Happy New Year! Jeff Truzzi sent along a new transcription of “Rook” for your edification.

2008

December 28: This week, Colin discusses “Generals and Majors” with the gimpy Todd Bernhardt of XTCfans. Let's hope Todd recovers quickly.
December 24: Harrison Sherwood has recorded a cover of “Thanks for Christmas”, by Neddie Jingo!
December 23: Graeme Wong sent in three more XTC articles for your edification: “John Denver from Outer Space turned my son into a Terrorist! XTC Interview by Andrew Mueller” from On The Street, June 1989; “Times They Are A Changin'”, VOX, June 1992; and a review of Nonsvch from New Musical Express, May 1992.
December 15: Yes, it's time for the Song Of The Week again. This week the song is “Making Plans for Nigel” as remembered by Dave Gregory, courtesy of XTCfans.
December 7: This week, it's “Millions”, XTCfans
December 5: Jim Moray writes that because of his cover of “All You Pretty Girls” the song has been nominated for Best Original Song at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Jim has been asked to play the song at the ceremony and he says that Andy has accepted the invitation and will be there at the event. It happens on February the 2nd in London and will be broadcast on Radio 2 on February 4th.
November 30: Doug writes, “You might remember the Andy Partridge and Dave Gregory interviews on Rundgren Radio? Well, you may find this hard to believe but ... COLIN MOULDING WILL BE ON A RUNDGREN RADIO SHOW! December 7th, 2008, at 2pm ET. Just like before with Andy and Dave, listeners are welcome to call in and ask questions!”
November 24: Bill Wikstrom wrote to let us know about this photographic archive of XTC: Music Pictures.
November 23: Whoa! The song for the week is “Making Plans For Nigel”, but that's not what's interesting. What's interesting is that it's Colin Moulding doing the talking!
November 22: Toby Howard recently took delivery of Mellotron: The Machine and the Musicians that Revolutionised Rock by Nick Awde. According to the official blurb, “Featured in this volume are some of the musicians (not all of them keyboardists) who spotted its potential and ran with it, many of them confessing to having a love-hate relationship due to the Mellotron's extremely eccentric mechanics.” The book includes a great interview with Dave Gregory.; Chris Lawrenson noticed that The Redway school — a school for children with severe and profound and multiple learning difficulties in Milton Keynes — has recorded a version of “Everything Will Be Alright”. Money from the sale of the CD will be used to raise funds for their new MiLE (Multisensory Interactive Learning Environment) room and hydrotherapy pool. Andy Partridge has given his thumbs up to the project.; As it turns out, Lighterthief's Stutter Drop is not a full “album”, “long player”, or whatever we call a full-length release in these download days. Instead, it's a sampler of sorts, containing parts of songs which may or may not appear on a full-length release at some unspecified time in the future. Andy Partridge appears on six songs, including “All Done Things”, “Lover” “Falling into the Future”, “Up on High”, “Surface” and “The Hoodoo”. The EP is not available in stores, but it may or may not be available if you ask Stuart Rowe nicely. Snippets are also available for streaming.; Skylarking reviewed: Bubblegum Aesthetics.; Graeme Wong See, long-time Chalkhills contributor, sent in this article, “XTC: Free at Last, Free at Last” from Reflex magazine, April 1992.; Laurence Burrage wrote to tell us the story of the recording of “The Somnambulist”.
November 19: “Popless Week 46: Confession of Sins” on A.V. Club includes a personal view of the music of XTC.
November 9: The XTCfans song of the week is “The Last Balloon”.
October 27: Seven days makes a whole week, so enjoy “Funk Pop a Roll”, the song of these seven days from XTCfans.
October 24: XTC was the #10 Great Contender, according to Q.
October 23: Monstrance reviewed: Mackrotonal.
October 12: Following up on the aquatic theme, XTCfans' song of the week is “Mermaid Smiled”.
September 28: Things are quiet. And then . . . The XTCfans song of the week is “Into the Atom Age”.
September 15: Andy Partridge says “You and the Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful”. Believe him. And believe XTCfans.
September 12: Andy Partridge composed some songs for Mike Portelly's award winning film The Ocean's Daughter. Here's an extract from the film.
September 11: Peter Mack wrote to say, “If you'd like to direct Mr. Per Aronsson to: http://thingspetermack.com/ - this will lead him to a cover of XTC's ‘Hang on to the Night’.”
September 7: Per's latest find is Kadavir's cover of “Dear God”.
September 1: If you haven't been reading the interviews with Andy and Dave on XTCfans, you're missing out. The view into Andy's creative process is very interesting and of course he's very funny (when not completely annoying) and Dave has the best memory of anybody in pop. Yesterday, Dave's memories of “No Thugs in Our House” were cunningly extracted and presented for your edification.
August 29: Per Aronsson is searching for every XTC cover version in the entire universe. His latest find is “River of Orchids” by Cavedoll.
August 27: The Hoodoo That You Do So Well: Lighterthief, with multi-talented Stuart Rowe lightly holding the reins, has a new track available. It's called “The Hoodoo”, and it features XTC's Andy Partridge on strings. This may or may not be a track from the forthcoming long-player entitled Stutter Drop. So give 'er a virtual spin now.; Smudge noticed the contribution from Andy Partridge in “Songwriters Workshop Part 1” on Songfacts.
August 24: The song of the week is “No Thugs in Our House”. Thank you, XTCfans and Todd Bernhardt.
August 21: Paul Kuzmanovski has submitted bass tablature for “The Mayor of Simpleton” and “Garden of Earthly Delights”. Thanks, Paul!
August 18: Iain Lee (from Virgin Radio) wrote to say that he interviewed Colin and Andy for XFM many years ago, but then he left and the interview was never broadcast. So now it's a podcast instead. Iain also says that you “can do whatever [you] want with it — record it, share it, whatever”. Enjoy!
August 10: The song of the week is “You're the Wish You Are I Had”.
August 5: Andy and Colin are “Making Drinks for Nigel, Pt. 1” in Mocking Music.
August 4: Debie Edmonds wrote recently to let us know that although Guitargonauts disappeared off the radar it's not dead. In fact, Guitargonauts has been reborn at www.guitargonauts.info, with the help of new webmasters Daniel Prendiville and Jefferson Ogata.
July 30: Photographer C. A. Vanaria spent years shooting bands for various Boston fanzines, and has now published a book entitled The Boston Years: The Music Scene in Photographs 1979-1986. The book collects about 80 of her photographs, and is somewhere between a total DIY effort and a professionally put together project. It includes many photographs that have not been included in previous gallery shows of this body of work. Many bands are featured but of course one of them is XTC. More details available at http://www.thebostonyears.com.
July 27: I just finished watching Bee Movie so I suppose it's no surprise the XTC fans song of the week (featuring Andy Partridge) is “Bee Town”.
July 21: XTCfans: Dave Gregory remembers “Roads Girdle the Globe”.
July 18: Toby Howard points out that Jim Moray performs a “sea shanty” version of “All You Pretty Girls” on his recent album Low Culture.
July 11: Per Aronsson alerted us to another XTC cover: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin covering “Another Satellite” on the «Rewind - The 80's Cover Project from Buffet Libre.
July 2: The Optimysticals released their cover of “Here Comes President Kill Again” in April.
June 29: The XTCfans song of the week is “Travels in Nihilon”. Not the world's longest piss.
June 28: Nicolas Masino submitted an Analyse de la chanson ‘Dear God’, du groupe XTC for his “séminaire d'Analyse de la musique populaire”.; Steve Stearns submitted some chords for “I Gave My Suitcase Away”.
June 26: While I was away, Andy discussed “Scarecrow People” with Todd Bernhardt at the XTCfans page.
June 13: David Roberts send in two photos: The New XTC featuring The Roberts Brothers and his autographed Apple Venus CD.
June 7: XTC appears in the Crowbarred “Definitive 1000 Songs of all Time 1955 to 2005” list again, this time it's at Number 773 with ‘Making Plans for Nigel”.
June 2: Once thought lost, Treehouse University is again offering Course A002: XTC - The Band and Their Music, a foundation level course.; Crowbarred says that Rolling Stone's top 500 song list was wrong, so he's compiled “The Definitive 1000 Songs of all Time 1955 to 2005” and Number 749 is XTC's “Generals & Majors”. Do you agree?; “Respectable Street” reviewed: Culture Vulture.; Revolution Rock Show # 144 (CJAM 91.5FM Windsor/Detroit) featured “Life Begins at the Hop”.; Black Sea reviewed: DeBaser.
June 1: The song of the week for all you XTC Fans is “Roads Girdle the Globe”.; Nonsvch reviewed: Marathonpacks · Digital Needle.
May 31: Paul Jenner wrote to say that his short-lived yet infamous magazine Sudden Apathy is now online. Issue One features an exclusive interview with Andy Partridge conducted by Paul's friend Chris Twomey.
May 24: Thierry Samzun points out this French article: “XTC: Another Satellite”.
May 19: We return now with another installment in the continuing series of reminiscences and ruminations over the oeuvre of XTC from XTC Fans: Dave Gregory speaks this week of “Rook”.
May 13: Ken Leicht noticed a psychedelic Andy on the cover of the May-June 2008 issue of Shindig! magazine. Ken says, “Inside is a great interview/article with Andy Partridge and David Gregory about the whole history of the Dukes . . . with detailed breakdowns of all the songs in a similar manner to the MySpace interviews. Great stuff. Definitely seek it out.”
May 12: The XTCfans song of the week is “Rook”. Spill all you know.
May 11: Visit Irregular Miniatures Ltd and check out their amazing range of toy soldiers and other unpainted cast metal figures, some designed by Andy Partridge (e.g., 42mm Marlburians, 19th Century & Deutsche Homage and 54mm Dutch Wars / Restoration).
May 9: Spastic Minnow says: “Blushift started up a ready made forum to post in while the [XTC/Idea] forum's down. Spread the word.”; XTC Fans writes: “For those of you despairing that Andy Partridge is merely sitting around the house drinking absinthe and spraying Easy Cheese on crackers, then eating them, one after the other after the other after the other after the ... well, fear not, for Mr. P is far more productive and motivated than that! In fact, he's been in the studio with playboy millionaire Stuart Rowe, multi-instrumentalist and engineer extraordinaire (he twiddled the knobs on Monstrance, among many other things), working on a track for the upcoming Lighterthief album, Stutter Drop. Titled ‘All Done Things’ and mixed by Stu and Andy, the track features the latter on ‘harmony vocals, guitar solo and Motown guitar in final chorus’ ... so get thee over there and give it a listen or three. Add it to your player.”
May 6: Take a goosey gander at “All aboard the Skylark” at A jumped-up pantry boy and this review of “Dear God” on the B-sides blog Backed With (thanks to Daniel).; Dave remembers “Beating of Hearts”, although it took some work, and his memories are transcribed on the XTC Fans blog for all to see.
April 28: Andy Partridge discusses “Beating of Hearts” with Todd Bernhardt, drummer of XTC Fans.
April 24: Richard Farrell caricatured Black Sea-era Andy Partridge in his original pen and ink drawing that he sent in today.
April 20: The XTC Fans Song of the Week” is ‘Supergirl’ as Dave Gregory remembers her.; The Washington D.C. chapter of Chalkhills met to play Go 2 last night. A good time was had by all. “Always turkey time, never thanksgiving.”
April 13: The XTC Fans song of the week, courtesy of ace music journalist Todd Bernhardt, is “That's Really Super, Supergirl”.
April 10: David Veitch just self-published his May 2000 interview with Colin Moulding which was previously available exclusively on Chalkhills.
April 9: The ubiquitous Mr. Aceofwands has rolled out his covers of “The Wheel and The Maypole”, “Thanks for Christmas” and “Heaven is Paved with Broken Glass”.
April 4: J. D. Mack pointed out this entry in Mike Keneally's blog entry for April 2, 2008: “. . . Andy Partridge and I have re-engaged on our project which was started four years ago now, sheesh. This year we're going to actually finish the songs we started writing together, I hope, I hope.” I hope, I hope.
April 1: Sucrepop released their cover of “The Loving” on their website today. No foolin'.
March 31: “Neon Shuffle” is the XTC Fans song of the week.
March 16: The song of the week is “River of Orchids”.; Tim Coles sent in a snap of an up market Japanese boutique in the Rappongi district, Tokyo.
March 14: Mark Budgen wrote to say that the Looking For Footprints pic sleeve was something he made for himself. So, it's not legit. But it's still cool. Thanks, Mark!
March 12: According to Robyn Hitchcock, he and Andy Partridge are collaborating on a “self-generating” album. Says he, “I write the words on the train going up to Swindon and then, bang, we record it in his shed.” No word on any release date. But according to Billboard and NME, Mr. Partridge is also working on a post-XTC solo album! (Thanks to Wes Long.)
March 7: Dave Gregory on Todd Rundgren Talk Radio: “Apologies if this is old news to you:” David Gregory of XTC fame will be the special guest on Todd Rundgren Talk Radio, where he will answer questions, both pre-recorded, emailed, and live on-air. Todd Rundgren produced XTC's album Skylarking. The show will ‘air’ on Sunday, 9 March 2008 at 2pm EDT (really, but check the site that morning for the correct time). (Thanks to Deb and Todd.)
March 3: The XTC Fans song of the week is “Yacht Dance”.
March 2: Aceofwands does requests! This time he tries his hand on “Pink Thing”.
February 25: Dave Gregory remembers “Smalltown”, the XTC Fans song of the week.
February 23: Duncan Watson sent in this photo of a Looking For Footprints pic sleeve. Do you think it's legit?
February 19: Tributosaurus becomes XTC: Don't miss Tributosaurus becomes XTC, on Friday, March 7th, 2008, at 9:30pm, at Martyr's, 3855 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago. This is a great bunch of Chicago musicians, and special guests will include Steve Frisbie (Frisbie), Jeff Freling (Jeff Freling and the Rock Squad, Blue Man Group) and noted XTC fanatic and Chalkhills fan Dag Juhlin (Poi Dog Pondering).
February 18: Andy tells “The Everyday Story of Smalltown” at the XTC Fans MySpace page.; David Veitch found an old unpublished interview with Colin Moulding from May 2000, it's now exclusively available for the first time from Chalkhills.
February 9: Ever wondered who created the MIDI for “Scissor Man”? Me, too. Until today, when I received a message from long-time Chalkhills subscriber Ed Daranciang. It was he.
February 3: XTC Fans: Andy sees “Red”.
February 2: Listen to “Senses Working Overtime” and “The Loving”, the latest efforts from Aceofwands.; The Dukes of Draught: At long last, The Dukes of Simpleton have booked another show! Be at Hanover's Draught Haus in Pflugerville, Texas, on Saturday, 22 March 2008, 9-11 pm. The Dukes of Simpleton are a tribute band dedicated to bringing you the music of XTC, performed live.
January 31: Andy and Todd Talk Radio: Andy Partridge will be a special guest on Todd Rundgren Talk Radio, where he will answer questions: pre-recorded (MP3 or WAV), email (rundgrenradio at earthlink dot net) and live on-air. The show will take place on 17 February 2008 at 2pm EST (7pm GMT). (Thanks to J. D. Mack and Doug.)
January 24: Kay Stracey tells us to go Ask Andy.
January 20: Aceofwands strikes again: “Extrovert”, “I Gave My Suitcase Away” and “Train Running Low on Soul Coal”.; The XTC Fans song of the week is “2 Rainbeau Melt”. See if you can find the pot of gold.
January 13: Dave Gregory remembers the song for last week: “Complicated Game” (at the XTC Fans MySpace).
January 12: Per Aronsson contributed three new pics: Colin Moulding's Canadian Drums and Wires gold record and Steve Taylor's Diſappointed promotional counter stand and collection of promo bits.
January 8: Aceofwands is back with “Dame Fortune” and “Humble Daisy”.
January 6: The song of the week is “Complicated Game”. Play it.
January 2: Aceofwands has too much time on his hands, and as evidence, I present “English Roundabout”.

2007

December 30: Aceofwands swished and flicked and what to my wandering eye did appear but a cyclops tied to a rock, but everybody knows her as “Little Lighthouse”.
December 28: J. D. Mack sent in scans from the December 1968 issue of Monkees Monthly including the cover and a caricature of Mickey Dolenz by young Andrew Partridge.; Aceofwands has covered “Obscene Procession”.
December 26: Ace recorder Aceofwands, live from Bumfuqh, Egypt, submits “Difficult Age”.
December 23: Andy discusses “Always Winter, Never Christmas”.
December 21: Apple Venus Vol. 1 is a “Classic Pick” at The College Crowd Digs Me.
December 17: More sounds from the anonymous Aceofwands: “All of a Sudden (It's Too Late)” and “Love on a Farmboy's Wages”.; More sounds from the anonymous Sgt. Rock: “Crowded Room”, “Atom Age”, “Yacht Dance” and “This World Over”.
December 10: The prolific Aceofwands continues making his many covers of XTC and Andy Partridge songs available.; Oh, and Happy Dec-10!
December 9: The XTC Fans's song for the weak is “Towers of London”. La la Londinium!
December 7: Dave Mallow notes: “Scott Mervis with the Pittsburgh Post Gazette recently interviewed Todd Rundgren about ‘the three signature records in his production catalog’. Interesting to hear a current take on the oft-discussed Skylarking sessions. . .”
December 5: Aceofwands is now letting us hear his covers of “No Thugs In Our House”, “Everything” and “Runaways”.
December 4: Kim Simpson released his acoustic cover of “Snowman” on his Big Surprise EP in March 2007. Enjoy!; Aceofwands has recorded numerous covers of XTC and Andy Partridge songs.
December 1: Henry Albert Sebastopol Queen Victoria Crun sent in a scan of the purple and green cover of his Japanese CD of Through the Hill.
November 25: Paste Magazine has some interesting features, including “XTC's Andy Partridge - Senses Working Overtime” and “Paste's 100 Best Living Songwriters: The List”. The latter also comes with a podcast featuring an interview with Andy Partridge: “Paste Magazine Culture Club Episode 19: Paul McCartney, R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and XTC's Andy Partridge - Special 100 Best Living Songwriters Episode”.; The XTC Fans song of the week is “Church of Women”. Worship today.
November 24: Have you enjoyed “The XTC X-perience”?; Stuff-Em-Up the hill backwards features a number of “Tape Archive” features, including “The Dukes Of Stratosphear Interview 1985”, “XTC Interview 1984 Part1” and “Part2”.
November 20: Here's an article entitled “Dave Gregory - XTC's Axe Toting Genius” from The GigRig.; Read “XTC - Towers of London”, an extensive piece in Dancing About Architecture.
November 19: aggregät 4/5/6 presents an analysis of “No Thugs in Our House”.
November 17: I have attempted to compile an exhaustive XTC covers list. If you have corrections or other additional information, please let me know.
November 12: Monstrance reviewed: Cyclic Defrost.
November 11: The Song of the Day is “This Is Pop”. Help spread the word!; Lêa says, “Lay your head on the-strip-arte.blogspot.com to see an illustrated birthday greenman”.
November 2: GHP Complete Complete: Volumes 13-16 of GHP Complete are now available from Go Home Productions. GHP Complete CD13: ‘Official Remixes Vol 1’ includes David Bowie vs XTC: “I'm Afraid of Making Plans for Americans” which samples, remixes and otherwise folds, spindles and mutilates, in a good way, XTC's “Making Plans for Nigel” and Bowie's “I'm Afraid of Americans”. Download your copy today!
November 1: Darlene Love covers “Thanks For Christmas” on her album It's Christmas, Of Course.
October 31: Everything New is Old Again: Work continues apace on 11 Modern Antiquities, the forthcoming album from Pugwash. Dave Gregory played on their 2006 Christmas single Tinsel & Marzipan, and it is rumoured that Pugwash was also the backing band on the last XTC single, Where Did the Ordinary People Go?. In any case, Andy Partridge has co-written two of the tracks (“My Genius” and “At The Sea”) with Pugwash main man Thomas Walsh, and we believe Partridge also plays guitar on one or more of the tracks. You can hear an excerpt from a rough mix of “My Genius” on the new 11 Modern Antiquities MySpace page.
October 29: The song of the week over at XTC Fans is “Chalkhills and Children”, the song that gave this website its name.
October 14: The XTC Fans song of the week is “Great Fire”. Burn.
October 8: Tor Lier found lip-sync video of “The Meeting Place” from The Tube, 1987, on YouTube.
October 5: Bill Wikstrom points out that the new print issue of Filter magazine has interviews with Andy Partridge and Dave Gregory in their tribute article entitled “Permanent Bliss: The Immutable Pleasures of XTC”. Scan, anyone?; Swindon Advertiser says “Music fans will be in XTC” at 12 Bar on September 29. Well, September 29 has come and gone. How was it?
October 4: Pour a Glass of Fine Wires: Fine Wires Humming A New Song, the new EP from Monstrance, recorded especially for Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone show on BBC 6 Music, is now available for download from APE House Records. An animated video for “I Lovely Cosmonaut” (from the Monstrance album) is also included.
October 3: Autumn's here and the time is right for dishing up a treat: “Autumn Almanac Pt. 1” (Planet Mondo).
October 1: “Then She Appeared” is the XTC Fans Song of the Week.
September 22: Mark of Go Home Productions (XTC fan and remixer extraordinaire) writes: “‘Bootlegs’ have been fun but have become less spontaneous for me in 2007. ‘Mashed’ was initially an exciting project/prospect but 3 years took its toll and really watered it down to the laughing stock that it was.” So Mark “put a lid on this particular GHP chapter” and released GHP Complete, the first 12 of 16 mp3 compilation albums now online. “Basically all the bootlegs from 2002-2007. Unofficial Remixes. Rarities and Unreleased.” Including many tracks which sample or remix XTC. Download yours today.
September 16: “Meccanik Dancing” is the XTC Fans song of the week.
September 15: Fossil Fuel reviewed: Les Inrockuptibles, and you can also read about “L'Affaire Louis Trio - Trois hommes et un Colin”.
September 10: Pitchfork reviews Apple Box.; Being There thinks “Getting to Know: XTC” is a good idea.; Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: Tokyo Weekender · La T-Calf.
September 2: The Song of the Week is “Summer's Cauldron” over at the XTC Fans blog.
August 26: XTC Fans Song of the Week: “All of a Sudden (It's Too Late)”.; Check out “La verdad brillando como el sol...”, a piece of art inspired by “I Bought Myself A Liarbird” at the-Strip-ARTE!.; Paul Margach pitched a concept to the publishers of the 33 1/3 book series, but it was rejected.
August 17: MIT's The Tech reviews Beeswax: Some B-Sides 1977-1982, Waxworks: Some Singles 1977-1982, Skylarking, Mummer, and Fast 'N' Bulbous (which includes XTC's cover of “Ella Guru”).
August 14: Monstrance reviewed: Alternative Press.
August 5: “Greenman” is the MySpace XTC Fans song of the week.
August 1: 12 Bar, Swindon, has been booked to host an XTC-themed event on Saturday 29 September. The Shebeats and The Fuzzy Warblers are scheduled to appear. (The SundayDogs unfortunately will not be able to perform.)
July 23: The XTC Fans Song of the Week is “Real by Reel”.
July 12: Monstrance will be playing live on Stuart Maconie's BBC 6 Music programme Freak Zone, on Sunday 29 July. Yes, you heard it right, Martyn, Barry and Andy will wield their musical tools in the studio for a session of improvised sound. The show starts at 17.00 UTC.
July 10: Chalkhills is moving to a new system (Ubuntu Feisty) and it might be a few days before mail delivery is configured and the next issue of Chalkhills goes out. Please be patient.
July 9: The XTC Fans Song of the Week is “Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her”.
July 3: Bullz-Eye thinks XTC is one of eight “Bands that should reunite”.; Orpheus — The Lowdown reviewed: Groove.
July 2: Laura Sylvester spoke to Andy Partridge, “The Tiny Circus of His Life: Catching up With Andy Partridge” is what resulted.
June 29: Ricardo Juarez sent in three nanopictures inspired by the trace of a wet bag of tea and XTC songs: “The Disappointed”, “Holly Up On Poppy” and “Snowman”
June 27: Orpheus — The Lowdown reviewed: Orlando Weekly · All Media Guide · HARP · Downtown Music Gallery.; Monstrance reviewed: HARP.
June 26: Orpheus: The Lowdown reviewed: PopMatters (thanks to Tyler Hewitt).
June 25: I'm back from Weiser and Andy's back from Swindon to discuss “No Lampreys in my Lunch” with Todd “Working Stiff” Bernhardt over at XTC Fans.; Monstrance reviewed: JamBase.
June 14: Jeff Truzzi has charted two more songs: “River of Orchids” and “Easter Theatre”.
June 13: LêA submits “La Rana y el Güey” and “Travestismo Ilustrado” for your edification.
June 11: And I quote: Part of an ongoing series of interviews by Todd Bernhardt with Andy Partridge about the songs we feature each week on MySpace. This week's song, “Dame Fortune”, is the first song from the first disc in the nine-disc series of outtakes, demos, and rarities known as Fuzzy Warbles.; Kathleen Davis writes to say that there will be a mini southern California XTC gathering starting at 6:30pm on July 21, at the AMAZING-sounding Library Bar in Downtown Los Angeles! (630 West 6th St, Suite 116-A, Entrance on Hope St.) Please write Kathleen for more details.
June 3: Andy discusses “All Along the Watchtower”, the XTC Fans Song of the Week.
May 29: Martyn Barker blogs about Monstrance in Modern Drummer.
May 27: Darrell Harvey has attempted a new transcription of the ‘brown chords’ for “Easter Theatre”.
May 20: The XTC Fans Song of the Week is “Garden of Earthly Delights”.
May 16: Andrew Boyle noticed some editing mistakes in this CMJ feature entitled “ANDY PARTRIDGE: Self-Editing: Andy Partridge Gets Away From The ABCs Of XTC With Moonstrance”.
May 12: J. D. Mack transcribed this review of Monstrance from the recent issue of Goldmine.; “Blast from the Past”: English Settlement is reviewed by Ben Gott for Blogcritics.
May 10: Goldmine features an article and interview entitled “XTC carves out a unique punk niche”. In which issue does this article appear? (Thanks to Marie Omnibus and J. D. Mack.)
May 9: Monstrance reviewed: Pitchfork.
May 6: “Over at the XTCfans MySpace site, the song of the week is ‘Ladybird’.”
May 5: Marie mentions more Monstrance: Billboard.
May 3: Marie Omnibus points you to two new zoo reviews of Monstrance: C|net Download.com & La MagicBox.
May 2: Unfortunately, the last Dukes Of Simpleton gig was cancelled at the last minute due to inclement weather (outdoor venue). The good news is that they have a new date at the same club. So if you're in the Austin area, please join them for two hours of live XTC music at Threadgill's World Headquarters on Saturday June 9th. They'll be playing from 9.00pm until 11.00pm. As previously announced, they've got five new songs and a new drummer who really leans into those Terry Chambers parts. They've even got good stock of Dukes T-shirts which they'll be selling at the show. (Thanks to Chris Vreeland.)
April 30: Yet another in a series of conversations with Andy Partridge and Todd “Drumboy” Bernhardt, the Song of the Week is “We're All Light”.
April 27: Monstrance reviewed: Sunday Tribune · La Repubblica.
April 26: “Andy Partridge isn't afraid to admit it: He's a Luddite.” Read more in Wired.
April 24: Jared Morris sent in guitar tab for “This is Pop?”!; According to Sea of Tranquility, “Andy Partridge Favors Left Arm With Monstrance”.; Monstrance reviewed: PopMatters.
April 22: The XTC Fans song of the week is “Battery Brides”.
April 20: Steve Clarke has informed me that he was responsible for the MIDI transcription of “Chalkhills and Children”, for his use at the 1997 XTC gathering in Basingstoke.
April 17: David Yazbek and his Warmest Regards (Dean Sharenow, Erik Dellapenna, Mike DuClos) will be playing songs from his forthcoming album on May 10th at 7:30 p.m. at Joe's Pub (425 Lafayette St., New York City, 212-967-7555). Tickets are $25. “The amazing bastard! He's my hero. I wish I'd written all his songs!” - Andy Partridge of XTC.
April 16: The song of the week is “Season Cycle”. Help ride the song.; Jeff Truzzi charts again: “Ballet for a Rainy Day”.; Monstrance reviewed: Shepherd Express.
April 13: Monstrance reviewed: The Independent · Glorious Noise · LMNOP · Cincinnati CityBeat · Bullz-Eye · Your Flesh Magazine.
April 9: NewCritics/By Neddie Jingo offer “A Tinny Little Sputnik”, an exclusive interview with Andy Partridge concerning the new album Monstrance, in both an easy-to-digest abridged form and as an unedited transcript.; Last week, the XTC Fans song of the week was “Jason and the Argonauts”. . .
March 31: Monstrance reviewed: Blogcritics Magazine.; Thanks to a new distribution deal between Ape House Records and Rykodisc, “Andy Partridge Floods Marketplace With Albums”. The American market, that is. Flooded with the likes of Monstrance, Orpheus — The Lowdown, Veda Hille's Return of the Killdeer and more. . .
: Salon offers an “Exclusive Song of the Day: ‘Chaingang,’ Monstrance” for March 26, 2007.; Starling's Balm Carousel makes an equinoxe offering of “EggsTC”.
March 30: Monstrance reviewed: The Independent.
March 29: Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album reviewed: The Sunday Times.
March 28
: Magnet Magazine March 2007's Featured Artist: Andy Partridge.; Skylarking reviewed: Treble.
March 27: The Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Box reviewed: The Orange County Register. (Hi, Ben!); Apple Venus Vol 1 reviewed: La Repubblica.
March 26: Monstrance reviewed: Kevchino.com.; Read “Fricke's Picks: Home-Demo Larks From XTC's Andy Partridge”
March 21: “Winterwerk” Single Released: “Winterwerk”, the first single from Monstrance, the new album by Martyn Barker, Barry Andrews and Andy Partridge, is now available for download from the Ape store (67p excluding VAT, 79p inclusive of VAT).
March 19: Apple Box reviewed: All Music Guide.; Dukes Have Another Gig: The Dukes Of Simpleton (a tribute band dedicated to bringing you the music of XTC, performed live) will be playing Saturday, April 14th at Threadgill's World Headquarters in Austin from 9-11 pm. They've got five new songs and a new drummer! (Thanks to Chris Vreeland.)
March 18: “Wrapped In Grey” is the XTC Fans song of the week. Listen and weep.
March 16: From the collection of Mark Byron: XTC poster (circa 1977), Black Sea poster (US?), and a Virgin UK Black Sea poster.
March 14: Mark Byron flashes his autographed Too Many Cooks In The Kitchen single. Thanks, Mark!; Gerry Eng shares a letter from Andy Partridge. Thanks, Gerry!
March 13: The Official Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album reviewed: Chicago Sun-Times.
March 12: The Official Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album reviewed: Pitchfork · Reno Rambler.
: Annie Zaleski says, “XTC's fuzzy warbler [Andy Partridge] is a pop genius” (Denver Westword).
March 11: The song for today is “Helicopter”. Help spread the song.; HARP claims that “XTC's Partridge Gets ‘Monstrance’ On Us”.
March 6: Lots of new XTC video on YouTube these days. Check it out.
March 5: Andy Partridge talks about “All You Pretty Girls” with XTCfans (what a surprise).
March 3: Ben Gott writes, “In honour of the end of XTC, I have compiled an MP3 of some of my favourite XTC endings . . .”
February 26: “Respectable Street” is the song of the week on the XTC Fans MySpace blog.
February 24: “Wildgroei van XTC?” you ask yourself.
February 19: Andy Partridge talks about “Stupidly Happy” this week in the XTC Fans blog.
February 14: Jordan Cooper has contributed simple guitar chords for “Instant Tunes”.; Find out what happened between Robert Schneider (The Apples in Stereo) and Andy Partridge (XTC) in this interview (thanks to Ben Gott).; Andy Partridge was Spinning On Air at WNYC on Sunday, 11 February 2007 (thanks to Pär Nilsson).
February 11: “Statue of Liberty” is the song of the week over at XTC Fans.
February 10: Andy Partridge says XTC is “Well and Truly in the Fridge” (thanks to Peter Mack for the link).
February 9: Kelly Osborn found this disturbing Onion AV interview with Andy Partridge (thanks to Bob Crain).
February 7: Per Aronsson is keeping me busy, sending in photos at an alarming rate: the Japanese Nonsvch promotional box set, contents of said box set, back cover of said box, a “Sgt. Rock” sticker, a Drums and Wires sticker, and a few of his collection of pin badges. Yow!
February 5: Apparently Jeff Truzzi was not happy with his initial pass at the guitar chords for “No Thugs In Our House”. He sent in corrections today.
February 4: XTCFans Song of the Week: “Little Lighthouse”.
January 31: Guitar chords for “No Thugs In Our House” are now available thanks to Jeff Truzzi.
January 28: It's Andy versus Todd again over at XTC Fans, today's subject: “Love on a Farmboy's Wages”.
January 26: Kevin Denley has an autographed copy of the Wrapped in Grey CD single.
January 22: Dom is jealous of Todd because Todd spoke to Andy Partridge about “I'd Like That”, so visit XTC Fans for the full conversation.; Total Music Magazine has published this interview with Andy Partridge.
January 16: Fuzzy Warbles Vol. 7/8 reviewed: Sentire Ascoltare.
January 14: Todd Bernhardt speaks with Andy Partridge about “Are You Receiving Me?” As a matter of fact, he does. Or is he? Only his hairdresser knows for sure.
January 12: Jeff Truzzi, reporting for duty: guitar charts for “All I Dream Of is a Friend” updated, sir!
January 10: Jeff Truzzi has now, only days later, sent in guitar charts for the intro and verse parts of “Funk Pop A Roll”.
January 9: Monstrance Mix-Mastered: According to the Ape House, the new double-disc live improvised (“and overdub free”) album Monstrance from Barry Andrews, Martyn Barker and Andy Partridge has now been mixed and mastered and is mostly ready to go. The album will be released on 2 April 2007 in the UK, and on 3 April 2007 in the USA (via Ryko distribution). Check the Ape site for more details on the track listing, free downloads, podcasts, blogs, etc.
January 7: Jeff Truzzi has sent in guitar chords for “Scarecrow People”.; Andy Partridge discusses “Mayor of Simpleton” over at the XTC Fans (MySpace) site.
January 1: Happy New Year! Andy Partridge discusses “Making Plans for Nigel”, the song of the week at XTC Fans.

