Apple Venus Volume 1 is the thirteenth studio album by the English rock band XTC, released on March 2, 1999. It was the first on the band's own Idea Records label, distributed through Cooking Vinyl in the United Kingdom and TVT Records in the United States. The album relies heavily on strings, acoustic guitars and keyboards, expanding upon the more orchestral approach developed on the group's previous LP Nonsuch (1992), whilst its lyrics reflect themes of paganism, middle age, romance and rebirth. Apple Venus Volume 1 was met with critical acclaim and moderate commercial success, peaking at number 42 on the UK Albums Chart and number 106 on the Billboard 200 in the US.
Bandleader Andy Partridge, who wrote most of Apple Venus, characterised it as "orchustic" (a portmanteau of "orchestral" and "acoustic"). He meant for the album title to refer to "a beautiful woman". The album effectively marked a comeback for XTC, who spent half the decade on strike against their former label Virgin Records. Apple Venus was originally planned as a double album, but because the group did not have enough money to record all the material they had stockpiled, they elected to split the more rock-oriented songs as "volume two" (released one year later as Wasp Star).
The making of Volume 1 was fraught with personal conflicts, budgetary concerns and numerous false starts. Most of the orchestral portions were rush-recorded in one day with a 40-piece symphony at Abbey Road Studios, and had to be edited over a months-spanning period. It was the group's last album with guitarist and keyboardist Dave Gregory, who departed during the sessions due to frustrations with Partridge. By the time of its release, Partridge no longer viewed XTC as a band, and preferred it to be known as a "brand" covering his and Colin Moulding's music.
In late 1999, XTC released Homespun, a version of Apple Venus consisting of its demos. This was followed in 2002 with Instruvenus, containing the album's backing tracks. In 2003, Mojo ranked Apple Venus at number 47 in its list of the "Top 50 Eccentric Albums".[5] The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[6]
Background
XTC's previous album, Nonsuch, was received with critical acclaim when released in April 1992.[7][8] The song "Wrapped in Grey" was intended as the third single from the album, but was immediately withdrawn by their label Virgin Records.[9] This left bandleader Andy Partridge particularly dismayed with the label.[10] In 1993, he conceived the band's next project to be an album of bubblegum pop songs; the LP would have disguised itself as a retrospective compilation featuring 12 different groups from the early 1970s. The lyrics were heavily sexual, with song titles such as "Lolly (Suck It and See)" and "Visit to the Doctor". Partridge recalled playing some demos for Virgin agents, who rejected the project; he compared their reaction to the "Springtime for Hitler" scene from Mel Brooks' film The Producers.[11]
Virgin also denied Partridge's requests to renegotiate or revoke XTC's contract.[10] A&R representative Paul Kinder said: "What XTC wanted and what Virgin were prepared to do were poles apart. The contract was so old it got to the point where Andy wanted the moon and Virgin weren't prepared to give it him."[10] Whatever new music the band recorded would have been automatically owned by Virgin, and so the group went on strike, refusing to record new material.[11] Partridge was also beset by health issues and in the process of divorcing his first wife at the time.[10]
In 1997 (also reported as in late 1994),[12] the band found themselves freed from financial debt and Virgin after "making some heavy concessions"; Partridge fantasied that the label had taken pity on the band for giving them a "rotten deal".[10] He expressed distaste with the word "comeback" to describe Apple Venus, telling an interviewer in 1998: "We never went away! We just weren't legally allowed to work. Comebacks always have such glittery-suit, Fablon, working-men's clubs connotations."[9]
Composition and lyrics
By 1997, Partridge and bassist Colin Moulding had amassed over 40 new songs, most of which were written by the former.[13] The 11 that were ultimately selected for Apple Venus Volume 1 were written between 1992 and 1994.[14] Partridge's offerings were an elaboration on the orchestral style he had developed on the Nonsuch tracks "Omnibus", "Wrapped in Grey" and "Rook".[15][16] When Nonsuch was completed, Partridge purchased an E-mu Proteus, and felt inspired by its samples, even though he was not a proficient keyboard player.[16] His writing process changed in that, for some cases, the arrangement was completed before the actual composition.[17] The songs changed little from how they were conceived on their early demo tapes when recorded in a professional studio.[18][19]
