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.
XTC recorded the album at The Manor Studio in Oxfordshire with producer Hugh Padgham, the engineer of their previous two LPs. Compared to the band's previous releases, English Settlement showcased more complex and intricate arrangements, lengthier songs, lyrics that covered broader social issues, and a wider range of music styles. Principal songwriter Andy Partridge was fatigued by the grueling touring regimen imposed by their label and management, and believed that pursuing a sound less suited for live performance would relieve the pressure to tour. Three singles were issued from the album: "Senses Working Overtime", "Ball and Chain" and "No Thugs in Our House".
English Settlement was well-received critically and continues to be regarded by many critics as XTC's finest album.
Background
thumb|left|upright|Frontman [[Andy Partridge performing with XTC, 1980]]
By the early 1980s, XTC—and particularly frontman Andy Partridge—were fatigued from their grueling touring regimen. During one performance on their 1979–1980 Drums and Wires tour, Partridge suffered momentary amnesia, forgetting XTC's songs as well as his own identity. It was released in September 1980 to critical acclaim and peaked at number 16 in the UK and number 41 in the US.
On the following tour, XTC were the supporting act for the Police, playing arena stadiums in Australia, New Zealand, the US, and Canada. Partridge's fatigue worsened, and his mental state continued to deteriorate. While in upstate New York in December 1980, he exited the tour van to relieve himself. As he remembered, "I wandered into this field ... and I thought, 'Who am I? Who the hell am I, and what am I doing in this field?' And just got back ... laying on the seat in the back of the van in a fetal position, sobbing quietly, not knowing who the hell I was." His then-wife, Marianne, blamed his illness on his longtime dependency on Valium, which he had been prescribed since his early teens. On 4 April 1981, while the couple were staying at the Tropicana Hotel in Los Angeles, she threw away his tablets.
In March, XTC attempted to work with Madness producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley at the behest of Virgin. They recorded "Ball and Chain", "Punch and Judy", and "Egyptian Solution (Thebes in a Box)". Langer quit on the first day as he felt his input was unnecessary. The sessions were finished with Winstanley at AIR Studios, but only his production of "Egyptian Solution" was kept by the group.
On 2 June, XTC performed their last gig of the year Compared to the band's previous albums, English Settlement showcased more complex and intricate arrangements, lengthier songs, lyrics that covered broader social issues,
thumb|The band's desire for more varied timbres led them to purchase a [[Prophet 5 synthesizer for the album's recording.]]
Most of the English Settlement material was written and rehearsed during the summer of 1981 at Terry "Fatty" Alderton's Tudor Rehearsal Studio. Moulding responded to the new acoustic direction by purchasing an Ibanez fretless bass, while Gregory bought a Rickenbacker 12-string and began contributing more as a keyboardist. In Padgham's recollection, "I just let the band be themselves. I've always been that kind of producer. ... they had quite a clear idea of what they wanted and I just made sure that this could be translated as easily and as clearly as possible." The recordings were performed live and then treated with overdubs and occasional edits.
"Ball and Chain" was written as a response to the economic policies of Margaret Thatcher. Moulding explained: "The whole Swindon area seemed to be under the hammer. Mrs. Thatcher had come to power a couple of years before, and everything was kind of being battered to the ground. 3 million unemployed -- it was a difficult period". At the time, Partridge did not think the song was good enough to be a single, and was surprised when Virgin chose to issue it. Moulding remembered that it was "like something Genesis or Queen would have done, and these were the bands that were openly mocked two years before."
"Jason and the Argonauts" was born from a guitar riff, with one harmonic line constant and another providing a counterpoint, that reminded Partridge of "traveling across the sea". The lyric idea was inspired by one of his favourite films, Jason and the Argonauts (1963), as well as The Island of Doctor Moreau. He said, "This was written from a perspective where I knew I didn't want to tour. I knew I was not enjoying the treadmill. I was beginning to feel really like a prisoner. ... I was just trying to describe this process of traveling the world, and growing up, opening up, seeing things." The recording was originally a couple of minutes longer and had to be edited down.
Disc two
"Melt the Guns", the opening track of the second disc, is a funk-influenced track with political themes, critical of the arms industry, gun culture, and American militarism.