2006

December 29: Per Aronsson is a true Chalkhills hero again, he sent in photos of numerous pieces of XTC swag: a Drums and Wires T-shirt (front and back), the jacket Andy Partridge wore on stage during the English Settlement tour, a promotional counter stand for The Meeting Place, two Nonsvch T-shirts (short sleeve and long sleeve), a black Skylarking T-shirt (front and back), a white Skylarking T-shirt, and a promotional counter stand for Wasp Star. Rock on!
December 27: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: HARP.; Is it “Das Ende der Demokratie” for XTC? And are XTC The Lords of Song? Intro thinks so. Intro also reviews Homegrown, Wasp Star, Homespun and Transistor Blast.; It's a “Day In The Life: Andy Partridge, guitarist and chief songwriter with XTC, and the founder of Ape House records” (The Independent).; “Mix It Up: Andy Partridge!” (Amplifier).; Fuzzy Warbles is a “A Garden of Earthly XTC Delights” (Los Angeles Times).; Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Box Set reviewed: OX Fanzine.
December 26: According to MP3.com, “Andy Partridge is not a Social Worker”.; Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album reviewed and recommended: The Philadelphia Enquirer · Le Monde.
December 19: The Official Andy Partridge Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album reviewed: San Diego Union-Tribune.
December 18: Andy Partridge discusses “Thanks For Christmas”, the song of the week at XTC Fans.; Fuzzy Warbles Collectors Album reviewed: Entertainment Weekly.; “XTC's Partridge discusses boxset, Monstrance” in Variety.
December 16: The Fuzzy Warbles Collectors Album reviewed: Time Out Chicago · Amplifier · Chromewaves · Tucson Weekly · HARP Magazine · Metroland · Austin Chronicle · Illinois Entertainer.
December 15: Fingertips chooses Andy Partridge's “Sonic Boom” as one of “This Week's Finds”; a free and legal download of “I Don't Want To Be Here” is also available.
December 14: Andy Partridge is a “Genius of Pop” (at least according to the St. Louis Riverfront Times).
December 13: “A warm and fuzzy Partridge? Not!” (The Boston Globe, thanks to Wes Hanks).; Runout and Groove to Apple Vinyls: Apple Vinyls, the Special Collector's Edition box set of 13 vinyl 7-inch singles with special sleeves, is now available from Idea Records. The box set includes all the tracks from Apple Venus Vol. 1 and Wasp Star, plus three bonus tracks “Where Did The Ordinary People Go”, “Spiral” and “Say It”.
December 12: Ape House in the 24th and 1/2 Century: The latest news: the Ape House web site now features audio and video podcasts, the first being Andy Partridge talking about the Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album. There will also be a video preview from Monstrance; a download single will be released early in 2007, the album is expected in April. More audio and video podcasts will follow. Oh, yes, there will also be some sort of blog thing.
December 11: Andy Partridge discusses “Senses Working Overtime”, the song of the week at XTC Fans.
DEC-10: Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album reviewed: Newsday · Humo.
December 6: Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album reviewed: The New York Times.; Pugwash have released a new Christmas single entitled Tinsel & Marzipan. All proceeds from sales of the single go to Brainwave, the Irish Epilepsy Association. The recording features some special guests including Mundy, Eric Matthews, Neil Hannon, Peter Fitzpatrick, and Dave Gregory. We'd like Dave to get a Number One, and we reckon we can get this CD into the charts if enough people buy it the weekend of December 8th. And, even if you purchase this song as a digital download it will still count toward the chart position! So buy it now, either as a digital download or as an honest-to-goodness CD single! Let's go all the way!
December 4: The song of the week at the XTC Fans space is “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead”.; Jeff Truzzi has transcribed the chords for “All I Dream of is a Friend”.
December 1: Neil Callatrava sent in some corrections to the chords posted for “New Town Animal (in a Furnished Cage)”.
November 27: Don Leibold brought this Chicago Sun-Times review of The Fuzzy Warbles Collectors Album to our attention.; Benjamin Lukoff wrote to let us know that a transcript of the “Amazon Wire podcast” is now available on Amazon.com — the transcript is entitled “Music You Should Hear: Andy Partridge”.; The Official Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album reviewed: Amazon.com · Platomania.
November 26: The song of the week at the XTC Fans space is “Dear God”.
November 23: Ben Gott sent in images of the front and back covers of the promotional Official Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Sampler.
November 20: The song of the week at the XTC Fans space is “Science Friction”.
November 19: The Official Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album reviewed: Seattle Weekly · De Morgen.; Ian E and Paul Culnane pointed out this unsettling comment from Andy Partridge in the December issue of MOJO magazine: “I speak of XTC in the past tense. It's in the freezer and I dunno if it'll ever come out again. Colin [Moulding] phoned me recently and said he wasn't interested in music any more, and it wouldn't be XTC without him. . .”
November 18: Ben Gott is a contributing writer at kevchino.com, check out his review of the Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album.; Bullz-Eye has “a chat with Andy Partridge”. (Thanks, Wes!)
November 12: Todd Bernhardt writes to say, “Ben Lukoff's excellent interview with Andy is up at http://www.amazon.com/wire” (free download of “2 Rainbeau Melt” also available). Also, the “Song of the Week” is “Harvest Festival”.
November 10: Max Greenstreet alerted us to a new “Puremusic interview with Andy Partridge”.
November 6: Jeff Truzzi contributes “possibly the toughest song [he has] transcribed”, “1000 Umbrellas”.
November 5: Todd Bernhardt interviews Andy Partridge on the topic of “The Song of the Week” (this week's song: “Snowman”).
November 3: For some time today, both the Ape Records and XTC/Idea Records web sites were down. There was a server problem, but it seems to be fixed now. Thank you for your patience.
October 31: Todd Bernhardt interviews Andy Partridge on the topic of “The Song of the Week” (this week's song: “Merely a Man”).; Bill Wikstrom wrote to point out that “XTC are briefly seen in the new DVD Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out by Stewart Copeland (yes, the very man who seemingly lived in that Drums & Wires T-shirt). They are seen: 1) On the tour bus with The Police (Andy sitting next to Terry and Colin and Dave scattered across from them). 2) Orange, France - Terry standing behind Police tour manager Kim Turner as Kim spittles out some water. 3) Orange, France - Andy rabidly talking to Sting backstage about the bands The Yachts and Holly And The Italians.”
October 30: Wes Hanks points out a new interview with Andy Partridge at PopMatters: “The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul” (includes a podcast).; The latest news from the Ape House: “Andy Partridge has recently recorded an edition of Freak Zone hosted by Stuart Maconie, for BBC's 6 Music digital radio station. Several numbers from the Fuzzy Warbles series are played with Andy and Stuart shooting the breeze in between. The show rounds off with an exclusive airing of a nine-minute extract from the forthcoming double disc set Monstrance, called ‘I Lovely Cosmonaut’. The show will be broadcast on 19th November at 1700 GMT.”
October 29: a quegg has contributed black & white and greyscale images of the Dukes name from the cover of 25 O'Clock.
October 22: Free downloads available!; Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album reviewed: Miami New Times.
October 18: Plato (p)reviews The Official Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album and Fuzzy Warbles Vol. 7-8.
October 17: Fuzzy Warbles 7+8 reviewed: KindaMuzik · Antithetik.; The Official Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album (p)reviewed: The Independent · Subba-Cultcha.
October 14: Blogcritics.org features a little news item about the (then) impending release of Fuzzy Warbles 7 & 8 and Collector's Album: “Overlooked Alternatives”.; The Official Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album reviewed (at LiveJournal) and previewed (at CityBeat).
October 9: Scott Thill let us know about this interview with Andy Partridge: “I Pissed God Off” on Morphizm.
October 8: Jamie Lowe has moved his XTC White Horse bumperstickers to http://xtcstickers.jamielowe.net/.
October 7: Fuzzy Warbles 7/8 is reviewed by Power of Pop and Platomania.; Download Andy Partridge's “Sonic Boom” courtesy Toolshed.
October 6: “Here comes President Enik again” compares the song “Here Comes President Kill Again” to recent events (in Timedoor).
September 25: The Official Fuzzy Warbles Collector's Album will be released on 16 October 2006 by Ape House UK. The box set includes all 8 volumes of Andy Partridge's Fuzzy Warbles, a bonus 9 track CD entitled Hinges, a book entitled A Brief History of Home Taping and a sheet of Fuzzy Warbles stamps. For those of you who have already bought autographed copies of Fuzzy Warbles volumes 1-6, the box is available with volumes 7+8 at a special price, as of 25 September. Order yours today!
September 23: Randall Johnson has contributed corrected chords to “Mermaid Smiled”.
September 21: Jeff Barringer has alerted us to his “Podcast: Interview with Andy Partridge of XTC” in Club Kingsnake.; Philip Adamek has contributed guitar chords to “I Defy You Gravity”.
September 17: aquegg interprets “Wrapped In Grey” for the Nonsvch Colouring Book.
September 15: Jeffrey Terich points out that “XTC's Skylarking was featured on Treble's Best of the 80s!”
August 29: William Loring points out that XTC are a “defunct English art-rock combo” according to Yahoo!. Billboard is not so sure.; “Andy Partridge Opens Up His Ape House” in ChartAttack.; Apple Box reviewed: Jam!.
August 26: This Day In Rock mentions “XTC's USA Debut” (thanks to Paul Culnane).
August 11: Alfred Masciocchi writes, “One of the songs [‘Cause It's Love (Saint Parallelogram)’] on Robyn's forthcoming album entitled Olé Tarantula (due early October in the states) has a songwriting credit to Robyn and Andy.”
August 2: Fuzzy Warbles Volumes 7+8 have just been listed for pre-order at Amazon.co.uk. The two collections are scheduled to be released on 25 September 2006 in the U.K. At least, that's what Amazon.co.uk says. It appears that the two volumes may be released in August in other countries. We have no word as of yet of a Japanese release.
July 17: Links to XTC videos on YouTube have been added. Check 'em out!
July 13: More mixed news from The Ape House: “The good news is that Andy's broken tendon (in the all important guitar chord forming left hand) is slowly recovering. He's started to play again but says he feels like a beginner at the moment. . . The bad news is that an accident during mixing the forthcoming improv album, has left Andy with damaged hearing and very bad tinnitus. This is a crippling condition where a constant loud whistling is heard inside the head. He is currently undergoing hyperbaric oxygen treatment which can be beneficial in many cases. Lets all keep our fingers crossed.” Additionally, “The album of live improvised (and overdub free) music by Barry Andrews, Martyn Barker and Andy Partridge is all mixed and awaiting the mastering process. This unusual and thrilling 2 disc set, called Monstrance, will be released in the autumn . . .”
July 7: Daniel Garrett writes, “On the historic day Swindon College closed down, we spoke to a former student, XTC's Andy Partridge.”
July 4: XTC/Idea Records news: “For all you vinyl junkies a very special treat. We have pressed up only 1000 units of the Apple Box as A Special Collectors Edition Set of 7 inch singles called Apple Vinyls. Painstakingly put together by the two Andys, the box emulates its CD sibling with the varnished peacock design. Each box contains 13 x 7 inch singles, each in its own unique sleeve. All the tracks from Apple Venus Vol 1 and Wasp Star are paired together with one addition, the XTC song ‘Where Did The Ordinary People Go’, which was only previously available as a digital download. As a special bonus there is a 7 inch single version of the tracks ‘Spiral’ and ‘Say It’ in its own picture bag.” Stay tuned for more information.
July 3: Rory Hoffmeister sent in his version of Books Are Burning from the Nonsvch Colouring Book.
June 30: Per Aronsson is busy once again: here's a nice Oranges & Lemons baseball cap.
June 10: Per Aronsson has contributed some pics of the Japan Tour 1979 Programme.
May 30: The Daily Vault reviews Go 2, Waxworks: Some Singles 1977-1982, and Skylarking.
May 28: Apple Venus reviewed: Berliner Kurier.
May 27: Trouser Press has combined its guides to XTC, previously in two parts: “The '70s and '80s” and “The '90s and Beyond”.
May 26: Hisaaki Shintaku has a copy of the Black Sea Live! bootleg LP set, and he sent in some pics: the whole shebang, the front cover, the back cover, the LP label, the 7",, the backside of the 7", and the other LP label. Many thanks!
May 25: Apple Venus Volume 1 reviewed: Orlando Weekly.; Fossil Fuel reviewed: Planet Internet.
May 23: Jan Bletz writes, “4 hours of Andy Partridge on Dutch radio tonight: interviews, music (XTC, Judee Sill and others). Can be listened to on demand (with an extra hour added!).” Read “De liedjes van Mr. Partridge en XTC” for more info.; The forthcoming album Calling Distance Stations by The Nines will be self-released on their TAS GOLD imprint in late May 2006 and is now available for pre-order (with bonus songs) from NotLame. The album features the song “Receiving Me” co-written with Andy Partridge. Several songs will be mixed by Jason Falkner, with John Adams and João Carvalho mixing the remainder. Their website recently received a full makeover. They also have a MySpace page, featuring the previously unreleased track “Jack McGee” (a Polygram demo).
May 22: Oranges and Lemons reviewed: Weekly Planet.
May 16: The Dukes Of Simpleton are playing their next gig at Threadgill's World Headquarters, 301 W. Riverside Dr., Austin, TX, on Saturday, June 17th, at 8:00pm. They will be doing two full sets this time, featuring five new songs!
May 12: Apple Box reviewed: Revolver. · Studio M Live · OTG.; Apple Bite reviewed: Groove.no.; Check out OTG's Year-End Music Reviews.
May 10: Apple Box reviewed: Ox Fanzine.; Fuzzy Warbles 5 + 6 reviewed: Ox Fanzine.
May 5: I met Mark Cuevas, executive producer of Chalkhills Originals '98: Awaken You Dreamers, for a pint or two in D.C. yesterday, and he says there are still a few copies of the compilation available. Order yours today!
May 2: Tim wrote to say he loves the website, and he also has a blog, so read “The iTunes 180! #144: XTC's ‘The Mayor of Simpleton’” and “Reason #152 not to abandon the long-playing format: Nonsuch” in Split Like Light Refracted.
April 26: J.D. Mack sent in a cool Nonsvch-styled advert from a 1992 issue of Alternative Press.
April 25: The Limited Edition XTC Oranges & Lemons Tonestar guitar from Fano Guitars is now available! The guitar features full-colour Oranges & Lemons graphics, orange and lemon inlaid “dots” on the neck, and is autographed by Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory. Loads of other features, too! (Thanks to Erik Anderson.)
April 17: Return to the Dark Side of the Moon: A Tribute to Pink Floyd, produced by Billy Sherwood, features XTC's Colin Moulding singing “Brain Damage” and playing bass on “Time”. The tribute album will be released on May 16.
April 12: Ape House Records claims: “Having had the knob twiddling talents of Ian Cooper at Metropolis Mastering, weave his magic over the tracks, [Fuzzy Warbles] Volumes 7 and 8 are now complete. Andy has deliberately left some of the best tracks till last. . . The artwork is nearing completion by Andrew at Cactus Design, the covers are done and we are on the final tweaks, so they will be ready for release in the Summer. These two volumes will complete the . . . Series. Well almost......!” Cryptic, that last.
April 9: Bill Wikstrom sent in some more artwork: back cover of the Epic Records USA English Settlement LP, back cover of the Mummer LP, advert for the Life Begins at the Hop single, and, last but not least, a platinum record for Oranges and Lemons.
March 29: Brian Canfield has submitted tab for “The World is Full of Angry Young Men”.
March 27: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: News from the Ape House. The good: “Andy Partridge has been working with Barry Andrews and Drummer Martyn Barker recently on an improvised music project. The three have been playing live in Swindon's Headroom Studio and over three sessions have amassed about 8 hours of material. Engineer Merv Carswell and Future Sound Of London guitarist Stuart Rowe are sorting and mixing the mountain of sounds for a future Ape release.” The bad and the ugly: “. . . Andy has unfortunately damaged his left hand. He has broken the tendon supporting his left ring finger and won't be able to go anywhere near a guitar for over 8 weeks. Then the splint will be removed and he will start physio to recover as much use of the finger as possible. According to Andy it's the one that does the majority of the work on the fretboard.” Is this the end?
March 24: Todd Bernhardt interviewed Andy Partridge recently. A 1,500 word version will be published this summer, but a longer version is available on the XTCFans MySpace site.
March 22: Drums and Wires reviewed: Treble.
March 20: Give a listen to Totom's “An Open Letter to XTC”, a mashup of Beastie Boys's “An Open Letter to NYC” vs. XTC's “Day In, Day Out”.; Oranges & Lemons reviewed: DJ Snugglebunny.
March 15: Mitch Friedman writes, “I would like to alert each and every one of you to . . . the music video of Andy Partridge's long time girlfriend Erica Wexler's scathingly amusing song ‘I'm So Sick of Models!’ Andy produced and arranged the original demo version of the song, and you can still hear some of his touches on this final version as the demo version was passed off to a remixer who added some dance inducing snares to the mix. . . In the near future Erica will be releasing an album of original songs, and this video could help to drum up a nice little buzz about her.”
March 9: Thanks to Takada Yuichi and Matthew Last for translating “ganbare nigel” (“Hold on, Nigel!”), a name by which “Making Plans for Nigel” has been known in Japan.
March 3: Omnibus writes to tell us that POPnews features an “interesting and well done biography” of XTC.
February 24: Bill Wikstrom, too busy for his pants, found these lovely pics: a 1965 Boston radio advertisement poster by Milton Glaser, an advert for the This World Over single, and a press photo from the same session as the photo on the cover of the Dutch Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down 7" single.
February 17: Bill Wikstrom found Jean-Luc's photos of XTC (1977-1980).
February 15: Latest news from Idea and Ape House: Andy Partridge is co-writing and recording with both Robyn Hitchcock and Charlotte Hatherley. Let's hope these efforts don't go the way of the ill-fated collaboration with Sophie Ellis-Bextor.
February 14: Ape House Records tells us that Fuzzy Warbles 7+8, the last in the series, will be released in early summer 2006. They will be mastered by Metropolis maestro Ian Cooper in a few days. There will be a special box set offered containing all eight volumes. Some songs to appear on 7+8: “Through Electric Gardens”, “Sonic Boom”, “I'm Unbecome”, “The Bland Leading The Bland”, “2 Rainbeau Melt” and “I Don't Want To Be Here”.
February 8: Jonathan Monnickendam writes, “News but nothing new to hear, I imagine; XTC headline tonight's Dream Ticket on BBC Radio 6” (Wednesday 8 February 2200-0100 UTC).
February 3: XTC/Idea Records have made “Where Did The Ordinary People Go”, the new XTC song written by Colin Moulding, available for download worldwide. The song was originally released on 6 December 2005 on iTunes USA.
January 30: Ben Gott has made his recordings of XTC's “Battery Brides”, “Making Plans for Nigel” and Andy Partridge's “Everything” available from his Loquacious Music website.
January 29: Paul Culnane transcribed this review of Apple Box from the December 2005 issue of MOJO.; Apple Bite reviewed: Glide.
January 27: A few days ago Bill Wikstrom sent me some scans of tour posters that he found, including Netherlands, 9 augustus 1980, B&L Warehouse, Athens, Georgia, April 24, 1981, Showbox Theatre, Seattle, Washington, April 10, 1982 (cancelled), and also this Go 2 promo poster. Thanks, Bill!
January 19: Apple Box reviewed: De Morgen.; Coat of Many Colours reviewed: Music Boom.; Black Sea reviewed: Regards.
January 15: Time for another Dukes of Simpleton show: The November show by The Dukes Of Simpleton at Threadgill's was quite a smashing success! Well, here they go again, with a few new songs this time, from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, February 25, at Momo's Club, 618 W. 6th St, Austin, Texas.
January 14: Hinterlandt cover “Making Plans for Nigel” on their New Belief System album from 2004. Give it a listen.
January 13: This is Wiltshire and the Swindon Advertiser have published a few articles about XTC - The Meeting Place - 2005: “Band's fans will be in ecstacy”, “Making plans for XTC weekend” “Fans gather to celebrate”, and “Xtreme xstacy at XTC xtravaganza”.; Also in the same rag: “XTC's Andy has a pop at Swindon” from June 2005.
January 11: Wasp Star reviewed: Music Club.; English Settlement and Skylarking are among “100 Overlooked Albums — The Masterpieces Rolling Stone Doesn't Want You to Know About”, a list compiled by Red Magazine.
January 10: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Exclaim!.
January 4: According to Kurt's Krap, the forthcoming album by The Nines will be “. . . mixed finally by Oct 3 2005. The last song is being mixed as we speak or write and we are quite excited about this one. . . Jason Falkner, John Adams and Joao Carvalho mixed this new album. The album will also include a co-write with U.K.'s Andy Partridge of XTC called ‘Receiving Me’. The Nines will be mastering the album right away (October). [They're] currently looking at a few label options to release this one. . . soon.” Of course, I only just noticed.
January 3: Apple Box reviewed: Fudgeland.; Orpheus - The Lowdown reviewed: Credible Muggins.
January 1: Apple Box reviewed: Cucamonga · [Le Machin-Truc].