Opening track "River of Orchids". Partridge: "That started as a wonderful little loop I came up with. ... [I wrote three] very simple nursery rhythm-type melodies, and wrestled them to the ground, made them fit each other. Then we got a 40-piece orchestra at Abbey Road to play it through."[16]
Most of the lyrical content of Apple Venus is centred on pagan themes, including the songs "River of Orchids", "Easter Theatre", "Greenman" and "Harvest Festival".[20] Partridge thought the new material was "some of the best stuff, if not the best stuff" that he had ever written, calling it "more intensely passionate than before."[10] In particular, he viewed "Easter Theatre" as one of the few "perfect songs" of his career, feeling that he had "exorcized a lot of those kind of Lennon-and-McCartney, Bacharach-and-David, Brian Wilson type ghosts out of my system by doing all that."[21] "Greenman" was inspired by Green Man sculptures and pagan-derived nursery rhymes he saw Martin Carthy perform on a children's television program. He denied that the song was supposed to be Middle Eastern-sounding.[22] "Harvest Festival" is Partridge's reflection on school harvest festivals from his youth.[23] In an interview with New Sounds, Partridge confirmed that it was him, not Gregory, who played the guitar solo on "Easter Theatre": "I was determined not to tremolo like he would have done."[24]
Even though the record's instrumental palette relies largely on orchestral strings, acoustic guitars and keyboards, there are a few exceptions where electric instrumentation can be heard.[17] Additional textures are provided by brass, violins, woodwinds and only a few instances of percussion.[25] Moulding felt that "something a bit different" was appropriate for the band at this juncture, and shared Partridge's desire for a cohesive LP similar to soundtracks such as My Fair Lady and "stuff that Burt Bacharach wrote for various [films]".[26] The only songs of Moulding's that were included were "Fruit Nut" and "Frivolous Tonight", which ended up as the album's most uptempo tracks.[1] According to Moulding, "Frivolous Tonight" was harmonically inspired by the Beach Boys and had a melody similar to "the theme song from Steptoe and Son...I smashed them together, and it worked out very well."[7]
"Your Dictionary" was Partridge's reaction to the dissolution of his marriage. He initially did not want to include it on the album, but was persuaded by acquaintances who enjoyed the song.[27] The same was true of "I Can't Own Her", which Partridge thought was "a little square, and a little wet". He credited "the core of the song" to the album's orchestral arranger Mike Batt.[28] "I'd Like That" was inspired by a rekindled relationship with Erica Wexler, an American woman he met in the 1980s and would later marry.[27] The music for the closing track "The Last Balloon" stemmed from an aborted collaboration between Partridge and an Italian musician, whereas the title came from The Last Balloon Home, one of the working titles for Nonsuch. It features a flugelhorn solo and lyrics about "that hope for the future, for your children -- for them not to make the same fucking mistakes as you!"[29]
Production
The group elected to divide the Apple Venus project into two parts: one of rock songs, and the other of "orchustic" songs augmented by a 40-piece symphony.[30] "It's still a pop album," Moulding said. "It's not like 'XTC Meets the London Philharmonic.'"[27] They found a label, Cooking Vinyl, and a producer, Haydn Bendall, who previously engineered the band's 1977 debut EP 3D and had experience recording orchestras. Former Tubes drummer Prairie Prince, who had played on XTC's 1986 album Skylarking, returned for the sessions. It soon became apparent that the band did not have the funds to record all the material they had.[10]
Moulding, Bendall and guitarist Dave Gregory wanted to reduce the project to one disc, but Partridge insisted on spreading it over two LPs.[30] It was decided that the group would release one album with the orchestral material ("volume 1") and leave the rock songs for "volume 2".[10] Preliminary "programming sessions" were conducted at Bendall's home in late 1997. The group then commenced recording at Chris Difford's home studio in Sussex, but the sessions fell apart after two weeks.[16] Moulding said that the group had to leave because the studio was not yet fully functioning.[27] According to Partridge in a 2007 interview, Difford "stole" the master tapes from these sessions, forcing the band to re-record the album from scratch twice (as the second run-through was deemed unsatisfactory).[31]
The one-day session at Abbey Road cost the band £15,000 (equivalent to £33,000 in 2023).
