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Coat of Many Cupboards

XTC - Coat of Many Cupboards Audio CD

A fair review of the XTC "Coat of Many Cupboards" 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.

Band: XTC
Title: Coat of Many Cupboards
Rating:

Release Date: 2002-04-02
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Science Friction (CBS Demo) 2: Spinning Top (Live @ Eric's, Liverpool - 1977) 3: Traffic Light Rock (Live @ Eric's, Liverpool - 1977) 4: Radios In Motion (From White Music) 5: Let's Have Fun (White Music out take) 6: Fireball XL5/Fireball Dub (White Music out take) 7: Heatwave Mk.2 Deluxe (White Music out take) 8: This Is Pop (Single version) 9: Are You Receiving Me? (Go 2 out take) 10: Things Fall To Bits (Go 2 out take) 11: Us Being Us (Go 2 out take) 12: Life Begins At The Hop (First rehearsal - extract) 13: Life Begins At The Hop (First recording, unused) 14: Making Plans For Nigel (Demo from Swindon Town Hall) 15: Ten Feet Tall (From Drums and Wires) 16: Sleepyheads (Drums and Wires out take) 17: Meccanik Dancing (Live @ The Marconi Club, Sydney,1979) 18: Atom Age/Hang Onto The Night/Neon Shuffle (medley) (Live @ The Marconi Club, Sydney,1979) 19: Life Begins At The Hop (Unused US single recording) 20: Reel By Real (Unused single recording) 21: When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty (Unused single recording) 22: Helicopter (DJM version) Unused US single recording) 23: Towers of London (Rejected single recording) 24: Generals and Majors (Rehearsal tape) 25: No Language In Our Lungs (From Black Sea) 26: Sgt. Rock Is Going To Help Me (From Black Sea) 27: Paper and Iron (Live @ The Lyceum, London, 1980) 28: Crowded Room (Live @ The Lyceum. London, 1980) 29: Senses Working Overtime (Early work tape)=20 30: Snowman (Live @ The Hammersmith Odeon, 1981) 31: Ball and Chain (Unused single recording) 32: Punch and Judy (Unused single recording) 33: Fly On The Wall (From English Settlement) 34: Yacht Dance (Live on The Old Grey Whistle Test,1982) 35: Jason and The Argonauts (From English Settlement) 36: Love On A Farmboy's Wages (Demo) 37: Wonderland (Home demo) 38: Ladybird (From Mummer) 39: All You Pretty Girls (Home demo) 40: Wake Up (Home demo) 41: The Everyday Story Of Smalltown (From The Big Express) 42: Grass (Demo) 43: Let's Make A Den (Home demo) 44: The Meeting Place (Home demo) 45: Dear God (Band demo) 46: Brainiac's Daughter (from Psonic Psunspot version) 47: Vanishing Girl (from Psonic Psunspot version) 48: Terrorism (Home demo)=20 49: Find The Fox (Home demo) 50: Season Cycle (From Skylarking) 51: The Troubles (Home demo) 52: Mayor Of Simpleton (Early work tape) 53: King For A Day (Home demo) 54: Chalkhills And Children (From Oranges & Lemons) 55: The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead (Early home demo) 56: Omnibus (From Nonsuch) 57: The Disappointed (Home demo) 58: Bungalow (From Nonsuch) 59: Didn't Hurt A Bit (Nonsuch out take) 60: Books Are Burning (Live on the BBC's The Late Show, 1992)

An Irresistible Collection of XTC Rarities.
The band toured primarily during its years with Virgin Records, 1977-1982, and before Andy Partridge's breakdown in Paris on March 18, 1982. Having never experienced a live XTC performance is among the few regrets I have in life. It was during this time that the band (Andy Partridge, lead vocals; Colin Moulding, lead vocals, bass; Dave Gregory, guitars; and Terry Chambers, drums) released their debut their debut LP White Music, their hit singles, "Life Begins at the Hop," "Making Plans for Nigel," "Generals and Majors," "Senses Working Overtime," "Ball And Chain," "No Thugs in Our House," and their quintessential 80s masterpiece, English Settlement. Released in 2002, Coat of Many Cupboards is an anthology of XTC's fifteen years with Virgin Records. The superb 4-disc box set includes, among various outtakes, demos, home recordings, and alternate acoustic versions, many rare live tracks from XTC's touring years. These live tracks, in particular, capture the raw energy and excitement of the band's Clash-like, live performances.

