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Because of record contract litigation, Apple Venus Volume One is XTC's first album of new material in nearly seven years. The now-duo of Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding sure seem to have been using their time off to smell the flowers, as their lyrics are ripe with fruit, nuts, dandelions, orchids, sunflowers, and harvest festivals. Billed as the "orchestral" album that precedes its "rock" bookend, Apple Venus is XTC's most obvious nod to the lush, intricate sounds of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's (those familiar with 1986's Skylarking know that's a bold statement). Cellos, flutes, and other highbrow instruments provide the backdrop for the flowery lyrics. The whimsical "I'd Like That" is the perfectly understated pop song that has always eluded Partridge. The album's lone touch of angst comes courtesy of "Your Dictionary", which is spiked with four-letter words, but Partridge, ever the genteel Englishman, merely spells them out. Essential? No. Innovative? Hardly. But Apple Venus is a solid, cohesive work by one of rock's most artistic artists. --Bill Crandall
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I have owned Apple Venus Vol.One for about five years and I play it as regularly now as when it was first released. I had let my allegiance to XTC slip since the enjoyment I received from the Oranges and Lemons double LP came out in 1989. Then, ten years later, the New Musical Express gave away a free promotional CD which included a track from XTC's new album, their first in seven years after an unhappy business dispute with their then label.The track in question was River of Orchids. It was fascinating using Tchaikovsky-like pizzicato violin plucking effects and unusual rhythm patterns and vocal interactions to produce a wondrous and very original,certainly to my ears, five minutes of musical pleading to reduce the destructive omnipresence of the motor car! River of Orchids whetted my appetite for the fabulous CD I am reviewing here because, on purchasing, I was taken to an aural oasis I have rarely enjoyed since the Beach Boys' superb Sunflower.
On this album Andy Partridge reached songwriting and performance levels that are, I exaggerate not, currently unmatchable. He is as great a songwriter as any in the elite group that contains The Beatles, Brian Wilson,Paul Simon,Bob Dylan and the classic geniuses such as Berlin, Porter, Kern, Gershwin, Loesser, Rodgers and so on. Partridge's greatest songs,and they are numerous including Rook, Wrapped In Grey, The Loving, 1000 Umbrellas, Playground... I could go on for ages, are brilliant on every level with excellently considered, meaningful, often profound, lyrics.(At this point I want to emphasise Andy Partridge doesn't know me from Adam -I gush because I love the Art of Songwriting and this chap has a talent that is extraordinary and deserves proclaiming to all and sundry).
Every track you chose on Apple Venus Vol.One delivers something, even the two songs written by the less prolific Colin Moulding. But it can't be denied Partridge is on a roll of astonishing creativity. If I had to choose favourites I would plump for the gorgeously bouncing delight called Easter Theatre; for a most beautiful ballad of unrequited love, I Can't Own Her; for a scathing essay on a failed marriage, Your Dictionary and for a brilliant recollection of musty school halls at harvest time coupled with the nostalgia of innocent first love, Harvest Festival.
This is what should be on the radio not the endless tedium that sadly makes one pine for the energy of 60s era pop.Andy Partridge is a brilliant man whose melodic,harmonic,rhythmic and lyrical skills I rate alongside the great Frank'Guys and Dolls'Loesser.I can't give a higher compliment
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Well!
This is an album which not just stands head and shoulders above everything contemporary but the whole body as well and on stilts!
I first picked up this fine work in it's vinyl form a couple of years ago and being an old XTC fan and though not having heard even one track of it due to favourite old Rock radio shows where one would have had a review of it, having long vanished.
I was'nt to be disappointed!
As soon as the VanDenHuul rested down into the groove of side one I was off into a beautiful world of literally Technicolour Soundscapes.
From "River of Orchids" to "Last Balloon" this is an excellent listen which just ends too soon,leaving you just wanting more!
It is to XTC what the lost Masterwork "Smile" would have been for the Beacboys.
I particularly like Colin Moulding's "Frivolous Tonight" with it's VERY sixties feel including that delicious spine tingling Mellotron and lovely warm analogue synth sound.
I DO remember well the times which the song refers to!
This is perhaps XTC's best yet, up there with "Chips from the Chocolate Fireball" and "Skylarking".
It is so good that I have bought the CD as well.
An added bonus for all of you fellow HiFI buffs out there is the
exemplarary reproduction of both the vinyl and the CD which makes it a splendid test record.
This is an album which not just stands head and shoulders above everything contemporary but the whole body as well and on stilts!
I first picked up this fine work in it's vinyl form a couple of years ago and being an old XTC fan and though not having heard even one track of it due to favourite old Rock radio shows where one would have had a review of it, having long vanished.
I was'nt to be disappointed!
As soon as the VanDenHuul rested down into the groove of side one I was off into a beautiful world of literally Technicolour Soundscapes.
From "River of Orchids" to "Last Balloon" this is an excellent listen which just ends too soon,leaving you just wanting more!
It is to XTC what the lost Masterwork "Smile" would have been for the Beacboys.
