Drums and Wires is the third studio album by the English rock band XTC, released on 17 August 1979 on Virgin Records. It is a more pop-oriented affair than the band's previous effort, 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.
Bassist Colin Moulding's dissatisfaction with XTC's "quirky" reputation inspired the group to take a more accessible approach, starting with the non-album single "Life Begins at the Hop". Drums and Wires was recorded in four weeks at the newly built Town House studio in London with producer Steve Lillywhite and engineer Hugh Padgham, who were beginning to develop their signature gated reverb production technique, as demonstrated on the album opener and lead single "Making Plans for Nigel". Lyrically, the album focuses on the trappings or titillations of the modern world, with several songs about submitting to external forces. Frontman and guitarist Andy Partridge conceptualised Jill Mumford's cover artwork, which depicts the band logo forming the outline of a face.
Drums and Wires reached number 34 on the UK Albums Chart and number 176 on the US Billboard 200. "Making Plans for Nigel" reached number 17 on the UK Singles Chart and marked the band's commercial breakthrough. In 1980, Partridge recorded Take Away / The Lure of Salvage, an LP consisting mostly of dub remixes of Drums and Wires tracks. In later years, Drums and Wires became the best-known of XTC's albums. In 2004 it was ranked number 38 on Pitchforks list of "The Top Albums of the 1970s", and in 2019, it was ranked number 31 in a similar list by Paste.
Background
In October 1978, XTC released their second studio album Go 2, a more experimental venture than their debut White Music. It was met with positive reviews and a number 21 chart peak. Although Thomas Dolby was rumoured as a replacement, Partridge said that Dolby was never actually considered, but did write many letters asking to join the band. He grew more comfortable with the group after playing a few shows, he said, "and things got better and better". In 2019, he retracted his claim, saying that the Lillywhite record the band were impressed by was actually Ultravox's 1977 debut. With Virgin staff engineer Hugh Padgham, they embarked to the newly built Townhouse Studios, "with its now world-famous stone room", as described by Gregory, who recalled that Padgham had "yet to develop his trade-mark 'gated ambience' sound". Gregory stated that, ultimately, "most of the ideas were Andy's but we were all contributing and Lillywhite was there as some sort of mediator more than anything. He's credited with producing it but really I think it was about 50/50. Most of the ideas were there in the first place before we got into the studio." The album was recorded in three weeks and mixed in two.
Drums and Wires was named for its emphasis on the sounds of guitars and expansive drums. The title was inspired by an illustration from The Beano depicting the comic dog Gnasher playing drums and "BOOM DADA BOOM" written above him. Partridge considered using the illustration for the cover, "but it was a silly idea and 'Drums and Wires' seemed to suit the sound of the record. All drums and guitar strings." Lyrically, the album focuses on the trappings or titillations of the modern world, with several songs about submitting to external forces. Partridge's songs also centre on the impact of technology on human emotions. In the words of Chris Dahlen from Pitchfork, the band pursued "pure pop disguised as jittery post-punk, all played with teeth-chattering intensity", Editors at Trouser Press opined that it was a "spiky art-pop gem". Writing for Ultimate Classic Rock in 2019, critic Michael Galluci said the album is "45 or so minutes of art-rock" and argued that, "even today, Drums and Wires sounds like an unconventional work among the period's angular, arty and evolving New Wave."
Songs
Side one
8 of the album's 12 songs were written by Partridge, with the remaining 4 by Moulding. "Making Plans for Nigel" is told from the point of view of parents who are certain that their son Nigel is "happy in his work", affirming that his future in British Steel "is as good as sealed", and that he "likes to speak and loves to be spoken to." Partridge remembered his discontent with the time devoted to the song's recording, remarking that "[w]e spent a week doing Nigel and three weeks doing the rest of the album." "Scissor Man" is Partridge's attempt at an adult morality tale, based on "The Story of the Thumb-Sucker" from the German children's book Struwwelpeter, and features a dub-influenced coda.
"Complicated Game", according to Partridge, is "one of those 'you get born and it doesn't matter and then you die' songs". He said that "at that time in my life, I was starting to feel a sense of futility. I think it had to do with being in the band, and being stuck on the touring trail, and seemingly not having any control in my career." Early UK copies also included a bonus single: Partridge's "Chain of Command" backed with Moulding's "Limelight". "Chain of Command" is about "wars" among microbes in the human body. It was left off the album due to the band's dissatisfaction with the song. "Limelight", as interpreted by Partridge, is about their perception of how the band was viewed in their hometown of Swindon. The original US version of the album contained a bonus 7" EP featuring these two songs, along with "Day In Day Out," which had been removed from the LP's sequence to make room for "Life Begins at the Hop".
"Life Begins at the Hop" was not included on the original UK LP due to industry convention in the 1960s and the 1970s, although the track appeared on some international variants, either as an addition or substitution. Other tracks were produced but left off the album: Partridge's "Homo Safari", "Pulsing, Pulsing" and "Bushman President". "Homo Safari" is an instrumental piece produced during the "Life Begins at the Hop" session. The "homo" simply refers to the Latin word for man, not a reference to homosexuality. "Pulsing, Pulsing" was recorded with an electric guitar that was not plugged in. "Bushman President" is another instrumental, and the second volume in Partridge's Homo Safari series. It was recorded entirely with a Korg monophonic synthesizer. Later, it was used as an introduction tape for the group's live performances.