2005

December 30: Apple Box reviewed: Static · Amazon.com · 32puertas.com · PopMatters · Losing Today · Kataweb · RockStar.; Philip Brands sent in a few lovely pics: the front cover, back cover, A-side label and B-side label of the original issue of the Mr. Partridge Take Away / The Lure of Salvage LP, and the front cover of the box, CD 1, CD 2, CD 3, and CD 4 of the Transistor Blast box set.
December 28: Andy interview on BBC Radio Swindon: Ian Sutton writes, “BBC Radio Swindon are heavily advertising their New Year's Day special which is an interview with Andy and goes out at 1400GMT. . . In a previous digest someone expressed surprise that Andy would write a Christmas song. He explained that it is good to celebrate the end of another year for whatever reason.”; Returning to the Dark Side of the Moon: According to the “Yes and the current members — Where are they now?” page, “Recordings for Returning to the Dark Side of the Moon — a follow-up project [to Back Against the Wall, a tribute album to Pink Floyd's The Wall] based on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon — are well under way with a further array of guests . . .” including Pat Mastelotto, drummer on XTC's Oranges & Lemons, and XTC's Colin Moulding, who sings lead vocal on “Brain Damage” and plays bass on “Time”. The album will hopefully be released in early 2006.
December 21: Daniel Garrett alerted us to a new “Interview with Andy Partridge” on BBC Wiltshire.
December 20: Robert Mallows sent scans of “Generally Major: Colin Moulding Workshop” from the May 2005 issue of Guitar & Bass magazine. And check out what's in front of Dave Gregory in the photo. . .
December 18: In order to better bring you all the news that fits in print, Chalkhills has for some time now been bringing you RSS news feeds. Including not only these headlines and other recent news, but XTC/Idea Records news and Ape House Records news as well (the latter news feeds are created by a little Perl hack I wrote which parses the original web sites). Our own Citizen Keith also built an XTC feed jumbler which collects all of these feeds into one.
December 17: Saturday Social Countdown to XTC Party Time: Phil Gazzard writes “Just to let you know that Andy Partridge is picking his top 10 XTC songs on BBC Radio Wales ‘Saturday Social’ programme (Saturdays at 7:30 pm). Last week was ‘Chalkhills And Children’ at number 7, this week ‘Season Cycle’ at number 6. I assume there'd be another 5 weeks to go, then...”
December 15: More wholesome XTC goodness: Rob Leary writes, “Andy [Partridge] and Colin [Moulding] have set up a streaming QuickTime feed for you to listen to the new Apple Box-exclusive tracks, as well as some Fuzzy Warbles. Each track is accompanied by liner notes and lyrics. An enjoyable listen all around, especially while at work.”
December 13: Chris Wright notes: “. . . readers may be interested to know that it is also available on Rhapsody.”; Jordi Ibáñez Llauradó sent in basic chords to “all the songs in the XTC catalogue that hadn't been tabbed in this great site, from Black Sea to Nonsuch”, including: “Rocket From A Bottle”, “Paper and Iron (Notes and Coins)”, “Travels In Nihilon”, “Smokeless Zone”, “Don't Lose Your Temper”, “The Somnambulist”, “Runaways”, “Leisure”, “It's Nearly Africa”, “Fly On The Wall”, “Down In The Cockpit”, “English Roundabout”, “Wake Up!”, “Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her”, “This World Over”, “Big Day”, “The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul”, “Sacrificial Bonfire”, “Cynical Days”, “Miniature Sun” and “War Dance”.
December 8: Brian Canfield transcribed chords for “The Smartest Monkeys”.
December 7: Ptolemaic Terrascope featured “Pebbles from The Shore of The Sun - The XTC Interview” in issue #3 from 1991.; “Spiral” reviewed: Fingertips.; Black Sea reviewed: Peter Cashwell.; The rubber shark. Enough said.
December 5: Ben Gott writes in to say “that the entire XTC catalog is finally (!) available from iTunes USA. Included with all the major albums are Fuzzy Warbles (1-6), Through the Hill (with Harold Budd), and the Dukes. Wonderfully enough, there is a new recording of Colin's ‘Where Did the Ordinary People Go?’ It sounds incredible.”
November 29: Jude Hayden sent in lovely scans of the cover and centerfold of the Apple Bite sampler EP.; Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Rolling Stone (Germany).
November 22: Apple Box reviewed: Planet Internet.; Read “XTC leeft van de mislukking”, een interview met zanger Andy Partridge, Planet Internet; I just discovered that Mike Visceglia interviewed Colin Moulding way back on January 15th, 2004.
November 18: Robert Mallows contributed this review of Apple Box from Classic Rock magazine.
November 17: Robert Mallows contributed this interview with Andy Partridge from Classic Rock magazine: “Welcome back . . . XTC”.; Apple Box reviewed: De Tijd · Platomania · betterPropaganda.; Buhdge reviews “Say It” and “Spiral”.; Peruse this Apple Box media kit from Toolshed.; It may be old news to some of us, but Electrolyte Foundation points out that “XTC offers two exclusive new tracks for online orders of The Apple Box”.
November 15: Apple Box is reviewed in the latest issues of Q and Mojo. Anybody care to transcribe the reviews or send me a scan? Also, XTC appears on Now Hear This!, a free CD that is included with the latest issue of Word.
November 10: Jeffrey Thomas alerted me to this review of Apple Box in Rolling Stone Germany.
November 9: Yorkshire Tony writes: “Andy Partridge is appearing on Mark Radcliffe's late-night BBC Radio 2 show next Tuesday, November 15, 2005. His show is normally 10.30 pm to midnight.”
November 7: Andy Partridge will appear on Tom Robinson's Evening Sequence on BBC 6 Music, November 7, 1900h. Summary: “On tonight's show you can hear Tom in conversation with Andy Partridge, formerly of XTC and founder of Ape Records.” (Thanks to stargazer)
November 4: Arvel Perry contributed these screenshots of The Dukes Of Stratosphear Flying Circus from the flight simulation game “IL2: Forgotten Battles”. He did the paintjobs (with the help of the Chalkhills Archives). See the Flying Circus, the squadron, from below, and other shots.
November 2: Tyler Hewitt found this review of “Spiral” in Pitchfork.
October 30: Brian Rogers tabbed out the bass parts for “Meccanik Dancing” and “Jumping in Gomorrah” and last night. Enjoy!
October 25: I finally noticed this “daily news flash” in ICE from May 4, 2005.; Frédéric Quentin contributed his cover of “Senses Working Overtime”.
October 14: The final three installments of the Andy Partridge interview with Alan Haber have been posted on Buhdge.
October 9: Apparently the 1st two Judee Sill albums are getting a US CD release — at a more reasonable price than the recent Rhino Handmade editions, but without the lavish packaging or bonus tracks — on November 1. XTC-relevant detail: according to the Amazon.com listing, Andy (an avowed and longtime JS fan) has penned new liner notes for the Heart Food CD. (Thanks to Robin Heath.)
October 7: My apologies for the lengthy Chalkhills downtime. I still don't know why it's back online.; Chris Vreeland's XTC tribute band The Dukes of Simpleton are playing at 9:00 pm, Nov 4th at Threadgill's World Headquarters, 301 West Riverside Drive, Austin, Texas, U.S. of A. They'll be doing a wide variety of songs, from Black Sea forward, including several acoustic songs, and some selections which should genuinely surprise nearly everyone.
September 22: The Apple Box, which finally brings together the two acclaimed Apple Venus albums Apple Venus Volume 1 and Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2), will be released by Idea Records on 31 October 2005 in the U.K. The set also includes the demo albums Homespun and Homegrown in a “stunningly simple, pure white [box], matte laminated with a peacock feather varnished on the box lid. A white matte slipcase completes the look. Inside, each CD is packaged in its own paperboard wallet with new artwork and a 64-page book contains the lyrics to all the songs . . . with new liner notes by Andy and Colin.” Order yours today! (Thanks to XTC/Idea Records.)
August 28: Christer Liljegren has been at it again. Here are transcriptions of “Across This Antheap” and “Living in a Haunted Heart”.
August 8: Six more audio segments of “XTC's Andy Partridge in conversation with Alan Haber” have been posted on Buhdge.
August 6: Paul Culnane transcribed “The Most Underrated Albums Of Our Time: Tony Williams' Lifetime”, by Andy Partridge, in Word, June 2005.
August 4: Paul Culnane recently spoke to Steve Somerset, the brains behind The Wish List and The Shadow Kabinet, and he said “I'm fast awake in my own need. . .”
August 2: Shock! Horror! Andy Partridge plays and sings in public: Andy Partridge & Mid Life Crisis - The Roaring Donkey!
July 24: James Mack transcribed guitar chords for “The Art Song (Something Good With Your Life)”.
July 22: Ted Mills reviews The Big Express and Black Sea.; Have you visited Phrygian?
July 21: Roymond covers XTC's “It's Nearly Africa”. Shadowself covers “Another Satellite” with Neil H. on drums. Abominominous covers “Generals & Majors”.
July 19: Listen to “In conversation with Alan Haber: XTC's Andy Partridge” in Buhdge.
July 18: Jeffrey Fariello (him again?!) contributes “some completely altruistic XTC fodder”.
July 17: Jeffrey Fariello has posted his version of “Omnibus” and The Morningwood Brother's Auxilliary's version of “Then She Appeared” (in full and a capella flavours), originally recorded for the King for a Day tribute.
July 11: Fuzzy Warbles Volumes 5+6 reviewed: BIRDpages · Music-Scan.; Fuzzy Warbles Volumes 1+2 reviewed: Music-Scan.
July 9: Read about “Harold Budd: Budd in May” in The Independent, May 8, 2005.
July 7: Buhdge reviews Fuzzy Warbles Vols. 5 & 6.
July 6: Registration is now open for XTC - The Meeting Place - 2005. When? September 30 through October 2, 2005. Where? Swindon. Why? Because we like you. Martin Newell and X-sTatiC will appear. We hope you will appear, too.
June 27: Andy poses the “Riddle of the bands” in The Guardian.
June 26: Steve Somerset writes, “Alan Haber . . . hosts a great show on WEBR in Fairfax, Virginia, called Pure Pop. . . On Saturday, 9th July, Alan hosts a two hour XTC Pure Pop Special with an exclusive interview Andy Partridge and tracks from XTC and the Fuzzy Warbles albums. The show airs from 12-2pm.” Audio segments available at Buhdge.
June 10: Fuzzy Warbles 5 + 6 reviewed: POPnews.
June 5: Jacky Lurton contributes his cover of “Grass”. He plays all the instruments. Anyone in Paris who plays bass or drums (or sings) who wants to play pop music (Zombies, Beach Boys, Paul Bevoir, XTC, Martin Newell), please contact Jacky by email (jacky (dot) lurton (at) tiscali (dot) fr).
May 27: In 2004, Pitchfork published their list of “The Top 100 Albums of the 1970s”, which featured Drums and Wires at No. 38.
May 26: Stylus Magazine reviews “Generals and Majors” in their article “Life During Wartime: The Stylus Magazine Non-Definitive Guide To Pop Protest Songs”.; In 2002, Pitchfork revealed their idea of the “Top 100 Albums Of The 1980s”, a list which featured The Dukes Of Stratosphear's Psonic Psunspot at No. 66, XTC's English Settlement at No. 46 and Skylarking at No. 15. In response, Clink Magazine published their own list, “Top 100 Records of the '80s”, featuring Skylarking at No. 19 and English Settlement at No. 54.; Chips from the Chocolate Fireball reviewed: Echoes-Online.de · Utilikilts · Other Music · Universal Pop · Fort Drastic · Il Paradiso di Cassiel.; English Settlement reviewed: Il Paradiso di Cassiel.
May 24: Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: Pop Goes the Culture!.
May 22: Did you see the ikamono?
May 11: X-sTatiC to play Summer Gigs, Hell freezes over! Merely a year (less 8 days) after their last gig, X-sTatiC will be returning to their London Home, The Dublin Castle, on Friday, 1st July. This'll be the first of two planned summer gigs, the other being somewhere more exotic, possibly Manchester. Then, of course, they'll be playing at The Meeting Place 2005 in Swindon on the weekend of 30th September to 2nd October. You'll all be going won't you? Of course you will.
May 4: L.A.'s only XTC cover band Drummed and Wired are gonna hit it again. Come on out and revel in the Xtc-ness of it all. They'll tackle some new ones as well as resurrect some old. May 27th, 10:30 - 11:30pm, Canter's Kibitz Room, 419 N. Fairfax, Los Angeles, CA, 323.651.2030. In addition, as part of International Pop Overthrow (a pop festival in L.A.), Drummed and Wired will be playing June 8th at The Derby in L.A.
April 12: Apple Venus Volume 1 reviewed: Jeff Partyka's Mega-Music Page.
March 29: The Flea Theater presents The Neta Dance Company: NETRO: A Neta Dance Company Retrospective, May 11-22, 2005, at The Flea Theater, NYC. This retrospective of two decades of work includes River of Orchids (1999), a whimsical solo set in a psychedelic swamp of giant vinyl lily pads, with music by XTC (who have generously donated 10 box sets to the NETRO raffle!).
March 28: Greg Stump sent in chords for “I Can't Tell What Truth Is Anymore”.
March 27: Chris Dahlen spoke with Andy Partridge (and others), now you can read “Get That Out of Your Mouth #12: The Process Is the Product” in Pitchfork; more quotes from the interview can be read at Mr. Dahlen's Countyerchange.
March 20: Andy Partridge reviews Judee Sill in Uncut (thanks to Jamie Lowe).
March 17: According to the latest newsletter from XTC and all things Ape: “The Summer of 2005 sees the release of the Apple Box, an attempt to present you with a set that should have graced your ears in the mid 90's. Arguably XTC's best work, the two faces of the same coin are now properly reunited. You even get all the home demo recordings as well, all in a 4-CD boxed set.” (Released on 20 July 2005 in Japan on Pony Canyon Records.)
March 16: Skylarking reviewed: Harizma.
March 14: Mark Vidler of Go Home Productions says, in his recent newsletter, “Cool news with Andy Partridge of XTC coming soon too......oh yes....”. Mr. Vidler recently met with Mr. Partridge and thus: GHPblogged: Toy Soldiers and a Headful of Whine. Stay tuned! (Thanks to Stuart Draper.)
February 26: Darryl Bullock sent in some pictures of the Rainbow Drops & Finger Pops bootleg CD box set: the set · the hidden CD-3 · the box · the bag · the CDs · inside · the booklet cover.; Gerardine Kooring sent in some pictures: some badges, an autographed photocard from 1981, and an autographed Wonderland single.
February 18: Darryl Bullock sent in more piccies of XTC memorabilia: The Disappointed window sticker · All You Pretty Girls counter stand · pre-Virgin sticker designed by Andy Partridge.
February 16: Apple Venus reviewed: Comes with a Smile.; Darryl Bullock thought you might drool on his fully autographed copy of 25 O'Clock. (Perhaps I meant “over”, not “on”.)
February 15: Christer Liljegren transcribed chords to “I Wonder Why The Wonderfalls” and updated chords and tab to “The Wheel and The Maypole”.
February 10: Another XTC fan gathering is in the works for this coming September 2005, this one entitled XTC - The Meeting Place - 2005. The gathering will take place over three days, September 30 through October 2, 2005, in none other than Swindon, England. Many XTC related activities, musical performances and other special features will take place to make this a weekend to remember for years to come. This will truly be a melding of peoples from all around the globe joining to celebrate the band we all know and love. As more details emerge, we will keep you posted here and also on the current gathering page. We hope that you can join us for this weekend.
February 4: E. A. ordered the “XTC Collectors Figure Series · No 1” and would like to share these photographs of her set: the front of the box · the side of the box · the back of the box · the instructions · Barry's keyboard · Colin · Barry · the back of the keyboard · the keyboard again · Terry · Andy · the band plays for you.
January 24: “XTC in LA”? Read about Drummed & Wired in Intellectos Magazine.
January 20: Dear God, it's the Dukes of XTC! The Dukes of XTC, featuring Terry Eason, are competing at First Avenue & 7th St. Entry's annual Cover Song Contest, Wednesday, January 26th ($5 adv / $7 dr / 7 p.m. / 21+ID). It will rock. Last year Terry and his bandmates won the contest covering Blue Öyster Cult. Can they do it again?
January 21: New songs: “Zombie Tots” and “Chocolate Paper”, from the Apebite download-only MP3 EP.; Were The Spys really XTC in disguise? How about The Three Wize Men on the Sgt. Pepper Knew Your Father LP? Were they XTC? Read all about it in The FAQ.; “Fab Four in '79 Secret Reunion Shocker”. Threat or Menace? You decide.
January 14: Go Home Productions has done the nice and has provided a separate download of “Message of Love”, a mashup of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five's “The Message” and XTC's “Love At First Sight”.
January 12: Mark Vidler of Go Home Productions is obviously a huge XTC fan. One of his most recent mashups is “Franz Buffalo” built from XTC's “I Am the Audience”, Malcolm McLaren's “Buffalo Girls” and Franz Ferdinand's “Take Me Out”. He also used Andy Partridge's “How This Is Pop Came To Be” and XTC's “John Peel Intro” and “Love At First Sight” as part of his “WFMU 2004 Mix Part 1”.; Asa Butterfield (7), from Thornhill Primary School, made this bootleg, mash-up of XTC and Wheatus: “Teenage Dirtbag vs Making Plans For Nigel”.
January 11: Fuzzy Warbles, Volumes 5 and 6 reviewed: Fufkin.
January 7: Way back in October, Jens Jakobsson sent in a Swedish translation of the lyrics to “Science Friction”. Everybody sing along!
January 5: Jamie Lowe has contributed “It's a Small World for Andy Partridge” from Tracks.; Outdex reviews Apple Venus Vol. 1 and attends the HMV signing.
January 2: Brian Canfield transcribed the guitar chords for “I Remember the Sun”.
January 1: Paul Culnane transcribed a review of Fuzzy Warbles 5+6 from Record Collector magazine.

