vovat | And all the world is biscuit-shaped, it's just for me to feed my face

The next stop in my ongoing reviews of XTC albums is English Settlement, apparently a favorite among the general public, but not really of mine. That's not to say it's bad, just that I think there are other albums with better overall song quality. Oh, well. It was originally released as a double album, and the earliest American releases cut it down to a single by removing some of the songs. The cover of this album features the Uffington White Horse, which can be found in the chalk hills near Swindon, and has become somewhat of an iconic image for the band.

Interestingly (at least to me), Terry Pratchett's The Wee Free Men reveals that the Discworld has its own version of this horse in its own chalk country. Anyway, on to the individual songs.

Runaways - I've never been particularly thrilled by this song, which is about a kid running away from home, but it does have kind of a wistful sound to it that I like. It begins the trend on this album of songs being stretched out a little more than they need to be.

Ball and Chain - Another Colin song that's a little too long, but still pretty good. I can sympathize with the anti-demolition message of the lyrics.

Senses Working Overtime - One of the most popular XTC songs, and with good reason. It's just an amazing song. What more needs to be said? Well, if I HAD to say something, it would be that I particularly enjoy the shifts between the verse and the chorus.

Jason and the Argonauts - The references to Greek mythology obviously win points with me, as does the general catchiness of the song. There's a cool circular sound to each line of the melody. The use of mythology to give a certain outside perspective on human nature is also quite clever. "I was in a land where men forced women to hide their facial features, and here in the West it's just the same, but they're using makeup veils." This song definitely wins a Golden Fleece from me! (By the way, if you're curious as to when I'm going to be addressing Jason in my own mythological posts, I'm thinking it'll probably be toward the end of next month.)

No Thugs in Our House - The harder rock sound of this one hearkens back to Black Sea, but it's the lyrics to this one that are especially interesting. It's a story about parents denying that their son is a thug, despite the fact that the police have seen him beating people and handing out propaganda. I'm sure this scenario plays itself out constantly in real life.

Yacht Dance - I believe this is the first case on an XTC album of one song leading right into the next with no break in between, but it's not the last. It does make it kind of weird when played on shuffle, though, as you get the very end of "No Thugs" at the beginning. As for the song itself, I quite like it. Man, I sometimes forget how many great songs are on this album. Maybe the overall song quality is better than I claimed in my introduction. I believe "Yacht Dance" was one of the songs cut from the earliest American releases of this album, proving that the record company really wasn't too bright.

All of a Sudden (It's Too Late) - You know, I never remember this song as being all that good, but actually listening to it, I find that I like it better than I thought. Maybe I just need to listen to these songs more often.

Melt the Guns - This is a pretty weird song in its sound, but it's fun, if a little on the long side. Like a lot of XTC's issue songs, this is an idealistic call for total disarmament rather than an actual exploration of the problems surrounding gun control, but I don't think exploring the issues is the job of pop musicians. And the lyrics to this have some interesting poetry to them.

Leisure - I enjoy this song, and I have to say that I identified with it during some of my periods of unemployment. I particularly like the sorta-drunk-sounding vocals, especially on the bridge. I guess that's Colin doing the backing parts, right? I'm not sure what's up with that saxophone solo, though. Andy, please stop torturing that poor instrument!

It's Nearly Africa - I like the pseudo-tribal sound to the song, but those lyrics are kind of hard to make out, especially on the bridge. Wait, didn't Andy just do a spoken-word bridge on "Melt the Guns"? I guess that's kind of a theme for this album.

Knuckle Down - I think I like this song more than most people do, and I'm not totally sure why. It might just be how generally catchy I find it to be. The message of the song is anti-racist, and I believe I've heard that some rednecks actually got pissed off by it. I'm wondering how they heard it in the first place.

Fly on the Wall - This one has the same basic theme as "Reel by Reel," but this time it's Colin tackling it. I understand that the band didn't want this one to be a single, since it could have potentially come off as controversial. I'm not entirely sure how (the idea of the government spying on its citizens wasn't exactly radical in the early eighties), but if people were offended by "Knuckle Down," I suppose anything is possible.

Down in the Cockpit - I once quoted XTC in a college research paper, and my professor (who was British) mentioned that he liked this song. Kind of an odd choice to pick out of the band's catalog, but it IS a pretty good one nonetheless. Oh, and we get yet another spoken-word bridge on this number.

English Roundabout - This song keeps coming up when I play my MP3s on random, for some reason. It's a good thing I like it. It feels kind of short, but I think that's just in comparison to the rest of the album; it's almost four minutes long.

Snowman - Another immediate transition from one song into another. I like those. Also, this is a good, if melancholy, ending track for the album. I appreciate the wintry sound to it.