Track of the Week: XTC: Towers of London (1980)
From Swindon they came, and with their catchy tunes and spiky guitars they conquered the world... Or so it should have been anyway. XTC produced some of the best, well written and loveable pop tunes of any era, but through sheer bad luck managed not to make it huge. 'Towers of London' is just one of many, many fabulous XTC songs, and really I could have just have easily made many other XTC songs Track of the Week. But I have chosen 'Towers of London'. 'Black Sea', its parent album, should have been huge. It's loaded with great pop songs, and the production - drums miked up loud, no overdubs that couldn't be played live - ensures that it hasn't aged a day. Just ask Blur, who rewrote album opener 'Respectable Street' as 'Tracy Jacks' for 'Parklife' in the 90's.
'Towers of London' is typical XTC fare, opening with a vaguely Byrds-y, Beatles-y guitar line from song writer Andy Partridge before the drums kick in. Lyrically, the song's subject matter - London, naturally - is a tribute to XTC's pop heroes - The Beatles and The Kinks, despite Partridge knowing next to nothing about the subject. It is pulled off beautifully though. Colin Moulding's cyclical, melodic bass playing is very reminiscent of Paul McCartney's playing style, and Partridge and Moulding's vocal harmonies ensure the song had a memorable tune, but XTC's angular, post-punk guitars make the song very much their own, despite the obvious influences. All accompanied by a bell - towers of London, you see. But there are two things that lift the song from merely brilliant into the realms of pop genius. Firstly the bridge - a sudden key change reflects the change from the song's reflective tone to a more urgent one, and a tune to die for. The line 'Clear as children's chalk lines on the pavement' is so visual, and relates back to the chorus' nostalgic remembrance of the 'men who fell' over the decades, watched over by the magnificent towers. It's just magical. And it's followed by a rather nice guitar solo by new recruit Dave Gregory. The second, absolutely magical bit is the coda - after another verse and chorus, everything gets much quieter, and Moulding and Partridge sing 'Towers of Londonnnnnnnnnnnnn' wonderfully plaintively, before the whole band stops, apart from the regular tolling of the bell. Then the intro guitar line comes in again, and over one chord, the band sing 'La la Londinium' over lots of 'Ooooooh' backing vocals as the song fades away - again, magic.
'Towers of London', like most of XTC's songs, focuses on the lives of normal people and trapped eccentrics with equal amounts of humour and pathos, much like Ray Davies from The Kinks. On the tour promoting this album, Andy Partridge had a nervous breakdown on stage due to stage fright, and the band have never played live since, severely scuppering the commercial success they so obviously deserve. But never mind, they have left behind a back catalogue packed with brilliant songs that have inspired everyone from Blur to Franz Ferdinand, and whose appeal will continue undimmed after the many who have copied their sound but little of their charm have fallen by the wayside.
'Towers of London' is typical XTC fare, opening with a vaguely Byrds-y, Beatles-y guitar line from song writer Andy Partridge before the drums kick in. Lyrically, the song's subject matter - London, naturally - is a tribute to XTC's pop heroes - The Beatles and The Kinks, despite Partridge knowing next to nothing about the subject. It is pulled off beautifully though. Colin Moulding's cyclical, melodic bass playing is very reminiscent of Paul McCartney's playing style, and Partridge and Moulding's vocal harmonies ensure the song had a memorable tune, but XTC's angular, post-punk guitars make the song very much their own, despite the obvious influences. All accompanied by a bell - towers of London, you see. But there are two things that lift the song from merely brilliant into the realms of pop genius. Firstly the bridge - a sudden key change reflects the change from the song's reflective tone to a more urgent one, and a tune to die for. The line 'Clear as children's chalk lines on the pavement' is so visual, and relates back to the chorus' nostalgic remembrance of the 'men who fell' over the decades, watched over by the magnificent towers. It's just magical. And it's followed by a rather nice guitar solo by new recruit Dave Gregory. The second, absolutely magical bit is the coda - after another verse and chorus, everything gets much quieter, and Moulding and Partridge sing 'Towers of Londonnnnnnnnnnnnn' wonderfully plaintively, before the whole band stops, apart from the regular tolling of the bell. Then the intro guitar line comes in again, and over one chord, the band sing 'La la Londinium' over lots of 'Ooooooh' backing vocals as the song fades away - again, magic.
'Towers of London', like most of XTC's songs, focuses on the lives of normal people and trapped eccentrics with equal amounts of humour and pathos, much like Ray Davies from The Kinks. On the tour promoting this album, Andy Partridge had a nervous breakdown on stage due to stage fright, and the band have never played live since, severely scuppering the commercial success they so obviously deserve. But never mind, they have left behind a back catalogue packed with brilliant songs that have inspired everyone from Blur to Franz Ferdinand, and whose appeal will continue undimmed after the many who have copied their sound but little of their charm have fallen by the wayside.
posted by Jonathan Thornton at 7:09 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home