2004

December 25: Jeff Truzzi is on a roll. Today it's chords for “Dying”.
December 16: Don't Miss Thee Bowlermen! Announcing two extremely rare appearances of Thee Bowlermen. This world's only known Dukes/Rutles tribute band will be performing this coming Saturday 12/18 at Bopptopia at the Mojo Room in Baltimore, MD USA, and the following Monday 12/20 at DC9 in Washington DC. They'd love to play for actual factual Dukes of Stratosphear fans, so do try to make it. Only the Dukes themselves appear less frequently.
December 10: Jeff Truzzi sent in updated and/or new chords to “One of the Millions”, “Poor Skeleton Steps Out”, “Rook”, and “That Wave”.
December 2: Being There asks “Whatever Happened To XTC?”
November 30: Henning Ohlenbusch wrote to say his band School For The Dead performs a song called “Thug” which is “not an XTC song but it IS a song based on many XTC lyrics and styles . . . littered with references to the band and to the songs”.
November 26: Hurtmore! reviews XTC - Live at the Paradise Theater, Boston and XTC - Live at the Paradiso, Amsterdam.; Paul Culnane finds Dogs Die in Hot Cars Find XTC.
November 24: Martin Sandahl wrote to mention that you can listen to and rate Fuzzy Warbles 5 and 6 this week in Aftonbladet.
November 23: Charlie Crane wrote to say that he covered “Young Cleopatra” (more similar in style to the Jules Verne version than the Fuzzy Warble version).; Fuzzy Warbles 5 + 6 reviewed: Pitchfork Media.
November 16: Boojiboy Jnr mashed up XTC's “Radios in Motion” with Missy Elliot's “Get Ur Freak On” and came up with “Get Ur Freak In Motion” (thanks to Paulo X).
November 1: Listen to the bossa nova version of “Making Plans for Nigel” by Nouvelle Vague (thanks to Jan Bletz).
October 31: Jeff Truzzi sent in chords for “I Don't Want To Be Here” and “One Of The Millions”.
October 30: Hurtmore! reviews Nonsuch, A Coat of Many Cupboards, 25 O'Clock, Psonic Psunspot, and Fuzzy Warbles 1+2.
October 28: The DVD release of Wonderfalls (featuring the theme song “I Wonder Why The Wonderfalls” by Andy Partridge and all 13 episodes of the show) has been officially announced. The 3 DVD set will be released on 1 February 2005 in the U.S.A. The music video for “I Wonder Why The Wonderfalls” will be included as one of the many extras.
October 25: Carl Lightbody sent in a photo of his beautiful XTC-designed item, signed at the Apple Venus CD launch tour in Toronto.; Drummed & Wired Does “Black Sea” ... Again: Yes, they're going to tackle the album yet again, this time on a Saturday night instead of the middle of the week. Work off that turkey and sing along - maybe it will end up being an annual Messiah-type thing. Drummed & Wired play Black Sea, November 27th, 9pm, $8 door $6 with a flyer, at 14 Below, Santa Monica, CA.
October 17: Jefferson Ogata has contributed sheet music for “Bungalow”, “Bumpercars” and “End of the Pier”.
October 14: Dane Bramage writes: “The Hard Rock Casino produces limited edition holiday casino chips, and through the graciousness of a co-worker I've been allowed to scan this one used for Halloween 2001 and very cleverly dedicated to XTC's ‘Peter Pumpkinhead’” (front / back).
October 12: Next MONDAY 18th October 2004 at 8.00pm on BBC2 (UK only!) the programme MASTERMIND is on and one of the specialist subjects is: “The band XTC”. (Thanks to Belinda X.); The King for a Day MP3 XTC Tribute web site has moved. Updated ordering information is now available. Order yours today!
October 10: Fuzzy Warbles 5 + 6 reviewed: Plato Mania.
September 30: Fuzzy Warbles 5 + 6 reviewed: Le Zicazine · Froggy's Delight.; The Loud Bassoon reviews Andy Partridge's Fuzzy Warbles: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4.
September 27: Volume 5 & Volume 6 of Fuzzy Warbles are now available from Ape House Records in the U.K. (also released on 15 September on Pony Canyon Records in Japan). As with previous editions, Colin Moulding is not taking part in the project; only Andy Partridge demo tracks are featured on these releases.; Listen to The Dukes Of Silverlake perform “Your Gold Dress” live at Spaceland on July 27, 2004. Limited time only. Call before midnight tonight.
September 8: Hurtmore! reviews English Settlement.
September 7: Pop-Access has an interesting “Andy Partridge Interview” conducted around the time of the release of Fuzzy Warbles 3 & 4.
September 2: XTC hits the small time: Minipops.
September 1: Hurtmore! reviews Drums & Wires and Black Sea.
August 30: Skylarking reviewed: Uncut (thanks to Jamie Lowe).
August 27: Ever want to meet up with other XTC fans? International XTC Meetup Day is September 7.; A soundtrack album for the cult favorite TV show Freaks and Geeks will be released on September 14 in the U.S.A. Like the show, the twenty-five track compilation is a celebration of all things late Seventies and early Eighties, featuring tracks by Rush, Styx, Joe Jackson, Joan Jett and XTC, who contribute the powerful statement “No Language in Our Lungs”. The complete series is also available on DVD. [Rolling Stone]
August 24: Drummed & Wired, L.A.'s own XTC cover band, will be performing Black Sea in its entirety at Hollywood's historic rock venue Club Lingerie. All original 11 tracks. Don't miss the fun! September 29th, 9pm, $10, Club Lingerie, 6507 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, (323) 466-3416.
August 18: Apple Venus Volume 1 reviewed: Dagsavisen.
August 17: 96.5 The Buzz DJ Jason reviews “Across This Antheap”.
August 14: John Keel shot some video at the recent show by The Dukes Of Silverlake.
August 8: Mick wrote to tell us that Andy Partridge appeared on The Music Week on BBC 6 Music on Friday, 20th August, at 7pm. And I quote: “Ex-XTC member Andy Partridge faces up to our 6 QUESTIONS”. You heard it here first.; Ox Fanzine reviews Partridge/Blegvad: Orpheus - The Lowdown, Fuzzy Warbles Volumes 1 & 2 and Fuzzy Warbles Volumes 3 & 4.; Hurtmore! reviews XTC.
August 5: “Londinium Loves” by Go Home Productions, mixes Blur / XTC / The Kinks / The Beatles / Bon Jovi / The Bee Gees. A mash-up of the track “London Loves” from Blur's Parklife, taken from the GYBO Parkspliced project. Donate and download. (Thanks to Adrian Ransome.)
August 3: Stuart Gray paints The Uffington White Horse in oil on canvas for your bedsit wall.
July 30: Stargazer writes: “Andy Partridge is on Tom Robinson's show - Tuesday August 3rd from 7pm. Overseas fans can hear it live at http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/ and it will be archived at http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/presenters/tom_robinson/. Woo!”
July 22: Digital downloads of “How ‘Scarecrow People’ Came To Be” and “How ‘This Is Pop’ Came To Be” are now available for downloading at the Ape site.
July 13: The Dukes Of Silverlake, a Dukes Of Stratosphear cover band, are playing at Spaceland, Los Angeles, on July 27th as part of the International Pop Overthrow festival. They will be performing the 25 O'Clock e.p. in all its glory and splendor. The band consists of Matt Mahaffey [of Self], Jason Falkner and various members of The 88. They'll be playing musical chairs throughout the set and no one instrument will be touched by the same hands twice! This truly is a marvel of catastrophic proportions not to be missed! So, if you're an XTC fan or a friend of one, we suggest you crawl out from your rock. THANK YOU. (Watch the video.)
July 7: Chris contributed corrections to the chords for “Generals and Majors”.
June 30: R. Stevie Moore transcribed “XTC gives pop a new twist” from Rolling Stone, February 21, 1980.
June 29: R. Stevie Moore provided this picture from Rolling Stone, February 1980.
June 14: X-sTatiC will be playing live at Dublin Castle, London, on Friday, 9 July 2004.
June 10: Paul Culnane scanned and transcribed “Senses Working Overtime” from the April issue of Word.
June 2: The Loser's Lounge Tribute to XTC is now available on CD! Recorded live at The Fez, NYC, on 14 June 2003, the CD includes 20 of the songs that were performed that night.
May 30: Ian Dahlberg announces The XTC Vade-Mecum, a site devoted to sheet music for XTC, featuring “The English Settlement Omnibook”, all 15 album cuts in full score format.
May 23: Jeff Truzzi has contributed various charts and tablature: “Humble Daisy” · “Omnibus” · “Knights in Shining Karma” · “Holly Up On Poppy” · “Books Are Burning” · “Rook”
May 19: XTC appeared on the BBC 6 radio programme Dream Ticket on Monday, 17 May 2004. Dream Ticket features live music from the BBC archives. The XTC performance was taped at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1980 (released on Transistor Blast and BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert).
May 11: Art of the Mix features mix CD listings and artwork created by its subscribers. There are a few nice XTC-related mixes available.; Nouvelle Vague will release a bossa-nova tinged cover of “Making Plans for Nigel” on their forthcoming eponymous album, to be released in July 2004 on Peacefrog Records UK.
May 4: A video clip of XTC performing “Life Begins at the Hop” was played on Top Of The Pops 2, on Tuesday, May 4, on BBC 2: “Steve Wright presents another trawl of the pop archives, with classics from Sparks, Detroit Spinners, Ultravox, XTC, Anita Dobson, Chad Jackson, The Cure and Joshua Kadison.”
April 20: Various photos of XTC can be found at YeloDog.com, Pure Freude, Andy Freeberg Photography, and Greg Allen Photography & Design.
April 18: Fuzzy Warbles Vol. 1 reviewed: Music Boom.; Fuzzy Warbles Vols. 3 & 4 reviewed: Groovy Music.
April 17: Read “How We Met: Andy Partridge & Peter Blegvad” from The Independent on Sunday, March 28, 2004. Thanks to Darryl Bullock for this.
April 15: Orpheus reviewed: Indigo.
April 12: Listen to or watch an alternate version of Andy Partridge's “I Wonder Why the Wonderfalls”.
April 7: The Ultimate Mellotron Recordings List features a review of The Dukes of Stratosphear's works, including 25 O'Clock, Psonic Psunspot, and Chips From The Chocolate Fireball.
April 2: Read about “Above Average Andy” in The Guardian.; Fuzzy Warbles reviewed: Unproductivity.
March 31: Guy's Music Review Site now features reviews for Black Sea, Drums and Wires, and Take Away / The Lure of Salvage.
March 29: But wait! That's not all! For the same low low price you can also get an RSS feed of Recent Updates to the Discography.
March 28: Thanks to the instigation of Doug Goans you can now receive bits and bobs of Chalkhills as RSS feeds: Headline News, Recent Changes and Additions, and Chalkhills Postings (Doug also provided the XML icon).; Orpheus reviewed: Music Planet.
March 27: Wonderfalls is dead.
March 26: After many requests, Phil Corless is finally making more of the green t-shirts with just the Uffington Horse on it. Pre-order your shirt now!
March 25: Orpheus reviewed: Blow Up · Platomania · Prémonition.
March 24: J.M. Rosen sent in this MIDI control file for “Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her”. It's cool.
March 9: Orpheus reviewed: Magic Box.
March 7: Orpheus reviewed: The Guardian.
March 2: Billboard claims “XTC's Partridge Adds Theme To Fox Series”.
February 28: Orpheus reviewed: del Rock.
February 26: Andy Partridge appeared on the Tracey McLeod show on BBC 6 Sunday morning, February 29. It was at 9:00am GMT but BBC 6 usually have the shows available online for a couple of weeks.
February 23: Orpheus · The Lowdown, the collaboration from Andy Partridge and Peter Blegvad, was released in November 2003 by Pony Canyon Records in Japan and was released in February 2004 by Ape House Records in the U.K. The U.K. package includes artwork by Blegvad in an A5 package. The U.K. CD is now available at the Ape House Records web site.
February 22: Drums and Wires inspires Franz Ferdinand in Uncut.
February 18: The Engine Room cover “The Mayor of Simpleton” on the soundtrack to the film Welcome to Mooseport. Numerous readers have asked, “Why didn't they just use the original?” Well, perhaps it's because when XTC have granted permission in the past, the movies were crap. But that's only a guess.
February 16: Fano Guitars introduces the Special Edition XTC Oranges and Lemons Tonestar II. Please visit www.fanoguitars.com for details.
February 12: Obsküre reviews Orpheus.
February 7: Brian Tucker contributed some more odds and ends: a ticket stub from 5 November 1980, another ticket stub from 23 February 1980 (and its backside), and a lovely promotional device from “The Atlantic Road Show 1980, Release #10” (the photo and the text).
February 5: Jules Normington has offered previously unknown promotional Virgin Tapes of Live At Eric's and XTC INTERVIEW for auction at eBay.; Brian Tucker wears this English Settlement t-shirt.
January 26: Clan MacPartridge, San Francisco's best-loved (and only?) XTC tribute band, continues their campaign this Saturday, January 31st, at Pete's 881. Having received their official endorsement, the band will be premiering new material despite the fact that they don't yet have a harmonica with which to play the opening melody of “Peter Pumpkinhead.”
January 21: “The Mayor of Simpleton” says “Don't Start Marriage on Wrong Note” (Green Bay News-Chronicle)
January 18: Ox-Fanzine has a recent interview with Andy Partridge: “Andy Partridge & XTC: This Is Pop?”.; Fuzzy Warbles (Vol. 1) reviewed: VonSchack.com.
January 17: CMJ says “XTC DVD Postponed by Virgin Records”. No news.; The Neta Dance Company will be bringing The Orchid Show back to the Flea Theatre in New York City, January 30 - February 22, 2004 as part of the Give Us Your Children Festival.
January 4: The Independent mentions the Blegvad / Partridge collaboration Orpheus - The Lowdown in their compendium of forthcoming releases entitled “Unknown pleasures”.

2003

December 21: J.D. Mack has contributed scans of the insert and CD art of Holiday Greetings from Geffen Records.
December 16: Karmic Hit records features Pugwash's cover of “Thanks for Christmas”.
December 15: You know how right at the very end of “The Mole From The Ministry” there's that little zip of sound? J.D. Mack has contributed an mp3 of that sound slowed down and played backwards.
December 5: Wasp Star reviewed: Heckler.; Go 2 reviewed: H-Block 101.; HR Online features a portrait of XTC entitled “Kult aus Mittelengland”.; Drums & Wires reviewed: Sentire Ascoltare; The Howl writes about “XTC: cómo ser talentoso y pasar desapercibido”.
December 4: Fuzzy Warbles Vol. 3 & 4 reviewed: Prémonition.
November 25: I posted extremely simple chords for the new song by The Dukes Of Stratosphear: “Open a Can (of Human Beans)”.
November 22: If you live in Arlington, Texas, you might already be familiar with this billboard.
November 20: Andy Partridge and Steve Somerset recently visited the BBC Radio Swindon studios to talk about The Wish List with Mid-Morning Show presenter Dan Chisholm (20 minute interview).
November 19: Fuzzy Warbles Vol. 1 reviewed: All Music Guide.
November 5: Jef Leeson sent in images of the Canadian Ball and Chain 10-incher front cover and back cover, the Canadian Senses Working Overtime 12-incher front cover and back cover, and the UK reissue of Mr. Partridge's Take Away / The Lure of Salvage front cover and back cover.; Fabio Zampa announces “XTC tribute - remembering Drums & Wires”.
November 4: They called themselves Cheshire Cousin, but now they're going by Drummed & Wired. Who knows what they'll be called next? At any rate, what's more important is that they're the same four people playing your XTC favorites live in L.A. Their last gig of the year is upon them and you're cordially invited: Nov. 21st, at Taix, Los Angeles. Selections from Black Sea, English Settlement, Drums & Wires, and more...
November 3: In case you didn't read it on the official XTC site, Pitchfork predigests the latest news for you: “XTC DVD Dissed By Virgin; Andy Partridge Reserves Jizz For Summer”.
October 26: Guy's Music Reviews reviews White Music and Go 2, too.
October 23: I have added links to various XTC cover songs from the Sounds page.
October 22: The Wish List, Steve Somerset's compilation CD in aid of The Multiple Sclerosis Society (UK) featuring The Dukes Of Stratosphear song “Open A Can (Of Human Beans)”, is now available. The album also features Stephen Duffy and Lilac Time, Justin Hayward, Peter Blegvad, Phil Thornalley, Harold Budd, Steve Hogarth and the H-Band, Martin Newell, and Steve's own band The Shadow Kabinet. The Wish List is available for £10 inc. p&p.
October 9: I created a new King For A Day-themed MP3 player skin, I hope you like it.
October 7: Some copies of King For A Day are missing the MP3 player skins; we have made them available for download.
October 3: Fuzzy Warbles #3/#4 reviewed: del Rock.
October 2: Here's another mash-up: “Without Nigel” (XTC “Making Plans For Nigel” vs. Freeez “A.E.I.O.U” vs. Eminem “Without Me”).
September 27: Fuzzy Warbles Vols. 1 & 2 reviewed: Magic Box (but they misspelled the title, that's why I hadn't noticed it before).
September 25: King for a Day, the XTC tribute project spearheaded by Richard Pedretti-Allen, is available. It really is! Honest! 134 covers of XTC songs (in MP3 format). Order yours today!
September 23: Jon Rosenberger sent a Japanese ad for Fuzzy Warbles 1 & 2 (see front and back).
September 22: Magic Box features a short but recent interview with Andy Partridge (also in English).
September 21: And one more mash-up, by DJ Lunch Boy, consisting of bits from Adam Ant's “Apollo 9”, XTC's “Love at First Sight” and They Might Be Giants's “XTC vs. Adam Ant”, called “Adam Ant vs. XTC”.; On Thursday through Saturday, October 2nd-4th, 7.45pm, The Orion Players present Green Man, a brand new musical comedy with songs by Andy Partridge, at the Drama Hall, Steyning Grammar School, West Sussex. Proceeds in aid of the Sussex Autistic Society.
September 16: Here's another mash-up, by Go Home Productions, of XTC's “Generals and Majors” vs. Sylvester's “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”, called “You Make Me Feel XTC” (thanks to Martin Clinton).; BBC Video U.S.A. has released The Old Grey Whistle Test: The UK's Legendary Live Music Show, a DVD containing the “best” of the U.K.'s The Best of The Old Grey Whistle Test compilation DVD set, including XTC's “Statue of Liberty”. [watch a clip]
September 12: Here's a lovely mash-up by Go Home Productions of XTC's “Making Plans for Nigel” vs. Tweet's “Oops Oh My” which is called Tweet On XTC: “Making Plans for Vinyl” (remixed by the Beatvandals) (thanks to Albert Gibson).
September 2: Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: Babyblaue.; Visit the Top of the Pops 2 XTC microsite.; Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Groove.
September 1: Fuzzy Warbles 1-4 reviewed: Le Temps (thanks to Marie Omnibus).
August 31: Mike Golvach send in detailed tablature for “Mermaid Smiled”.
August 29: Join XTC-StupidlyHappy today!
August 28: Marco Odino sent in a scan of his ticket to see XTC live in Genova on March 16, 1982.
August 27: My position was impacted. I got RIFed. Laid off. Let go. Instant vacation!
August 26: Not only is R. Stevie Moore transcribing liner notes for Coat of Many Cupboards but he's scanning the photographs as well. Check 'em out!
August 22: Fuzzy Warbles 3&4 reviewed: Think Small.
August 21: The Yahoo club xtcenglandsglory est mort.; ABSOLUTE XTC is an evening of videos, concert footage, TV appearances and puppet shows by the seminal '80s art rock band XTC, featuring the live performance of Subpoenaed Lemur. Part of The Warren Report's AV CLUB series. Friday, August 22nd.
August 18: R. Stevie Moore continues his tireless transcription of the liner notes for Coat of Many Cupboards. He also points us to the following:; WWW.PUNKROCK.ME.UK features a few photos of XTC live in Manchester, October 21, 1978.
August 5: Fuzzy Warbles Vols. 3 & 4 reviewed: Magic Box.
August 3: Chalkhills recommends Brian Lovely.
August 2: Jared Morris submitted chords and tablature for “The World is Full of Angry Young Men” for your edification and elucidation.
August 1: XTC make a guest appearance in a Science Friction tale to be found at the professional webzine Ideomancer. The story is called “www.rebirth.@#$%”.
July 31: Jon Rosenberger has resurrected XTC-Weeds. The group will weed out a collection of CDs (to share around, with no profit intended - NO profit whatsoever) capturing the best quality recordings from the band and solo performers as well.
July 30: Fuzzy Warbles Vol. 1 reviewed: Hi-Fi+.; Fuzzy Warbles Vols. 1 & 2 reviewed: L'Eco di Bergamo.
July 29: The Robert Elms show on BBC London (94.9) has a regular slot entitled “What's All The Fuss About” in which fans are asked to vote for their favourite albums by a long standing artiste. This week it's XTC, with a chance to win the Transistor Blast box. It's on this Friday, 1st August, at about 12:40-13:10.
July 25: Partridge/Blegvad: “Beetle” reviewed: eye.
July 24: Fuzzy Warbles Vols. 3 & 4 reviewed: Pitchfork.
July 23: XTC cover band Cheshire Cousin will once again grace the stage at Highland Grounds in Los Angeles for another round of XTC offerings with an all-new set of of tunes from Go 2, Drums & Wires, English Settlement, and more. Friday, August 22nd.
July 22: Fuzzy Warbles Vols. 3 & 4 reviewed: The Power of Pop · Blogcritics.org.; Blender reviews White Music, Skylarking, Oranges and Lemons and Coat of Many Cupboards.
July 20: Fuzzy Warbles Vols. 3 & 4 reviewed: Music Planet.; True to the sprit of outrageous ambition, X-sTatiC are overjoyed, and slightly nervous, to announce their FIRST TOUR! The dates run as follows: Friday, 19th September, Riff's Bar, near Hook, Swindon: A special acoustic set, featuring all the XTC songs you NEVER thought you'd hear live, and they NEVER thought they'd have to learn; and Saturday, 20th September, The Victoria, Swindon: A full balls-out electric rockafest, featuring a revamped set list (i.e., a bunch of songs they've never tried).
July 19: Another Satellite reviews Fuzzy Warbles Vol. 1 and Fuzzy Warbles Vol. 2.
July 16: Fuzzy Warbles Vols. 1 & 2 reviewed: A Puta Da Subjectividade.
July 7: Barry Andrews is touring the States! Check barryandrews.net for more information.; The second two volumes of Fuzzy Warbles were released on 7 July 2003 on Ape House Records, Andy Partridge's vanity imprint (6 August in Japan on Pony Canyon). Colin Moulding is not taking part in the project; only Andy Partridge demo tracks are featured on the releases. Order yours today!
June 24: According to the official XTC web site, “the planned album between Andy and Apples In Stereo man Robert Schneider now seems to be in doubt. To be diplomatic about it. Let's say that both parties seem to be busy with other projects at this time.”
June 9: Modern Drummer features an Artist Update: Terry Chambers by Todd Bernhardt.
June 2: Joe Jackson has been performing XTC's “The Mayor of Simpleton” on solo piano at some recent shows. He has been known to play other XTC songs in live shows, but no recordings have been released (except for his “Statue of Liberty” on A Testimonial Dinner).
May 20: Black Sea reviewed: Greg's Weekly Album Picks · Insubstantial.; Amazon.com and its French and English branches have many XTC reviews I never noticed before: Go 2 · Apple Venus Volume 1 · Fossil Fuel · Mummer · Oranges & Lemons · The Big Express · Wasp Star · White Music.
May 19: Oussama Ben Marlden wrote an essay entitled “Le soleil et l'été dans la musique populaire anglo-saxonne contemporaine”.; English Settlement reviewed: Ground and Sky · momZine · A Little Bit of Rockin'.; White Music reviewed: Instant Edification.; Go 2 reviewed: Instant Edification.
May 18: Robert Christgau reviewed Psonic Psunspot, Oranges & Lemons and The Big Express for Village Voice.; Skylarking reviewed: Haddock.org.
May 17: Black Sea reviewed: Music Matic.; Drums & Wires reviewed: Music Matic.; Chips From The Chocolate Fireball reviewed: The Oval Earth · Pitchfork.; Psonic Psunspot reviewed: In The 80s · All Music Guide.; 25 O'Clock: reviewed: All Music Guide.; Homegrown reviewed: MUZE.; Homespun reviewed: I Am Wondering Now.; Andrea Coralli wrote “Navigando sui mari di formaggio: XTC”, Auditorium Edizioni, 1996.; A School Guide to XTC reviewed: Altremusiche.it.; Read “XTC, de la new-wave à la domestic pop...” in Obskür[e].; Nonsvch reviewed: Waiting For Louise.; Oranges & Lemons reviewed: I Am Wondering Now.; XTC: Song Stories reviewed: NoiseQueenZine.; Wasp Star reviewed: I Am Wondering Now · Dancing About Architecture.; Mullet Over?
May 15: Tricky covers “Dear God” on his new album Vulnerable (CD 2003.05.19 UK Anti 66862).
May 13: Homespun reviewed: The Boston Phoenix.
May 11: Drums & Wires reviewed: Stylus Magazine · Newspaper Taxi · Amazon.fr · Waiting For Louise.; Wasp Star reviewed: Stylus Magazine.; Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: dadams.co.uk.
May 10: Upsy Daisy Assortment reviewed: Steve and Abe's Record Reviews.; Transistor Blast reviewed: Cacao Rock.
May 9: Jack Chang wrote “XTC: A De/A-ppreciation” for Built Boyle Zine.; Jon Rosenberger transcribed lyrics for “Wyborn Sign”, “Alan Burston Bop” and “Hey, It's Alan Burston!”.
May 8: Rag & Bone Buffet reviewed: Douglas Mashkow.; The Losers Lounge presents A Tribute to X T C at Fez under Time Café, New York City, June 6, 7, 11, 13, 14.
May 7: Oranges and Lemons reviewed: The New and Improved Fyfeopedia · Accordo · SucrePop · New Music Scene.
May 4: “Big Brother defends 300ft chalk logo”, BBC.; Although I've never heard of her (obviously I am a loser), apparently Mandy Moore makes many people's knickers damp. The pop vocalist and actress will be covering “Senses Working Overtime” on her forthcoming album Coverage, due to be released in September 2003.
May 2: I've made an attempt at transcribing the lyrics to Colin Moulding's “Car Out of Control”. Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated. Oh, and if you can help transcribing “Mates”, that'd be cool, too.
April 17: Both Nick Lacey and Stefano Stefano have sent in chords to “Young Marrieds”.; Chandler Bryan contributed a correction to the chords for “Dear Madam Barnum”.
April 11: R. Stevie Moore continues his epic effort to transcribe the liner notes for Coat of Many Cupboards. Give thanks!; Randall Johnson has contributed a transcription of “Greenman”.; Chandler Bryan has contributed charts for “I'm the Man Who Murdered Love” and updated the charts for “Earn Enough for Us”.
April 9: Fuzzy Warbles 1&2 reviewed: The Power of Pop.
March 31: Wasp Star reviewed: 32puertas.com.
March 30: White Music reviewed: Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews.; Trouser Press has resurrected its guide to XTC, now in two parts: “The '70s and '80s” and “The '90s and Beyond”.
March 28: Skylarking reviewed: Pop Matters.
March 18: The February 2003 issue of Uncut features a review of Fuzzy Warbles Vols 1&2 and a Q&A with Andy Partridge.
March 12: Another Satellite features reviews of numerous XTC albums.
March 10: Fuzzy Warbles Vols. 1 & 2 reviewed: Red Magazine.
March 5: Chalkhills now has cellphone ringtones! Check out the new ringtones in Sound and MIDI, courtesy Wayne Grimsrud and Johan Ekdahl.
February 23: Skylarking reviewed: Elidor.; Oranges & Lemons reviewed: Ground and Sky.
February 22: M85 makes a “Melt the Guns” T-shirt.
February 21: R. Stevie Moore has been helping with many contributions lately, including some pictures and text from Coat of Many Cupboards and other recent releases. Give the man a hand!; Fuzzy Warbles Vols. 1 & 2 reviewed: Plan 9 Music.
February 19: Read MOJO's article on “English Eccentric: Andy Partridge”, courtesy of Janis Van Court.
February 13: The Chalk Horse Hat and Chalkhills Shirt are available once more, from “Fearless” Phil Corless.
February 12: Fuzzy Warbles, Volumes 1 & 2 reviewed: Fufkin.com.
February 10: Fuzzy Warbles, Volumes 1 & 2 reviewed: Fufkin.com.
February 6: Fuzzy Warbles Vol. 1 & 2 reviewed: MNW Music Network.
February 5: A photo of XTC was selected as one of the 500 greatest photos in rock history. It (and 499 others!) can be found at Kodak Rock Photography Collection. Limited edition prints are available (but they're dear).
January 29: XTC and Idea Records U.K. have released the music mixes (karaoke) of Apple Venus Vol 1 and Wasp Star, entitled Instruvenus and Waspstrumental, respectively. Each is luxuriously packaged in a larger-than-standard A5 digi-pak with full colour booklet. (These CDs were released in Japan in standard jewel boxes.)
January 27: Read “Adult Pop” in Gaesteliste.de.; Andy Partridge's “Don't Let Us Bug Ya” makes it to the eye “Anti-Hit List”.; Fuzzy Warbles 1&2 reviewed: BBC · Les Inrockuptibles.; Homegrown reviewed: Gaesteliste.de.; R. Stevie Moore has been contributing interesting bits of liner notes from Coat of Many Cupboards et al. Many thanks.
January 17: Wasp Star reviewed: Music Planet.
January 15: I saw Barry Andrews perform at The Black Cat in Washington, D.C., last night, and he was excellent. Check out his latest: Haunted Box of Switches.
January 14: Fuzzy Warbles 1 & 2 reviewed: Music Planet.; Find out the truth behind “'Oranges and Lemons' - The Nursery Rhyme”.
January 13: Fuzzy Warbles 1 & 2 reviewed: Pitchfork.
January 10: Jordan Cooper sent in chords for “Everything Will Be Alright”.
January 2: An interview with Andy Partridge is featured in a new book called The Tenacity of the Cockroach: Conversations With Entertainment's Most Enduring Outsiders. Edited by Stephen Thompson and the staff of The Onion A.V. Club, the book is available in better book and record stores now.

