Last time in this series, we took a look at the tracks from 1983’s Mummer album. And if you have been following this series of XTC anniversary posts from the start, or even if this is your first visit, thank you! We’re now in the penultimate month and the final four albums still left to cover. In October, I’ll be musing on Go 2, The Big Express, and bringing the series to an end with Skylarking.
But we’re not there yet as today it’s exactly 46 years since the excellent Black Sea album was released! Produced by the dream team of Steve Lillywhite and Hugh Padgham, XTC’s fourth album saw them go from strength to strength with it peaking at no.16 in the UK album charts – their second-best placing ever, after 1982’s English Settlement.
Cover Design: The last album cover to feature the band, this vintage aquatic-themed cover has the band in olde-style diving gear posing before a fantastic nautical backdrop by artist Ken White, who sadly passed away in 2025. I wonder if it was an intentional homage to The Beatles, to have the four band members’ faces in half-shadow, like the cover of With The Beatles.
Respectable Street (Partridge)
Once again, the boys do not fail when it comes to choosing a hell of an opening track. This was the first time I’d noticed Partridge’s knack of kicking off a song with the bridge lyrics. Maddeningly, the BBC banned the playing of the single due to some of the lyrics, which no doubt played a big part in the track not charting at all in the UK. It’s also been commented on that Blur were rather inspired by this track on their own song Tracy Jacks from the Parklife album.
But back to Respectable Street – I love the crackly record sound as the song kicks off with that aforementioned bridge, before we hear a little sniff from Andy, and then the song launches into that angular riff and we’re soon in the midst of the first banger of the album. The bass sounds fabulous in the choruses. I adore the music video – though the band hate it, apparently – and just wish there was a HD version available… of all their video output.
Lyrics: It’s in the order of their hedgerows / It’s in the way their curtains open and close / It’s in the look they give you down their nose / All part of decency’s jigsaw, I suppose
Generals and Majors (Moulding)
Oh my goodness, Generals and Majors just takes you by the hand and doesn’t let up until the very end. Even though there’s not a transition between the previous track and this one, there’s just something about the dying seconds of Respectable Street and then Generals and Majors launching that’s just perfection in my ears. If the former is dinner, then this track is the dessert. That cute little riff, the boots’n’cats drumming, the whistling and humming, it’s got it all (though the less said about Richard Branson appearing in the music video, the better)! This is a bloody infectious song and I am not looking for a cure! I always appreciate a song which has contrasting lyrics and music, and in this Colin-penned offering, we get this peppy, poppy banger to dance to as he talks about the military and how “World War Three is drawing near”. Ain’t it just, Colin! This was the first single taken from Black Sea and reached a pretty good 32 in the UK (but did even better in New Zealand where it peaked at no.12 in their charts). One of my favourite XTC songs full stop (and fun to strum on the guitar).
Lyrics: Generals and Majors always seem so unhappy ‘less they got a war / Generals and Majors, ah ah, like never before are tired of being actionless
Living Through Another Cuba (Partridge)
This wasn’t one of my favourites when I first heard the album last year. I’ve warmed to it a bit but it’s probably in the lower half of the list if I were to rank the tracks. It’s still a bop, though a wee bit repetitive, and I still find my head nodding along to it. I think Living Through Another Cuba is a song that definitely benefits from hearing played live.
Lyrics: Living through another Cuba / Russia and America are at each other’s throats but don’t you cry/ Living through another Cuba / Get on your knees and pray and while you’re down there kiss your arse goodbye
Love At First Sight (Moulding)
Love at First Sight was one of two album tracks I warmed to immediately upon first listen. Another Colin song but also the last one by him on the original tracklist. I always forget about the one-note guitar solo in the middle until I reach that part when listening to it. A fun, mid-tempo disco song to dance to that doesn’t use up much energy. I still can’t decide if the “What they want is” line is sung by Colin or Andy, though I’m sure fellow XTC fans will let me know!
Lyrics: See the lovers all gone crazy / Looking for romance, it seems / Many sleepless nights will follow / Some may lose but some succeed
Rocket From A Bottle (Partridge)
And the second track I warmed to immediately is Rocket From A Bottle. I just love it. The vampy(?) piano playing is heard through the track, and there’s a slight sense of euphoria within the music at the “And I’m feeling in love” moments. The imagery in the lyrics conveys what it’s like to feel like when you’ve met someone who makes you feel like, well, a rocket from a bottle shot free! And listening back to it now, it’s possible I’m talking bollocks about the piano/keyboard playing throughout – maybe I need to get my ears cleaned.
