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Skylarking
 
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Skylarking [Original recording reissued] [Original recording remastered]

~ XTC
4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
Price: £9.88 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
Usually dispatched within 9 to 11 days.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

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Skylarking + English Settlement + Black Sea
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  • This item: Skylarking ~ XTC

    Usually dispatched within 9 to 11 days.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
    This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

  • English Settlement ~ XTC

    In stock.
    Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
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  • Black Sea ~ XTC

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Product details

  • Audio CD (11 Jun 2001)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Format: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
  • Label: Virgin
  • ASIN: B00005ATHO
  • Other Editions: MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 28,208 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.

Samples
Song Title Time Price
Listen  1. Summer's Cauldron (2001 Digital Remaster) 3:19£0.69
Listen  2. Grass (2001 Digital Remaster) 3:05£0.69
Listen  3. The Meeting Place (2001 Digital Remaster) 3:14£0.69
Listen  4. That's Really Super, Supergirl (2001 Digital Remaster) 3:21£0.69
Listen  5. Ballet For A Rainy Day (2001 Digital Remaster) 2:50£0.69
Listen  6. 1000 Umbrellas (2001 Digital Remaster) 3:44£0.69
Listen  7. Season Cycle (2001 Digital Remaster) 3:21£0.69
Listen  8. Earn Enough For Us (2001 Digital Remaster) 2:54£0.69
Listen  9. Big Day (2001 Digital Remaster) 3:32£0.69
Listen10. Another Satellite (2001 Digital Remaster) 4:15£0.69
Listen11. Mermaid Smiled (2001 Digital Remaster) 2:26£0.69
Listen12. The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul (2001 Digital Remaster) 3:24£0.69
Listen13. Dying (2001 Digital Remaster) 2:31£0.69
Listen14. Sacrificial Bonfire (2001 Digital Remaster) 3:49£0.69
Listen15. Dear God (2001 Digital Remaster) 3:39£0.69

Product Description

CD Description

Though borne out of frustrating circumstances, SKYLARKING proved, upon its 1986 release, to be XTC's biggest seller. Attention was spurred along by "Dear God", which was originally issued only as a B-side and not even included on the album. Subsequent pressings quickly substituted the song (removing "Mermaid Smiled", which resurfaced on RAG & BONE BUFFET). At the time, Andy Partridge was extremely vocal about the band's dissatisfaction in working with producer Todd Rundgren.Intervening years have softened the memory of personal clashes and he now also embraces this as one of their finest hours (as had been the case with most of their fans all along).With hooks galore ("That's Really Super, Supergirl", "Season Cycle"), lush orchestrations ("1000 Umbrellas"), acoustic reveries ("Grass", "Sacrificial Bonfire"), and even some bigfat electric guitars and drums ("Earn Enough For Us"), thisis a perfect starting point for anyone unfamiliar with the fine XTC catalogue.

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Customer Reviews

15 Reviews
5 star:
 (14)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (15 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A unsung work of genius, 22 Nov 2005
By DJ Storr (Edinburgh) - See all my reviews
Have revisited Skylarking for the first time for several years (upgrading music to iPod generation)I am moved to write my first ever Amazon review.

Skylarking it certainly a contendor for "greatest album ever written award". Lyrically perfect - gorgeous vignettes of everyday life devoid of any cynicism. Musically lovely as well - almost pastoral, so subtle, superbly evokes the mood of the lyrics.

Andy Partridge in fine voice - is there a more distinctive voice in rock and pop? And two fine songwriters - Colin Moulding's contributions may be fewer than Andy's but I have alway felt he has the songwriting edge. Anyone who wrote Making Plans for Nigel and Majors & Generals deserves instant induction in a music Hall of Fame.

Overall - I don't think I have ever been as moved by listening to an album as I was when I replayed this last month. No other band gets close to XTC for wearing their heart on their sleeve.

So go on world, buy it now....

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly XTC's masterpiece, which is saying something., 21 May 2002
'Skylarking' on release reached the heady chart position of No 90!!! Never trust public taste, this was XTC's 'Seargeant Pepper' in magnificent technicolour, so good that the wise men from Swindon could afford to omit 'Dear God' on it's original issue.

The concept of the record traces the madness of an English summer's day from daybreak in 'Summer's Cauldron' with the sound of buzzing flies and twittering birds, seguing into the classic hit single (THAT NEVER WAS) 'Grass' and Barratesque childlike introspections on the follow-up 'The Meeting Place', right through to the final significance of 'Sacrificial Bonfire' with it's pagan-like overview of 'Burn out, bring in the new'; the sound of a bonfire being lit increasing the drama and suspense before the final chorus comes in. Side two is even better with the jazzy 'Prisoner' sound of 'The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul', which was performed in style on The Tube's tribute to said programme.

Todd Rundgren, producer and Andy... produced a masterpiece I don't XTC have ever bettered. That's saying something!

