XTC - Senses Working Overtime 12"

Classic XTC from 1982's English Settlement album.

The truth is, I have to be in the mood for XTC and while there is no doubting his prolific genius, the fact remains that Andy Partridge's voice is definitely an acquired taste. In fact, I always thought Colin Moulding was way cooler.

Whatever, there's no denying this one, coming as it does fully equipped with a brace of additional tracks which all register highly on the quality-ometer.



Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

Link Expired.

Various - Record Mirror Half Pounder

One of those brilliant cut price (Half Pounder! Geddit?) compilation tie ins between a (now long defunct) music paper and a record label. In this case, the label is classic era Virgin. Dating as it does from 1978, the Virgin roster is made up of some new wave (XTC, The Motors), Some acid damaged hippies still plugging away (Steve Hillage, later to reconnect with System 7, Kevin Coyne), some falling-between-the-stools strangeness (Yellow Dog, Colin Towns) and lots and lots of good reggae, presumably plugged into the deal in order to promote the Virgin Front Line label as A&R'd by John Lydon.

And for sure, it's the reggae here that's sounding the freshest, but this is still a brilliant period piece all round. I never fail to fall in love all over again with The Motors, but the pick of the bunch is possibly the Althea and Donna track, "No More Fighting", which is mighty indeed.

Dive in. Party like it's 1978.

Vinyl rip at 320 Kbps.

Expired.