Release
thumb|right|XTC photographed with Canadian fans, 1980. From left: Moulding (holding cup), Partridge (slightly obscured), Gregory, and drummer [[Terry Chambers.|upright=1.3]]
"Life Begins at the Hop" was released on 4 May 1979 and became the first charting single for the band, rising to number 54 on the UK Singles Chart. They played a 23-date English tour, playing to half- or quarter-full concert halls. Immediately following the tour, the band arrived in Japan and played four dates in Osaka. Partridge recalled the band encountering much fan hysteria in Japan: "We could hardly go anywhere without being screamed at. You'd walk into a hotel lobby and there'd be a crowd of girls sitting around waiting for you."
Drums and Wires was released on 17 August, with lead single "Making Plans for Nigel" following on 5 September. From 11 September to 5 October, XTC embarked on another underwhelming British tour. Gregory remembered: "in Wolverhampton [there were] about 200 people in a place that holds about 1,500. It was really depressing." Performances of "Real by Real" and "Ten Feet Tall" recorded were later released for Drums and Wireless: BBC Radio Sessions 77–89 (1994).
"Making Plans for Nigel" later rose to number 17 In their homeland, sales were at a minimal improvement from their previous records.
| rev2 = Smash Hits
| rev2score = 9/10
| rev3 = Sounds
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Drums and Wires received favourable reviews, and according to biographer Chris Twomey, was "widely acknowledged in the music business". NME Paul Morley decreed that XTC were "doing all sorts of they've never done before and never hinted they would. ... They have moved many steps forward to making a rock classic." In Billboard, the album was deemed "an interesting package from a label that's beginning to make headway in the U.S. It's fresh rock 'n' roll in a new wave vein with a dash of '60s English melody. Of particular note is the inventive mix as instruments sparkle in both left and right channels." The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau wrote: "My reservations about this tuneful but willfully eccentric pop are ideological. ... Partridge and Colin Moulding are moving toward a great art-pop mean that will set standards for the genre. Catchy, funny, interesting—and it rocks." Playboy published a single-sentence review: "Devo clones that sound more like the old Maxwell House percolator than like a rock band."
Retrospective
AllMusic reviewer Chris Woodstra reflected that the album signalled "a turning point ... with a more subdued set of songs that reflect an increasing songwriting proficiency. The aimless energy of the first two albums is focused into a cohesive statement with a distinctive voice that retains their clever humor, quirky wordplay, and decidedly British flavor. ... driven by the powerful rhythms and angular, mainly minimalistic arrangements." In 2016, "Making Plans for Nigel" was ranked number 143 on the website's list of the 200 best songs of the 1970s. In 2019, Drums and Wires was ranked number 31 in a similar list by Paste. Partridge and Moulding reflected on the period as the point in which XTC's "career really started".
In Moulding's recollection, "Up until that point, we were viewed as a poor man's Talking Heads or something. People called us 'quirky.' But when we came out with Drums and Wires it was like a different band, really. Mainly, that was probably my fault." He was surprised when the label began choosing his songs, instead of Partridge's, as singles. Partridge felt that he was losing the band's leadership and attempted to exert more authority in the group, calling himself "a very benevolent dictator." The majority of its tracks sampled material from Drums and Wires.
Track listing
Original UK release
- Some early vinyl copies erroneously credit Moulding for "Complicated Game".
- At least one pressing, numbered 200.917, has "Life Begins at the Hop" — misspelled as "Life Begins at the Hoo" on the label — in place of "Day In Day Out".
Original US release
This album had a large number of sequencing variations worldwide in its first few years of release. This is only one of many combinations of tracks.
2001 CD bonus tracks
These tracks were also included on most 1990's international CD releases of this album, inserted between sides one and two of the UK track listing.
2014 expanded edition
Drums and Wires was reissued on CD and Blu-ray in October 2014, boasting a new stereo and 5.1 surround sound mix of the album from remixer Steven Wilson, as well as new liner notes from Partridge, Moulding and Gregory, alternate mixes and nearly 40 demo and rehearsal tracks. Partridge said of the new mix: "It's so good it's upped my opinion of the album."
Personnel
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes, except where noted.
XTC
- Andy Partridge – vocals, guitar, synthesizer, percussion, sleeve design
- Colin Moulding – vocals, bass
- Dave Gregory – guitar, background vocals
- Terry Chambers – drums
Additional personnel
- Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, Dave Gregory, Terry Chambers, Steve Warren, Hugh Padgham, Al Clark, Laurie Dunn – Vernon Yard Male Voice Choir on "Roads Girdle the Globe"
- Dick Cuthell – flugelhorn on "That Is the Way"
- Steve Lillywhite – production
- Hugh Padgham – engineer
- Georgie Chambers, Steve Prestage, Nick Cook – tape operators
- Jill Mumford – sleeve art
Charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col"| Chart (1979)
! scope="col"| Peak<br /> position
|-
|Australia (Kent Music Report)
|align="center"|40
|-
|align="left"|Canada RPM Top 50
|align="center"|2
|-
|align="left"|UK Albums Chart
|align="center"|176
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|-
! scope="col" | Chart (1980)
! scope="col" | Position
|-
! scope="row" | New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)
| 41
|-
|}