What makes this anthology so irresistible is that most of the tracks collected here have never been released previously. The material will appeal mostly to die-hard XTC fans, and reveals the band's amazing evolution from a Britpop-punk club act to a Beatlesque studio band. The collection also includes a 60-page booklet as well as track-by-track liner notes by Partridge and Moulding. All tracks have been digitally remastered, and include:

Disc: 1
1. Science Friction (CBS Demo)
2. Spinning Top (Live @ Eric's, Liverpool - 1977)
3. Traffic Light Rock (Live @ Eric's, Liverpool - 1977)
4. Radios In Motion (From White Music)
5. Let's Have Fun (White Music out take)
6. Fireball XL5/Fireball Dub (White Music out take)
7. Heatwave Mk. 2 Deluxe (White Music out take)
8. This Is Pop (Single version)
9. Are You Receiving Me? (Go 2 out take)
10. Things Fall To Bits (Go 2 out take)
11. Us Being Us (Go 2 out take)
12. Life Begins At The Hop (First rehearsal - extract)
13. Life Begins At The Hop (First recording, unused)
14. Making Plans For Nigel (Demo from Swindon Town Hall)
15. Ten Feet Tall (From Drums and Wires)
16. Sleepyheads (Drums and Wires out take)

Disc: 2
1. Meccanik Dancing (Live @ The Marconi Club, Sydney,1979)
2. Atom Age/Hang Onto The Night/Neon Shuffle (medley) (Live @ The Marconi Club, Sydney,1979)
3. Life Begins At The Hop (Unused US single recording)
4. Reel By Real (Unused single recording)
5. When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty (Unused single recording)
6. Helicopter (DJM version) Unused US single recording)
7. Towers of London (Rejected single recording)
8. Generals and Majors (Rehearsal tape)
9. No Language In Our Lungs (From Black Sea)
10. Sgt. Rock Is Going To Help Me (From Black Sea)
11. Paper and Iron (Live @ The Lyceum, London, 1980)
12. Crowded Room (Live @ The Lyceum. London, 1980)
13. Senses Working Overtime (Early work tape)=20
14. Snowman (Live @ The Hammersmith Odeon, 1981)
15. Ball and Chain (Unused single recording)

Disc: 3
1. Punch and Judy (Unused single recording)
2. Fly On The Wall (From English Settlement)
3. Yacht Dance (Live on The Old Grey Whistle Test,1982)
4. Jason and The Argonauts (From English Settlement)
5. Love On A Farmboy's Wages (Demo)
6. Wonderland (Home demo)
7. Ladybird (From Mummer)
8. All You Pretty Girls (Home demo)
9. Wake Up (Home demo)
10. The Everyday Story Of Smalltown (From The Big Express)
11. Grass (Demo)
12. Let's Make A Den (Home demo)
13. The Meeting Place (Home demo)
14. Dear God (Band demo)

Disc: 4
1. Brainiac's Daughter (from Psonic Psunspot version)
2. Vanishing Girl (from Psonic Psunspot version)
3. Terrorism (Home demo)=20
4. Find The Fox (Home demo)
5. Season Cycle (From Skylarking)
6. The Troubles (Home demo)
7. Mayor Of Simpleton (Early work tape)
8. King For A Day (Home demo)
9. Chalkhills And Children (From Oranges & Lemons)
10. The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead (Early home demo)
11. Omnibus (From Nonsuch)
12. The Disappointed (Home demo)
13. Bungalow (From Nonsuch)
14. Didn't Hurt A Bit (Nonsuch out take)
15. Books Are Burning (Live on the BBC's The Late Show, 1992)

G. Merritt
.

5 stars for XTC, 1 star for the record label.
On the other, it smells a bit too much of a marketing ploy. "Coat of Many Cupboards" is a somewhat frustrating collection-- on the one hand, the collection, largely consisting of unreleased tracks presented in a four CD boxed set, is full of gems that are bound to bring a smile to the face of the diehard fan. But we'll talk about that later.

The four disc sets follows the band's career with Virgin Records, tracking their evoluition from ska/punk-tinged new wave act to studio-bound pop craftsmen. The first two discs roughly cover the band's live act era, the second the studio-only era. There is no shortage of great material throughout, whether it be for purely historical value or merit of performance.

From the earliest material, an early demo of "Science Friction" shows Andy Partridge singing not in the oddly clipped style he'd use on the band's earliest records, but rather in a full and much calmer voice. A pair of Barry Andrews compositions left off of "Go 2" at Partridge's insistence (which led to Andrews leaving the band) shed some light on what Andrews could have brought ("Things Fall to Bits" is pretty forgettable, but "Us Being Us" proves to be a fantastic guitar-driven punk song), and a handful of live tracks show how even the weakest of the early material could certainly shine brightly under the band's high powered live performances ("Spinning Top").