2002

December 31: Platomania features reviews of Fuzzy Warbles I & II, the Easter Parade [sic], I'd Like That, and Green Man CD singles, Homegrown, Homespun, Transistor Blast, the Japanese reissues, Wasp Star and The Dukes Of Stratosphear's Chips From The Chocolate Fireball.
December 26: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: The Daily Camera.
December 24: sistahQ has contributed chords and tablature to “Happy Families” and “Thanks For Christmas”.; Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: The Paste Mob · Ink Blot Magazine · Spiegel.
December 20: Fuzzy Warbles 1 & 2 reviewed: Bergensavisen.
December 19: Wasp Star reviewed: Dagsavisen.
December 16: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Vintage Vinyl.
December 13: Happy Friday the 13th!
December 12: Channel 4 broadcast an interview with Andy Partridge today.; Most of y'all probably know already, but “XTC Unveil Tracklist for Fuzzy Warbles” (Pitchfork).
December 11: Christer Liljegren has transcribed guitar chords for “I Don't Want To Be Here” and “Wonder Annual”.
December 10: Fuzzy Warbles Vols. 1 & 2 reviewed: The Independent.
November 19: “Then She Appeared” was featured in tonight's episode of Gilmore Girls.
November 5: According to Pitchfork, XTC Recording New Full-Length; Robert Schneider Collaboration on Backburner.
October 16: The Nonsvch Colouring Book has moved to Chalkhills.; Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: The Power of Pop.
October 5: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Luna Kafé.; The New and Improved Fyfeopedia reviews Drums and Wires, Black Sea, English Settlement, The Big Express, Skylarking, Nonsuch, Fossil Fuel, Mummer, Apple Venus Vol. 1, Wasp Star, and The Dukes Of Stratosphear's Chips From The Chocolate Fireball.
October 1: XTC songs have been featured in a number of episodes of The Gilmore Girls, a U.S. television program. Our Little Corner of the World: Music From Gilmore Girls was released by Rhino Records USA on 1 October 2002. The original soundtrack compilation includes XTC's “I'm The Man Who Murdered Love”.
September 17: The recent remastered XTC CDs are being released by Caroline Records U.S.A. The first reissues, Skylarking, Oranges and Lemons, and White Music were released on 14 May. The second batch of reissues includes Go 2, Black Sea, and English Settlement, and hit the shelves on 25 June. The latest batch, including The Big Express, Mummer, Drums and Wires, and Nonsuch went on sale on 6 August. The Dukes Of Stratosphear's Chips From The Chocolate Fireball was the last, reissued on 17 September. The U.S.A. CDs feature slightly different (and perhaps improved) artwork from their U.K. counterparts, in both limited edition LP-style sleeves and a standard jewel box version. (Some sources indicate that the LP-style CDs are merely the Japanese CDs with Caroline stickers on the cover.)
August 28: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Uncut.
August 26: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: It.Arti.Musica.Rock.
August 23: Wesley Hanks contributed more pics related to The White Horse of Uffington: the official interpretive pamphlet with the official map, White Horse Hill and the Horse itself from the air.
August 19: According to Billboard, XTC [is] Breathing 'Easily,' Compiling Outtakes.
August 16: Trevor Dyer has graciously provided the remainder of “Agony and XTC”, an article from the July 2000 issue of Guitar magazine UK.
August 11: Are you interested in XTC bumperstickers?
August 10: As it turns out, XTC are reviewed not once, but twice by Prindle Record Reviews! I'm confused.
August 6: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Extended Mix · modern-dance.
August 5: White Music is one of Jaguaro's “One Hundred Albums You Should Remove from Your Collection Immediately”.; Maurizio Caritá invites anyone interested to his yahoogroup XTCWeeds, for lovers of the great Swindon band who are willing to get a taste of their live performances. The group will weed out a collection of CDs (to share around, with no profit intended - NO profit whatsoever) capturing the best quality recordings from the band and solo performers as well.
July 13: George Starostin reviews White Music, Go 2, Drums & Wires, Black Sea, English Settlement, Mummer, and The Big Express.; Martin Venator reviews the XTC album catalogue.; Extended Mix features the article “XTC - Popmusik som leder till extas(y)”.
July 11: Pitchfork reviews the recent reissues of Go 2, Black Sea, and English Settlement.
July 7: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Amazon.co.uk.; Becki diGregorio has released a new album entitled God's Empty Chair. The album features the guitar and mellotron talents of Dave Gregory as well as those of Lyle Workman, John Wedemeyer and others. Becki also recorded the song “Susan Revolving” by Andy Partridge. Highly recommended.
July 6: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Fufkin.
July 5: Todd Bernhardt does it again: “Senses Working Over Time (or, How Terry Chambers learned to stop worrying about XTC and love the drums again)”, a long interview with Terry Chambers.; Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Neue Zürcher Zeitung · Disclaimer Music Review Archive · eye.
July 3: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Entertainment Today · Facts · 1-0.
July 2: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Rough Guides.
June 30: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Les Inrockuptibles.; Oranges & Lemons reviewed: The Daily Vault.
June 23: Mike Pelusi, XTC-friendly reviewer, has created a music-oriented site called No Language In Our Lungs.
June 11: Jon Ayling related this interesting story involving Bent Larsen, dentist and guitarist on The Colonel's “Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen”.; Chris Twomey has revised Chalkhills and Children for a second edition, issued in paperback in England on 11 June 2002.
June 9: Wow! XTC in the Sunday New York Times! Read “XTC: Adventurous Punk of a Troubled Past”.; CDNOW concocted this list of “The 10 Essential Songs About Superheroes”, featuring two, count 'em, two songs from XTC.
June 4: Cole Reviews XTC.; Wasp Star reviewed: DooYoo.; Oranges & Lemons reviewed: Splendid.; Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: rainsound.net.
June 2: groove.no reviews Skylarking and Homespun.
May 30: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: SOUNDIweb · BIRDpages · El Paso Scene.; Pitchfork ran this lovely little number: “Digging through their Drawers: Classic Unreleased XTC Demos”.
May 18: It would appear that Beatown is dead. Do you know anything about its demise? Let us know.
May 15: The BBC features a brand new 45-minute interview with Colin Moulding.
May 13: Philippe Carly of New Wave Photos took many photographs of XTC in concert.
May 6: Patrick Schabe's review of Coat of Many Cupboards is available on Pop Matters.; I am experimenting with anti-spam measures again. I am encoding email addresses from most pages, but anybody with half a brain can probably figure the encoded addresses out. Hopefully, the spambots don't have half a brain.
May 2: Deb Brown says that Hamish says, “This month's Get Rhythm magazine has Andy on the cover and a nice looking article on the boys inside...” Can someone send me the text (or a scan) of the article?
April 30: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Philadelphia City Paper.
April 28: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Winnipeg Sun · Busheyspon.
April 27: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Rolling Stone · Adrian's Album Reviews.; XTC T-shirts will soon be available from the official XTC web site.
April 26: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Amazon.fr · CDNOW · Plato Mania · Dagsavisen.; Rich Gobey has contributed chords for “Earn Enough for Us”.
April 21: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Amazon.com.; Announcing Wonder Annual, a new Yahoo group for all XTC fans.
April 18: Barbara Petersen sent in the cover of the Last Live Show ROIO.
April 13: Emerson Shiff of the old punks web zine went to the 1999 XTC autograph signing at the Virgin Megastore in Hollywood.
April 12: Anorak of Many Colours reviewed: All Music Guide.; Kristin Hall submitted lyrics and chords for “Senses Working Overtime”.
April 11: Westword tells “A moving tale from the Apples in Stereo”.; Have you made “The Swindon Connection”?; Chips from the Chocolate Fireball reviewed: The Stranger.
April 10: Homegrown reviewed: Rockol.; The recent remastered Virgin CDs reviewed: Soundi.; Andy Partridge is featured in a new book called Mouthing Off - A Book Of Rock & Roll Quotes. Andy also offers a back cover endorsement for Mouthing Off by claiming, “I'm not cool enough to be in this book.” In addition to some funny and truthful observations from the XTC frontman, the book features photos and quotes from all sorts of rock, punk and indie artists. Compiled by Rolling Stone/Billboard contributor John D. Luerssen, Mouthing Off is available in better book and record stores now.; Monstrance, the live improvised no over-dub-lum, featuring the instrumental magic of Martyn Barker, Barry Andrews and Andy Partridge, was released on 2 April 2007. The reviews are pouring in. Hear for yourself what the fuss is all about. Order yours today!
April 9: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Pitchfork.
April 7: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Verdens Gang.
April 5: XTC appears on the cover of the April issue of Record Buyer and Music Collector, which features the article “XTatiCally Yours”.; Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Aquarius Records.
April 2: Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: Record Buyer and Music Collector · Rock City.; Coat of Many Cupboards, the definitive XTC box set, was released on 25 March 2002 by Virgin Records U.K. and on 2 April 2002 by Caroline Records U.S.A. The 4-CD set consists of 60 tracks of XTC's favorite songs, outtakes, alternate versions and rarities, and the best of the demos (other demos unearthed by XTC not chosen by Virgin for Coat will become Fuzzy Warbles). The 128-page booklet included with the set features an essay written by Harrison Sherwood. You can order an autographed copy from the Idea Records site. (Thanks to Youssef Mourra and “hapless goober” Harrison Sherwood for this information.)
March 31: Back from a week on holiday.; Coat of Many Cupboards reviewed: The Sunday Times · BBC · Barnes & Noble.
March 12: Harrison Sherwood contributed guitar chords for “This is the End”.
March 11: Duane Day sent in some corrections for the guitar chords for “Funk Pop a Roll”.
March 10: Chalkhills Recommends Chomsky.; Any Chalkhillian out there who is partnering with Amazon.co.uk? Perhaps we can trade links.
March 7: Jason Legacy sent in chords and tablature for “Real by Reel”.
March 2: ICE is “having a rave with XTC”.
March 1: Gary Nicholson pointed us to a review of Coat of Many Cupboards from The Guardian.
February 22: Andy Partridge racconta le vicissitudini artistiche (e legali) del suo gruppo in Rockol, which also features “La nostra lotta contro l'industria del disco”.; Read about Coat of Many Cupboards: JAM! Music · popkomm · Busheyspon.
February 20: Les Inrockuptibles tells us about “Le premier coffret d'XTC sort fin février”.
February 18: Ian Dahlberg scanned this tour poster from Arlington, Texas, April 1981.
February 5: I found a few possibly interesting articles in back issues of Chalkhills, including the following: “Andy in The Basement”, BBC Radio · review of BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert, Melody Maker · “120 Minutes with Andy”, MTV · “Andy Partridge is dealer in XTC”, OOR · Interview with XTC, Guitares et Claviers · review of “Peter Pumpkinhead”, Kronto Reviews · Interview with Andy Partridge, BBC Radio 1 · review of Nonsvch, Kronto Reviews · review of Nonsvch, OOR.
February 1: Lycos Music features a news item about A Coat of Many Cupboards and the forthcoming reissues from Caroline Records USA.
January 31: Billboard tells us that the “Forthcoming XTC Box Boasts Rarities Galore”.
January 25: The release of A Coat of Many Cupboards has been pushed back a month to 25 March.
January 24: Pardon our dust. Reel by Real is getting a face-lift.
January 23: The track list of A Coat of Many Cupboards is now available on the official XTC web site.
January 17: Mark Fisher sent in the Virgin Records press release for A Coat of Many Cupboards.
January 9: Homespun reviewed: kwMusica · Rough Guides.; Wasp Star reviewed: Rough Guides.

2001

December 30: Glyn Rudd has a couple of comments on the guitar chords for “Church of Women”.
December 16: Adrian's Album Reviews reviews XTC.; Wasp Star reviewed: StyleQueen.
December 9: Tim Harris has contributed the chords to the demos of “Goosey Goosey” (from The Bull with the Golden Guts) and “It's Snowing Angels” (from Window Box).
December 4: Read the latest details on the King For A Day project.
November 23: The official XTC web site, at www.xtcidearecords.co.uk, has been launched.
November 20: Through the Hill reviewed: Sonic Curiosity · All Music Guide · Westword · Revue Audiolab · MUZE.
November 13: The Guardian reviews XTC's cover of Captain Beefheart's “Ella Guru”.
November 11: Back in December 1998, Wren wrote this editorial: “A Pumpkinhead In The White House”.
November 10: Tomas Johansson of Instrument Online says “Jag gillar demos, del 1”.; Someone called “melodylaughter” wrote “XTC In A Clever Plastic Disguise!”, an article about The Dukes of Stratosphear. But this poor misguided soul didn't include a contact address, nor is the article dated. melodylaughter, if you're out there, email me!; Jean-Louis Bergami says that Skylarking is one of his favourite discs. So does Stanislav Zabic. Hey, El Intruso and Sifting Through the Wasteland reviewed it, too.; Reviews of various XTC albums can be found at Music Junkies Anonymous, Dom's Pornographic Wasp Colony, and Palpable's Domain.; Tom Ewing of new york london paris munich reviews XTC's “Beating of Hearts” as well as Andy Partridge's “Candymine” and “Prince of Orange”.; Dead Air Diary reviewed Mummer in February 1984.
November 6: Drums and Wires reviewed: Das Kultursyndikat · CDNOW.; Paul Myers reviews Go 2 and Drums And Wires on the Dan Bryk web site.; Black Sea reviewed: Ny Tid.; Elidor features capsule reviews of Skylarking, Apple Venus, Black Sea, English Settlement, and Wasp Star, as well as a longer treatise on “Greenman”.
November 1: Adam McIntyre wrote a “Eulogy for Rock and Roll”.; Homegrown reviewed: Bertus Tips.; Wasp Star reviewed: New York Magazine.; Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: Big Bang · Extraneous · Las Vegas Weekly.
October 31: Read “A Grande Arte Dandy dos XTC” in Público (in Portuguese).; Circuit 1:2 DVD reviewed: digitallyOBSESSED.; Skylarking reviewed: CNY Music & Art.
October 24: Ira Lieman noticed this lovely little “dictionaraoke” version of “Senses Working Overtime”.; Colin Price wrote to say, “I just picked up the DVD for the 30th Aniversary of the Old Gray Whistle Test and lo and behold it contains a live 'Statue of Liberty'. It's fantastic!!”
October 21: Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: Adam's Album Reviews.; Remastered XTC albums reviewed: Blindsummit.; Skylarking reviewed: Rip and Rock · Jake Laufer.; Sadly, it looks as if XTC WebRing Japan has reached its end. The owner gave up surfing the web, thus nobody can join. Well, at least X Wires is still healthy!
October 17: Happy Mummer Day! Jayne Myrone created a lovely rendering in honour of this special day. Time to spin Mummer now.; Paul LoPiccolo visited “Ground Zero” and had this response.
October 13: Chalkhills recommends The Nines.
October 12: Ian Dahlberg sent in some scans of the covers of various issues of The Little Express: March/April 88, Autumn 88, Winter/Spring 89, Winter/Spring 90, Winter 90/91, Winter 91/92, #39 Spring/Summer 95, #40 Winter 95/96, and Summer/Autumn 98.; By the way, in case you thought that this page mentions every change made to Chalkhills, you've got another thing coming. Really, you need to dig around a bit. Things are changing all the time, but often in subtle (and perhaps devious, or maybe mischievous, or could that be mysterious?) ways.
October 10: Andy Partridge talks about “My Favorite Things” in an interview with Barnes & Noble.; Homegrown reviewed: Philadelphia City Paper · Willamette Week · Jellycake · All Music Guide.; Wasp Star reviewed: David Arnold · Barnes & Noble · The Psychøtic Reactiøn · Thrust.; Apple Venus Volume 1 reviewed: UNICUM · David Arnold.
October 9: “Listen to What the Man Said„ - Popular Artists Pay Tribute to the Music of Paul McCartney, originally rumoured to include XTC with John Cleese, was released without any contribution from the band.
October 4: Fritz Stolzenbach-McLean would like to apologise for his failure to finish the Chalkhills Originals '97 project.
October 1: Prindle Record Reviews reviewed Rejected Songs and Homegrown.
September 14: Ben Abbate has contributed tab and chords for “No Language in Our Lungs”.; Back in May, Jamie Kowalski contributed a couple of updates for the tablature for “Senses Working Overtime” and “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead”. I apologize for the delay, the message got lost in the swirling depths of my mailbox.
September 11: A black day.
September 6: Steve Schiavo and Stewart Russell helped contribute the remainder of The Dukes Of Stratosphear article from Strange Things Are Happening, 1988.
September 4: Homegrown reviewed: Entertainment Today.
August 30: Homegrown reviewed: Gallery of Sound.
August 27: Christer Liljegren has contributed new chords and tab for “Extrovert”, “Rip Van Ruben”, “Let's Make a Den”, and updated those of “Church of Women”.
August 20: Voir reviews Wasp Star and Apple Venus Volume 1.
August 5: Visit This is Pop (now defunct), Darryl Bullock's XTC sales page, the newest member of the X Wires webring.
July 31: Read about “The Little Express: A Short History of the XTC Zine That Could” in Exclaim!
July 27: Read “Andy Partridge of XTC: The Wasp Star Interview” in Tape Op.; XTC - Ten Feet Tall, has a new URL: http://www.10ft.it/. Please update your bookmarks.
July 19: Homegrown reviewed: Gondola.
July 14: Black Sea reviewed: Emazing.com · PubCulture.
July 13: (Friday!): eye reviews White Music, Go 2, Drums and Wires, Black Sea, and English Settlement.
July 11: Homegrown reviewed: Guitar Player.; Apple Venus reviewed: Creative Loafing Savannah · Oni Bubba's Den of Sin · Muse · Space Age Bachelor.
July 10: Andy Partridge was in “The Hot Seat”, The Sydney Sun-Herald, October 2000.; Q features “XTC: Britpop's Spiritual Granddads”.
July 7: Did you see XTC and Slade together in concert? If so, let me know.; National Post ran “Réédition des 10 premiers albums de XTC, l'un des fleurons de la pop britannique”, an article about the recent XTC reissues.
July 6: Patrick Swanson sent in chords for “Garden of Earthly Delights”.
July 5: Homegrown reviewed: Q.
July 2: Mitch Friedman visited Swindon recently, and he took some photos that he is willing to share with us: Andy Partridge at Idea Studios, mixing “The Ballad of Wanking Man”, Colin Moulding and Andy Partridge outside Idea Studios, and Colin Moulding and Andy Partridge outside Colin's house.
June 27: “Making Plans for Vinyl”, an article about Virgin's recent XTC reissues, appeared in the May issue of Record Collector.
June 25: Homegrown reviewed: Cox News Service.; I'm back from vacation. I had a great time. Much music was played.
June 11: Wasp Star reviewed: Coverstory · Presencia7.
June 8: Homegrown reviewed: Amazon.co.uk.
June 5: I moved cover art for unofficial releases to the Unofficial Releases page.
May 31: Virgin Radio now has a page for XTC in its “Classic Artists” section.
May 29: Skylarking reviewed: Birmingham Post.
May 24: Yazbek talks about the influence XTC had upon him in USA Today.; iCrunch has this bit of Homegrown news.; I didn't get laid off today, so Chalkhills should continue uninterrupted for some time. . .
May 22: Homegrown reviewed: New York Post · The Times.
May 21: The Los Angeles Times has a report on Fuzzy Warbles.
May 11: Homegrown reviewed: Sun-Sentinel.
May 8: Billboard reports “XTC To Release Second Demos Set”.
May 7: Shigemasa Fujimoto is back in touch, and he still has a few copies of Wonderland available.; Apple Venus Volume 1 reviewed: Tages-Anzeiger.
May 5: Happy Cinco de Mayo!; Apple Venus Volume 1 reviewed: Music Matic.; Skylarking reviewed: Music Matic.
May 2: Tell us something we didn't know: “XTC Issue Demo Album” (MOJO).
April 30: Information about the latest Chalkhills digest, discography, FAQ, etc., is now on the Archives page. It is no longer on the What's New page.
April 27: Jon Jon sent in guitar tab for “Generals and Majors”.
April 25: “I'm the Man Who Murdered Love” reviewed: Pop-Culture-Corn.; Wasp Star makes the grade: American Mule.
April 24: Philippe Blirando's iXTC seems to be off the air, and so does Philippe. Does anybody have any news?
April 23: In non-Chalkhills news, I won the 2001 California Old Time Fiddle Association State Picking Championship on Saturday; I played mandolin in the competition.
April 19: The Japanese remastered Virgin XTC CDs feature a link to www.the-raft.com/xtc, “for further information, competitions and music”.
April 18: Krystyn Wells wrote about meeting Andy Partridge.; Apple Venus Volume 1 reviewed: VoVatia · Expresso · The Daily Star.
April 17: Drums and Wires reviewed: Media Nugget.; Mr. Partridge's Take Away / The Lure of Salvage reviewed: Slash.
April 16: 33 RPM reviews White Music, Go 2, Drums and Wires, Black Sea, and English Settlement.
April 14: Wasp Star reviewed: AccessGulfCoast.com.
April 12: Richard Pedretti-Allen fills us in on progress on the King For a Day tribute.
April 3: Apple Venus (Volume 1) reviewed: The Prague Tribune.
April 2: John H. Hedges has moved XTCware to www.jh3.com/xtc.
March 30: Ben Abbate sent in some guitar tablature for “The Good Things”.
March 29: Wasp Star reviewed: The Tulane Hullabaloo · Phoenix New Times.
March 28: Rockstar.it features reviews of Transistor Blast, A Testimonial Dinner, Wasp Star, and Apple Venus Volume 1.; The Little Lighthouse 1996-2001 R.I.P.
March 26: Jon Rosenberger also had this tour poster for a 1980 San Diego concert doubleheader.; Here's some more news on the Robert Schneider and Andy Partridge collaboration.; “XTC's Andy Partridge: The True Wasp Star” was interviewed by ChartAttack.
March 25: Jon Rosenberger sent in some pics of Homegrown: the front cover, the tray insert and the back cover of the booklet.
March 22: I found a serious problem with the “suitable-for-printing” discography. Did anyone ever notice? If so, why didn't she or he tell me?
March 21: Black Sea reviewed: Guitar Player.
March 20: “Stupidly Happy” reviewed: The Record.
March 15: Find out about the mid price re-release bonanza: “XTC Go 2 It” (from MOJO).; Jon Rosenberger sent in a couple of images for the archives: an autographed Japanese Wasp Star counter promotional device, and a snap of a still-shrinkwrapped Drums and Wires 8-track tape.; MOJO reviews: Homespun · Transistor Blast · Fossil Fuel · BBC Radio 1 Live.
March 11: Tracey Bryn of Voice of the Beehive talks about writing songs with Andy Partridge in Pause & Play.
March 7: “I'm The Man Who Murdered Love” reviewed: Musicblitz.; “Your Dictionary” (demo) reviewed: Musicblitz.; Homespun reviewed: The Silhouette.; Transistor Blast reviewed: Willamette Week · Diamondback.; Upsy Daisy Assortment reviewed: The Lumberjack.
March 6: Wasp Star reviewed: The Scoop.; Ever wondered what Nick Davis looks like?
March 2: A number of people have been asking about the “bubblegum album”. So many that it's become a FAQ.
February 28: Bungalow has moved. Please update your bookmarks.
February 27: Mick Sinclair interviewed Andy Partridge, read the 1985 Zigzag feature.; Read this XTC interview, if you can.; Wasp Star reviewed: MUSIC Watch.; Black Sea reviewed: Mofo.
February 26: Roger Patton asks if anybody would like tickets to an XTC concert.; Sonic Barbecue comments on the “Etat d'extase”.; Wasp Star reviewed: magic! · El Foco · Thump City · Smiffy's Marvellous Electronic Gamezine · Eesti Ekspress · Eesti Express (again).; Skylarking reviewed: Ground and Sky.
February 24: Transistor Blast reviewed: CDNOW.; English Settlement reviewed: CDNOW.
February 23: I have been reworking the Articles and Interviews section of Chalkhills. Enjoy!; Wasp Star reviewed: Wetair · Spectator · The Record · The New York Observer.; Homespun reviewed: theLEEpage.; Apple Venus reviewed: The Witches' Voice · Thrust · The Belfry · SLAMM · epulse · eye · Music Club.
February 22: Andy Partridge spoke about “John Lennon's Disjointed Noodlings and Immeasurable Resonance” in this recent interview for Flagpole.; Wasp Star reviewed: TNT · TNT.; Homespun reviewed: NOW.; Apple Venus reviewed: Philadelphia Inquirer.
February 21: Is XTC Forgotten already? Ask FFWD.; Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) reviewed: FFWD Weekly · John Gill.; Homespun (The Apple Venus Volume One Home Demos) reviewed: Cleveland Free Times.; Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Xmas reviewed: Daily Nebraskan.; Rag & Bone Buffet reviewed: The Minnesota Daily.
February 20: Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) reviewed: All-Reviews.com.
February 19: Apple Venus Volume 1 reviewed: Detroit Free Press.
February 16: Rag & Bone Buffet reviewed: CMJ New Music Report.; “Dear God” reviewed: CMJ New Music Report.
February 15: It's a little late, but here's Andy Partridge's message of hope/doom on the eve of the century's end from Spin, December 16, 1999.; Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: Perfect Sound Forever.
February 14: Happy Valentines Day!; Did you read “Sound Off: XTC's Andy Partridge” in Wall of Sound?; Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: Detroit Metro-Times · Lexington Herald-Leader.
February 9: Wasp Star reviewed: Toast · Q.; Skylarking reviewed: Q.; Take Away / The Lure of Salvage reviewed: Toast.; Drums and Wires reviewed: TeenInk.
February 8: Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: CitySearch · Arbetarbladet.; Upsy Daisy Assortment reviewed: The Backbeat.; Just Say Noël reviewed: Philadelphia City Paper.; A Testimonial Dinner reviewed: Disclaimer Music Review Archive (the web site formerly known as W.O.S.P.S.).
February 7: Wasp Star reviewed: Fright X.; Oranges & Lemons reviewed: The Green Page.
February 6: Wasp Star reviewed: The Sunday Oregonian.; 25 O'Clock reviewed: Valley Mag · Achim Färber.
February 5: Jonny Stephens found this review of XTC at Music Machine in the inside pocket of an old coat.; Oranges & Lemons reviewed: TeenInk.; Chips From The Chocolate Fireball reviewed: Pop Kulcher.
February 4: Wasp Star reviewed: Groove.; Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: Göteborgs-Posten.; Transistor Blast reviewed: Göteborgs-Posten.; Fossil Fuel reviewed: The Brunswickan.
February 3: TheQ! 100.3 interviewed Andy Partridge!; Wasp Star reviewed: The Music Box · Music on Tnt · Whatzup · Extreme · Cambridge News · Luxuria Music · Newsic · El Foco · Rock Viu · Evil Sponge · Creative Loafing Atlanta · NonSoloLibri · Hotmud.; Upsy Daisy Assortment reviewed: The Daily Cardinal · The Daily Tar Heel · The Star · OC Weekly.; Nonsuch reviewed: The Tech.
February 2: Wasp Star reviewed: Quotidiano · The Clarion Call.
February 1: Ben Abbate sent in an update to the charts for “Generals and Majors”.; Homespun reviewed: BIRDpages.; Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: SEE Magazine · ElectricCat · BIRDpages · The Collegian · FFWD Weekly · Audio Revolution · The Daily Free Press · Dancing About Architecture · Disctronics Music · The Gallery of Indispensible Pop Music · Montréal Mirror.
January 31: Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: Wellbuilt · SonntagsZeitung.; Transistor Blast reviewed: El Pais.
January 30: Wasp Star reviewed: Terra · Akers Mic.; Homespun reviewed: Heaven.
January 29: Wasp Star reviewed: Göteborgs-Posten.; Apple Venus Volume 1 reviewed: NetTuner.de.; Skylarking reviewed: Das Kultursyndikat.
January 28: Rolling Stone reports “XTC, Apples Frontmen Unite”.; Wasp Star reviewed: Music Manic · North Shore News · Sonic Barbecue · Piero Scaruffi's Music Review · Moontaxi.
January 26: The deadline for completing the 2001 XTC Survey is February 2, 2001. Don't miss out!
January 22: Wasp Star reviewed: Rockguiden.; Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: Rockguiden.; Transistor Blast reviewed: Popular Music Best-Of-Lists List.; Fossil Fuel reviewed: Aftonbladet · eye · Tages-Anzeiger · Rockguiden.
January 21: Chalkhills Recommends Jon Brion!; Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: Fast 'n' Bulbous.; Nonsuch reviewed: L'Avîntguárd.; Chips From The Chocolate Fireball reviewed: Babyblaue.; Skylarking reviewed: Relix.
January 20: Wasp Star reviewed: Living Abroad Magazine.; Art sonique et vieilles querelles reviewed: Sefronia.; Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: Creative Loafing Greenville.; Skylarking reviewed: Ars Gratia Artis.; Black Sea reviewed: Bass Player.; Drums and Wires reviewed: Ars Gratia Artis.
January 19: Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: North Shore News.
January 18: Wasp Star reviewed: The Contentment Gang · Ton Um Ton · Rotterdams Dagblad.; Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: Tages-Anzeiger.; Transistor Blast reviewed: Wellbuilt.
January 17: Pop Matters has released their “Best of 2000” album list, Wasp Star appears at the top of Patrick Schabe's list...
January 16: Tempo features “XTC, ou le plaisir retrouvé”.; Wasp Star reviewed: DJ Ginsters Volume Control.; Homespun reviewed: Imprint.; Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: Imprint · Winnipeg Sun.; Fossil Fuel reviewed: Maxim.; Grass/Dear God reviewed: Elidor.; Skylarking reviewed: Candidate.
January 15: Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: The Lazy Son.
January 11: kwmusica has news about Coat of Many Cupboards (a.s. probably got the news here on Chalkhills).
January 10: More tour dates in September 1979 have been discovered!
January 7: Alan Martin announces the 2001 XTC Survey.
January 6: Apple Venus reviewed: Studio Proteus.; Upsy Daisy Assortment reviewed: Annette.
January 5: “XTC: Il gatto e la volpe” is featured on Vinile.; Wasp Star reviewed: Vinile · Plásticos y Decibelios · La Vanguardia · Plattentests.; Apple Venus Volume 1 reviewed: Varese News · Radio Tequila Deinze · Daily Trojan · Ground and Sky.; Homespun reviewed: NonSoloLibri · Expresso · Västerbottens-Kuriren.; A Testimonial Dinner reviewed: Discover.; Skylarking reviewed: Ground and Sky.; The Big Express reviewed: The Minnesota Daily.; English Settlement reviewed: Ground and Sky.
January 4: Appi Stammeshaus took some photos of XTC performing at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, 1980.; Technikart features an XTC interview on their XTC page.; Read (and listen to) “Sucré-salé”, an interview with XTC.; Wasp Star reviewed: MalmöGuiden · Hist-Web 2000 · Sefronia · Atraktos · MiC - Lost in Music · Music Club.; Apple Venus Volume 1 reviewed: LABEL Records · MusiquEzine · MTV Asia · Thixotropic Camera · MusikExpress · il Repubblica.; Fossil Fuel reviewed: Start! · Göteborgs-Posten · Morgenbladet · Timo Pennanen · Music Club.; Skylarking reviewed: I Ragnacci del Web.; “Pour une introduction à l'univers d'XTC”, read l'Humanité!; Gitarre & Bass features an excerpt from “XTC: This is Pop!”.
January 2: Amplifier chooses Wasp Star as their best album of 2000, and features excerpts from their recent “Interview with XTC's Andy Partridge”.
January 1: XTC were interviewed for Flaunt magazine.; Andy Partridge is Soldier Boy.

