Archive for the ‘Peter Gabriel’ Category

XTC

Monday, January 11th, 2010

XTCSensesPS, XTC, Steve Lillywhite, Virgin

Listen: Senses Working Overtime (Single Version) / XTC [audio:

http://www.somanyrecordssolittletime.com/records/XTCSenses.mp3]

You have to hand it to Steve Lillywhite. He can produce a record alright. God, he was on a roll during this early 80′s stretch. XTC, Peter Gabriel, The Psychedelic Furs, Simple Minds, Joan Armatrading, U2. If you couldn’t make great records with that bunch, you’d be pretty useless – but seminal ones as they turned out to be – well not necessarily that easy.

Having a great engineer is the magic formula – one who can eventually learn the craft and rise to the occasion. Such the case with Hugh Padgham, Steve’s original engineer who produced this – and The Police among others.

Early on, XTC opened a US tour for The Police, the only time I got to see them. And I’m honestly not sure how many times thereafter they returned. Their saga is long. And this is a well known hit, but never one I tire of.