XTC - Oranges & Lemons (1989) {2001, Japanese Limited Edition, Remastered}

04 May, 11:50
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Artist: XTC
Title: Oranges & Lemons
Year Of Release: 1989 / 2001
Label: Toshiba-EMI Ltd. #TOCP-65719 / Virgin #V 2581
Genre: Psychedelic Rock, Alternative Rock, Power Pop, Pop Rock
Quality: EAC Rip -> FLAC (Img+Cue, Log) / MP3 CBR320
Total Time: 01:00:55
Total Size: 482 / 152 Mb (Covers)
WebSite: Album Preview

Oranges & Lemons is the 11th studio album and the second double album by the English band XTC, released 27 February 1989 on Virgin Records. It is the follow-up to 1986's Skylarking. The title (derived from the nursery rhyme of the same name) was chosen in reference to the band's poor financial standing at the time, while the music is characterised as a 1980s update of 1960s psychedelia. It received critical acclaim and became the band's highest-charting album since 1982's English Settlement, rising to number 28 in the UK and number 44 in the US. The album is primarily pop and rock, although a variety of other styles are plundered throughout, such as jazz, reggae, hard rock, Middle Eastern music and Zairean soukous. 12 of the album's 15 tracks were written by guitarist Andy Partridge, with the rest by bassist Colin Moulding. The work projected brighter, more upbeat and aggressive moods than Skylarking, and the harsher effect returned the group closer to the sound of their earlier records. Lyrically, most of the songs focus on parent-child relationships and the state of world affairs. Partridge's ornate vision for the psychedelic opening track "Garden of Earthly Delights" exemplified the album's general aesthetic, which he described as songs that could be singles in a "bizarre perfect universe".

Skylarking was an ambitious yet concise record, one that recalled such graceful concept albums as Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper, so it wasn't entirely a surprise that XTC embraced psychedelia on its double-album follow-up, Oranges & Lemons, especially if their celebrated Dukes of Stratosphear side project was taken into consideration as well. Oranges & Lemons lacks the singular focus of Skylarking, but at its best, it's just as impressive as its predecessor. Instead of revelling in the form of psychedelic pop, as they did with the Dukes, XTC bring the genre's sensibility to the mature pop of Skylarking, spiking it with a wry, occasionally absurd sense of humor missing from its predecessor. The result is a record exploding with details, not the least of which are backward guitars, sound effects, and head-spinningly eclectic arrangements. It's sonically rich and filled with immaculately crafted songs, but Oranges & Lemons falls just short of being a tour de force, since each song feels like an island -- they work well as individual tracks, but they don't form a cohesive statement. However, that's a minor complaint, because Colin Moulding and Andy Partridge in particular are in peak form, contributing some of their very finest songs in "Garden of Earthly Delights," "The Loving," "One of the Millions," "Merely a Man," "Pink Thing," and the elegiac "Chalkhills and Children." Such songs make the relative weaknesses of the album well worth enduring.

~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music

Track List:

01. Garden of Earthly Delights [0:05:03.50]
02. The Mayor of Simpleton [0:03:58.07]
03. King for a Day [0:03:37.43]
04. Here Comes President Kill Again [0:03:35.12]
05. The Loving [0:04:11.33]
06. Poor Skeleton Steps Out [0:03:34.45]
07. One of the Millions [0:04:35.60]
08. Scarecrow People [0:04:13.12]
09. Merely a Man [0:03:27.13]
10. Cynical Days [0:03:17.50]
11. Across This Antheap [0:04:51.65]
12. Hold Me My Daddy [0:03:47.65]
13. Pink Thing [0:03:48.20]
14. Miniature Sun [0:03:57.12]
15. Chalkhills and Children [0:04:56.08]

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