XTC Boxed On 'Transistor Blast' Retrospective

09/30/1998 3:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(9/30/98, 12 p.m. PDT) - Veteran British popsmiths XTC will receive a royal send-up on Nov. 3, when TVT Records releases Transistor Blast, a four-disc boxed set of rarities from the group's 20-year recording career.

Assembled by XTC guitarist/ songwriter Andy Partridge, the 52-track collection includes a mix of recordings from BBC radio and in-concert sessions, as well as from a 1980 Hammersmith Palais live performance.

For the first two discs, Partridge culled material from over a decade's worth of recordings stored in the BBC's archives. The resulting mix of cuts spans 12 years (1977-89) and includes takes on "Making Plans For Nigel," "Jason And The Argonauts," "Snowman" and "Into The Atom Age."

A third disc, comprised of material from the Hammersmith show, includes live versions of a number of tunes featured on the two BBC discs, as well as notable cult favorites "Generals And Majors," "Scissor Man" and "This Is Pop."

On the fourth and final disc, Partridge combines the best of two BBC in-concert recordings, though the dates of the recordings have not been specified by Partridge or TVT. The track list includes a cover of "All Along The Watchtower" along with "Beantown," "New Town Animal In A Furnished Cage," "Science Friction" and others.

XTC is currently in the studio at work on the first of two new albums for TVT, due in early 1999 and Fall of 1999, respectively. They will be the group's first new studio albums since 1992's Nonsuch (myLAUNCH, 7/30).

Transistor Blast follows Geffen Records' two best-of-XTC collections, Waxworks: Some Singles 1977-82 and Upsy Daisy Assortment, released in 1984 and 1997, respectively.

An XTC feature will be available on myLAUNCH late this year.

-- Jeremy M. Helfgot, Los Angeles