2000

December 31: Chain of Command joins X Wires, the XTC webring.; Wasp Star reviewed: Arbetet · Washington Post · Rataplan · The Mike Castro Music Appreciation Society · The Clarion Call · musicselect · Silberfisch · Arbetarbladet · Mcity.fr · Tintin.
December 29: Year end reviews of Wasp Star are flowing in.; Lars Wenker sent me a copy of an issue of Now & Then magazine from 1992 which features his article “XTC = extas”.
December 27: Chalkhills Recommends Julia Brown.
December 22: A School Guide to XTC reviewed: Extended Playhouse.; Wasp Star reviewed: Extended Playhouse · theLEEpage.
December 21: Happy Winter Solstice!; Read “Es herrscht allgemeines Pantoffelgebot” in the Berliner Zeitung.; Wasp Star reviewed: M6 Music · Ultimo.
December 17: Trevor Dyer helped provide part of “Agony and XTC”, an article from Guitar magazine UK.; Read “Una Tarde de Verano en la Campiña Inglesa con XTC”, an interview with Colin Moulding in Ruta 66.; “XTC: A tu per tu con Andy Partridge, il genio di Swindon” is an interview with Andy Partridge from Rockol.; “Les voix de l'extase (Ou) La chanson comme art majeur” is an article about Apple Venus Volume 1 in l'Humanité.; Read “An Interview with XTC's Andy Partridge” in Manifesto.; “A Conversation With ... XTC's Andy Partridge” is an interview in Magnet.; Paintbox features “Pure XTC”, a history of the band.; MTV Asia tells us to “Give in to XTC!”
December 16: Have you visited Harvest Festival? It's a very nice site, but it's all in Japanese. Do you know who is responsible for the site? Let me know.; Ride “XTC's Long Road to ‘Apple Venus’” in Mix magazine.
December 9: Wasp Star reviewed: The Daily, University of Washington · Addo · ModHousewife · 701.com · The Garden of Arcane Delights · Tom Johnson · Mod Magazine · Babajaga's Farm.; 1-0 reviews all of XTC's albums.; Headlight Journal features An Interview with XTC by Paul Ducey.
December 6: Wasp Star earns No. 21 in the top 100 of UK critics' picks put together by Amazon.co.uk.; Wasp Star earns No. 60 in the top 100 of USA critics' picks put together by Amazon.com.
December 3: Wasp Star reviewed: Kalporz · Babylon.; Read “Partridge Family Values - Recording at home with XTC” in EQ magazine.; Discover “From Apples to Asses with Andy Partridge”, a CheckOut.com interview.
December 1: Have you heard “XTC: Music For The Middle Ages”?
November 19: Wasp Star reviewed: Le Monde · Le Soir.
November 18: Find out more about XTC at SwindonWeb.
November 17: Read “Life Begins At The Hop, Again”, an interview with Andy Partridge concerning Apple Venus Volume 1, in This Swirling Sphere.; Wasp Star reviewed: Gallery of Sound.; Apparently the XTC Unofficial web site has gone offline. If you have any details to share, please let me know.
November 13: “Stupidly Happy” drops off the Radio&Records National Airplay Adult Alternative Chart for November 10.; Wasp Star reviewed: Megalomaniac Productions.
November 9: Wasp Star reviewed: CanEHdian.com.
November 3: “Stupidly Happy” drops two places to #22 (with a bullet) on the November 3 Radio&Records National Airplay Adult Alternative Chart.
October 31: Richard Pedretti-Allen has announced a new XTC tribute effort, see his announcement for details.; XTC interviewed: JoyZine.
October 30: XTC interviewed: “XTC no longer Britpop virgins”, on Soundbreak.com.
October 27: The Neta Dance Company now has videos of The Orchid Show available (NTSC format only). The Orchid Show is a dance performance to the music of XTC's Apple Venus Volume 1.
October 23: “Stupidly Happy” jumps up 6 places to #15 (with a bullet) on the October 20 Radio&Records National Airplay Adult Alternative Chart.
October 14: “Stupidly Happy” remains at #21 (with a bullet) on the Radio&Records National Airplay Adult Alternative Chart for October 13.
October 8: Wasp Star reviewed: The Real Groove.; Homespun reviewed: The Real Groove.
October 7: Eric T. Lewis suggests a few changes to the chord charts for “Wrapped In Grey”.
October 6: “Stupidly Happy” remains at #21 (with a bullet) on the Radio&Records National Airplay Adult Alternative Chart for October 6.
October 2: “Stupidly Happy” reaches #21 (with a bullet) on the Radio&Records National Airplay Adult Alternative Chart for September 29.
October 1: Wasp Star reviewed: Laundranet · Well Rounded Entertainment · The Daily Vault · ACE Weekly · Fort Worth Weekly · Turkey Volume Guessing Man.
September 29: Andy Partridge discusses POD in this article from Studio2Stage.
September 28: “Stupidly Happy” enters the Radio&Records National Airplay Adult Alternative Chart at #24 (with a bullet).
September 25: Wasp Star reviewed: Soundi.; Read “XTC - a summer's day captured on record”, thanks to the efforts of Jari Kostilainen.
September 22: Read “XTC”, an history, in There.
September 8: You might be interested in Ian Dahlberg's XTC Riffs page, which includes guitar tabulature of various XTC riffs and things.; Apparently the technical difficulties with chalkhills.org have ceased. Please let me know if you have further problems. Thank you.
September 4: Lumière, Le Respectable Site sur XTC, seems to have disappeared from the web. Does anyone know what has happened? Does the French fan club still exist?
August 31: Are you still linking to the old URL? Remember to link to Chalkhills at <http://chalkhills.org/>.; Wasp Star reviewed: ModernRock.com · Rockpile · Lawrence Journal-World · Cosmik Debris · Memphis Flyer.
August 29: Wasp Star reviewed: Launch.
August 23: Wasp Star reviewed: Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale) · The Press (Christchurch).
August 20: Wasp Star reviewed: Music Matic.; Holly Partridge starred in Gregory's Girl.
August 19: Find out about “La nouvelle extase d'XTC”, from FHM.
August 17: Wasp Star reviewed: M^cSweeney's.
August 16: Wasp Star reviewed: loudENERGY · Boulder Weekly · CitySearch Australia · Pioneer Press · TOP.
August 9: Jonny Stephens transcribed “The Gospel According To Animal Jesus” from Swindon New Music, 1986.
August 8: Wasp Star reviewed: Sound&Vision.
August 7: Wasp Star reviewed: FHM (France).; Here's a big welcome to Optimism's Flames, the newest member of the X Wires webring.
August 5: Wasp Star continues its slow climb, reaching #6 on the Gavin Triple A Chart!; Wasp Star reviewed: Ink 19 · The Daily Camera.
August 3: Andy Partridge wrote the introduction to Mind's Eye - an Eye of the Beholder collection, by Peter Kuper, just published by NBM.
August 2: Wasp Star reviewed: Localvibe · Columbus Alive.
August 1: Duncan Kimball wrote “Stand and Deliver”, an article about Napster that I wish I wrote.
July 31: Wasp Star reviewed: Epok · Télérama · Shake It Up! · Rockguiden · Steal This Blog! · The Island Ear · Coalition of Independent Music Stores · Djangos · Encore!.
July 29: “I'm The Man Who Murdered Love” continues its upward climb, moving to #4 (with a bullet) on the Radio&Records National Airplay Adult Alternative Chart!; Wasp Star reviewed: LMNOP · SiouXLand Weekly · Cosmicben's Record Reviews · The Champaign-Urbana Octopus · Montague Terrace.
July 28: Wasp Star reviewed: The Boston Globe.
July 27: Wasp Star climbs to #7 on the Gavin Triple A Chart! Excellent!
July 26: Johnny A. (Thistle) pointed out some shortcomings with the Chords and Tablature page, so I updated it.; Espen Stemland translated “A Good old vintage”, an interview from Adresseavisen.
July 24: “I'm The Man Who Murdered Love” moves to #5 (with a bullet) on the Radio&Records National Airplay Adult Alternative Chart!; Wasp Star reviewed: The Evening Post (Wellington) · Süddeutsche Zeitung.
July 23: Wasp Star reviewed: Wired.
July 20: Wasp Star reviewed: Uncut.
July 19: Read “XTC's Andy Partridge follows his bliss” in The Minnesota Daily, it's chock full o' news.; Gitarre & Bass magazine features “XTC: Das geniale Pop-Duo mit neuem Album”, a long article about XTC (unfortunately, the web site has only an excerpt).
July 18: Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) reviewed Virgin Net.; Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: Freaky Trigger · John's Groovy Music Pages · The Citizen · The Argosy · The Gazette.
July 17: Wasp Star reviewed: Plug · Wiener Zeitung · Orlando Weekly · Skali · Girls On.
July 16: Wasp Star reviewed: BIRDpages.
July 15: “I'm The Man Who Murdered Love” enters the BBC Radio 1 Alternative Singles Chart at #37.; Wasp Star reviewed: Further Entertainment.; Upsy Daisy Assortment reviewed: Rewind.; Transistor Blast reviewed: Further Entertainment.; Apple Venus Volume 1 reviewed: Further Entertainment.; Read “The Jetsons Meet Captain Beefheart: The Wonderful World of XTC”, a feature article and interview in Pop Culture Press.
July 14: Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) reviewed: The Wall Street Journal · Pitchfork.; Apple Venus Vol. 1 reviewed: Salt for Slugs · INK·19 · ACE Magazine · FTM Music · No Ugly Babies.; Nonsvch reviewed: d.t.s.j.r.
July 13: Wasp Star reviewed: Puls · Spleens a Go-Go · Drawer B.; Apple Venus reviewed: Puls · Spleens a Go-Go · Ink Blot · The University of Toronto Varsity.; Skylarking reviewed: Ink Blot · musthear.com · The Gallery of Indispensible Pop Music · TheLogBook.com.; Homespun reviewed: Ink Blot.; Oranges & Lemons reviewed: Loud Bassoon Record Guide.; Chips From The Chocolate Fireball reviewed: Loud Bassoon Record Guide.; Where does evil come from? Read “The Devil Inside” in Wired.
July 12: Wasp Star pushes to #9 on the Gavin Triple A Chart! We got ourselves a top-ten record! 10-4, good buddy!
July 11: Wasp Star reviewed: George Graham's Weekly Album Reviews · Red · The Collegian · Gondola · Washington City Paper · BigO.
July 10: Belinda Blanchard transcribed an interview with XTC from BBC London Live 94.9 on 20 June 2000.; Wasp Star reviewed: Der Standard · Nouvelle Vague · Blah Blah News · Interview.; Les Inrockuptibles features “XTC : le nouvel album expliqué titre par titre”.; Keyboards - Recording & Computer features “XTC: This is Pop? This is Pop!” in their print magazine, the web site has only a teaser.
July 9: Wasp Star climbs to #12 on the Gavin Triple A Chart.; “I'm The Man Who Murdered Love” leaps to #7 (with a bullet) on the Radio&Records National Airplay Adult Alternative Chart!; XTC interviewed: POPnews.; Wasp Star reviewed: Les Inrockuptibles · Planet HiFi · Dagbladet · Der Schallplattenmann · El Pais (Madrid) · New Times Los Angeles · New Times Broward - Palm Beach · Cleveland Scene · PitchWeekly (Kansas City) · The Associated Press · All Music Guide.
July 8: Sam Inglis at Sound-On-Sound has kindly agreed to make their previously subscriber-only article freely available to us (many thanks to Steve Clarke).
June 27: Wasp Star reviewed: ChartAttack · The World (Central Vermont).
June 26: Neta Pulvermacher's The Orchid Show reviewed: Village Voice.; Tim Harris submitted chords for “Standing In For Joe”.; Listen to “XTC Radio by Andy Partridge” on Radio Sonicnet.; “I'm The Man Who Murdered Love” hits #8 (with a bullet) on the Radio&Records National Airplay Adult Alternative Chart!; Read “XTC: VW-Werbung und Studiotüftler”.; Wasp Star reviewed: Chronic'art · Metro (London) · New York Daily News · Rolling Stone (Germany) · Musikexpress/Sounds · Boston Herald.
June 16: I am away on holiday during the week of June 18. I will also be away on holiday the week of July 2. Chalkhills (the mailing list) will be off the air during those times. I hope you enjoy the time off as much as I plan to.
June 15: Wasp Star reviewed: Ink Blot · Popkomm.; Subscribers can read “XTC * Recording Apple Venus Volume 1 And Wasp Star” in the July issue of Sound On Sound.
June 14: Wasp Star climbs to #14 on the Gavin Triple A Chart.; Now taking orders for The Stupidly Happy t-shirt! Payment deadline is Friday, June 23.; Wasp Star reviewed: Fortune · Music & Media · OOR.; Chalkhills is now fully searchable.
June 13: “Teen agony and XTC”, a short interview with “Rocky” Partridge.; “The XTC of Song”, an XTC feature story from Music.com.; Wasp Star reviewed: None For You Dear · Ginza Musik · Detroit Metro Times · Nude as the News · Music.com · Hamburger Morgenpost.
June 12: Wasp Star reviewed: Mademoiselle · Music Monitor · Rock Island LIVE.
June 11: Wasp Star reviewed: Dagens Nyheter · Philadelphia Inquirer.
June 10: XTC are pinned down by Amazon.com's Artist Spotlight!; Wasp Star reviewed: CD Consumer · Schweizer Radio DRS3 · FACTS Interaktiv · The Wiseacre · Sonicnet.
June 9: Andy Partridge pens his own epitaph, “Why I'm An Endangered Species”, in Pulse!.; Wasp Star reviewed: Pulse! · Pop-Culture-Corn.; Christer Liljegren updated the chords and tab for “Playground”.; “I'm The Man Who Murdered Love” reached #19 (with a bullet) on the Radio&Records National Airplay Adult Alternative Chart.
June 8: Wasp Star reviewed: Chalkhills, by Paul Culnane · Ft. Worth Star-Telegram · St. Louis Riverfront Times.; The Sydney Morning Herald featured a short piece on Andy Partridge.
June 7: Wasp Star debuts at #22 on the Canadian Alternative Chart, and climbs to #17 on the Gavin Triple A Chart. Gavin also features “A Conversation With Andy and Colin of XTC”.; Wasp Star reviewed: The Canberra Times · Old Punks Web Zine.; kwmusica held a chat with XTC today in Rome.
June 6: Wasp Star reviewed: Aftonbladet · The Scotsman · Amazon.de · Las Vegas Weekly · Buddyhead · kwmusica.
June 5: Wasp Star reviewed: Music Choice · Adresseavisen · Ottawa Sun.; XTC interviewed: Adresseavisen.
June 4: Andy Partridge spoke to Francis Leach on Triple-J FM, Australia, today.; Wasp Star reviewed: Philadelphia City Paper.; Alex Tobin's interview with Colin Moulding, previously available only on Chalkhills, has been published on The Kinda Muzik You Like.
June 3: Wasp Star reviewed: Aversion.com · The Toronto Star · The Rocky Mountain News.; Pledge confirms the suspicion that there are actually two different versions of the Kings for a Day bootleg CD, here are scans of the front cover, the back insert, and the back page of the booklet.
June 2: Wasp Star just entered the Gavin Triple A chart at #20.; Wasp Star reviewed: Pop Matters · NME.
June 1: Wasp Star earns #6 with a bullet on the Billboard Top Independent Albums chart.; Sonicnet.com's Listening Room features audio interview snippets and full downloadable tracks from Wasp Star.; Watch XTC's Andy Partridge Video Interview on Music365.; On May 10, Channel 1031 in Los Angeles did a radio interview with XTC, John Keel transcribed.; Chalkhills Recommends Duncan Watt.; Visit the TVT Records XTC Microsite!; Wasp Star reviewed: Music365 · The Columbus Dispatch · Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.; The Rocky Mountain News published “XTC's Partridge Anywhere But Up a Tree”, an interview with Andy Partridge.; Barnes & Noble hosted a chat with XTC on May 30, 7:00pm EDT.
May 31: The July issue of Guitar Player features “Pop Guitar Playground”, an interview with Andy Partridge.; CDNOW goes “Back to Drums and Wires” in a long interview with XTC.; Wasp Star reviewed: The Dallas Morning News · CDNOW.
May 30: Wasp Star reviewed: USA Today · Salon.com · NOW Magazine (Toronto) · San Diego Union-Tribune · eye (Toronto) · South Bend Tribune · The Onion's A.V. Club.; Chapters.ca features “Electric Guitar Happiness”, an interview with Andy Partridge.
May 29: Dave Rutherford urges you to take his XTC Survey.
May 28: National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Sunday featured an interview with Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding regarding Wasp Star.
May 25: Have you listened to Chalkheads? It's an MP3 station dedicated to music and musicians under the influence of XTC.; Wasp Star reviewed: Wall of Sound · The Reader (Omaha).; Jon Rosenberger shows us the Limited Edition I'm The Man Who Murdered Love single.
May 24: “Uncorked: an interview with XTC's Andy Partridge”, now available from VH1.; “XTC in Ecstasy”, the Spotlight Feature on Guitar.com, features two videos of Andy Partridge playing bits from Wasp Star live on electric guitar!; Wasp Star reviewed: E!online · Billboard.
May 23: Chalkhills is proud to present “Working From The Inside”, Todd Bernhardt's exclusive interview with Colin Moulding.; Wasp Star reviewed: The Sunday Herald · Consumable.
May 22: Read “Freedom begins at 40”, an interview and review in the Sunday Times.; Wasp Star reviewed: The Oklahoman · Los Angeles Times.
May 21: Chalkhills is proud to present “Stupidly Happy About Volume 2”, Todd Bernhardt's exclusive interview with Andy Partridge.; Wasp Star reviewed: Calgary Sun · Chicago Tribune.
May 20: Wasp Star reviewed: National Post (Toronto) · Chicago Daily Herald · Pop Palace · Tulsa World.; Dave Rutherford transcribed Andy Partridge at The River, WXRV, Boston, in May.
May 19: Chalkhills is proud to present “Talking Shop with Sabo”, Todd Bernhardt's exclusive interview with Chuck Sabo.; There's a review of the new XTC disc up on Spin.com. And there's also a story up about XTC going on tour!; “To Venus And Back” is the feature story of this week's Entertainment Today; Wasp Star is reviewed. “The Fruit of their Labor” was a feature story of the March 19, 1999, issue.; Wasp Star reached No. 12 in sales at Amazon.com.
May 18: “The Man Who Murdered Love” is the UBL Song Of The Day! Vote for it!; Here's a review of Wasp Star from the Austin American-Statesman.; Read “Rise Of The Wasp Star” on Launch.com.
May 17: Rolling Stone, that bastion of “eh”, reviews Wasp Star.
May 15: Find out “How Not To Do The Nineties - by Andy Partridge”, from The Independent.
May 14: The Juin 2000 issue of Rock&Folk features this review of Wapstar [sic].
May 13: “The bookworm and the outdoorsman”, National Post, Toronto.
May 12: “XTC: Stupidly Happy Ever After”, a long article and interview was published in the Phoenix New Times.; MOJO, “This is pop!”, a review of Wasp Star and interview with Andy Partridge.
May 11: Today's Atlanta Journal and Constitution music pick: Wasp Star.
May 10: The Washington Post reviews Wasp Star, the review is entitled “Pure Pop for Now People”.; There is a new review of Wasp Star to be found in the June 2000 edition of CMJ New Music Monthly.
May 8: Simon Deane sent in this review of Wasp Star from BC Magazine, Hong Kong.
May 7: “Sugar, ah honey, honey”, a review of Wasp Star in the Bloomington Independent.
May 4: “XTC on Meats, Gary Glitter, and Napster”, Spin.
May 3: XTC are Artist of the Month at HMV.com.
May 2: TIME Magazine's European edition has just run a great review of XTC's new album, Wasp Star.; Wes Long scanned the gatefold photo of XTC from Wasp Star.; Dan Fellini sent in this photo of Andy Partridge from the signing appearance at Tower Records, Boston, February 24, 1999.
May 1: Many new reviews are available.
April 30: CNN.com reviewed Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) in their “Fresh Cuts” department.
April 29: Amazon.com has reviewed Wasp Star.
April 28: Christer Liljegren contributed chords and tablature to “Playground”.; Frank Agnello contributed chords to “In Another Life”.; Here's the cover art to the “I'm The Man Who Murdered Love” promotional CD single from TVT Records.; Wall of Sound lists Wasp Star on their Release Dates page.
April 26: CDNow has Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) available for advance order.; Ryan Walsh interviewed Andy Partridge recently for The Daily Free Press, Boston University.; Dirty Linen reviewed Nonsuch in February 1993.
April 24: Ryan Walsh reviews Wasp Star for Boston University's Daily Free Press.
April 22: Lyrics to Wasp Star have been updated and corrected.
April 19: Alex Tobin, co-editor of The Kinda Muzik You Like, contributed this interview with Colin Moulding.
April 17: Read «Wir spielen unser eigenes Spiel», a review of Apple Venus Volume 1 by Robert Pally.
April 16: Check out drummer Chuck Sabo's official web site.
April 15: Frank Agnello transcribed the lyrics for Colin Moulding's “Boarded Up” from Wasp Star.
April 13: Frank Agnello has transcribed the lyrics for Colin Moulding's “In Another Life” from Wasp Star.; Thanks to Todd Bernhardt we've now got the TVT Records Wasp Star press release.
April 12: Read this review of Wasp Star on the Power of Pop web site.
April 11: Don Leibold of Milk magazine has reviewed Wasp Star.; Read this review of Homespun from Guitar.com.
April 10: Read the latest news from TVT Records.
April 8: Frank Agnello has transcribed the lyrics for “Standing In For Joe” from Wasp Star.
March 31: Amazon.com is now offering Wasp Star - Apple Venus Volume 2 for advance order.
March 22: Need a Chalk Horse hat to go with your Chalkhills T-shirt? Phil Corless has them.; Something resembling the official album art of Wasp Star has been found.; JooZt Mattheij has contributed a number of additional live dates that XTC played opening for The Police.
March 18: R. Stevie Moore sent in this amazing photo strip of Dave Gregory and his longtime pal Terry Jackson (who provided it), from Sunday, September 27, 1970, assumedly in Swindon.
March 17: Paulo X sent in the photo of Colin from “Caught in the Act”, Melody Maker, January 1978.
March 11: Wes Long added a few more to his collection of XTC pins.
March 10: Howard Wright has contributed guitar tablature and chords for “Knights In Shining Karma”.
March 9: “XTC Fires Up The Wasp Star”, the first report of the new album, appeared in Fox News's Fox 411.
March 7: XTC's Andy Partridge Clears Up McCartney Tribute Rumor in allstar news.; “Reported Tribute Album Is News To McCartney Reps”, according to Billboard.; Riccardo Bachman has made an entire XTC concert available (16 March 1982, Genova, Italy).
March 5: Remember Lily Fraser, the little girl who appeared between tracks on Psonic Psunspot? She's now a member of the Cornish band Glass Planet.
March 3: Wes Long sent in these two photos: XTC signing their lives away to Virgin, from the Swindon paper, and the cover of A Short History of Ewell and Nonsuch, by Cloudesley S Willis.
March 2: Q online has a news article about the forthcoming Paul McCartney tribute album.
February 25: David Oh transcribed the remainder, with photographs, of “The Dukes of Swindon”, from Musician magazine, May 1989 (“Census Working Overtime”, a sidebar from that article, was already featured on Chalkhills). Also read these reviews of Oranges & Lemons and Nonsuch, also from Musician magazine.
February 24: David Oh has transcribed some articles, including “The New English Art Rock” from Musician magazine (February 1981), “XTC Addresses God!” from Graffiti magazine (August/September 1987), reviews of The Big Express, 25 O'Clock and Mummer from Musician magazine. Mr. Oh also scanned the photos for “Orchestral XTC” from Guitar Player (April 1999), and “Love And Disguise On A Farmboy's Wages” from Musician (June 1984).
February 20: Because of some complaints regarding spam, email addresses are no longer displayed in the Chalkhills Digests.
February 17: Apparently The Little Express is in the process of sending out its last issue. The end of an era. Please join me in a moment of silence.
February 16: David Oh contributed “The Agony of XTC: England's pop eccentrics make an art of survival”, from Details magazine, October 1992.
February 3: Wes Long scanned a couple of pictures from the Japanese King For A Day CD single: “Thumbs Up” and “XTC as ART”.
February 2: Punxsutawney Phil says Six More Weeks of Winter.
January 24: I know I rarely mention it, but the Discography continues to be updated with new cover thumbnails and information. Perhaps you have noticed. Perhaps not.
January 19: Phil Corless has an announcement: The new Chalkhills shirts are ready for ordering!
January 18: Brian Matthews saw this review of Apple Venus Volume 1 in Keyboard Magazine.
January 16: Jon Rosenberger sent in photos of the new XTC “release”, A School Guide to XTC, including the cover, a picture of The Dukes of Stratosphear, and a portrait of Dave Gregory.
January 13: Phil Corless is planning a new run of Chalkhills T-shirts.
January 12: Sarah Zupko has reviewed both Transistor Blast and Apple Venus Volume 1 for Pop Matters (thanks to Patrick Partridge for the information).
January 8: Wayne Klein chose Apple Venus Volume 1 as the best album of 1999.
January 7: Zorak of Space Ghost reviews Skylarking.
January 1: Greetings from Chalkhills on this the first day of the Third Millenium of the Common Era.; I've added a number of new reviews of Apple Venus Volume 1.

