XTC: This Is Pop

Rather like one of their albums, this "rockumentary" as Andy Partridge disses it, is suitably bright and quirky but with an undertone of bathos nonetheless. Hailing from darkest Swindon, the group's two main men, songwriters Partridge and Colin Moulding and fellow members some short-lived, some longer term, especially guitarist Dave Gregory, charted an irregular passage across the English landscape and beyond. Whilst they never achieved any great lasting commercial success, they flirted with the charts here and across the black sea in America fairly frequently although as one of their admirers here admits, their devoted fan-base probably never wanted their secret to get out to too many.

I don't know all their music but adore their "Skylarking" album and possess this and their superb singles compilation "Fossil Fuel" in my collection.

I liked the graphics interspersing the piece of toy-town models running around the countryside on some big express train, a metaphor not only for their nondescript small town roots but also their circular journey through the pop landscape arriving here and there at nowhere in particular.

Group leader Andy Partridge dominates the narrative, he has the most to say for sure and whilst coming across occasionally like a self-important pain-in-the-proverbial, his passion for his (white) music and "his" band shines through. Colin Moulding, who probably ended up writing more chart hits for the group, along with long-time guitarist Gregory and drummer Terry Chambers, seem more down-to-earth and less flighty than Mr Partridge.

There aren't that many actual significant events in the group's history the director can really go 2 for dramatic effect. Apart from the group's early inclusion in the punk / new wave movement, Partridge's psychosomatic illness which forced the group off the road, the furore in America of Partridge's bleak atheistic "Dear God", it's really just a tale of musical skylarking from first to last especially after the group stopped touring to concentrate on drums and wires studio work.

Of course this is the road the Beatles took in the 60's and Partridge cheekily equates his group to the Fab Four's progress near the end of the film. Their fans and friends here include Stewart Copeland of the Police, Clem Burke of Blondie and a bunch of modern musicians I admit I didn't recognise, plus there's a neat rock-doc in-joke as Rick Wakeman makes his omnipresent drop-in appearance.

So while I may be The Mayor Of Simpleton, I know one thing and that's that I liked this documentary.

"XTC - This Is Pop" (2017 release from the UK; 75 min.) is a rock documentary about the British band XTC. As the film opens, we see Andy Partridge egging on the viewer about how much he disdains "rockumentaries" in general (but then of course he goes on to fully participate in this one). We then go back in time to Partridge's upbringing in Swindon (80 mi. west of London) as an only child, leading him to entertain himself much of the time since Mum wouldn't allow other kids to the house. It eventually brings him to discover music: "I wasn't good enough to learn other people's music, so I starting writing my own songs", ha! It leads to the mid-70s punk-ish start of the Helium Kids, which then morphed into XTC...

Couple of comments: this documentary does a nice job of tracing the origins, and evolution, of "smart pop" band XTC. I grew up in Belgium and they've been a favorite of mine since their 1979 hit "Making Plans for Nigel". While there are lots of "talking heads" in the film (I particularly enjoyed the Police's Stewart Copeland's comments about their touring together in the early 80s--his brother Ian apparently was manager of both bands), it needs to be pointed out that the documentary is definitely Andy Partridge-centric. But in the end I mostly enjoyed this for the band members reminiscing on how great songs like "Making Plans for Nigel" and "Senses Working Overtime" came about. Everyone has their favorite XTC album, and mine is 1986's "Skylarking". I had no idea how much Partridge butted heads with producer Todd Rundgren (as sis made clear in this documentary), but in the end it all worked out as it is a brilliant album and remains so now 30+ years later...

"XTC - This Is Pop" premiered on Showtime in 2018, and I completely missed it at that time. I finally stumbled on this and watched it on Showtime On Demand the other night. Whether you are a casual (?) or die-hard fan of XTC, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Far better pacing and diversity of voice than other (less formal) documentaries on this band. The "songwriting on camera" element is particularly interesting. Despite the 10, I wish there were more focus on the trio that Patridge feels rise above his body of work...Chalkhills, Wrapped in Grey, River of Orchids.

Sadly, it is hard to find due to IPR games. Please make it available to purchase!

Finally! My all-time favorite band is getting the credit they so very much deserve !! I am getting emotional and nostalgic watching this. I only wish the documentary was longer. Andy Partridge is a genius and probably the greatest songwriter ever. XTC is absolutely brilliant and I have been obsessed with their musical masterpieces since 1979.

If they had been more consistent XTC could had been up there with Madness as the sound of the 80s with the schoolkids of that era. Both bands were influenced by the Kinks.

XTC came out with some quirky songs but they were catchy. Senses working overtime, Making plans for Nigel, Sgt Rock. Then they disappeared. Although they still made albums, were still the darling of the critics, they really did not bother the pop charts much at all.

It also did not help that Andy Partridge suffered from stage fright as well as longstanding addiction to Valium.

This tries to be an anti-rockumentary, Andy Partridge, now older and balder tells us so. He also bans Rick Wakeman from appearing in it.

Despite this it tells a story of a band coming together, hitting the big time, some members falling out, getting ripped off by management as they made little from their live performances and then the decline.

It is a must see if you are a XTC fan.