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Coat of Many Cupboards
 
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Coat of Many Cupboards [Box set]

~ XTC
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
Price: £36.98 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Audio CD (25 Mar 2002)
  • Number of Discs: 4
  • Format: Box set
  • Label: Virgin
  • ASIN: B00005V94X
  • Other Editions: MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 108,593 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Disc: 1
1. Science friction
2. Spinning top
3. Traffic light rock
4. Radios in motion
5. Let's have fun
See all 16 tracks on this disc
Disc: 2
1. Meccanic dancing (oh we go)
2. Atom age/Hang onto the night/Neon shuffle (medley)
3. Life begins at the hop
4. Reel by reel
5. When you're near me I have difficulty
See all 15 tracks on this disc
Disc: 3
1. Punch and Judy
2. Fly on the wall
3. Yacht dance
4. Jason and the Argonauts
5. Love on a farmboy's wages
See all 14 tracks on this disc
Disc: 4
1. Brainiac's daughter - Dukes Of Stratosphear
2. Vanishing girl - Dukes Of Stratosphear
3. Terrorism
4. Find the fox
5. Season cycle
See all 15 tracks on this disc

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Only a band like XTC--always there but never part of the furniture--could come up with a title as absurd and yet as appropriate as A Coat Of Many Cupboards. While most artists would go to extraordinary lengths to keep their old musical doodles and rejects locked away from prying ears, XTC are only too happy to hand over the keys and show you all the secret compartments. Fortunately, this four CD box set of hitherto unheard home recordings, studio demos, aborted singles, album outtakes and drunken japes as well as TV appearances, radio broadcasts and--in the case of Dukes Of Stratosphear--psychedelic charades makes for a fine old rummage through 15 years of their pop laundry.

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



CD Description

This 4CD retrospective of the Swindon punk-pop turned contemporary rock act includes many unreleased demos. The collection was put together to celebrate their 25 year recording career. Their only top ten single, 'Senses Working Overtime', is included.

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Ecstacy, 12 April 2002
By P. A. Murphy "Paulie" (London) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)      
OK, I'm a fan, and you'd be hard pushed to find someone with only a casual interest in XTC having this package on their shelves at home. But I'll do my best to tell you why it's good.

Like the Beatles Anthologies before it, this extensive look over the last 25 years of Swindon's finest illustrates, broadly, the two same ideas:

a) Their live gigs (or at least recordings thereof) only really cover their early years, but mostly seemed to deliver, the band not being afraid to cut loose from the structures of the songs as presented on album. And good thing that proves to be often, too, providing good, assured renderings of great tunes for the uninitiated, and different twists to old faves for the fans.

b) The finished, official, album or single version of tunes seen here on this set as a demo track or alternative studio idea, are always the best versions. The demos presented here are often very different, no less competent and always curious... but you'll also hear in them why they settled on the version you hear on Drums & Wires, Black Sea, etc. Compare Andy Partridge's searching first ever demo of Senses Working Overtime to the finished article to be shown how his sound pop nous can craft mighty oaks out of sickly acorns, without ever over egging the, er... oak pudding (sorry).

The other thing that comes across loud and clear from just a glance through the entertainingly written booklet that comes with the set is that XTC's songwriters Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding care, really care about their stuff as they contribute affectionate, witty and frequently self-deprecating opinions on their own, and each other's tunes. Barry Andrews's words on his own tunes, heard here for the first time, add a touch of perfectionism to the whole, elegant package.

Like I said, I can't see too many non-fans owning it, but on so many levels it's essential: as a document of XTC, as a muso collection of insights into the studio process and song evolution (but never letting that get entirely in the way of a belting good ditty) and as a simple object of desire, with great pictures and classy layout. This is what box sets should be all about.

Back in '79, when I was eight, Making Plans For Nigel used to scare me.

