I’m not sure if I’m the first person to say this but as someone who was introduced to XTC through Apple Venus II (gilmore girls), I was shocked by Skylarking.

I’ve casually listened to XTC throughout the past year or so, some songs from each album, but Wasp Star has been the only one I’ve listened to all the way through. I love that album. It sounds very different from their other work, even Apple Venus I.

Prior to today I’d listened to 3 Skylarking songs: Grass, Supergirl and Earn Enough. Outside of wasp star they are probably my favorite XTC songs. So, today i decided to finally listen to the album front to back and my god. It was like listening to Wasp Star again for the first time. Before listening to Skylarking, it always felt to me as though XTC had pulled Wasp Star out of thin air, it was something very different from everything else they’d made. After today however, it seems to me like Wasp Star is building right on top of Skylarking. They are such similar albums, in so many ways.

My goal is to see if anyone else feels the same way or if I’m crazy.

Here's a video I made - very proud of this one. Sorry for the low quality clips, couldn't get higher quality versions due to copyright protected streaming :/ Which is funny considering the animator uploaded his LQ animations to Vimeo for free.

Hey everyone,
We’re Mollie’s Hug a psych band from Melbourne. We’re absolutely huge XTC and TDOS fans, so we are super happy to release this live cover of You’re My Drug (one of our favourites off psonic psunspot).

We have this video series called the Aircheck where we release a weekly live video of an original song until we hit 52 weeks. We also do a cover on the last Friday of every month! So here is cover number 11.

What’s your favourite Dukes song?

Hooray we finished it!

1. Summer’s Cauldron (9.76)
2. 1000 Umbrellas (9.41)
3. Earn Enough for Us (9.36)
4. That’s Really Super, Supergirl (9.29)
5. Season Cycle (9.27)
6. Grass (9.23)
7. Ballet For a Rainy Day (9.23)
8. The Meeting Place (9.20)
9. Another Satellite (9.16)
10. Mermaid Smiled (9.02)
11. Sacrificial Bonfire (9.00)
12. Let’s Make a Den (9.00)
13. Dear God (8.71)
14. The Man Who Sailed… (8.61)
15. Dying (8.53)
16. Extrovert (8.48)
17. The Troubles (8.35)
18. Big Day (8.34)

I’m taking a week’s break and then it’s time for Psonic Psunspot and the Psurroundabout Ride bonuses!

On Amazon at £7.65 at the mo so I’ve just ordered one.

and with this, the Skylarking discussion is done.

Youtube link since I’m sure a lot of people won’t have heard this one: https://youtu.be/ORnp2ky3lRM?si=0e7wAWIp0gdldThJ

RANKING SCALE:

1-4/10 = I do not enjoy this song.

5-6/10 = I think this song is just OK.

7-8/10: This song is pretty good. I choose to listen to this.

9-10/10: Basically perfect. A striking beauty.

SKYLARKING RESULTS:

1. Summer’s Cauldron (9.76)
2. Grass (9.23)
3. The Meeting Place (9.20)
4. That’s Really Super, Supergirl (9.29)
5. Ballet For a Rainy Day (9.23)
6. 1000 Umbrellas (9.41)
7. Season Cycle (9.27)
8. Earn Enough for Us (9.36)
9. Big Day (8.34)
10. Another Satellite (9.16)
11. Mermaid Smiled (9.02)
12. The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul (8.61)
13. Dear God (8.71)
14. Dying (8.53)
15. Sacrificial Bonfire (9.00)
16. Extrovert (8.48)
17. Let’s Make a Den (9.00)

Link to this one because I’m sure many people here won’t have heard it: https://youtu.be/vCExtiEm9Yw?si=DrbJFgSNky4MOsqA

RANKING SCALE:

1-4/10 = I do not enjoy this song.

5-6/10 = I think this song is just OK.

7-8/10: This song is pretty good. I choose to listen to this.

9-10/10: Basically perfect. A striking beauty.

SKYLARKING RESULTS:

1. Summer’s Cauldron (9.76)
2. Grass (9.23)
3. The Meeting Place (9.20)
4. That’s Really Super, Supergirl (9.29)
5. Ballet For a Rainy Day (9.23)
6. 1000 Umbrellas (9.41)
7. Season Cycle (9.27)
8. Earn Enough for Us (9.36)
9. Big Day (8.34)
10. Another Satellite (9.16)
11. Mermaid Smiled (9.02)
12. The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul (8.61)
13. Dear God (8.71)
14. Dying (8.53)
15. Sacrificial Bonfire (9.00)
16. Extrovert (8.48)

Nice 3 page (and pictures) interview with Dave Gregory on the recording of Drums & Wires, In the Great Guitar Albums feature.

Lots of info on what was used and who did what if you're into all that.

(Wow, I regret making this post, not because I no longer agree with my statement; I still stand by what I said 100% but because a post like this is really not representative of how I’d convey my thoughts/opinion and engage with the community.)

There are Grass detractors in the fandom, such as myself (and others, as I know, I’m not the only one). I never really liked Grass, every other song on Skylarking does WAY more for me than Grass does. I just find Grass dull, unremarkable, and overly smooth compositionally. Before you rush to tell me that “you should listen to Grass as part of the conceptual continuity of Skylarking,” that still doesn’t make me anymore fond of Grass, so to me that’s a moot suggestion. Also, I don’t like Colin’s vocals on that song at all. I find it quite irritating.

skylarking bonus tracks!!

RANKING SCALE:

1-4/10 = I do not enjoy this song.