In early 1998, the group reconvened at Chipping Norton Recording Studios and recorded backing tracks over the course of six weeks.[16] A single orchestral session was held at Abbey Road Studios, but its recording was rushed and had to be edited over a three-month period.[11][13] According to Gregory, the band had no money left at this point, and the session had to be funded by a Japanese record label.[32] John Morrish of The Independent reported that "the human string players could not match the mathematical precision of 'River of Orchids' ... Nor could the woodwinds cope with the computerised ostinato in 'Greenman' ... The orchestra became a glorified sample, cut and pasted together to achieve the 'Vaughan Williams with a hard-on' sound required."[13] Much of this work was done in Pro Tools, with the assistance of Bendall "until he had to quit to work on other projects." The rest of the album, which mostly involved vocal, bass and acoustic guitar overdubs, was recorded in Moulding's garage.[16]
Gregory's departure
Longtime XTC guitarist Dave Gregory (pictured 2010) left the band during the Apple Venus sessions due to "personal problems"
In March 1998, a few weeks into the Chipping Norton sessions, Gregory abruptly quit the band.[30] Partridge told journalists that Gregory left because he grew impatient with the recording of the orchestral material and wanted to quickly move on to the recording of the second volume of the project.[30] He attributed Gregory's frustration to diabetic mood swings: "one minute he'd be quite jolly, the next minute he's 'this is all shit, destroy it, wipe it, it's all terrible''".[10] Moulding was not present for an "enormous row" between Gregory and Partridge at the studio,[33] but he corroborated that Gregory's diabetes caused "terrible mood swings, and his negativity was sometimes hard to take. But also, there really wasn't much for him to do on this record and he felt left out."[17] Discussing the incident at Chipping Norton, Gregory said Partridge had behaved like "a cunt, frankly."[10] Partridge said "I really blew up. I had a go at everyone but a lot of it was directed at Dave, telling him to pull his weight and get into it more. I don't think he ever forgave me."[10]
Gregory denied that his leaving pertained to "musical differences", and said that it was more "personal problems" related to Partridge spending the entire recording budget on the Abbey Road session.[32] Another source of frustration was his keyboard playing; he did not feel that he had the skill that was demanded from Partridge and Bendall, "and the end result wasn't justifying the means."[32] When Partridge requested Gregory to write musical charts for the 40-piece orchestra, Gregory turned in a cheaper arrangement for four players, which was rejected;[17] Gregory quoted Partridge saying "Compromise equals crap art".[32] Once another arranger was hired, he began distancing himself from the band. Partridge remembered: "You'd be doing an interview and you'd say the band's doing so-and-so, and he'd interrupt and say, 'Band? It's not a bloody band, it's two people making solo albums and a guitarist ... Anyway, carry on.'"[10] Gregory also refused to sign an American distribution contract with TVT Records.[10] He had telephoned artists who worked for the label and got "the worst possible reaction ... 'You will not be paid,' those were the four words I remember."[34]
Gregory told Partridge that Apple Venus was not "the album we should be making after six years," calling it "the vegetarian alternative."[10] By the time the album was released, he maintained that "Andy's done a good job in recording the songs."[13] Partridge also no longer viewed XTC as a band, instead preferring it to be known as a "brand" covering his and Moulding's music.[13]
Title and packaging
Indian peafowl feathers similar to the one on the album cover. The image was chosen by Partridge for its evocation of female anatomy.
