Thank the universe for collaborations
and solo projects. I have had the good fortune
of listening to Andy Partridge while moving
through the letter H on that Robyn Hitchcock
collab, and here I am in the letter P, arriving
at some of the very few solo things Andy
Partridge has ever released on vinyl over three
e.p.’s, the equivalent of one record album,
before someday in the not-too-distant
future when I arrive at the letter X, being able
finally to write about my favorite band of
all time in the known universe, a band that
seemed to me growing up like my own
private Beatles, the incomparable, the
absolutely fabulous band from Swindon,
the one and only XTC. Here, in proper Andy
Partridge self-deprecating form, he’s titled these
e.p.’s as “failures.” My Failed Songwriting
Career, Volumes 1 and 2, and My Failed
Christmas Career, Volume 1, wherein he has
collected a bunch of songs he attempted
to place and sometimes did with other artists
and a smattering of holiday tunes written
over the years, none of which would have
appeared on the Andy Partridge nine-CD solo
demo recording compendium he called, also
self-deprecatingly, Fuzzy Warbles.
Andy’s worst material is still often
heads and tails better than most everything
on the planet in the power pop genre, but
collectively, these three e.p.’s do not
an XTC album make, nowhere close. But
there’s a wide wonderful range here from
hard rockers to sweet chamber pop to
sugar encrusted catchy melodies, even a bit
of Americana country, sharp, witty lyrics,
and that signature Partridge voice.
And the original holiday songs are worthy
of an October listen, and included there
is the tune he wrote for The Monkees,
“I Can’t Wait to Unwrap You for Christmas,”
sung stupendously well by none other
than Andy’s daughter, Holly Partridge,
who,I understand, is developing a formidable
songwriting voice of her own. Check her out.
Notes on the vinyl editions:
- My Failed Songwriting Career, Volume One and Two, Ape House Records, 2021, black vinyl.
- My Failed Christmas Career, Volume One, Ape House Records, 2022, black vinyl.
In case you don’t already know: I’m listening to almost everything in my vinyl collection, A to Z, and writing at least one, sometimes two or three long skinny poem-like-things in response for each artist, and on a few occasions, writing a long skinny poem-like-thing in response to more than one artist. As a poet and a student of poetry, I understand that these things look like poems, but they don’t really sound much like poetry, hence, I call them “poem-like-things.” I’ll admit that they’re just long, skinny essays that veer every now and then into the poetic or lyric.