1999

December 31: Lin Sprague figured out the guitar tab for “Scarecrow People”, now you can play it, too.
December 28: Wes Long scanned the cover of XTC Demos 8 - Be Brought Up In The Lap Of Luxury.
December 27: Wes Long contributed this scan of the very rare Rag & Bone Buffet promo bandana.
December 23: Chalkhills Recommends has been revamped. I hope you like it.; Anton Barbeau, Chalkhills Recommended artist, sent in a photograph of himself with Andy Partridge, and a slightly doctored version of same.
December 20: The Stranger reviews Homespun.
December 15: Chalkhills has been selected as one of Asia E!Online's Choice Websites by their readers.
December 14: Chalkhills is no longer the official mailing list or web site or anything. Thank you, Andy Partridge. It was a good three years.
December 13: Room Magazine, Windsor, Ontario, reviews Apple Venus Vol. 1.
December 10: Christer Liljegren transcribed the chords to “Wounded Horse”.; The St. Paul Pioneer Press reviews Apple Venus Vol. 1.
December 9: Wes Long updated his collection of XTC badges.
December 3: The Calgary Herald reviews Homespun.
November 30: The Roundabout has moved to “http://home.san.rr.com/roundabout/”.
November 28: Ian Rans interviewed Andy Partridge for Toast magazine, the article is called “XTC - Making Plans for Nothing”.
November 27: Ian C Stewart's XTC LIVE AND DIRECT is Dead and Offline! Ouch.
November 23: Here is a picture of Andy Partridge and Victor Hobbs at the G.L.R (Greater London Radio) station on October 14th 1998.
November 22: XTC - Ten Feet Tall, has a new URL: http://space.tin.it/io/pdimodic/. Please update your bookmarks.
November 19: Delia M. wrote this review of Transistor Blast.; Victor Hobbs sent in this picture taken with Colin Moulding (Mr. Fruit Nut).
November 11: Singer-musician Andy Partridge of XTC is 46 (Associated Press).
November 5: Howard Wright has updated the guitar chords for “Your Dictionary”.
November 1: Apparently this reviewer was high when this review of Homespun was written.
October 29: Howard Wright has contributed an updated transcription of the guitar chords for “I'd Like That”.
October 24: Here's Wes Long's review of Homespun, on Consumable Online, the oldest music review site online.
October 18: Paul Culnane sent in this review of Homespun from the October 17 Sydney Sun-Herald.
October 15: Jeffrey Fariello transcribed the chords for “Cherry In Your Tree”.; Christer Liljegren transcribed “King For A Day”.
October 14: Did you order your copy of the XTC Coloring Book? Here's an article about the artist.
October 12: Wes Hanks found this review of Homespun in the Knoxville News-Sentinel.; David Oh transcribed “XTC: Confessions of a Studio Monk”, from Creem magazine, October 1992, and “XTC: The Reluctant Gods Of Smart Pop”, from Guitar Player Magazine, June 1992.
October 8: Jeffrey Fariello transcribed the chords to “Cherry In Your Tree”, and updated the chords to “Ladybird” and “Some Lovely (My Brown Guitar)”.
October 5: The first review of Homespun has arrived!; Check out this Amnesty International promo picture disc. Nice picture of Andy, but XTC does not appear on the disc.
October 4: Wes Long scanned bits and pieces from Homespun: the cover, Andy's band sketch, and the disc itself.; Read the TVT press release for Homespun.; I suppose that means that Homespun has been released.; TNT-Audio has published a collection of reviews of the whole discography (main albums and compilations) of our fave band, in Italian.
September 17: Jeffrey Fariello has contributed updated chords for “Ladybird”.; Jairoglyph has contributed chords for “Dear God”.; Wes Long scanned the cover of the XTC LIVE CD.
September 9: Wes Long sent two more pics of XTC live at Emerald City, New Jersey, April 17th 1981: Colin Moulding and Terry Chambers and Andy Partridge.
August 27: Jeffrey Fariello transcribed the guitar chords to “When We Get To England” (from Jules Verne's Sketchbook).; Wes Long, keeping busy as always, scanned a number of items: the cover of the July '99 issue of The Big Takeover, the cover of the 1991 XTC Music and Friends Convention programme, Dave Gregory at WRFX, Charlotte NC, 5-18-89 on the Acoustic Radio Tour, eight pictures from a 1989 in-store appearance in Austin, Texas (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8), and an Apple Venus T-shirt.
August 25: A new XTC bootleg CD has surfaced, it's called Demos From Apple Venus. Check out the track listing in the Discography, and the front and back covers.
August 24: iXtc, Philippe Blirando's house of ecstasy, has moved to http://www.my-villa.com/. Please update your links.
August 23: Chalkhills is today's MacroMusic Noteworthy Site of the Day!
August 22: Wes Long sent in a few new pics: an English Settlement promotional key ring and bottle opener, his collection of XTC badges, and Andy Partridge and Dave Gregory live at Emerald City, New Jersey, April 17th 1981.
August 20: Alan Davies scanned a passel of photos from the April 1989 issue of Q magazine: The Dukes of Stratosphear, XTC in 1977, live in 1981, an ad for Oranges & Lemons, Andy in his attic studio, and “The Loft Boys of Swindon”.; William Shuyler noticed that Rob Brezsny's Real Astrology July 1999 “Televisionary Oracle Newletter” chose Andy Partridge as its Saint of the Month.
August 17: Imanol Ugarte contributed “XTC: Esto sigue siendo pop”, from Factory magazine.
August 8: The XTC Discography has been reworked. I hope you like it. If you discover any problems, please let me know.
August 3: Dave Gregory has his say in “Bye Bye Baby, For Now”, an article which appeared in The Independent.
July 30: Fredo Solans contributed this review of Apple Venus from Up! magazine.
July 25: Dan Wiencek scanned these photos from MOJO and Guitar World Acoustic magazines: Andy & Colin, Andy & Colin (smaller), “Some people like THE NOISIER SIDE of what we do, and I can see this record PISSING THEM OFF”, XTC Gothic, “Nobody was fashionable in XTC, ever”, and an Andy cameo.
July 21: Check out this Look Look promo sheet.; Dan Wiencek found this review of Apple Venus Vol. I in Shake It Up! magazine.
July 18: Another one just like the other one: see this 1980 promotional photograph of XTC.
July 16: Tim Harris transcribed chords for “Goodbye Humanosaurus”.
July 14: Read this XTC interview in Lexicon.
July 13: I love eBay. Today I found this scan of the cover of the Canadian 5 Senses 12-incher.
July 1: Amplifier - 50,000 Watts of Nonstop Pop reviewed Apple Venus Volume 1.
June 30: More XTC promotional photographs have arrived: live circa 1980, 1979 posed shot, Andy Partridge circa 1980, and Colin Moulding circa 1980.; Martin Bell reviews Apple Venus Volume 1 for New Zealand's Real Groove.
June 11: As always, check out the latest pictures, discography, press, lyrics, Chalkhills Anonymous, and Reel By Real. Updated every Friday whether you need it or not.; Jerry Sumrell took some photos of XTC when they played the Agora Ballroom in May of 1981.
June 10: Apple Venus Volume 1 was reviewed on NPR's All Things Considered yesterday.
June 9: In case you hadn't noticed, Chalkhills now features the official artwork for the I'd Like That single. And apparently the next single will be Greenman.
June 7: I've revamped the Products and Merchandise page, including “Andy Partridge on 11 XTC albums” from Rolling Stone Australia.; “What the hell happened to XTC”? Rolling Stone Australia tries to answer.
June 4: Mitch Friedman, long time Chalkhills contributor, has released an album: The Importance of Sauce.
June 3: XTC appeared on CNN Showbiz Today on May 26, 1999.
June 1: The Absolute Sound reviewed Apple Venus Volume 1.
May 25: POPnews reviewed the Easter Theatre single.
May 24: Jean-Jacques Massé pointed out these recent XTC articles and reviews: “farces & attrapes”, and reviews of Apple Venus Volume 1 from Fahrenheit 440, POPnews, and Virgin Megapress.; iXtc, Philippe Blirando's house of ecstasy, has joined X Wires, the XTC webring.
May 23: Join me in welcoming XTC - Ten Feet Tall, the newest member of X Wires.
May 20: Read “The Good Ship XTC”, by our own Wes Long, in the May 1999 issue of Music Monitor magazine.; Wes Long also reviewed Apple Venus Volume 1 for Music Monitor.; Frédéric Solans contributed “XTC: eXQUIses eXTASES” from the April 1999 issue of Up! magazine.; Ira Lieman sent in this photo of Andy Partridge, Vin Scelsa (of WNEW), and Colin Moulding taken on February 21, 1999, from their appearance on “Idiot's Delight”.
May 17: LAUNCH.com now has XTC tracks available for download, including “Greenman” and “Easter Theatre (demo)” (unfortunately, the songs are in some new evil-empire proprietary format).; L'Express reviews Transistor Blast and Apple Venus Volume 1.
May 14: Our plucky Tim Harris transcribed guitar chords for “The Wheel and the Maypole”.; Fredo (the Fat Bassman) Solans contributed “XTC Discorama” from Rock&Folk magazine.; Philippe Blirando sent in this XTC concert ticket for Palais d'Hiver, Lyon, March 17, 1982.
May 13: Read “Andy Partridge: Don't You Ever Dare Call Him Chickenhead” in AUTOreverse.; Here's a blurb from Drum Media (Sydney): “XTC, the anti-pop star institution”.; Natalie Jacobs has collected a number of ultra-cool XTC interviews.
May 12: Frédéric Solans has contributed more French reviews of Apple Venus Volume 1 : Crash and Virgin Megapress.
May 7: Tim Harris transcribed guitar chords for “I Don't Want To Be Here”, “Stupidly Happy”, and “We're All Light”.
May 5: El Pais (España) reviews Apple Venus Vol. 1.
May 3: The Evening Post (Wellington, New Zealand) reviews Apple Venus Volume 1.
April 28: Andy Partridge confesses all in “Rock Beat: XTC”.
April 25: The Chalkhills mailing list has moved to a new server. If you notice service interruptions or other anomalous behaviour, please let me know.
April 22: New reading material: “XTC's Pop Paradox” from Newsday and “XTC: Off Strike!” from Stomp & Stammer.; Dave Gregory is working with R. Stevie Moore! Details at ten!
April 20: Apple Venus Volume 1 reviewed: Denver Post.
April 16: Peter Fitzpatrick and Naoyuki Isogai helped increase our stock of cover art and promo photos.; Apple Venus Volume 1 was reviewed by the Illinois Entertainer.
April 14: Jean-Jacques Massé located a number of XTC articles and reviews in Le Monde.; Jeffrey Thomas translated two articles from the German edition of Rolling Stone.
April 13: More reviews of Apple Venus Volume 1: Nouvelle Vague and Daily Nebraskan.; Wesley Hanks found “Wine, women, song, and trouble with my prostate”, an article from The Herald (Glasgow).
April 9: Jody Barnes updated the chords for “My Love Explodes”; Masato Mihara transcribed the chords for “Gold”; Steve Cobham did the tablature for “Scissor Man”; Jeffrey Fariello tabbed “Little Lighthouse”.; Jean-Jacques Massé sent in some scans of “Wonderland”, a long article and interview with Andy Partridge from the February 24 issue of Les Inrockuptibles.; Thierry Brunet wrote this review of Apple Venus Volume 1 for Chronic'art.; Wired also reviewed Apple Venus Volume 1.
April 7: The April 5, 1999, issue of Consumable Online features “Interview: XTC's Andy Partridge”.; David Crosby found a number of XTC-related articles in the Chicago Tribune, including reviews of Oranges & Lemons, Rag & Bone Buffet, and two longer articles: “XTC: Risky Business” and “Andy Partridge: Reclusive Star”.; Kevon Wilt created some Chalk Horse wallpaper for your PC desktop; Mark Irons turned the horse into an Adobe Illustrator file.
April 5: The cover of the cassette release of Go 2 contains more than a few mistakes (thanks to Mark Strijbos for the scan).; Apple Venus Volume 1 reviewed: Sunday Star-Times
April 4: CDnow has published a new interview with Andy Partridge.
April 3: Esto es Pop, es una lista de discusión de XTC en español, para agrupar a los fans de habla hispana.
April 2: Masato Mihara sent in chords for “Desert Island”. Rich Frers sent in an updated version of Jeffrey Fariello's transcription of “I'd Like That”.; Paul Stratford scanned the cover(s) of the Easter Theatre single.
April 1: Apple Venus Volume 1 reviewed: Juice
March 30: Visit the Cooking Vinyl Easter Theatre page for information on the forthcoming single.; “XTC's orchestral maneuvers out of the dark”, an in-depth article from CNN interactive.; Apple Venus Volume 1 reviewed: Newsweek, Cleveland Scene, and CNN interactive.
March 29: HMV Shibuya now features a full report on their XTC in-store event, March 9, 1999.; Read the transcript of the Andy Partridge interview on WXRT FM on February 25, 1999.; Another review of Apple Venus Volume 1: Ottawa Express
March 26: It's Andy Partridge and me! (Photograph by Rob Cervero.)
March 25: Read “Off Strike! Andy Partridge Pulls XTC Out of the Fridge” in the March 1999 issue of Stomp & Stammer.; Other new articles and reviews: Bristol Evening Post and People Magazine reviews of Apple Venus Volume 1; a short news piece from Music Week; “XTC colors songs with earthy palette”, an interview with Andy Partridge from The Japan Times.; RollingStone.com has [had] an extensive XTC area.
March 24: Jean-Jacques Massé was kind enough to contribute a few reviews of Apple Venus Volume 1 and Transistor Blast: Les Inrockuptibles, Le Soir, and Télérama.
March 22: The March issue of Pulse! magazine included a long feature on XTC.; David Lake transcribed a telephone interview with Andy Partridge from Sound Opinions, WXRT FM, Chicago, on 2 March.
March 21: If you had trouble listening to the XTC interview on KCRW, read this transcription instead!; Chicago Metromix published a short interview with Andy Partridge on Apple Venus Volume 1.
March 19: I've got loads more photographs from the various in-store appearances, new video, reviews, articles, and more, so much more that I'm not going to bother to list them here, so surf now!; Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding were the guests on “Open Road” on KCRW on March 14.
March 18: More Apple Venus Volume 1 reviews: The Globe and Mail, The Orange County Register, Metro (San José), and The Laminated Cat.
March 17: Happy St. Patrick's Day! And check out this interview with Andy Partridge published in the L.A. Weekly, and these Apple Venus Volume 1 reviews: Vancouver Sun, ORBIT (Detroit), and The Cleveland Free Times.
March 15: Read the latest news concerning Apple Venus Volume 2.; Wes Hanks, to whom we must be very grateful, has contributed “Making Plans for XTC”, an article from The Globe and Mail (Toronto).; Apple Venus Volume 1, reviewed: Q, OOR, Sacramento Bee, and Dayton Daily News.
March 12: Randy Posynick took some photographs of the Virgin Megastore in-store in San Francisco on March 2, 1999 (including a very nice photo of him and Andy Partridge and a passable photo of Your Humble Moderator and Andy Partridge).; Apple Venus Volume 1, reviewed: Spin magazine, The San Diego Union-Tribune.; Kevin Brunkhorst transcribed guitar chords for “Easter Theatre”, “Frivolous Tonight”, “Fruit Nut”, “I Can't Own Her”, “Harvest Festival”, and “The Last Balloon”.
March 11: David Oh transcribed the excellent “Orchestral XTC” article from the April 1999 issue of Guitar Player magazine.; Read “The Masters Return”, a long article and interview with XTC.
March 10: Oh lord, deliver us from the Apple Venus reviews: The Independent (London), The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), and Austin American-Statesman.
March 9: Read this three-part interview with XTC, from JAM! Music on CANOE.; Dan Wiencek wrote this review of Transistor Blast for Pop-Culture-Corn magazine.; Just when you thought you couldn't eat another bite, here are some more Apple Venus Volume 1 reviews: The News & Observer, Denver Rocky Mountain News, The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Buffalo News, The Daily Oklahoman, and Salon Magazine.
March 8: Delia M. drove two and a half hours from Tijuana to Los Angeles to stand in line to get an autograph, and she wrote this story about it.; Missed the XTC chat? Read the transcript!
March 6: Visit XTC - Ten Feet Tall, an Italian XTC site created by Paolo Di Modica.; Return to the valley of the reviews of Apple Venus Volume 1, and read those from The Boston Globe, Philadelphia City Paper, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland), Rolling Stone, The Tennessean, and Mail on Sunday (the latter by Giles Smith, ex-Cleaners from Venus).; Doug Mashkow has made more photographs available from the Tower Records NYC in-store with Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding.
March 5: Tim Harris transcribed the chords to “Frivolous Tonight” and “Fruit Nut”; Jeffrey Fariello transcribed chords and tab for “Harvest Festival” and “Blue Beret”; Duncan Kimball updated the chords and tab for “All of a Sudden (It's Too Late)”.; Richard Pedretti-Allen scanned the covers of the promotional release of Apple Venus Volume 1.; David Lake sent in some photos from Borders Chicago in-store with Andy Partridge and Doug Mashkow sent in some photos from the Tower Records NYC in-store with Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding.; Yet more reviews of Apple Venus Volume 1, from The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Sydney Morning Herald, The Times (London), Atlanta Journal Constitution.
March 4: Mike Pelusi recently interviewed Andy for an article for the Philadelphia City Paper.; Adrian Ogden has contributed the entire “The Strike and Rebirth Years: 1993-1999” article from MOJO magazine (an excerpt was previously available).; Calgary Sun entertainment editor David Veitch chatted with Andy Partridge recently, Chalkhills has the exclusive interview.; More reviews of Apple Venus Volume 1, from The Onion, The Calgary Sun, The Hamilton Spectator, Sun-Sentinel Ft. Lauderdale, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, The Chicago Sun-Times, and BAM (California's Music Magazine).
March 3: Plenty of new reviews of Apple Venus Volume 1 from these fine publications: Akron Beacon Journal, The Columbus Dispatch, CDnow, Toronto Star, Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Guardian (London), San Francisco Chronicle, Uncut, Entertainment Weekly, New York Post, and The Indianapolis Star.
March 2: Sunday's Washington Post featured a long article about XTC and Apple Venus Volume 1.; XTC played live in Houston, Texas, in 1980, there's a poster to prove it.
March 1: David Lake sent in some photos from the Andy Partridge in-store at Borders Books in Chicago, here's The Man and The Banner and Still Life With Andy.; Richard Pedretti-Allen (note spelling) sent in scans of the I'd Like That promotional CD single (both front and rear).
February 28: Check out Buzzcity Talking: links to various chat rooms and bulletin boards.
February 26: Amazon has published a new interview with Andy Partridge.; Cory Radosevic transcribed chords for “Earn Enough For Us”; Jeffrey Fariello transcribed chords and tablature for “The Last Balloon”, “Easter Theatre”, and “Frivolous Tonight”; Mark Strijbos sent in a picture of Colin Moulding from Volkskrant; Mitch McGlothlin sent in a scan of a flyer from the Chicago Borders Books in-store.
February 25: John Morrish has contributed a Chalkhills-exclusive version of an article that ran in The Independent (London).
February 24: The Dallas Observer has published a very nice interview, band history, and review of Apple Venus Volume 1 (thanks to our resident surfer Wes Hanks).; XTC will be doing their first web chat, on AOL on March 4, 1999, at 4 pm PST / 7 pm EST, surf to Studio-i for more details (AOL Keyword: EA Music).; SonicNet reviews Apple Venus Volume 1.
February 23: Sidewalk has published a review of Apple Venus Volume 1 in its New & Noteworthy music section.
February 22: LeisureSuit.net has published “Apples and Lemons: an Interview with XTC”.
February 19: Jeffrey Fariello transcribed “I'd Like That”.; Read about “The Strike and Rebirth Years: 1993-1999”, from MOJO magazine.
February 18: Announcing http://chalkhills.org/, the new web home for Chalkhills!
February 9: Read the second of two parts of an interview with Andy Partridge from SPINonline, January - February 1999.; Billboard's Artist of the Day is XTC.; Listen to “I'd Like That” from Apple Venus Volume 1 on TVT Records' updated XTC page!
February 6: John Thomson has transcribed the remainder of Joe Silva's Raygun interview.
February 5: Art Dudley interviewed Andy Partridge for Listener magazine, and he has graciously given Chalkhills an unedited version of the interview!; Fredo Solans has contributed a couple of items of French marketing collateral, well worth checking out.; Bob Estus has contributed a video snippet of XTC's February 2, 1999, appearance on VH1's “Where Are They Now?” (in two parts).
February 3: Here's how to order the LP, CD, and cassette of Apple Venus from Cooking Vinyl UK.
February 1: Jody Denberg of Radio KGSR, Austin, Texas, interviewed Andy Partridge recently. Chalkhills is proud to present this exclusive interview, thanks to Jill Oleson!
January 31: Cathy Vanaria took a photo which is featured in XTC: Song Stories, take a look at some photos of XTC (and other artists) that she has taken.
January 29: Mick Casey has sent in the chords he plays on the guitar for Andy's demo “All I Dream of is a Friend”.; Matt Kaden reviews Nonsvch.; Read about “The Seven Years War”.; The discography is now searchable.
January 28: Matt Kaden disses Oranges & Lemons.; Good to meet y'all at the San Francisco Bay Area XTC Gathering last night!
January 27: Alan Martin announces the results of the 1998 XTC Survey.; Chalkhills would like to announce the debut of XTC Unofficial, a Japanese XTC site by Tetsuya Fukutsuka!
January 26: Read the first of two parts of an interview with Andy Partridge from SPINonline, January - February 1999.; Line 'em up, knock 'em down! Our prolific Matt Kaden has reviewed The Dukes of Stratosphear's Psonic Psunspot.
January 25: Skylarking has been reviewed by the extremely discriminating Matt Kaden.
January 22: Read the first part of an article by Joe Silva from Raygun magazine, entitled “The Rise and Fall and Rise of XTC”.; Take two, they're small! You might enjoy Matt Kaden's review of The Dukes of Stratosphear's 25 O'Clock.
January 21: But wait! There's more! Here's Matt Kaden's review of The Big Express.
January 20: Here's Matt Kaden's review of Mummer.
January 19: Matt Kaden has written a number of reviews, his latest is a review of English Settlement.
January 15: Many new reviews are now available for your enjoyment and edification in the Chalkhills Archives, including White Music, Go 2, Drums and Wires, Black Sea, The Big Express, Transistor Blast, and Skylarking!; I've added many new images, including an excellent piece from The Cartoon History of Rock'n'Roll.; I've updated the discography with many new examples of cover art.; Check out the reviews of Apple Venus Volume 1!; Tim Tobin has contributed a transcription of The Dukes' “Shiny Cage”.
January 11: Attend the San Francisco Bay Area XTC Gathering on January 27 in Sunnyvale.
January 5: SonicNet has published a new article about XTC.
January 1: Happy New Year! The holidays have given me time (always a dangerous thing). Time enough to go through the Chalkhills pages and do some cleaning up. Lots of new reviews and such. And if you notice anything broken, please let me know.

