I was notified that Andy Partridge of XTC, one of my rock heroes, took umbrage to this 2009 Rock Town Hall “news” item:
https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/andy-partridge-retroactively-recording/
Partridge posted his dismay with my throwaway lark on his Twitter feed. For possibly the first time ever I used my Twitter account to respond to something. I don’t like seeing us called an “arse site.”
Not the way I ever intended to interact with one of my musical heroes.
Sorry, Andy. Not a word of that post was true. My apologies to you and to any fans who went hunting for the release of those fictional fictional demos. My comments in that post on my love for your music, even the “tough love” I give to some of your works, are still completely true and sincere to how I feel. If I could I’d show you what’s stirred in my heart through the years while listening to your music. Take care.
That sucks! I know a.) how much you love Andy’s work; and b.) what a great sense of humour Andy has — so I’m going to chalk this up to a gross Rock Misunderstanding. Andy, don’t hate on poor Mr. Mod — he’s a good egg!
Andy’s responding to a fake news item that’s over four years old? I guess he has a lot of time on his hands. Mod’s reply was just right. The Hall should wave its arse site flag high. High!
Well he was probably sitting around in his y-fronts “egosurfing” to see what was out there on him… Andy, we love you!
Andy and I apparently have the same inability to separate fact from fiction. I noticed that I took this post seriously and went on a mild rampage over the “bonus tracks” that I had been listening to at the time. I will fly my very own arse-flag at half mast.
Andy and I have kissed and made up. On this characteristically fall day in the Philadelphia area, with the recent death of a friend named Jim fresh in mind I will spin the record I most associate with this thankfully still-rare confluence of events, XTC’s Mummer.
You kissed and made up? How? Do tell!
Don’t tempt me into making some joke about him singing the finale of The Who’s “A Quick One” via Skype! A gentleman doesn’t kiss and make up and tell too much. It’s all there in the Twitterverse. Moving forward perhaps I should more regularly consider the consequences of my horseplay.
He once indirectly called me a bastard when a friend of mine who was interviewing him asked him the question I suggested, “When are you going to make another album as good as Nonsuch?”
It was awesome…plus he also admitted to liking that album a lot himself.
Andy Partridge owes me nothing, he owes no one on RTH anything. But that doesn’t mean I can’t wish he was still making records as exciting, innovative, stirring, fill-in-your-own-adjectives as he used to. There are only so many demos one can listen to. And I say this as someone who has the following item on order:
http://www.amazon.com/Nonsuch-Xtc/dp/B00EG0MULC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1381345103&sr=8-2&keywords=xtc+nonesuch
I doubt I’m speaking only for myself here in the hallowed Hall.
Wow, “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead” as it was meant to sound…
Can we get the tagline “governing the discourse of Rock” changed to”Unfunny Fuckers?” I like that.
PFFT!
In case anybody wants to see Dave Gregory playing Rush’s “Tom Sawyer”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT-M1J9SGGE
And furthermore, Gregory’s new prog rock outfit has a new LP out — and by golly, the samples sound pretty bangin’!
http://www.amazon.com/Wired-To-Earth-Tin-Spirits/dp/B007XAE0YM/ref=tmm_other_meta_binding_title_0
OK. First of all the original RTH post was funny…really funny. I think AP is really great but could he possibly have been mad because he thought that someone might believe that he was making retroactive demos? Methinks maybe he had actually been considering it and the post touched a nerve.
Sadly, Andy seems to have forgotten that he stumbled across the original silly thread a couple of years ago and that I already addressed the core of what I was getting at and still stand behind. Someone pointed out that he’s still bitching about this on his Twitter feed. So be it. I still love XTC and Andy Partridge. I’m still sad he’s not able to make available more new music rather than reworked demos, which was really my point in the first place.
Of course, what’s worse? Two new reissues coming soon –
Apple Venus – http://www.spincds.com/coming-soon/coda-super-deluxe-edition-box-set-45503
Wasp Star – http://www.spincds.com/coming-soon/coda-super-deluxe-edition-box-set-45502
But with no added tracks, new or old.
What’s with the super-delux edition box set in the URL?
That website always has strange things like that where the url doesn’t seem to match what the page is.