Black Sea was one of the last XTC albums I picked up, and always thought of it as a lull between Drums And Wires. It seemed like a handful of classic singles like "Generals And Majors", "Sgt. Rock", and "Towers Of London" sandwiched between a bunch of filler tracks, but the non-singles are nearly as strong as the singles on Black Sea, and now I think it's one of their great albums. There isn't a bad song on here, and the one-two punch of Andy's "Respectable Street" followed by Colin's "Generals And Majors" is one of the best two songs by principle songwriters to open an album ever, up there with Paul's "Drive My Car" followed by John's "Norwegian Wood" on Rubber Soul.
Unfortunately, the latest CD reissue has a few inferior bonus tracks stuck in the middle between sides one and two, but when I program them out and also skip "Travels in Nihilon" (which is okay, but too long), the result it one of the most enjoyable ways to spend my forty minute commute.
Here's the video of "Generals And Majors" with a cameo appearance by XTC's former boss (and mine), Sir Richard Branson.
3 comments:
But, but...isn't Andy singing this one? Was it a case of his performance anxiety that made Colin "sing" this one? I'm I crazy?
The vocals on "Generals & Majors" are Colin's, but I think Andy might sing parts of the chorus
Black Sea is forever my favorite XTC album. I don't think there's a weak note on it, much less a weak song.
My actual listening to XTC has gone down over the last few years, but I think it's because I splurged on the Japanese album-replica reissues and thus never risk the packaging in my car - and my car is where most of my listening takes place! Yeah, I should really burn "car CDs" of 'em, but I'm also lazy.
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