TC and I - Great Aspirations EP - TCandI Music - Out Now
XTC came to an official end in 2005 some thirty-odd years after its principle songwriters Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding met in a Swindon record shop before tying the musical knot with drummer Terry Chambers and forming glam-rockers Star Park. Mercifully they swapped the glitter for earnest songwriting and evolved into a much-revered, intelligent but only semi-successful band.
Much of the band's fortune never materialised due to all manner of well-documented reasons and XTC ceased touring in 1982. Chambers left the band soon after, replacement drummers appeared for subsequent albums until guitarist Dave Gregory followed suit after 1999's Apple Venus Volume 1 and the remaining pair wound up operations a few years later.
Thus the chances of any reunion between any of the members seemed unlikely until Chambers returned to the UK from Australia after 30 years and pictures of he and Gregory man-bonding over tea and cake appeared on Facebook. There was something in the Swindonian air (and a local pub) to encourage an almost inevitable creative coupling.
There's no sign of the affable Gregory on this debut low-budget EP - the guitarist has been busy successfully knocking out riffs with cult-proggers Big Big Train for ages - but messrs Chambers and Moulding have managed rather well without him with the latter performing guitar as well as his trademark bass and vocals.
The four songs, all written by Moulding, cover familiar ground lyrically - retrospect, modesty, the unsung and the underdog, growing old, change and a slightly-barbed (possibly autobiographical) take on 'the music biz' (on the brief Comrades of Pop), all showcasing the man's deft touch with the verbals and indeed composition.
Opener Scatter Me is utterly gorgeous. Classic breezy uplifting Moulding pop with an air of melancholy, operatic choirgirl vocals towards the end and a lyric that suggests its writer is accepting of his own inevitable mortality. Kenny is a twist on Ball and Chain, a commentary on signing over green and pleasant playgrounds for greedy redevelopments while the wistful Greatness (The Aspiration Song) tells a tale of proving one's self to your parents and the need to be the next Hitchcock, Spielberg, McCartney etc. "It's old-fashioned to aspire.." he muses on this unassuming ditty.
Four songs, then - and isn't it great to have them back? Of course. One half of XTC creating music again is better than none at all.
9/10
Buy: https://burningshed.com/tcandi_great-aspirations_signed-cd
Much of the band's fortune never materialised due to all manner of well-documented reasons and XTC ceased touring in 1982. Chambers left the band soon after, replacement drummers appeared for subsequent albums until guitarist Dave Gregory followed suit after 1999's Apple Venus Volume 1 and the remaining pair wound up operations a few years later.
Thus the chances of any reunion between any of the members seemed unlikely until Chambers returned to the UK from Australia after 30 years and pictures of he and Gregory man-bonding over tea and cake appeared on Facebook. There was something in the Swindonian air (and a local pub) to encourage an almost inevitable creative coupling.
There's no sign of the affable Gregory on this debut low-budget EP - the guitarist has been busy successfully knocking out riffs with cult-proggers Big Big Train for ages - but messrs Chambers and Moulding have managed rather well without him with the latter performing guitar as well as his trademark bass and vocals.
The four songs, all written by Moulding, cover familiar ground lyrically - retrospect, modesty, the unsung and the underdog, growing old, change and a slightly-barbed (possibly autobiographical) take on 'the music biz' (on the brief Comrades of Pop), all showcasing the man's deft touch with the verbals and indeed composition.
Opener Scatter Me is utterly gorgeous. Classic breezy uplifting Moulding pop with an air of melancholy, operatic choirgirl vocals towards the end and a lyric that suggests its writer is accepting of his own inevitable mortality. Kenny is a twist on Ball and Chain, a commentary on signing over green and pleasant playgrounds for greedy redevelopments while the wistful Greatness (The Aspiration Song) tells a tale of proving one's self to your parents and the need to be the next Hitchcock, Spielberg, McCartney etc. "It's old-fashioned to aspire.." he muses on this unassuming ditty.
Four songs, then - and isn't it great to have them back? Of course. One half of XTC creating music again is better than none at all.
9/10
Buy: https://burningshed.com/tcandi_great-aspirations_signed-cd