XTC – Explode Together - The Dub Experiments 78-80 (1990)

I picked this up on EBay many moons ago, but was well aware of the original source of these pieces.

It's a compilation of the Go+ 12" single which was given away with the first 15,000 of XTC's Go 2 album, and Take Away/The Lure Of Salvage, released between Drums And Wires and Black Sea, under the name "Mr Partridge". Virgin refused to release it under the XTC name, as it would have counted as one of the albums in their restrictive contract.

The first five tracks are all dub versions of songs from the Go2 album, and are easily identifiable as such. None stand out, although perhaps Beat The Bible (dub version of Jumping In Gomorrah) is the most endearing.

The songs from the Mr Partridge release, however, stand up far stronger and are much more than minimalist rehashes of Go+.

Commerciality is a great start to the album, a complete rewrite of a very early White Music demo, Refrigeration Blues which I hadn't ever heard until about ten minutes ago. The Day They Pulled The North Pole Down is much more minimal (it's a slowed down backing track of b-side Heatwave), and The Forgotten Language Of Light (Millions from Drums And Wires) is similarly half formed.

Steam Fist Futurist is recognisably a stripped down Real By Reel (Drums & Wires), followed by the lovely relaxing Shore Leave Ornithology (a slowed down Pulsing Pulsing - b-side of Nigel). After that's lulled you to sleep Cairo is a bit more lively, with new treated vocals from Partridge (the whole thing culled from b-side Homo Safari).

Perhaps my favourite piece, is the frantic The Rotary, a new dance craze rethinking of Helicopter, minimalist accompaniment, with twangy guitar, Partridge name checking past songs and Captain Beefheart. Madhatten is not much more than a dub That Is The Way, while there's another slow beat number in I Sit In The Snow (slowed down Roads Girdle The Globe). Work Away Tokyo Day opens as a soundscape before a thumping instrumental mixed from two songs, the album ending with New Broom, a song using Making Plans For Nigel's backing track.

It's an interesting experiment, which for years was a game of 'guess the XTC track', and as in any such experiment, somethings work better than others. But it's certainly a decent listen as well as a must for XTC completists.

Just don't make my mistake of 45+ years ago, and put Take Away on at the end of the evening, to create a romantic mood. It failed in 1980 and I'd imagine will still do so today.

Link to whole album

3* - a bold experiment, with some successes