Lyrics: I’m like a rocket from a bottle shot free / I’ve been just explosive since you lit me / I’ve been up with the larks / I’ve been shooting off sparks / And I’m feeling in love
No Language In Our Lungs (Partridge)
Like Living Through Another Cuba, another one I don’t find myself listening to often. It’s a little bit plodding, though there’s quite a few little nooks in it that I like. For instance, I like both the music and the vocals of the bridge, and the pauses in the verses before “feel” and “hearts” is a nice choice, and of course the line about writing the song as an instrumental “but the words got in the way” is a clever line.
Lyrics: There is no muscle in our tongues / To tell the world what’s in our hearts / No, no, no, no, no, we’re leaving nothing behind / Just chiseled stones / No chance to speak before we’re bones
Towers of London (Partridge)
Ah, Towers of London. There’s just something I really like about this track. Simply put, it’s a bloody good pop-rock song with a great, uncomplicated guitar solo. The backing vocal fade-ins during the choruses are a nice little nook, and the croaky vocal in the verses is an interesting choice which always makes me try and copy it when singing along. This was a single, released after Generals and Majors, and did one better in the UK, reaching no. 31.
Lyrics: Towers of London, when they had built you / Did you watch over the men who fell? / Towers of London, when they had built you / Victoria’s gem found in somebody’s hell
Paper and Iron (Notes and Coins) (Partridge)
This is such an interestingly structured song, and one that I really like – though it was an interesting choice to perform this on a kid’s TV show back in the day. What are the hooks and nooks for me in Paper and Iron? Well, I like the spoken intro where you can really hear Andy’s accent come through. And then there’s that thing I seem to come back to a lot – the rhythm of the vocal; the rat-a-tat-tat of the verse vocals almost syncing with the drums. And talking of drumming, Terry really comes to the fore here with an interesting drum pattern in the verses. I also love the choice to have the fade-in of the backing vocals happen in the outro of the song.
Lyrics: I’m still a proud man / Won’t show anybody else my wage / A blend in the crowd man / Is this anybody’s golden age? / Or am I dreaming of a golden cage?
Burning With Optimism’s Flames (Partridge)
Like First Sight and Rocket, I absolutely adore Burning with Optimism’s Flames. It’s so hooky! And blimey Andy, did you really sing those verses all in a one go or are we hearing different takes spliced together? I’ve tried singing those lines about Navajo blankets and Cheshire cousins and I always run out of breath. But it’s still a hook, and it leads into a standard though still-catchy pre-chorus sound before greeting us with the upbeat chorus. I love the elongation (Is that a word, just checked, yes it is) of the “burning up” line which comes at the end of the chorus. Tremendous song and another one which could have easily been released as a single.
Lyrics: I can’t stop this grinning / So assume I’m winning / Threw pessimism in the air, it’s spinning / Crashing to the floor and nevermore will it lure me away / With sweets and shiny things just like a magpie
Sgt Rock (Is Going To Help Me) (Partridge)
Sgt Rock, or the Oh, that’s from the Hot Fuzz pub scene song. Yes, when I first heard this track properly last year, I thought it sounded familiar. Always a nice thing to find XTC songs in movies. I absolutely love the guitar riff that you hear throughout the majority of Sgt Rock. The sleeve to this single – which, by the way, is their second-best ever UK chart placing, peaking at no.16 – was designed by Andy and unfolds into a comic strip on one side and a poster of the band on the other. Which reminds me… hey, lovely Burning Shed people, any chance of selling art prints or posters of the band members via your fine website??
Lyrics: I’m invading territories / Girls are foreign and strange to me / Get the expert at kissing and stuff / Well, he stays easy when things get rough
Travel in Nihilon (Partridge)
Admittedly, this is possibly my least-listened to XTC song on the album. So much so that I’ve just had to give it listen back now to remember how it went. Very hypnotic and repetitive and drum-heavy. Andy’s vocals start of soft and then become a yelp as he goes through the verses. There’s also a whispering vocal you can hear in the mix that I’d not noticed before. Definitely atmospheric, and the kind of song that would be perfect to listen to if you’re writing an intense scene or piece of dialogue. Is it the perfect choice for the original album closer? Actually, probably yes. I’m not sure where else it could have fit in the tracklist. I’ve read that the sound of water at the end of the track made some people think it was someone having a pee. Actually, it’s the sound of a shower running, but if it had been somebody peeing, they would have had to have had one hell of a heavy, full bladder for it to sound like that!
Lyrics: You’ve learnt no lessons / All those years to get it right / Flashes of promise / Burn out faster than strobe light
Next time… we reach the final month in this series. XTC never released any studio albums in November or December. After covering 11 albums so far since January, we have three albums still left, with Go 2 being our next focus on 6th October.
And the anniversary posts may be finishing next month but the Bluesky XTC listening parties continue until the end of December, with the next listen-along being The Dukes of Stratosphear’s 1987 album, Psonic Psunspot – an album I’ve already mused over in this anniversary series!
Links
Buy Black Sea from Burning Shed
Listen to What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast
Watch XTC at The Manor (1980)
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