The album's title was meant to refer to "a beautiful woman". The phrase originated as a lyric on the previous XTC record, Nonsuch, specifically in Partridge's song "Then She Appeared" ("then she appeared / apple venus on a half-open shell"). This continued a trend that began with Oranges & Lemons (1989) and Nonsuch: both album titles had appeared as lyrics on a track from their respective prior albums.[35] According to Partridge, this was at first "pure coincidence, probably a sub-conscious kind of thing. You have a certain caterpillar track of words that kind of trundle around in your head."[35] However, it was deliberate in the case of Apple Venus.[36]
Partridge's working title for the album, A History of the Middle Ages, was vetoed by his bandmates. He settled on Apple Venus after finding an illustration of a peacock feather that resembled an uvula, which evoked to him something "very vulvic and female".[35] Written underneath the track listing on the back of the album cover is a version of the Wiccan Rede: "do what you will but harm none."[37] Partridge thought it was a "fantastic" message; when responding to an interview question about his knowledge of Wicca, he explained: "I have a smattering of knowledge of that sort of thing, but I['m] also ... interested in the pre-Christian appreciation of the land and the spirit of things, spirits in animate things and inanimate things."[35]
Released on 2 March 1999, Apple Venus Volume 1 was met with critical acclaim and moderate sales.[46] It had minimal promotion.[10]PopMatters' Sarah Zupko deemed the album "more than worth the wait. Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding used their time off well, lavishing extra care and attention on this set of tunes that rank among the best music they have ever produced. ... this record is a shoo-in for one of 1999’s best records".[47] Scott Schinder gave the album an A− for Entertainment Weekly, writing: "The gorgeous yet vaguely unsettling arrangements are well suited to the exquisitely flawed humanism of Andy Partridge’s and Colin Moulding’s compositions, lending an appropriately uneasy edge to bittersweet tunes like 'I Can’t Own Her,' 'Greenman,' and 'The Last Balloon.'"[39]
In comparing the album to the group's earlier work, Pitchfork's Zach Hooker said: "Apple Venus finds them picking up pretty much where they left off. Or maybe even a little bit before they left off." Stylistically, he regarded the album as a midpoint between Oranges and Lemons and Skylarking and "a little nestegg of excellent songs".[20]Rolling Stone's Barry Walters wrote that the LP "packs the wit and nerve that made their rock snap but does it with brass, acoustic guitars, violins, woodwinds and minimal percussion. ... instead of evoking the Sixties, Partridge and Moulding suggest a timeless pastoral past rich with melody and subtlety."[25]Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic noted: "Although there are similarities with the pastoral Skylarking or parts of Nonsuch, there is really no comparable record in XTC's canon, given its sustained mood, experimentalism, and glimpses of confession ... [Apple Venus] easily ranks as one of XTC's greatest works".[1]
Conversely, Robert Christgau wrote that "Studio rats being studio rats, the lyrics aren't as deep as Andy and Colin think they are, but at least irrelevant doesn't equal obscure, humorless, or lachrymose."[45] The Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot warned that the album could be "perhaps too radical [of a] departure" for veteran fans.[48]The Daily Telegraph's Alexis Petridis commented that while it is a "minor quibble", the album's "worst excess" may be its "whimsy".[49]NME's Jim Wirth wrote that even though Partridge and Moulding have a "nasty habit of hammering really hard on the twee pedal in moments of boredom, there's still enough of that psychedelic bumpkin magic to make this worth celebrating."[42]
XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding, the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing in a variety of styles that ranged from angular guitar riffs to elaborately arranged pop. Partly because the group did not fit into contemporary trends, they achieved only sporadic commercial success in the UK and US, but attracted a considerable cult following. They have since been recognised for their influence on post-punk, Britpop and later power pop acts.
