A Coat of Many Cupboards [Box set]

Thus, it's interesting to hear an extra verse in an early run through the bible-belt-bothering "Dear God" ("see 'em singing holy songs and start piling up the neutron bombs") or contemplating how much better, judging by Andy Partridge's home demo, "Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" could have sounded if they hadn't tagged on that E Street Band harmonica. Baffling, too, to hear how three songs from Drums and Wires were re-recorded as potential follow-ups to their first chart hit "Making Plans For Nigel" but were ignored in favour of the dreary and--seeing as it sunk without trace--prophetically titled "Wait 'Til Your Boat Goes Down".

Although comparisons to The Beatles became commonplace in later years, there was something about those early tunes--reading comics in bed on "Science Friction", wanting to be with "all my chums" on "Meccanik Dancing" and partaking of "nuts and crisps and c-c-c-cola on tap" at Church hall youth social events on "Life Begins At The Hop"--that was rather more Enid Blyton's Famous Five than Fab Four. But they did share some of the Moptops goonish wit, as evidenced by "Shaving Brush Boogie" from 1982's much-bootlegged Drunken Jam Sessions, although the public really ought to have heard the marvellous Hawkwind needlework tribute "Silver Sewing Machine". That this belated archaeological anthology will outsell most of those early singles is perverse. But despite their meagre chart history, XTC always did have a much brighter future than British Steel.--Kevin Maidment

Coat Of Many Cupboards contains an alternative view of XTC; tracing their trajectory from jerky sci-fi new wave popsters to Brian Wilson-worshipping psychedelic troubadours. Stuffed to the gills with demos, home-recordings, live versions and unusual mixes, you'll find all of your favourites here, but often in wildly different guises. As with all great bands, such archaeology doesn't detract one iota, but allows us to indulge in a kind of aural watch repairing. We take the lid off a small perfectly-formed rock 'n' roll machine and marvel at the glistening, intricate cogs and gears within. Lead singer/guitarist Andy Partridge obviously loved this aspect of their music himself, as his DIY dub experiments on The Lure Of Salvage demonstrated (their earliest incarnation is here in the form of a reworking of the theme from "Fireball XL5").

The first disc covers the band's earliest comic book incarnation: Angular riffs underpinned by Barry Andrews bleeping keyboards and incredible powerhouse drumming from Terry Chambers, the post-punk Paul Thompson. With "Life Begins At The Hop" it became plain that a very fine grasp of pop dynamics was at work in these west country minds. By the end of disc two and in the space of two years they'd lost Andrews, gained Dave Gregory on guitar, achieved chart success with "Making Plans For Nigel", had given up touring, and were pursuing loftier goals. Tracks like the synaesthetic "Senses Working Overtime" and "Towers Of London" with its ruminations on the painful birth of imperialism were a million miles from their New Romantic chart bedfellows.

Unfortunately the commercial zenith was now past but, after shedding Chambers, a renaissance was finally achieved at the hands of benign despot Todd Rundgren. From Skylarking onwards the trio moved to an alternative universe where Yellow Submarine was everyone's favourite film and the top forty welcomed intelligence and wit with open arms.

If only it were so. But listen to gems like "Grass" and "The Disappointed" or tracks by psychedelic alter-egos, The Dukes Of Stratosphear, and you too can believe in the healing power of hook-laden music which was never meant to sell in this cynical old world of ours. These days, reduced to a duo with their own label, XTC may feel that history has cheated them, but along with last year's sparklingly re-mastered back catalogue, Coat could finally see the Swindonians becoming more than just kings for a day. --Chris Jones

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