Skylarking - XTC
Track List:
Summer’s Cauldron
Grass
The Meeting Place
That’s Really Super, Supergirl
Ballet for a Rainy Day
1000 Umbrellas
Season Cycle
Earn Enough for Us
Big Day
Another Satellite
Mermaid Smiled
The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul
Dying
Sacrificial Bonfire
Dear God
This is not my first time hearing XTC, in fact my first experience with XTC that I am aware of was listening to “Dear God” . I didn't further explore the catalog at that time.
Summer’s Cauldron
This song has foley that helps convey a summer feel, the lyrics are perhaps darker. Either trying to convey lazy days in the summer or describing getting high and vegging out in the summertime, which now that I think about it this would also be considered the lazy days of the summer. The music is great and adds to the eerie warm feeling of the song.
Grass
I honestly didn’t realize the song had changed, it’s a neat transition. The vocals have a different tone. The song seems to tell the story of a rendezvous with a partner outside on grass, perhaps after spending a day lazing around stoned…
The Meeting Place
The foley is different now, quite a transition compared to the previous one. I am not entirely sure about the full details on this one. The tick tock sound of the foley seems to make it appear this meeting is a regular occurrence. Not sure the intent of the meeting but I think either drugs or fucking are likely, possibly both. Maybe the next song will fill in this quandary or maybe not. Currently this is my favorite song I’ve heard on this album.
That’s Really Super, Supergirl
Not what I was expecting…This song is the most 80’s thing I’ve heard this year. The story of a guy who is simping.
Ballet for a Rainy Day
I don’t know if I love this song or hate it. The bridge is fantastic and the descriptions are colorful and expressive. Just not sure how I feel about the music.
1000 Umbrellas
The melody that starts this was played at the end of the last song as part of the song and it worked but shouldn’t and that’s astonishing. I like the pacing of this song. The crawling of the lyrics.
Season Cycle
Another song about the passage of time, specifically the seasons. This one is a funny pop jaunt.
Earn Enough for Us
This one hit home for me. Perhaps I will want to write more about it later.
Big Day
A story of a wedding and insecurities. I like the use of effects on the some of the lyrics to help sculpt the scene
Another Satellite
The lyrics are almost a complaint about satellites orbiting earth. But there is a deeper discussion about things being cyclical and again the passage of time.
Mermaid Smiled
I like the way this one starts. Very fantastical. I think the song tells a story about a fisherman who tried to catch a mermaid and the mermaid escaped.
The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul
This song also has a lot of allusions to naval lore, facts, and fiction.
Dying
A very straight forward raw look at mortality and fear of the unknown yet inevitable.
Sacrificial Bonfire
A song of revolution and indoctrination. In context this comes across as a rallying cry against traditional conservatism. There is no outright statement that this is an anthem for the liberal agenda in the song but in context with the album I don’t think that’s really a stretch to say.
Dear God
This song made me worried about doing this review. I don’t know if I can write the correct words to describe this song properly. So I will tell a story. So I heard this song on the same day as I heard “Jesus, He Knows Me”. Both songs blew me away, they were raw angry cuts at the large religious cults. The normalization of the practice of selling people false hope. And indoctrination and exploitation of youth, the poor, racial minorities, and other marginalized groups for power, control, and money. At that time I was looking to discover new music and knew more bands adjacent to Genesis, which led to exploration into more and more types of music, which has led me here. Who knows? I don’t, that’s for sure, and ultimately I am writing about this song while the Genesis song is only a footnote. Anyways, this is a damn good song, and good music deserves to be heard.
Refractory period thoughts:
That was quite a ride. I did attend a birthday party in the middle of it so I may have missed out on some of the overall experience. I feel like this was a series of pseudo concept albums. There is an overall left leaning, free thinking statements throughout the album. I didn’t start my listen with expectations of sea lore, calls for action, struggle for survival, insecurity with major life decisions, concerns about ecological damages caused by the use and overuse of technology, sadness, being lazy or hazy, rejection of authority, and carnal desires. But that’s what I got to experience and it was good. I am now rather confident that sooner or later I will listen to another of their albums.
