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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
1983's Mummer was the first fruit of the Swindon combo's "pastoral" period, but merely proved to be the inaugural chapter in XTC's mercifully brief mid-life crises. A commercial flop, stalling outside of the UK Top 50--a major setback considering the belated bridgeheads established in both the British and American charts by the preceding Black Sea and English Settlement albums--Mummer was considered something of an artistic disappointment at the time. Even so, any record that contains such moments of delicious rural innocence as the folksy "Love On A Farmboy's Wages" ("shilling for the fellow who brings the sheep in") or the mangled, chamber-orchestra pyromania of "Great Fire" is worth a listen, while the addition of several alternately odd and poppy b-sides only adds to the intrigue. The poorer cousin of the subsequent Skylarking, perhaps, but well worth reassessing now that time has passed. --Kevin Maidment
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
OK, so, before I begin this review, I must confess that I am not a big XTC fan - I am unable to tell you about how this album stands up to Skylarking or Enlgish Settlement, or how the mental breakdown suffered by Partridge during this album's recording is portrayed through the sound - I only know that Partridge actually had a breakdown at this time because I've read the other reviews of this album! So, what I AM able to do then, is review this album solely on it's own merits. And on it's own merits, it's a corker. More or less all of the songs on Mummer (apart from the closing Funk, Pop a Roll, which is really out of place and is a bit anti-climactic to be honest)are wonderful little pop nuggets that could have been accidently dug up when a farmer has been gathering in his crop of potatoes, they're THAT countryside-y. "Love on a farmboy's wages", which I think was a single but knowing XTC would've sold about twelve copies regardless, is a little ditty about the difficulties of settling down with your loved one when all you have the skill to do is be a farmhand, which naturally pays a pittance ("Shilling for the fellow who brings the sheep in, Shilling for the fellow who milks the herd" is half of the chorus). "Ladybird" is a song about a ladybird, simple as that. It's the sort of album that you stick on at 10 in the morning on a day in July when you have nothing planned and think "Hmm, what shall I do today?", then you hear a song like the aforementioned "Ladybird", and think "Sod it, I'll just have a read and a doze in the garden", and grin smugly to yourself because you know damn well that no one else around has heard the marvellous Mummer, and you grin smugly because you know that their lives are just a little less happy, and just a little less easy to bare than yours.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
'Mummer' was recorded by a band in turmoil. Yet, through all this XTC produced one of the most beautiful pop LPs of the 1980's. The expanded pallete of sounds (mellotron, real strings, more acoustic guitars) coupled with a dazzlingly diverse range of stlyes created a set that, to these ears at least, was up with Sgt. Pepper - no exageration. I fail to understand why this LP is so underated.
'Great Fire' is mind bending psychedlic pop, 'Love on a farmboy's wages' is utterly gorgeous, 'Wonderland' is breathtakingly lovely - there's even a smattering of prog in there too (Deliver us from the elements - one of many fine songs by bassist Colin Moulding).
In the end, the perceived commercial failure of this record sent XTC into a spin - what else can you do when you've done your best and no one is listening?
From here on the band get more extreme but this is simply beautiful. XTC at their finest.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I'm biased, of course. XTC, one the loves of my musical life, have been a musical backdrop to my family for the past 30 years. Always on the button, the songwriting is an unequalled combination of earthy English manhood, west country wit, dazzling musical brilliance and very, very catchy tunes. Wonderful.
This album was, and is, no exception.
From the beating of hearts, through great fires and deliverance from the elements to a touch of human alchemy and the loving memory of any name, this is, even after a quarter of a century, still a great album.
Buy it, enjoy it and go back for more - I'm convinced you won't regret it.
This album was, and is, no exception.
From the beating of hearts, through great fires and deliverance from the elements to a touch of human alchemy and the loving memory of any name, this is, even after a quarter of a century, still a great album.
Buy it, enjoy it and go back for more - I'm convinced you won't regret it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Just lovely...the most underrated XTC album!
Rating: 8.5/10
Best tracks: `Wonderland', `Love on a Farmboy's Wages', `Ladybird', `Deliver Us from the Elements', `Great Fire'
An extremely underrated album,... Read more
Best tracks: `Wonderland', `Love on a Farmboy's Wages', `Ladybird', `Deliver Us from the Elements', `Great Fire'
An extremely underrated album,... Read more
Published 18 months ago by New Gold Dreamer
Lots of different styles - mostly horrible!
I have given XTC a few chances - now and again they threw up a decent single - so I've bought a few of their albums over the years. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Ses
Rural delights
Don't underestimate this album in the great XTC scheme of things. Coming at a difficult time for the band, 'Mummer' has a surprisingly light, carefree touch about it. Read more
Published on 24 Sep 2006 by D. J. H. Thorn
Have I been such a fool?
Mummer was written and recorded at a difficult period in XTC's history, in the aftermath of Andy Partridge's nervous breakdown and subsequent decision to quit touring, and largely... Read more
Published on 14 Mar 2003 by knowledeayton
Underrated beauty in well remastered & packaged shocker!
Everything has been said about XTC - underrated, great singles but never sold well, never made a truly great album etc etc. Read more
Published on 2 Oct 2002 by L. J. Mccann
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