English Settlement
English Settlement is the fifth studio album and first double album by the English rock band XTC, released 12 February 1982 on Virgin Records. It marked a turn towards the more pastoral pop songs that would dominate later XTC releases, with an emphasis on acoustic guitar, 12-string electric guitar and fretless bass. In some countries, the album was released as a single LP with five tracks deleted. The title refers to the Uffington White Horse depicted on the cover, to the "settlement" of viewpoints, and to the Englishness that the band felt they "settled" into the record.
XTC recorded the album at The Manor Studio in Oxfordshire with producer Hugh Padgham, the engineer of their previous two LPs. Compared to the band's previous releases, English Settlement showcased more complex and intricate arrangements, lengthier songs, lyrics that covered broader social issues, and a wider range of music styles. Principal songwriter Andy Partridge was fatigued by the grueling touring regimen imposed by their label and management, and believed that pursuing a sound less suited for live performance would relieve the pressure to tour. Three singles were issued from the album: "Senses Working Overtime", "Ball and Chain" and "No Thugs in Our House".
English Settlement was well-received critically and continues to be regarded by many critics as XTC's finest album. It reached number 5 on the UK Album Chart during an 11-week stay, making it the band's only top ten album in the UK. It also reached number 48 on the US Billboard 200 during a 20-week stay. An international tour was scheduled in support of the album, but it was canceled after several dates due to Partridge's worsening exhaustion. XTC's popularity in the UK faltered, and for the rest of their career, they remained a studio-only band. In 2002, English Settlement was ranked number 46 on Pitchforks list of "The Top 100 Albums of the 1980s".
Background
By the early 1980s, XTC—and particularly frontman Andy Partridge—were fatigued from their grueling touring regimen. During one performance on their 1979–1980 Drums and Wires tour, Partridge suffered momentary amnesia, forgetting XTC's songs as well as his own identity. Once the tour was done, they had only a few weeks to write their fourth album, Black Sea. It was released in September 1980 to critical acclaim and peaked at number 16 in the UK and number 41 in the US. The album's arrangements were written with the band's subsequent concert performances in mind, avoiding overdubs unless they could be performed live.On the following tour, XTC were the supporting act for the Police, playing arena stadiums in Australia, New Zealand, the US, and Canada. Partridge's fatigue worsened, and his mental state continued to deteriorate. While in upstate New York in December 1980, he exited the tour van to relieve himself. As he remembered, "I wandered into this field... and I thought, 'Who am I? Who the hell am I, and what am I doing in this field?' And just got back... laying on the seat in the back of the van in a fetal position, sobbing quietly, not knowing who the hell I was." His then-wife, Marianne, blamed his illness on his longtime dependency on Valium, which he had been prescribed since his early teens. On 4 April 1981, while the couple were staying at the Tropicana Hotel in Los Angeles, she threw away his tablets. From then on, he experienced intense withdrawal effects that he later described as "brain melt".
In March, XTC attempted to work with Madness producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley at the behest of Virgin. They recorded "Ball and Chain", "Punch and Judy", and "Egyptian Solution ". Langer quit on the first day as he felt his input was unnecessary. The sessions were finished with Winstanley at AIR Studios, but only his production of "Egyptian Solution" was kept by the group.
On 2 June, XTC performed their last gig of the year and their last ever British date, in Cardiff. Partridge requested to cease touring, but was opposed by Virgin Records, his bandmates, and the band's management. Bassist Colin Moulding and guitarist Dave Gregory were confused at Partridge's unwillingness to tour and believed that he would reconsider once the next album was finished. Moulding explained: "The problem for us is that we had seen Andy in the early days and witnessed how great he was with an audience. For us then, this came out of the blue." Partridge did not approach drummer Terry Chambers due to an expected hostile reaction. Further to the band's demoralisation was their poor financial situation, as they never received any of the revenue generated by the increasing number of sold-out shows they performed. This made Gregory and Chambers particularly averse to Partridge's proposal, since they were not songwriters and received a much smaller share of publishing royalties.
