Day in day out, Millions and Complicated game are far from being mediocre. Most of the other stuff is quite a bit better than mediocre too imo.

Brief overview of the others
I've only heard the 1st album once and didn't like it at all.
Go2-not bothered with
Drums and wires-pretty irresistible
Black sea-Worth getting for the most part although a lot of it sounds pretty perfunctory.
English settlement-a poor excuse for a double album as far as double albums go but it's still full of fantastic songs...well not full but most of it is
Mummer is o.k
The big express is ****.
Skylarking-a bit of a critics fav but far from classic all the way through.
Oranges and lemons is brilliant (for the most part)
Nonsuch-Frequently brilliant with some ave. stuff.
Apple venus-not heard
Wasp star-largely ave.

Apple Venus is worth checking out. I particularly liked "Knights in Shining Karma" and "Your Dictionary".

Amazing band.

Hi Wrongy McWrongerson, hows goes it?

Yes, yes and yes.

I started off listening to them with Drums and Wires. Although the initial love of the album wore off a little since the mid-80's, I still have time for "Making Plans...," "Roads Girdle the Globe," "Helicopter," "Life Begins at the Hop" (the best editions had it), and even "Complicated Game." A serious step up from their first two albums.

After that were a succession of my favorite XTC works, with Black Sea remaining at the top spot especially with the killer start up trio of "Respectable Street," "Generals and Majors," and "Living Through Another Cuba." I have not heard English Settlement in the longest time, but from what I remember of it was damn sharp, especially for 1982 while Mummer was very good - relaxed but still having a bit of a charm to it with songs like "In Loving Memory of a Name," "Love on a Farm Boy's Wages," "Great Fire," and even "Beating of Hearts" while the Power Pop finale of "Funk Pop a Roll" still having that attack...although "Wonderland" had me worried. Big Express is alright with some good moments ("Seagulls Screaming..."), but I was happy that they went for the Garage Psych with their Dukes of Stratosphere project. Skylarking as it stands now remains the final time I was really into their music.

I tried to get into Oranges and Lemons, but "King for a Day" really ruined things and "The Loving" was the time I gave up in full - XTC's Lite Entertainment (even if "Mayor of Simpleton" is a fine single). Nail it down to me getting into classic Punk long after the fact and The Jesus and Mary Chain right around that time (just out of High School...), but something about it made me just want to sell off my copy right away. Nonsuch had some good songs, but not enough to sustain my interest. I still have to revisit Apple Venus to find out if I'm really into that.

Still, despite my reservations for their post-Skylarking albums, at their best, they are damn good, and at least very ambitious.

I heard Black Sea first and most of the songs you named are my favorites from those albums, though I'd also toss a few more up there (from Drums/Wires: "Real by Reel", Millions"", "That is the Way" and "Chain of Command". Black Sea: Extend those 3 songs to include "Love at First Sight", then add in "Sgt. Rock" and "Travels in Nihilon"). I thought Black Sea was their finest at first, then eventually started enjoying Drums and Wires more. So basically the reverse of you. Though I do like several songs off of Go 2 and a few off of White Music as well.

I love English Settlement and The Big Express. Mummer is decent but I haven't listened to it in a very long time. As you say, DoS and Skylarking are absolutely tremendous. However,

I do really enjoy those albums.

A+


EDIT: Oh, by the way: what's everyone's thoughts on the Homo Safari series? I knew they existed but hadn't heard them until a week or two ago - they're all pretty great, strange tracks. 4 ("Mantis on Parole") is probably the weak point while "Egyptian Solution" is fantastic and just a notch above the rest.

I never got past Making Plans for Nigel :l

My favorite is still Upsy Daisy Assortment. I tend to like XTC in small doses. When they're good, they're very, very good. When they're disappointing, I quickly lose interest.

Good = Nigel, Generals & Majors, Senses Working Overtime, Respectable Street, No Thugs In Our House.

Black sea's quite a lot of peoples fav. Xtc album. Can't see why myself. A lot of it seems bombastic and tuneless. It's not a patch on D&W ES or Skylarking imo.

For me, it was really catching the sounds when they were slightly fresh, and hearing a band trying to seriously break out and building up on what happened with Drums and Wires. While most of what was called Power Pop failing me, Black Sea was what I wanted the music to be, so it connects on both the quality of the music and what was happening at the time - it caught the fever that I was looking for. I hear a bold and sharp sound that hinted at the more interesting sounds elsewhere, and it was very focused - Maybe too focused and less creative for some, but for it's time it really broke down many walls of resistance.

I could imagine some kind of plans for Pop Domination moving around while making the album as the sound pretty much sounded like it was really wanting to be noticed. Over in The States, XTC were only just starting to get noticed, and being signed to RSO (The link to their inclusion on the Times Square soundtrack with one of their lesser/still good and catchy moments, "Take This Town") after having slight success on Epic, while things were going very smooth at least in The UK (if not most of the world, yet). I can't blame them for going for the gold on that album with a fine-tuned blast of sound which may not have been as inventive as their other works but was a good set which got their sound to a bigger audience, which was in the end a move that worked as most of their listeners moved along with their developments. XTC were a band that got the the more adventurous music listeners, and Black Sea was the step up to getting many of them who missed out on all that went on before, especially in The US.