Andrew John Partridge is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer best known for co-founding the band XTC. He and Colin Moulding each acted as a songwriter and frontman for XTC, with Partridge writing and singing about two-thirds of the group's material. While XTC were a formative British new wave group, Partridge's songwriting drew heavily from 1960s pop and psychedelia, and his style gradually shifted to more traditional pop, often with pastoral themes. The band's only UK top 10 hit, "Senses Working Overtime", was written by Partridge.
Oranges & Lemons is the 11th studio album and the second double album by the English band XTC, released 27 February 1989 on Virgin Records. It is the follow-up to 1986's Skylarking. The title was chosen in reference to the band's poor financial standing at the time, while the music is characterised as a 1980s update of 1960s psychedelia. It received critical acclaim and became the band's highest-charting album since 1982's English Settlement, rising to number 28 in the UK and number 44 in the US.
Black Sea is the fourth studio album by the English rock band XTC, released 12 September 1980 on Virgin Records. It is the follow-up to the previous year's Drums and Wires, building upon its focus on guitars and expansive-sounding drums, but with more economical arrangements written with the band's subsequent concert performances in mind, avoiding overdubs unless they could be performed live.
Colin Ivor Moulding is an English bassist, singer, and songwriter who was one of the core members of the rock band XTC. Moulding wrote their first three charting UK singles: "Life Begins at the Hop" (1979), "Making Plans for Nigel" (1979) and "Generals and Majors" (1980).
English Settlement is the fifth studio album and first double album by the English rock band XTC, released 12 February 1982 on Virgin Records. It marked a turn towards the more pastoral pop songs that would dominate later XTC releases, with an emphasis on acoustic guitar, 12-string electric guitar and fretless bass. In some countries, the album was released as a single LP with five tracks deleted. The title refers to the Uffington White Horse depicted on the cover, to the "settlement" of viewpoints, and to the Englishness that the band felt they "settled" into the record.
Nonsuch is the 12th studio album by the English band XTC, released 27 April 1992 on Virgin Records. The follow-up to Oranges & Lemons (1989), Nonsuch is a relatively less immediate and more restrained sounding album, carrying the band's psychedelic influences into new musical styles, and displaying a particular interest in orchestral arrangements. The LP received critical acclaim, charted at number 28 in the UK Albums Chart, and number 97 on the US Billboard 200, as well as topping Rolling Stone's College album chart.
Mummer is the sixth studio album by the English rock band XTC, released on 30 August 1983 on Virgin Records. It was the first XTC album to be recorded following the band's retirement from live performance in 1982. The album's title and artwork refers to a Mummers' play, in which the identity of the players is hidden. A working title considered for the album was Fruits Fallen From God's Garden.
Drums and Wires is the third studio album by the English rock band XTC, released in 1979 on Virgin Records. It is a more pop-orientated affair than the band's previous, Go 2 (1978), and was named for its emphasis on guitars ("wires") and expansive-sounding drums. The album was their first issued in the United States and their first recorded with guitarist Dave Gregory, who had replaced keyboardist Barry Andrews earlier in 1979. It features a mix of pop, art rock, new wave and punk styles with much rhythmic interplay between XTC's two guitarists.
Skylarking is the ninth studio album by the English rock band XTC, released 27 October 1986 on Virgin Records. Produced by American musician Todd Rundgren, it is a loose concept album about a nonspecific cycle, such as a day, a year, the seasons, or a life. The title refers to a type of bird (skylark), as well as the Royal Navy term "skylarking", which means "fooling around". It became one of XTC's best-known albums and is generally regarded as their finest work.
The Big Express is the seventh studio album by the English rock band XTC, released on 15 October 1984 by Virgin Records. It is an autobiographical concept album inspired by the band's hometown of Swindon and its railway system, the Swindon Works. In comparison to its predecessor Mummer (1983), which had a modest, pastoral approach to production, the album features a bright, uptempo sound marked by studio experimentation and denser arrangements, setting a template that they further developed on subsequent albums.
