“By the time we came to start writing for what was to be the eventually titled ‘Apple Venus Volume One’, I had a real vivid map in my head of where I wanted to go, up front, no hindsight needed, I knew, in terms of atmosphere I wanted to work with orchestral sounds.” Andy Partridge
Following seven years of enforced silence due to contractual disputes with Virgin Records, XTC returned in 1999 with its own label (Idea) and an album which many fans consider to be the band’s finest recording: “Apple Venus Volume I”. A stunning selection of songs, mostly acoustic & enhanced by subtle orchestral arrangements, it was in some ways different to what anyone might have expected from the band yet, in hindsight, the logical progression & culmination of musical ideas signposted via songs such as ‘Chalkhills & Children’ and ‘Wrapped in Grey’. A Top 20 album in Japan, the album also charted in the UK & USA though the seven years absence had eroded some of the commercial momentum the band had enjoyed – especially in the USA – with the run of albums from “Skylarking” to “Nonsuch”. The album – whose status was never in doubt with critics or fans – is now routinely cited as a career highpoint.
Another casualty of the band’s lengthy hiatus was the line-up itself, when Dave Gregory decided to leave the band. Ironically, “Wasp Star”, the band’s next & final album (to date), employed far more of the intricately arranged, guitar driven, XTC sound which Gregory had helped to develop from his point of arrival with 1979’s “Drums & Wires”. While not as strikingly different as “Apple Venus Vol. I”, it was intended as the ‘other part’ of that album & writing sessions & was subtitled “Apple Venus Vol. II”. The song-writing had matured immeasurably from the band’s 1977 “White Music” debut, but the early promise of an innovative, fresh, approach to the possibilities of pop song-writing & recording inherent in that debut had been carried through every album of the band’s career with “Wasp Star” merely the latest, possibly last, instalment.
Further releases of XTC classic albums on 200gram vinyl are also planned.