XTC
Skylarking PANEGYRIC
The Swindon art-rock mavericks’ revered ninth album gets a Steven Wilson makeover.
Despite some decidedly hands-on production by Todd Rundgren in Woodstock and San Francisco, Skylarking remains a prime example of quintessentially English pop-prog in all its glorious eccentricity. Famously, XTC’s Andy Partridge and Rundgren bickered about the record’s content and direction, and Rundgren could be patronising and domineering. Partridge’s revenge? He had XTC play the theme from The Munsters as Rundgren arrived for work each day, a coded reference to his supposed resemblance to Herman Munster.