Now, I haven't the faintest clue why. I'm sure there's a moral in there somewhere.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Elegant tribute to the world's best unknown pop band, 31 Mar 2002
By danharris@alltel.net (Sheridan, Arkansas USA) - See all my reviews
Look, you didn't just surf over to this review. You are no doubt another hopeless XTC fanatic. You are probably going to buy this set regardless of the reviews. Should you? Absolutely. This is a beautifully packaged four disc set. It includes a 79 page book with an essay by Harrison Sherwood and then a track by track critque by Andy and Colin. As with any XTC record, the more you listen the more your attitudes and opinions evolve. That said, here are seven reasons to purchase this set: 1)Live version of Traffic Light Rock - its simple and raw, just what a pop song should be. 2) Senses Working Overtime - Andy and his guitar and the outside street traffic in an early and sparse version . Much like George and "Something" from the Beatles Anthology. 3) Punch and Judy - Much better than the previously released version. More Punch and less Judy. 4) All You Pretty Girls - This version is so strange you might think its an outtake from a Dukes of Stratosphere session. Or Magical Mystery Tour. Very psychedelic. 5) Grass - Striped from its Summer's Cauldron seque, and a much less produced version, it soars with much sharper guitar and Colin's raw vocals. 6) Mayor of Simpleton - Because its unrecognizable from the Nonsuch version. 7) Terrorism - Hard to believe this song was written for Skylarking. Given the state of the world today the lyrics and middle eastern flavor of the music is chilling.
Given a couple weeks I'm sure I will come up with several other reasons you should buy this set.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Get these fans down, they're ruining my hairdo..., 5 Jun 2002
By knowledeayton (Hereford, England) - See all my reviews
An XTC box set? Nigh on four hours of out-takes, alternative versions, live tracks, demos and LP originals? Oh, go on then, you've twisted my arm.

To use an appalling piece of footballing parlance, COMC is something of a game of two halves. Discs 1 & 2 are notable for some tremendously powerful live recordings, particularly the Atom Medley (this in spite of the band's amps packing up briefly halfway through) and the best version of Crowded Room you're ever likely to hear. These tracks give those of us who never lucky enough to see the band live an indication of why their on-stage reputation was so great.

Not only that, but there are three alternative versions of tracks from Drums & Wires, all of which knock the originals into a cocked hat, not least Real By Reel which, it seems to me, sounds like it was the logical choice to follow-up Making Plans For Nigel. Then again, when was XTC's history ever defined or guided by logic...? As for the alternative take of Towers Of London...well...'sublime' just about covers it, I reckon.

Discs 3 & 4 are marginally less enjoyable, being mainly demos and early, inferior versions of LP tracks and b-sides, but there is still much to enjoy, particularly Colin Moulding's Didn't Hurt A Bit which failed to make it onto 1992's Nonsuch for reasons probably known only to its author. The very last track sees a rare live excursion for the band on BBC's Late Show, performing Books Are Burning (or, as Kirsty Wark refers to it in her infinite wisdom, Burning Books).

As has been pointed out by other reviewers, unless you're an XTC fan, chances are COMC won't interest you much, assuming you're even aware of its existence. On the other hand, for those of us bitten by the XTC bug (which might explain my stinking cold, come to think of it), this collection of (mainly) previously unheard material is a joy.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars More, Please
Of the hundreds of unused tracks XTC has in their cupboard, they thankfully decided to release a few on Coat of Many Cupboards. Read more
Published on 11 Sep 2002 by Dan Wilcutts

4.0 out of 5 stars That's it... I'm in XTC (almost)
Needless to say, really, this is the stuff that dreams are made of, but what makes me a bit mad is that it could have been even better. Read more
Published on 11 April 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars Introducing the fantastical oddball synergy of funkpoparoll!
Nothing less than marvellous, these four discs provide the perfect parcel of pop, pageant and pip! pip! pip! Read more
Published on 29 Mar 2002 by Masked

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect pop and sublime rock.
A heady brew. From the English summer dreaming of "Grass" to the three minute pop of "Life begins at the hop" to the never fulfilled stadium pomp of "The... Read more
Published on 21 Mar 2002

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