Style and production
With English Settlement, Partridge decided to move XTC in a "more pastoral, more acoustic direction". He believed that if he "wrote an album with a sound less geared towards touring then maybe there would be less pressure to tour." Compared to the band's previous albums, English Settlement showcased more complex and intricate arrangements, lengthier songs, lyrics that covered broader social issues, and a wider range of music styles. According to music journalist Annie Zaleski, the album rests "stubbornly in between genres and resists pigeonholing." She adds that the styles range from "caterwauling mod-pop" to "buzzing synthpunk" and "full-on ska-pop".Most of the English Settlement material was written and rehearsed during the summer of 1981 at Terry "Fatty" Alderton's Tudor Rehearsal Studio. Moulding responded to the new acoustic direction by purchasing an Ibanez fretless bass, while Gregory bought a Rickenbacker 12-string and began contributing more as a keyboardist. Since Partridge recently gave away his acoustic guitar during an appearance on Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, he bought a new one for the record. He also convinced Chambers to buy a new assortment of drums and a timbale. Music critic Chris Woodstra wrote that Gregory, Partridge, and Moulding's new instruments, plus Chambers' new drum synthesiser, "set the tone" for the record. Moulding also used his Fender Precision Bass on a few tracks.
English Settlement was recorded in six weeks at The Manor Studio in Shipton-on-Cherwell, Oxfordshire. The album was self-produced by the band with Hugh Padgham, who engineered their previous two LPs. Padgham's partner, Steve Lillywhite, who produced the last two albums, did not return as the band felt Padgham was the one who assisted with finding interesting sounds. In Padgham's recollection, "I just let the band be themselves. I've always been that kind of producer.... they had quite a clear idea of what they wanted and I just made sure that this could be translated as easily and as clearly as possible." The recordings were performed live and then treated with overdubs and occasional edits. The band recorded about 30 songs. When they could not decide on a track listing, it was decided to expand the LP to two discs.
Music and lyrics
Disc one
"Runaways", the album's opening track, is about a child running away from home to the city to escape domestic violence. Utilising a Prophet-5 synthesizer, the song features slow drum and guitar rhythms to build its atmosphere."Ball and Chain" was written as a response to the economic policies of Margaret Thatcher. Moulding explained: "The whole Swindon area seemed to be under the hammer. Mrs. Thatcher had come to power a couple of years before, and everything was kind of being battered to the ground. 3 million unemployed -- it was a difficult period". He cited it as his least favourite song on the record.
"Senses Working Overtime" was a conscious attempt at writing a commercial single. It is based on Manfred Mann's "5-4-3-2-1". At the time, Partridge did not think the song was good enough to be a single, and was surprised when Virgin chose to issue it. Moulding remembered that it was "like something Genesis or Queen would have done, and these were the bands that were openly mocked two years before."
"Jason and the Argonauts" was born from a guitar riff, with one harmonic line constant and another providing a counterpoint, that reminded Partridge of "traveling across the sea". The lyric idea was inspired by one of his favourite films, Jason and the Argonauts. He said, "This was written from a perspective where I knew I didn't want to tour. I knew I was not enjoying the treadmill. I was beginning to feel really like a prisoner.... I was just trying to describe this process of traveling the world, and growing up, opening up, seeing things." The recording was originally a couple of minutes longer and had to be edited down.
"No Thugs in Our House" is about a middle-class couple struggling to accept that their son is a violent racist. According to Partridge, the decision to write the song was inspired by the prominence of the National Front in British politics. The musical progression was inspired by that of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues". Partridge's vocals were treated with slapback echo to mimic the rock and roll feeling of the Cochran song.
Disc two
"Melt the Guns", the opening track of the second disc, is a funk-influenced track with political themes, critical of the arms industry, gun culture, and American militarism."It's Nearly Africa" was described by Partridge as being about "reclaiming lost innocence" and rejecting modern technology. It was born out of two unfinished songs Partridge had written, "Jazz Love", a song the band would jam on during sound checks on the Drums and Wires tour and "Primitive Now", where the lyrical theme came from. The song features a saxophone solo from Partridge. It was never played live, but Partridge has said there were plans for him to play drums alongside Terry Chambers.
"Fly on the Wall" is about "Big Brother" and was inspired by the fly on the wall documentaries appearing on British television at the time. The song features tremolo guitar, heavily compressed drums, "buzzing Morse code synthesizer" and distorted vocals, qualities not heard on the demo recorded by Moulding. He credited Partridge with the "Morse code buzzy-fly" sound and said it "added a lot to the credibility of the song because it made the music sound funnier and gave an ambiguity to the song. You didn't know whether I was taking the piss or not."
"English Roundabout" is about English city life. Fans erroneously assumed that the title referred to the Magic Roundabout in Swindon. The song is a rare example of popular music written in the 5/4 time| time signature. Its ska/bluebeat rhythm was contributed by Chambers.
The final song, "Snowman", is focused on themes of romantic rejection. In a 2006 interview, Partridge stated that the track was inspired by a mandolin pattern featured on a track on the 1979 album Fluid Rustle by Eberhard Weber.