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XTC - Homegrown (The Wasp Star Home Demos) Audio CD

A fair review of the XTC "Homegrown (The Wasp Star Home Demos)" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all XTC reviews here, or go back to the XTC tabs.

XTC Band: XTC
Title: Homegrown (The Wasp Star Home Demos)
Rating:
Release Date: 2001-05-22
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Playground 2: Stupidly Happy 3: In Another Life [Excerpt of Orginal Demo] 4: In Another Life [Jug Band Version] 5: Some Lovely 6: Boarded Up 7: I'm the Man Who Murdered Love [Early 'Other Song' Cassette Idea] 8: I'm the Man Who Murdered Love [Tamla Demo Excerpt] 9: I'm the Man Who Murdered Love 10: We're All Light [Early Cassette Idea] 11: We're All Light 12: Standing in for Joe [Lounge Version] 13: Standing in for Joe 14: Wounded Horse 15: You and the Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful 16: Lie for a Lie [Cassette Demo] 17: Church of Women 18: Pot Won't Hold Our Love [Early Cassette Idea] 19: Everything Decays [Early Cassette Idea] 20: Wheel and the Maypole

An interesting portrait of the creative process.
Each piece on "Wasp Star" is represented on at least one track here (sometimes more) and it provides a much more intimate portrait of the creative process than "Homespun" did for "Apple Venus". "Homegrown" is a collection of demos for pieces on XTC's "Wasp Star"-- if you haven't checked out the album, you should definitely look there first. Having said that, this is not going to be for everybody.

Some of the pieces are pretty much complete in these demo versions and the deltas between the original and the recordings on here is minimal ("Wounded Horse"), although particularly given the sound of "Wasp Star", sometimes the demos do a better job capturing a sense of urgency than the album tracks do (the rollicking demo of "Playground", which I prefer to the album version). There's also a handful of tracks that we get an opportunity for a really intriguing look into their development-- Colin Moulding's "Standing in For Joe" and Andy Partridge's "I'm the Man Who Murdered Love" are first presented as acoustic guitar and voice demos before a full demo is presented (the former's acoustic demo also apparently is from before lyrics were written as the vocal is wordless) and some of the pieces are dramatically different-- "Some Lovely" (which became "My Brown Guitar") has a pronounced ska influence that hearkens back to early XTC that, while it would be somewhat more recessed on the album release, paints a nice picture of how it came to be).

Admittedly, given its format, this is not going to be everyone's cup of tea-- as an obsessive music fan, I find this sort of portrait to be downright fascinating, but this isn't the kind of thing that everyone is going to enjoy. But for me, the insight this provided allowed me greater enjoyment of "Wasp Star".


Very interesting listening - perfect for songwriters
"Homegrown" is a great inside look at the songwriting process for this album, complete with informative descriptions on the songwriting process. Wasp Star, XTC's wonderfully poppy follow up to Apple Venus Vol 1, is an incredible exercise in songwriting know-how.

As a songwriter myself, "Homegrown" is an intriguing look at the growing experience that is writing a song. I'm often inspired and impressed when listening to this album and reading through the notes. Not groundbreaking listening for the lay-person I imagine, but the album is a cool source of knowledge and a nice lesson for me. Hope you like it.


XTC - YOU REALLY HAVE TO LOVE THEM
OK. . If you don't love XTC you probably will hate this CD. If you do love them this CD is really cool. Home Demos take us through the infancy of a song all the way to maturity. We hear the original idea's that Andy Partridge muttered in to his tape tape recorder as well as studio rehersals. As I said if you love XTC you'll love every minute of this disc.


Insight in the the evolution of great music
I would recommend this to any XTC fan and I rate the material on Wasp Star as just as good as anything from the Black Sea/ Settlement period. I think the other reviews are being a bit harsh. There are some amazing songs on this album and to see the genesis of great ideas like "I'm the Man Who Murdered Love", "We're All Light" and "Maypole" gives the listener great insight into the world of XTC. I've actually used a couple of the recordings to introduce people to there music, because the high-gloss production of Wasp Star and Apple Venus Vl. 1 isn't to everyone's taste. The only drag to this and the original Wasp Star is Colin's songs. . . His muse seems to have left the shed since 1990. . . although a lot of people disagree with that. Anyway, if you like process as much as the art, check this album out.


for completists only
I anxiously awaited the release of Apple Venus Vol. Up until early 1999 XTC was my all-time favorite band. 1, and though that album was NOT the masterpiece that some reviews had led me to believe, about half the songs were/are great. Just having XTC back after an almost decade-long absense was enough for me. When I heard that the next album, Wasp Star, harkened back to the sound of Black Sea/English Settlement-era XTC, I was beside myself with delight. When I got Wasp Star, however, words could not express my disappointment. Aside from 2 or 3 pretty good tunes, W. S. is absolutely the blandest, weakest album XTC has ever made. Never would I have thought that XTC could sound so generic and lifeless.

Which brings us to Homegrown. If you were as disappointed in W. S. as I was, you probably don't need to buy this; I will say though that Homegrown is better than W. S. because the songs possess more vibrance and character in their demo format. It is also interesting to hear how a few of the songs evolved (i. e. in another life, the man who murdered love, the wheel and the maypole).

All in all, anyone who liked Wasp Star will probably be interested in Homegrown, but I'll stick with Skylarking and English Settlement and be reminded of (much) better days in the world of XTC.


You can see a complete list of all XTC discography, or go back to the XTC tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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