Wasp Star is the fourteenth studio album by the English rock band XTC, released 23 May 2000 on Cooking Vinyl/Idea Records. Defined by bandmember Andy Partridge as the "eclectric" counterpart to 1999's Apple Venus Volume 1, it consists of rock-based material largely written between 1994 and 1996. Wasp Star reached number 40 on the UK Albums Chart. In 2002, the group released an instrumental version of the album entitled Waspstrumental. XTC dissolved in 2006, leaving Wasp Star their last studio album to date.
25 O'Clock is the debut record by English rock band the Dukes of Stratosphear and the eighth studio album by XTC, released on April Fools Day 1985 through Virgin Records. It was publicised as a long-lost collection of recordings by a late 1960s group, but actually consisted of new tracks recorded by Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, and Dave Gregory of XTC with Gregory's brother Ian.
Apple Box is a box set by XTC compiling Apple Venus Volume 1 and Wasp Star along with their respective demo albums Homespun and Homegrown. It is the third box set of their career following Transistor Blast: The Best of the BBC Sessions and Coat of Many Cupboards, released by Idea Records.
"Making Plans for Nigel" is a song by English rock band XTC, released by Virgin Records as the lead single from their 1979 album Drums and Wires. It was written by Colin Moulding, the band's bassist. The lyrics are told from the point of view of overbearing parents who are certain that their son Nigel is "happy in his world", affirming that his future, to be spent working for British Steel, "is as good as sealed", and that he "likes to speak and loves to be spoken to".
The Dukes of Stratosphear were an English rock band formed in 1984 by Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, Dave Gregory, and Ian Gregory. Modelled after psychedelic pop groups from the 1960s, the Dukes were initially publicised by Virgin Records as a mysterious new act, but were actually an XTC spin-off band. They recorded only two albums: 25 O'Clock (1985) and Psonic Psunspot (1987). In the UK, the records outsold XTC's then-current albums The Big Express (1984) and Skylarking (1986).
"Easter Theatre" is a song written by Andy Partridge of the English rock band XTC, released as the lead single from their 1999 album Apple Venus Volume 1. According to Partridge, the lyrics were an attempt to match a "muddy" ascending chord progression. "There's the little melodic figure at the beginning, which I thought sounded medieval and earthy, combined with placid, droning high keyboard chords, which sound like you're floating—so it suggested floating over a land." He further elaborated in an interview with Guitar Player magazine: "The ascending figure sounds like something pushing up and growing out - like springtime. The whole meaning of the song came out of the onomatopoeia of these ascending chords."
"Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her" is a song written by Andy Partridge of the English rock band XTC, released on their seventh studio album The Big Express (1984). Composed on a Mellotron using only three fingers, it was the first song he wrote on a keyboard instrument. The lyrics were inspired by Erica Wexler, a fan who caused tensions with Partridge's then-wife. After his divorce, Partridge married Wexler in the 1990s. Japanese band Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her named themselves after the song.
"Wrapped in Grey" is a song written by Andy Partridge of XTC, released on their 1992 album Nonsuch. It was to be issued as the third single from the album, but its initial pressings were withdrawn by Virgin Records for an unknown reason. This was a stimulus for the band to go on "strike" against the label for a few years until their contracts were terminated.
"Thanks for Christmas" is a song by the English band XTC, credited as "the Three Wise Men" and written by Andy Partridge It was released by Virgin Records in late 1983 as a holiday single backed with "Countdown to Christmas Party Time". The song made its first album appearance on the 1990 compilation album Rag and Bone Buffet: Rare Cuts and Leftovers.
↑ Bookman, Dave (15 December 1994). "Virgins No More". eye WEEKLY. After a 17-year association, pop perfectionists XTC have ended their relationship with Virgin Records.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
