This release sees the classic 1979 album newly cut from masters approved by Andy Partridge, and pressed on 200g super-heavyweight vinyl. As with early copies of the LP, this incredible reissue includes a bonus 7" single: Andy Partridge’s Chain of Command backed with Colin Moulding’s Limelight.

Drums and Wires is the third studio album by XTC, originally released on 17 August 1979. It was named for its emphasis on guitars (‘wires’) and expansive-sounding drums. The album was their first issued in the United States and their first recorded with guitarist Dave Gregory, who had replaced keyboardist Barry Andrews earlier in 1979. It features a mix of pop, art rock, new wave and punk styles with much rhythmic interplay between XTC’s two guitarists.

Drums and Wires was recorded in four weeks at the newly built Town House studio in London with producer Steve Lillywhite and engineer Hugh Padgham. Lyrically, the album focuses on the trappings or titillations of the modern world, with several songs about submitting to external forces. Frontman and guitarist Andy Partridge designed the cover artwork, which depicts the band logo forming the outline of a face.

Drums and Wires became the best-known album of XTC’s discography. Partridge and Moulding reflected on the period as the point in which XTC’s ‘career really started’.

 

Track Listing

Side One

Making Plans for Nigel Helicopter Day in Day Out When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty Ten Feet Tall Roads Girdle the Globe

Side Two

Real By Reel Millions That Is the Way Outside World Scissor Man Complicated Game

 

Limited Edition Bonus 7"

Side One

Chain of Command

Side Two

Limelight

 

Producer: Steve Lillywhite

Format: Vinyl / 12" Album with 7" Single

No of Discs: 2

Label: Panegyric

Catalogue No: APELP103

Barcode: 0633367792815

Release Date: 6 Nov 2020