1998

December 31: Tim Harris charts the waters of The Dukes of Stratosphear: “Have You Seen Jackie?”.
December 30: The latest issue of Listener magazine includes a nice interview with Andy Partridge entitled “The Rise and Fall and Rise of XTC”.; More articles and interviews.; Tim Harris continues his campaign to contribute chords to compositions of The Dukes of Stratosphear, today's tune is “Pale and Precious”.
December 23: Joe Silva tells us that his extensive XTC piece has been published in the January issue of Raygun magazine.
December 21: Happy Solstice! And the reviews of Transistor Blast keep rolling in.
December 19: I've reworked the Articles and Interviews page, articles and reviews are now displayed in reverse chronological order.
December 17: The first review of Apple Venus has been found by Tim Kendrick.
December 16: Wes Hanks is addicted to sending in more reviews, check the Articles and Interviews page for the latest.
December 15: Transistor Blast is out now, if you don't have it yet then check out some of the artwork.
December 4: The amazing Tim Harris has sent in more chord charts for songs by The Dukes of Stratosphear, including “Bike Ride to the Moon” and “Mole from the Ministry”.; I've added some short reviews of XTC: Song Stories.
December 1: Check out Tracy's autographed photo of XTC at Summa Studios in 1988.; Read these short reviews of Transistor Blast.
November 18: Richard Pedretti-Allen announces the release of Chalkhills' Children '98: Modern-Time Neros!
November 17: MyLAUNCH published an article about XTC's two forthcoming Apple Venus albums.
November 11: The prolific Tim Harris has sent in chord charts and tablature for The Dukes of Stratosphear's “25 O'Clock” and “My Love Explodes”.
November 9: Back issues of the Chalkhills digest are now hyperlinked (not that anybody cares).
November 6: Tim Harris has sent in chord charts and tablature for The Dukes of Stratosphear's “Shiny Cage” and “Your Gold Dress”.
November 3: TVT Records USA has a new web page for XTC, including details on Transistor Blast!
October 19: ICE Magazine published the track listing to Transistor Blast.
October 9: Bob Estus compiled a taste of Look Look, the XTC promotional video collection (released as Best Hits in 1982 by Virgin Japan), Volume 1 is available for viewing today.
October 2: Mitch Friedman has contributed numerous photographs he took during his recent visits with XTC and Dave Gregory.; Reviews of Oranges & Lemons and Nonsuch have been collected for quick perusal.
September 22: Dan Pinder sent in some updates to the tablature for “Vanishing Girl”, “Pink Thing”, and “Respectable Street”.
September 21: Tony Lovell has contributed updates to the tablature for “Melt the Guns”.
September 18: Wes Long contributed photographs of XTC during the Acoustic Radio Tour at WRFX, Charlotte, NC.
September 16: Now available: the entire text of the 1992 Geffen Records press release.
September 14: Announcing the arrival of Lumière : Le Respectable Site sur XTC (in French).
August 31: Wes Long sent in a Geffen Records press release from 1992, in which Andy and Colin talk about the songs on Nonsuch.
August 24: Chalkhills Originals '98: Awaken You Dreamers is now available.
August 13: Gregg Epstein transcribed an interview with Colin Moulding from Bass Player magazine, September 1992.
August 10: Read two new reviews of Upsy Daisy Assortment from 1997.
August 3: Volker Lemoncurry has translated an article/interview with Andy Partridge from Spex magazine, January 1987.
July 24: Lyrics to collaborative songwriting efforts have been moved.
July 15: Andy Miller has transcribed the lyrics to even more songs that Andy Partridge co-wrote, including “I Drew a Lemon” and “Moon On Your Dress” (with Terry Hall), and “In Hell's Despite” (with Peter Blegvad).
July 14: XTC's Idea Records has signed a distribution deal with TVT Records USA.
July 10: Dennis Fano was gracious enough to allow Chalkhills to reproduce his photographs of Andy Partridge and Dave Gregory playing the guitars he made for them.; Andy Miller has transcribed the lyrics to a number of songs that Andy Partridge co-wrote, including “Paperchase” and “New York Inside My Head” (with Nicky Holland), “Child Then” (with Peter Blegvad), and “You Are Here” (with David Yazbek).
July 3: Jeffrey Fariello has contributed chord charts to “Brainiacs Daughter” (The Dukes of Stratosphear) and “Everything”.
July 1: Dave King sent in this image of a Black Sea Tour Poster.
June 30: I now have ordering information for Chalkhills Originals '98: Awaken You Dreamers.
June 28: Helter Skelter will be publishing XTC - The Exclusive Authorized Story behind the Music in the UK and Europe.
June 18: Christopher Marrinan was nice enough to send in a few reviews he found.
June 16: Added more reviews of Upsy Daisy Assortment.
June 14: An interview with Andy Partridge from the Swindon Gazette and Herald from 1989.
June 12: Another video snippet, originally seen on The Roundabout, is now available.
May 17: Todd Bernhardt conducted an interview with Andy Partridge, a short version of that interview will appear in Modern Drummer magazine, but a much longer exclusive interview appears here.
May 14: Stefano De Astis has contributed the English Settlement Tour Programme.
May 13: Chalkhills Anonymous has moved, but it's still in the same place. Look for it on the This World Over page.
May 1: Richard Pedretti-Allen, dog love him, was present during the recording of the orchestral parts for the new album, and he took some photos to prove it.
April 27: Announcing Chalkhills Originals '98, a compilation of original songs by Chalkhills subscribers, directed by Mark Cuevas.
April 26: It's official. Dave Gregory has left the band. The reason he left is because he felt like he wasn't contributing enough to the band's music.; Take a virtual tour of Swindon, home of XTC and the Great Western Railway.
April 24: Four stills from video shot at Abbey Road Studio One during the recording of the forthcoming XTC album, courtesy of Peter Fitzpatrick.; The video snippet you don't want to watch: Andy stumbles offstage at Le Palace in Paris, March 1982, courtesy of Bob Estus.
April 17: Paul Ferguson has made basic guitar chords available for “Bungalow” and “That Wave”.; Two new video snippets, originally seen on The Roundabout, are now available.
April 13: Ed Daranciang, God save the Queen, has MIDI-fied “Scissor Man”.; Check out Top 40, Jason Garcia's musical outlet.
April 10: Some new artwork: an autographed Fossil Fuel, given away as a Rifff prize, and a poster advertising the cancelled 1982 Hollywood Palladium show.
April 9: What to buy? Check out Chalkhills Recommends, a handy guide to the less well-known artists who have been inspired by XTC.
April 8: Announcing Chalkhills' Children '98, the latest in a series of Chalkfan tribute tapes.
April 3: Paul Ferguson has contributed chords and guitar tab for “Hold Me My Daddy”.
March 29: Check out this previously unpublished photograph of XTC.
March 28: A new collection CD has been released in Japan, entitled The Greatest.
March 26: Check out the Fossil Fuel CD booklet, compiled and designed by John Relph, includes recording facts and XTC's own comments on the songs; print it yourself on your double-sided printer, instructions included.
March 24: Updates to Reel by Real continue to arrive, check out the updated video and song information.
March 21: Check out some new XTC articles in and around the web.
March 4: Dennis Fano made guitars for Andy Partridge and Dave Gregory, check out Fano Guitars.
February 20: Chalkhills is now part of the X Wires webring.
February 13: Matt Keeley scanned the photo from the Drums and Wires lyrics sheet.
February 3: Tock, the new album from Yazbek (featuring Andy Partridge) is now available.
February 2: James Dupuy submitted corrections to the tablature for “Church of Women”.
January 26: Tim Nevaker has contributed a more complete version of the tablature for “My Bird Performs” including a guitar tab for the trumpet parts, a transcription of the bass guitar part for “The Mayor of Simpleton”, and has also contributed two transcriptions by John McGann: the guitar solos for “That's Really Super, Supergirl” and “Pink Thing”.; Steven Graff has lent his talented ears to the difficult task of transcribing some recent XTC demos, including “Easter Theatre” and “Bumper Cars”.
January 21: Mark Garland has contributed numerous wonderful photographs of XTC performing live at Gaston Hall, Georgetown University, in January 1980.
January 20: In expectation of Mark Garland's contributions I have reorganized the Art Gallery and have added a new Video Stills section.
January 12: Chalkhills' Children '97 is now available, order yours now!
January 11: Snippets of video can now be found in the XTC Video area in the Archives; Chalkhills is archiving Bob Estus' Collide-a-scopE.; Lots of reorganization, but if you notice, please let me know.
January 10: Ian Dahlberg is absolutely positive about the first two chords to “Ball and Chain”.
January 5: Lee Lovingood has scanned the three Collectors' Edition: 3 Limited Edition Picture Discs: Go 2, Drums and Wires, and Black Sea.; Check our new Credits page (find out who is responsible for all of this).
January 2: Tony Lovell has contributed his transcriptions of “Ball and Chain” and “Yacht Dance”.

1997

December 31: Keith Gabryelski has transcribed a ‘mostly correct version’ of “Dear Madam Barnum”.
December 24: Piriya says “Thanks for Christmas”.
December 23: Tim ‘Wonder Boy’ Harris has transcribed the chords for the home demos of “Dame Fortune”, “Church of Women”, and “Your Dictionary”.
December 11: Ryan Walsh has contributed the tablature to “Love at First Sight”.
December 8: Brian Matthews has contributed this MIDI transcription of “Another Satellite”.
December 7: Tim Harris, ever busy, has transcribed guitar chords for “I'd Like That”.
November 28: Masato Mihara has transcribed guitar chords for “Snowman”.; Tim Harris has transcribed guitar chords for “Knights in Shining Karma” (demo).
November 26: Naoyuki Isogai has transcribed guitar chords for “The Merry Christmas Song”.
November 22: Martin Monkman has created a new Dukes of Stratosphear page.; Bob Estus announces the grand opening of the newest XTC web site: The Roundabout.; Steve Perley reversed and slowed down the backwards high-speed voice found in the runout groove of 25 O'Clock following “Mole From The Ministry”.; Bradley Wood did some more research for Reel by Real, the XTC recording history.; Tim Harris, ever productive, has transcribed “You & The Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful” for guitar.
November 21: Richard Pedretti-Allen tells us how to order Chalkhills' Children '97!
November 16: Tim Harris has transcribed “The Ugly Underneath”.
November 13: Print out your own Go 2 and Rag & Bone Buffet CD booklet inserts (see the Product and Merchandise page for more information).
November 11: Terry Sharkie has created a page concerning what he calls “Zolo Music”, which includes a section on XTC -- check it out!
October 21: Adam Tyner has given us a chance to listen to Andy Partridge singing with the Residents on their song “Margaret Freeman”.
October 16: Thanks to Ira Rosenblatt and Dean Zemel, we have restored previously missing copies of Chalkhills Digests, nos. 1-14, 1-15, 1-16, 1-135, 1-137, 1-147, 1-148, 1-156, 1-253, 1-254, and 1-379.
October 10: Stay tuned for details concerning the forthcoming release of Chalkhills' Children '97.
September 14: Steve Johnson just sent in this MIDI transcription of “Happy Families”.
September 3: Brian Matthews has transcribed “This is Pop?” for MIDI.; Some details about XTC's new recording contract are now available!
September 1: Curtiss Hammock announces a new web site for XTC fans: it's called Funk Pop A Roll: Music You Might Enjoy If You Like XTC.
August 31: There was a guest chat with Andy Partridge, Thursday Sept. 4th, 1pm PST in Rifff.
August 28: Dave Blackburn has contributed an updated transcription of “Rook”.
August 25: John H. Hedges announces XTsCheme Vol. 1, a self-installing Windows 95 XTC desktop theme.
August 19: Mike Woodbury has created a MIDI control file for “Senses Working Overtime”.
July 31: Piriya Vongkasemsiri is The Sonic Scissorman: check out the many new XTC sounds in the Archives.
July 30: The Gallery of Sound Stereo-Type has published a review of Upsy Daisy Assortment.
July 25: The Boston Phoenix has published an article about XTC entitled “Limbo Race”.
July 19: Have you read the Trouser Press guide to XTC?
July 17: Check out our links to other XTC articles and interviews on the web.
July 15: Consumable Online has published part one of an interview with Andy Partridge.
July 7: Westword has published an article entitled “Another Dose of XTC”, by Michael Roberts.
July 6: Tim Harris has transcribed the chords for “Season Cycle”.
July 3: Matt Keeley Nilsson has scanned the gatefold photo of XTC's singles represented on Fossil Fuel.
July 1: Read this new review of Fossil Fuel (in Norwegian) from Akers Mic Online.
June 25: A.J. Fuller sent in this bit of promotional literature in which Andy talks about Rag & Bone Buffet.
June 24: Rag & Bone Buffet had no printed lyrics and almost no liner notes in general, now you can print, cut, and fold your own liner notes.; Old news is now archived separately.
June 23: Stephen Clarke has contributed a MIDI-fied version of “Chalkhills and Children”.
June 22: Read these reviews of Upsy Daisy Assortment.; Check out the interview with Andy Partridge in The Onion magazine.
June 18: Peter Fitzpatrick has scanned some autographed XTC CD covers and some photographs of Andy for your edification.
June 8: Paul Ferguson has transcribed (in detail) “1000 Umbrellas” and “Crocodile” for guitar.
June 7: Dave Stafford has contributed his version of “Ballet for a Rainy Day” (from the Skylacking compilation) for your listening pleasure.
May 31: Paul Ferguson has done it again, check out the guitar tab for “All You Pretty Girls” in the Chalkhills Archives.
May 30: Sound and MIDI control files can now be found in the Sound and Midi area in the Archives.
May 29: I know it's been a long time, but I've put more work into Reel by Real, the XTC recording history.
May 28: Brian Matthews just sent in a MIDI control file for the song “Melt the Guns”.
May 21: Paul Ferguson has painstakingly transcribed guitar tablature to “Chalkhills and Children”.
May 19: Joe Kays has painstaking transcribed one of the guitar parts to “Towers of London” and “Punch and Judy”.
May 16: Sören Nilsson has scanned the cover to Sound Affects magazine Nr. 6, from 1989.
May 7: Paul Ferguson has contributed a number of pictures scanned from various magazines and records.
April 29: Chalkhills subscriber Becki Di Gregorio has just released her debut CD, Seven Worthies. . . of the Bamboo Grove, featuring Dave Gregory of XTC on three tracks.
April 28: Read this press release from Geffen Records concerning the forthcoming release of Upsy Daisy Assortment (The Sweetest Hits).
April 27: Andy Partridge produced Martin Newell's 1993 album The Greatest Living Englishman; here's a photo from that time.
April 21: Andy Partridge is appearing on MSN's Rifff June 6, with an hour chat on June 12. Each week Rifff features a different artist and his/her/group's original tune. Users can “play” with the composition in two portions of our site. One is like a music video, the other is like a mixing console. The site also features an in-depth interview with the artist, part of which of is Real Audio.
March 19: The Chalkhills' Children '96 XTC cover song project is now available! Richard Pedretti-Allen tells us how to order.
March 17: Joe Jarrett has informed Chalkhills that the 1997 XTC Music & Friends Convention will be held on May 24 somewhere north of London.
March 11: Jeffrey Langr has transcribed two reviews of Skylarking from Rolling Stone.
March 7: Richard Pedretti-Allen checks in with the latest update on the progress of the Chalkhills' Children XTC cover song project.
March 6: Amanda Owens has transcribed an interview with XTC from the Los Angeles Times concerning the release of Oranges and Lemons.; Chalkhills proudly presents its Product and Merchandise page.
March 5: Shigemasa Fujimoto has returned with Wonderland Extra #3E.
February 28: Check out the cover art to At The Edge, a bootleg XTC CD recorded live at The Edge, Toronto, 1978.
February 26: Natalie Jacobs brings you Perdix: The Andy Partridge Appreciation Page. (The site has since gone out of business.)
February 9: I've gone back through the back issues of the Chalkhills Digests to bring you numerous new articles and interviews.
February 5: Bob Estus has captured a few frames of the “wounded horse” from the “Ball and Chain” video to help his “Save Our British Heritage” campaign.
February 4: Simon Sleightholm has contributed a transcription of “The Dukes of Stratosphear Songbook” from Strange Things Are Happening, 1988.
January 31: Stephen Clarke has contributed an interesting interview with XTC from Making Music magazine, in which they explain the songs on Fossil Fuel.
January 27: Cathy Dennis fans check out her new album Am I The Kinda Girl? and I've added the lyrics to the title song as well.; Soundscapes, an 1994 article from Jazziz magazine has been gleaned from the Archives.
January 16: Searching past digests has been markedly improved.; Check out the Rough Guide to XTC.

1996

December 28: Nishimatu Nisei found a photo of XTC in the Nov. 1996 issue of Rockin' On Japan magazine.
December 27: Brian Helium sent in a photo of his old XTC cover band The Helium Kidz, in full mummer dress, rockin' out.
December 24: Bob Estus has sent in a piece he's called Rust Ye Merry Gentlemen.; I've added the ability to search past issues of the Chalkhills Digest.
December 12: Miscellaneous short reviews and articles are being compiled as part of an ongoing Chalkhills project.
November 14: ATTENTION: Richard Pedretti-Allen has some important issues concerning the progress of the Chalkhills' Children XTC cover song project.
November 11: Chalkhills now features a list of recent changes to the XTC Discography.; Check out this review of Fossil Fuel from The War Against Silence.
November 8: Check out the new Chalkhills Classified Ads.
November 4: Brookes McKenzie has transcribed the (exceedingly naughty) lyrics to the drunken jam songs, including “Shaving Brush Boogie”, “Community Worker Breakdown / Whole Lotta Age”, “Orange Dust”, “Orange Dust (Slight Return)”, and “Silver Sewing Machine”.
October 31: Ian Aces has sent in five images captured from XTC's 1989 performance of “King For A Day” on Letterman.
October 30: Keith Beck has contibuted two promotional photographs of XTC, both from 1980 promoting the release of Black Sea.
October 21: XTC (and their management) have recognized Chalkhills as the official fan mailing list!
October 20: Colin Wright has transcribed another of 13 interviews with Andy Partridge given to promote the album Fossil Fuel.
October 8: Troy Peters has contributed the lyrics to “Papersnow”, co-written by Andy Partridge, from the new Heads album No Talking Just Head.
October 7: Skylacking is ON! Skylacking, a twisted, crazy, and innovative fan tribute to XTC's Skylarking album, is available now!
October 5: Cicci Serra has contributed a MIDI control file for “Then She Appeared” which he found somewhere on the 'Net.
September 28: Ian Dahlberg has generously contributed guitar tablature (TAB) for the songs “Red Brick Dream”, “I Bought Myself a Liarbird”, “Reign of Blows (Vote No Violence!)”, “The Meeting Place”, “Shake You Donkey Up”, and “Train Running Low on Soul Coal”.
September 26: Mike Gee conducted one of the 13 interviews with Andy Partridge given to promote the release of Fossil Fuel; his is featured in the i magazine.
September 22: Virgin UK has released a new XTC singles compilation entitled Fossil Fuel - The XTC Singles 1977-92.
September 17: Take a look at the All About XTC page.; Lyrics to XTC demo tracks keep pouring in like rain: Keith Hanlon has transcribed “Easter Theatre”, Brookes McKenzie has transcribed “Dame Fortune”, “Church of Women” and “Pupil Haze”; Joshua Hall-Bachner (AKA “Mr. Prolific”) has transcribed “The Last Balloon”.
September 16: Myke Weiskopf has scanned two promotional photographs of XTC, one from 1982 promoting the release of Mummer, and one from 1989 promoting the release of Oranges & Lemons.
September 12: George Gimarc of Reel George Productions says he still has a few copies of The Adventure Club Sessions, a limited edition CD featuring a live acoustic recording of “Blue Beret”.
September 9: Bob Estus has rescanned and reworked our images of The White Horse of Uffington, used at the top of each Chalkhills page.
September 6: The amazing, prolific Joshua Hall-Bachner has transcribed the lyrics to two more XTC demo tracks, “River of Orchids” and “Wonder Annual”.; Dave O'Connell has transcribed the lyrics to “I'm the Man Who Murdered Love”, an unreleased demo written by Andy Partridge.
August 30: John Relph, crazed mastermind behind the Chalkhills mailing list and web pages, has been putting in long hours revamping these pages. John Bob sez, “Check it out!”.
August 27: Numerous Chalkhills subscribers have contributed transcriptions of lyrics of demo songs recorded by Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding at home.
August 23: Richard Pedretti-Allen (mastermind behind the Chalkhills' Children project) has transcribed a 1987 interview with Dave Gregory from Keyboard magazine.
August 20: George Gimarc has contributed an image of the cover of The Flexipop! Album, which features one song from XTC.
August 19: James Poulakos has contributed two translations of German magazine articles, one a review of a 1982 XTC concert at Hamburg's Markthalle, the other an interview from Sounds magazine.; I've totally revamped the Black Sea Tour Programme.
August 14: Check out The Little Lighthouse, Mark Mello's new XTC site.
August 13: Joshua Hall-Bachner has created his own set of XTC pages (long since defunct).; Darren A. Peace has graciously contributed images of the covers of Fossil Fuel - The XTC Singles 1977-92 and Wrapped in Grey.; I've only just begun to compile the lyrics to the songs from the GO+ EP and the Mr. Partridge album Take Away / The Lure of Salvage.
August 6: iMusic has recently launched a new BBS system, including an XTC Bulletin Board. Forward into the past!
July 26: Kevin Brunkhorst has contributed chords to a huge number of XTC songs, including “Me and the Wind”, “Funk Pop a Roll”, “In Loving Memory of a Name”, “Ladybird”, “Human Alchemy”, “Toys”, “Jump”, “Deliver Us From the Elements”, “Great Fire”, “Wonderland”, “Beating of Hearts”, “All of a Sudden (It's Too Late)”, “Books are Burning”, “Jason and the Argonauts”, “Merely a Man”, “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead”, “Poor Skeleton Steps Out”, “Here Comes President Kill Again”, “Senses Working Overtime”, “Summer's Cauldron”, “That's Really Super, Supergirl”, and “Wrapped in Grey”.
July 21: William HamBevan could no longer maintain his list of Chalkhills subscribers' home pages, so Chalkhills Anonymous has now been moved to this site.
July 20: Chalkhills was chosen as the TOTALLY AWESOME site of the day for July 20, 1996, by the folks at The 80s Server.

Chalkhills: This World Over

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