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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Out of conflict came this.....XTC,s best album...maybe, 8 Aug 2004
By russell clarke "stipesdoppleganger" (halifax, west yorks) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)      
There's a lot of hyperbole about how wonderful this album is on these pages and id just like to concur with every thing that's been written., apart from the guy wittering on about the sound. All I can say to that is it sounds fine to me. This is an incredible album and if some dastardly person ever held a white hot hat pin to my eyeball and demanded I name the best XTC album I'd probably plump for this one.....or maybe "English Settlement", any way this is one of the great pop albums of all time. The fact it sold so poorly is a folly so preposterous it would take Stephen Hawking to get his head round it.
The interesting thing about "Skylarking" is that it was recorded in a fractious atmosphere with Andy Partridge and producer Todd Rundgren getting on about as well as a mongoose and a snake. Perfectionist Partridge found Rundgrens more spontaneous recording methods irksome and this led to a major fall out with Colin Moulding as well . That the result is an album as musically rich and erudite as "Skylarking " suggests more bands should record their music in an environment of implacable hostility.
Opener "Summers Cauldron" ushers in on a miasmic mix of birdsong, chirruping crickets and wobbling keyboards segueing into "Grass" which features luxurious exotic textured keyboards and could be a sly nod to drug use or the salacious ditty it appears to be. Mouldings "Meeting Place" starts with ominous clanking industrial noises, utilised because the band didn't have a drummer at the time and is a sublime atmospheric pop song. The way the melody dips at the end of each line is like that hollowed out stomach feeling you get on a roller coaster. The orchestral stomper "Ballet for a Rainy Day" revels in its vertiginous string arrangement, as indeed does "! 000 Umbrellas" a witty break up song. "Season Cycle" asks big questions about nature and omnipotence in a sparkling pop nugget while the vivacious "Earn enough for us" decries the daily grind and uncertainty that family life can bring in a spree of exuberant guitar." Big Day" is a mournful take on a wedding day but "Another Satellite" is a wonderful slightly queasy song with a heartbreaking middle eight and acute personal lyrics. "Mermaid Smiled" enters jazzier waters with twinkling sun dappled percussion. The style is switched again for "The Man Who Sailed around His Soul" which features a doo wop finger clicking rhythm and chunky double bass. The chilly mordant "Dying" is a hushed lament on age and mortality and sees Moulding proclaiming "I don't want to die like you" to the unfortunate subject of the song. More lush orchestration features on "Sacrificial Bonfire" a dramatic and stately conclusion to this album originally.
However a new track has been added since it's re-issue in 2001 and praises the lord, pun very much intended it's the fantastic "Dear God" Partridges acidic tirade against the existence of a supposed divine being who allows so much pain and misery in his name. The opening verse is sung by a young girl before Partridge enters the fray getting increasingly more vexatious until his proclamation that "I can't believe in you"
If god does exist than I'd like to thank him very much for the existence of this album, if he doesn't, and I'm with Andy Partridge on that one, then I'll just thank anyone involved with this superb album. Cheers
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Under-rated Classic
Despite never getting the recognition they deserved commercially, Critically XTC were one of the best bands in British Pop hisory, in the mid 80s they moved away from their... Read more
Published 4 months ago by T.K

5.0 out of 5 stars Uniquely English, superb throughout, XTC's greatest
This band is the one that I am most 'train-spotterish' about - if there's anything they have done I've got to have it - so no doubt I'll be shelling out for the forthcoming latest... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Mr. N. A. May

2.0 out of 5 stars Less than the sum of its parts
I was keen to listen to this well reviewed record, having been a big fan of XTC from their earliest singles although I hadn't heard anything since English Settlement. Read more
Published 13 months ago by M. D. Thorne

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolute Classic
I cannot really add much to the previous reviews accept to say that Skylarking is amazing album. Andy Partridge and Co obviously have a very good taste in music as the influence... Read more
Published 15 months ago by N. Watts

5.0 out of 5 stars The General Public miss out again.......
It never ceases to amaze me how few people actually know XTC's music. They really are the greatest band that never were. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Stuart Cox

5.0 out of 5 stars Hayley Loves This Too.........
It's late on a Saturday night, and my 11 year old daughter Hayley wants to tell you exactly why should this buy this beautiful album. Take it away Hayley........ Read more
Published 20 months ago by C. J. Cunningham

5.0 out of 5 stars Pastoral, pleasantly tuneful cycle through the seasons with XTC
Ever wondered what Astral Weeks would have sounded like if performed by Elvis Costello and produced by George Martin? Read more
Published 20 months ago by Jonathan James Romley

5.0 out of 5 stars The Partridge Has Landed
Gone were the jagged, new wave guitars and angular melodies of the early post punk years. In one smart move XTC reinvented themselves as natural heirs to the Beatles, Beachboys &... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Mr. Christopher J. Welch

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite possibly my most favourite album ever!
I picked this album up on tape cassette (remember those?) a year or so after it was originally released. I think I found it a Woolworths bargain bin. Read more
Published on 10 Aug 2007 by Mark B

5.0 out of 5 stars This is how Sgt Pepper would have sounded if the Mersey flowed through Swindon...
...but with better songs.

A loose theme welds this fantastic collection of songs together and, goaded by Todd Rungren, Andy Partridge's vocals rose to new heights... Read more
Published on 14 Aug 2006 by Mr. T. C. Gwynne

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