I particularly like Colin Moulding's "Frivolous Tonight" with it's VERY sixties feel including that delicious spine tingling Mellotron and lovely warm analogue synth sound.
I DO remember well the times which the song refers to!
This is perhaps XTC's best yet, up there with "Chips from the Chocolate Fireball" and "Skylarking".
It is so good that I have bought the CD as well.
An added bonus for all of you fellow HiFI buffs out there is the
exemplarary reproduction of both the vinyl and the CD which makes it a splendid test record.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
XTC finally re-emerged in early 1999 after a seven year absence with what stands out as possibly their most distinctive work yet (unsurprising in a way, as it was their first non-Virgin LP).
Opening track River Of Orchids sets the tone with its grand, orchestral arrangement (the nose-thumbing Enya comparisons I've seen levelled elsewhere are plainly ignorant). I'd Like That is as delightful a song as Andy Partridge has ever written, and contains the (hopefully intentionally) hilarious line "High, really high, like a really high thing...". Very Blackadder, Mr Partridge, sir.
Easter Theatre is another corker, its quietly understated verses melding brilliantly with an explosively joyous chorus, though the LP's highlight is probably Your Dictionary, which displays more heartfelt passion and emotion than the entire Top 40 (any week) put together.
Apple Venus is let down somewhat by Colin Moulding's contributions, Frivolous Tonight and Fruit Nut. Colin's obviously a very happy bunny, and the two songs are unquestionably witty and humorous, but I can't help but think of When I'm 64 when I hear them. This is not a particularly good thing. Nevertheless, taken as a whole, Apple Venus shows that the long-term core partnership of XTC is still working beautifully in tandem.
Opening track River Of Orchids sets the tone with its grand, orchestral arrangement (the nose-thumbing Enya comparisons I've seen levelled elsewhere are plainly ignorant). I'd Like That is as delightful a song as Andy Partridge has ever written, and contains the (hopefully intentionally) hilarious line "High, really high, like a really high thing...". Very Blackadder, Mr Partridge, sir.
Easter Theatre is another corker, its quietly understated verses melding brilliantly with an explosively joyous chorus, though the LP's highlight is probably Your Dictionary, which displays more heartfelt passion and emotion than the entire Top 40 (any week) put together.
Apple Venus is let down somewhat by Colin Moulding's contributions, Frivolous Tonight and Fruit Nut. Colin's obviously a very happy bunny, and the two songs are unquestionably witty and humorous, but I can't help but think of When I'm 64 when I hear them. This is not a particularly good thing. Nevertheless, taken as a whole, Apple Venus shows that the long-term core partnership of XTC is still working beautifully in tandem.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Golden delicious
XTC's long absence from the studio prior to this album was a result of a contractual dispute. By the time they returned, they had enough material for two albums with the recordings... Read more
Published on 4 Dec 2010 by D. J. H. Thorn
5.0 out of 5 stars
best they've done
I've got quite a few xtc cds but wouldnt describe myself as a massive fan. In fact I'm not quite sure why i first bought this cd. Read more
Published on 14 Oct 2008 by D. J. Ashley
5.0 out of 5 stars
They must be demoralised....
Ok.In 1982 (on my 15th birthday as it happened)Andy Partridge wandered off stage mid "Respectable Street" never to perform live (gig-wise) again. Read more
Published on 27 Jun 2007 by bish
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Shining Knights
XTC made a triumph return in 1999 with this deliriously sumptuous and strings heavy concept piece. The band had dallied with mixed results in orchestration in the past - most... Read more
Published on 14 Jun 2006 by Shaun Anderson
4.0 out of 5 stars
Quite satisfying in all areas, but I wouldn't say so aloud
I first heard tracks of this album played on the air on Vin Scelsa's Idiot's Delight (at that time on WNEW). Read more
Published on 7 Mar 2002 by Andrew K. Pidkameny
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Best Yet From XTC
This is a totally beautiful album to listen to. Musically, it feels as though XTC have taken a quantum leap to a higher level. Read more
Published on 14 Sep 2000
4.0 out of 5 stars
After the third play, you're hooked
Definitely not their finest work but a vast improvement on their last album 'Nonsuch'. XTC have succeeded in becoming masters of the studio and songwriting craft with this album's... Read more
Published on 25 July 2000 by C. Bainbridge
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Pastoral Pop Masterpiece
Its been 7 years since the last XTC album but when the result is so exquisite its worth the wait. This is an album of finely judged arrangements and beautiful songs. Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2000 by Richard Kenny
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning Return By Music's Best Kept Secret
After a seven year hiatus, XTC return with a great new album. Personal and business frustrations are distilled into exquisite orchestral and acoustic textures unlike anything... Read more
Published on 19 Nov 1999
4.0 out of 5 stars
Takes time to get this one under your skin but becomes.....
Dont judge this one on first listen alone! It is truly brilliant once you have "Tuned" into Andy's finest songs of love rejuvinated, in "Sunflower", and cynical... Read more
Published on 15 Nov 1999
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