With Andrews' departure, Dave Gregory joined the band and provided an opportunity for more experimentation in arrangement and texture-- the dueling guitar histrionics of "Sleepyhead" and a great early take of Colin Moulding's "Life Begins at the Hop" show this off nicely, as do a number of fine live performances included in here ("Crowded Room" and the highly underrated "Snowman").

It was the band's (re)discovery of acoustic guitars that really led to a serious shift, and nowhere is this more evident than the fascinating acoustic guitar-and-vocal demo of "Senses Working Overtime". With the emphasis shifting from energy to pop hooks, it's clear even in this primitive presentation that Partridge had something going on. But with the band being studio bound, there's no chance to see how they evolved live, instead we get a picture of their demos. Curiously, many of these home demos sound pretty much like the final track ("Love on a Farmboy's Wages", "Wonderland"). On the other hand, several of them are fascinating-- "Wake Up" is a bit more subdued and while the guitars are a bit recessed, I prefer Moulding's vocal on this take. Ditto for the band demo of "Dear God", where intricate guitar work shines and Partridge's somewhat more aggressive vocal comes forth. And while it totally lacks the power the final version would have, the early work tape of "Mayor of Simpleton" is absolutely fascinating.

And while on the subject of the good, the sound quality is pretty much superb throughout-- clean and crisp, and while some of the demos are a bit shaky, by and large the set sounds fantastic. Also, the extensive liner notes (including track-by-track commentary by Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding) makes for a highly entertaining read.

Still, as great as this is, there's a lot here that's less than fantastic-- the way the CDs are held for example. Mine keep sliding out and I'm in terror that a big ugly scratch is coming. Even bigger than this though is the arrangement of the content-- there's less than four hours of music total on the set, which could have fit on three CDs. But even more to the point, 15 of the 60 tracks are available on the band's albums (well, one is a bonus track on the reissue, but it's there), and taking these out (since I can't imagine anyone buying this who doesn't have them already), there's about 2 hours and 45 minutes on the set of music. That doesn't seem like a heck of a lot when you consider that if you cut one of the tracks that sound nearly identical to the album take ("Helicopter" for example), you could squeeze this on two CDs. It ends up sounding a bit too much like a major label marketing ploy to me.

Bottom line, any fan of the band is going to want this, but I can't in good faith review this fairly without considering the complete package. 5 star for value of the unreleased stuff, 1 star for the presentation.

For the diehard XTC vet only
Alternative versions, early demos, rejected singles and live tracks pepper this "odds and sods" collection. This is a treasure trove of goodies for XTC fans. You can probably cherry pick your way to a really grade A single disc here but hey, as rabid XTC fans we must have EVERYTHING!

However, if you're new to XTC I would suggest one of the 'hits' compilations out there.

Hidden tracks Notice!!!! Easter EGGING

The won't play automatically as most hidden tracks do as these are buried in the pre-roll BEFORE track 1. I've had this set for a while now, but recently discovered two hidden tracks. Insert disc 2, hit play, as the track begins to play, pause and rewind/review back past the beginning.
The First on is on disc 2. The next is on disc 3, and it is 9 minutes of live material.

Pure XTC
Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding�s stubborn commitment to their idiosyncratic musical vision doomed them to commercial obscurity even as it endeared them to fans who eagerly stuck with the band through a number of personnel changes and stylistic shifts. I�ve always had a great fondness for XTC.

Coat of Many Cupboards is essentially a closet-cleaning exercise; a 4-disc set comprised mostly of live, rare, and unreleased tracks, scattered (seemingly at random) with a handful of album tracks. It�s an embarrassment of riches even for the casual XTC fan.

The first two discs, which cover White Music through Black Sea, are absolutely stellar. The incredible live cuts reveal the live XTC to have been wound incredibly tight, a juggernaut of jerky adrenaline and velocity. The other standouts are variant versions of several tracks from Drums and Wires, nearly all of which eclipse the album versions.

Discs 3 and 4, which cover the remainder of the Virgin years, are a bit spottier. Home demos take the place of the live cuts, and these sometimes shaky efforts will be of more interest to established fans than to newcomers or more casual listeners. That said, there�s plenty of great material here too, including a wonderful live version of Yacht Dance and several outtakes from Sklarking. The only real disappointment here is that the Dukes of Stratosphear (XTC�s tongue-in-cheek psychedelic alter-ego) are represented only by a pair of previously released album tracks; it would have been nice to delve a little deeper into the vaults of the Dukes.

To top it all off, the entire set is beautifully and cleverly packaged. The booklet contains a long essay that focuses, lovingly and in some detail, squarely on the music. Partridge and Moulding also add extensive track-by-track commentary. Highly recommended.

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.