Post by Eva Yojimbo on May 11, 2020 21:48:12 GMT
It's an awesome world to be in! I was pretty obsessed with them for several months a few years back. I agree with everything you say about them; arguably the most underrated band ever and should've been much more popular than they were. I kinda associate them with King's X as both being bands that had all the ingredients to be huge stars--a phenomenal melodic sensibility, an ear or hooks and harmony, an attention to craft and detail--but instead remained fairly niche with extremely passionate fanbases. But, yeah, you could put in almost XTC's entire discography into a playlist, hit "shuffle," and land on a great song. If you haven't, I'd highly recommend checking out Steven Wilson's remix/remasters of Drums & Wires, Black Sea, Skylarking, Oranges & Lemons, Nonsuch, and The Dukes of Stratosphear catalog (called "Psurroundabout Ride"). They're excellent, especially the surround mixes.
Never heard of Kings X before, maybe I should have? But, so little time, and well, since you brought them into a XTC discussion, I kind of get a little interested, so maybe I should give them a go later on.
I actually do own a copy of Drums & Wires by the Steven Wilson remix, I think it is from 2013 or 2014, but it was just one of those "impulsive" deals, that I was so overenthusiastic over seeing a new CD copy of that album, and I only had old 2001 remaster in my collection, so I picked it up, but still have not heard any of it.
That name, Steven Wilson, did he not do some of the King Crimson remasters a while back as well?
Sound at least familiar with that name.
However, I did pick up the 2013 version of Skylarking, I think it was named Correct Polar... something, on CD and I am so glad they finally included Dear God in the track list, as for me that just made a fantastic album, even better. I think some of the songs also has a maybe warmer or "fatter" sound to it, specially the bass which is just another great way of upgrading an already incredible set of songs and music.
If you have a surround sound system, definitely make listening to that Drums & Wires disc a priority. Yeah, Steven Wilson has remixed/remastered many of the great classic prog albums, including everything from King Crimson, many from Yes, Jethro Tull, ELP, Gentle Giant, Marillion, et al. I actually own every one of those massive Super Deluxe King Crimson box sets that have tons of live material, but the highlight of every Wilson release is the amazing surround mixes. Especially for Crimson, I'd say you haven't heard them until you've heard those surround mixes. Something like Larks' Tongues in Aspic sounds absolutely massive in surround sound! Here's an actual list of the albums Wilson has worked on: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Wilson_discography#Album_remixes
It's also worth noting that Steven Wilson is a great musician/songwriter himself. If you haven't, you should also really check out Porcupine Tree and Wilson's solo work. A great starting place for Porcupine Tree is either Stupid Dream or In Absentia, and for Wilson I think The Raven That Refused to Sing is his best. It's essentially modern prog rock, but very, very good modern prog rock.
Yeah, I have the corrected polarization version of Skylarking too. It definitely sounds different, but I'm not a fan of how much compression they used on it; the original version is much more dynamic and, tbh, I don't really notice the, errr, incorrect polarity in the bass. In any case, I think Wilson's version is the best of both worlds.