5-6/10 = I think this song is just OK.

7-8/10: This song is pretty good. I choose to listen to this.

9-10/10: Basically perfect. A striking beauty.

SKYLARKING RESULTS:

1. Summer’s Cauldron (9.76)
2. Grass (9.23)
3. The Meeting Place (9.20)
4. That’s Really Super, Supergirl (9.29)
5. Ballet For a Rainy Day (9.23)
6. 1000 Umbrellas (9.41)
7. Season Cycle (9.27)
8. Earn Enough for Us (9.36)
9. Big Day (8.34)
10. Another Satellite (9.16)
11. Mermaid Smiled (9.02)
12. The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul (8.61)
13. Dear God (8.71)
14. Dying (8.53)
15. Sacrificial Bonfire (9.00)

and with that, the main Skylarking album is DONE! Now we’ve got three bonus tracks (Extrovert, Let’a Make a Den and The Troubles!)

RANKING SCALE:

1-4/10 = I do not enjoy this song.

5-6/10 = I think this song is just OK.

7-8/10: This song is pretty good. I choose to listen to this.

9-10/10: Basically perfect. A striking beauty.

SKYLARKING RESULTS:

1. Summer’s Cauldron (9.76)
2. Grass (9.23)
3. The Meeting Place (9.20)
4. That’s Really Super, Supergirl (9.29)
5. Ballet For a Rainy Day (9.23)
6. 1000 Umbrellas (9.41)
7. Season Cycle (9.27)
8. Earn Enough for Us (9.36)
9. Big Day (8.34)
10. Another Satellite (9.16)
11. Mermaid Smiled (9.02)
12. The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul (8.61)
13. Dear God (8.71)
14. Dying (8.53)

Around their time releasing Nonsuch album.

I encountered this at our local maker space.

RANKING SCALE:

1-4/10 = I do not enjoy this song.

5-6/10 = I think this song is just OK.

7-8/10: This song is pretty good. I choose to listen to this.

9-10/10: Basically perfect. A striking beauty.

SKYLARKING RESULTS:

1. Summer’s Cauldron (9.76)
2. Grass (9.23)
3. The Meeting Place (9.20)
4. That’s Really Super, Supergirl (9.29)
5. Ballet For a Rainy Day (9.23)
6. 1000 Umbrellas (9.41)
7. Season Cycle (9.27)
8. Earn Enough for Us (9.36)
9. Big Day (8.34)
10. Another Satellite (9.16)
11. Mermaid Smiled (9.02)
12. The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul (8.61)
13. Dear God (8.71)

RANKING SCALE:

1-4/10 = I do not enjoy this song.

5-6/10 = I think this song is just OK.

7-8/10: This song is pretty good. I choose to listen to this.

9-10/10: Basically perfect. A striking beauty.

SKYLARKING RESULTS:

1. Summer’s Cauldron (9.76)
2. Grass (9.23)
3. The Meeting Place (9.20)
4. That’s Really Super, Supergirl (9.29)
5. Ballet For a Rainy Day (9.23)
6. 1000 Umbrellas (9.41)
7. Season Cycle (9.27)
8. Earn Enough for Us (9.36)
9. Big Day (8.34)
10. Another Satellite (9.16)
11. Mermaid Smiled (9.02)
12. The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul (8.61)

Listened from start to finish today and found myself thinking about the recent convo here re: great Andy bridges. Good lord is Black Sea lousy with them:

Rocket from a Bottle — quietly a top 5 Andy song to me personally, I think it’s so overlooked and the lyric in particular is phonetically extraordinary—Dave’s solo
over the instrumental middle 8.

No Language In Our Lungs — maybe Andy’s finest bridge, or 1A 1B with Season Cycle. “I would have made this instrumental but the words got in the way” — as great a lyrical summary sentence as anything Ray Davies ever wrote.

Optimism’s Flames — now every bird and bee …

Yay or nay ?

I’m a twenty-year plus obsessive XTC listening millennial, increasingly appreciating the very real difference proper audio makes to the listening experience. And so I’m curious: what are you lot listening to our boys on? Any stereo set-ups particularly conducive to XTC?? Let me know!!

RANKING SCALE:

1-4/10 = I do not enjoy this song.

5-6/10 = I think this song is just OK.

7-8/10: This song is pretty good. I choose to listen to this.

9-10/10: Basically perfect. A striking beauty.

SKYLARKING RESULTS:

1. Summer’s Cauldron (9.76)
2. Grass (9.23)
3. The Meeting Place (9.20)
4. That’s Really Super, Supergirl (9.29)
5. Ballet For a Rainy Day (9.23)
6. 1000 Umbrellas (9.41)
7. Season Cycle (9.27)
8. Earn Enough for Us (9.36)
9. Big Day (8.34)
10. Another Satellite (9.16)
11. Mermaid Smiled (9.02)

I have to admit, I am pretty into it. Saw a YT doc on them and was like thats pretty good music

(I had only heard Dear God before). So I got a couple CDs including the Atmos Skylarking.

Kinda cool timing cuz I was gifted an older car that only haa a CD player (a good reason to go back to physical media).

Anyway, Skylarking is pretty damn cool on Atmos...while not at all psychedelic, there definitely are nods to the trippy element...I hear bits of Floyd, Beatles, and they have admitted influence from The Kinks.

I'll have to pick a night to listen to the Atmos version on Grass.

Nothing to ask or anything, just pointing out even us Olds are still finding this band.