"Fly on the Wall" is about "Big Brother" and was inspired by the fly on the wall documentaries appearing on British television at the time. The song features tremolo guitar, heavily compressed drums, "buzzing Morse code synthesizer" and distorted vocals, qualities not heard on the demo recorded by Moulding. He credited Partridge with the "Morse code buzzy-fly" sound and said it "added a lot to the credibility of the song because it made the music sound funnier and gave an ambiguity to the song. You didn't know whether I was taking the piss or not."
"English Roundabout" is about English city life. Fans erroneously assumed that the title referred to the Magic Roundabout in Swindon. The song is a rare example of popular music written in the 5/4 time| time signature. Its ska/bluebeat rhythm was contributed by Chambers.
The final song, "Snowman", is focused on themes of romantic rejection. In a 2006 interview, Partridge stated that the track was inspired by a mandolin pattern featured on a track on the 1979 album Fluid Rustle by Eberhard Weber.
Leftover
Other tracks were produced but relegated to single B-sides. They are Partridge's "Tissue Tigers (The Arguers)", "Punch and Judy", "Heaven Is Paved with Broken Glass", "Egyptian Solution (Thebes in a Box)", and "Mantis on Parole", Moulding's "Blame the Weather", and the band's "Over Rusty Water". Some of these later reappeared on the compilations Beeswax: Some B-Sides 1977–1982 (1982), Rag and Bone Buffet: Rare Cuts and Leftovers (1990), Coat of Many Cupboards (2002), and the EP Dear God (1987).
Title and packaging
thumb|Oxfordshire's [[Uffington White Horse monument, the inspiration for the album cover]]
The album cover is based upon the Uffington White Horse in southwest Oxfordshire, which is about east of Swindon, Wiltshire, XTC's hometown. The band chose the image since it was a strong, historic symbol of England. When they presented it to an agent from their American distributor, Epic Records, the executive responded: "It looks like a duck! If you want a horse, we'll get our artists to draw one!" The company then offered the group illustrations of a mustang, a bronco, and a person in a cartoon caricature of an English village. When issued in the US, the horse was not embossed as it was on the original UK release.
Working titles for the LP included Rogue Soup, Motorcycle Landscape, World Colour Banner, Explosion of Flowers, and Knights on Fire. Partridge said that English Settlement was ultimately chosen because he felt "it's our most English record." He explained: "It's kind of an ambiguous title. ... [The horse is] literally a kind of Iron Age advertisement for an English settlement that was on top of the hill when the first settlers came to England. And it's us living here, settling here, and also the settling of viewpoints, when two people have a disagreement or a different view and they get something settled." Both the album and lead single "Senses Working Overtime" became the highest-charting records they would ever have in the UK, peaking at number five and number 10, respectively. In the US, it reached number 48 on the Billboard 200 for a 20-week stay. Two more UK singles were issued: "Ball and Chain" (number 58) and "No Thugs in Our House" (no chart showing).
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Music videos were filmed for "Senses Working Overtime", "No Thugs in Our House", "All of a Sudden (It's Too Late)", and "Ball and Chain". The video for "Senses Working Overtime" was shot during tour rehearsals.
XTC's world tour began on 7 March in Brussels, and included further stops in France, Italy, the UK, and the US.
Tour withdrawal
thumb|upright|left|[[Le Palace theatre, where Partridge experienced a panic attack and left the stage mid-performance]]
On 18 March, shortly before XTC were to play a sold-out, simulcast gig at Le Palace in Paris, Partridge told a French journalist, "I like to listen to music that relaxes me and stimulates me in a relaxing manner. Because this is like owning a circus. And when you're finished with touring or whatever, you don't want to see other circuses. You just want to relax."
Believing that he had recovered from the episode, Partridge rejoined the group for their first tour of the US as a headlining act. For a period afterward, it was rumoured among fans and industry insiders that the group had stopped performing because Partridge had died, and some American bands put on XTC tribute shows in his remembrance.
Critical reception
Contemporary reception
English Settlement received worldwide acclaim. Writing for Rolling Stone, Parke Puterbaugh stated: "Once again, XTC has managed the difficult feat of sounding accessible even while moving into evermore abstruse and adventuresome territory. ... The result is a program of numbers that resonate across all manner of invigorating wordplay with a jazzy, stoned ambiance."
Creems Jim Farber took issue with the political songs, namely "Melt the Guns", and said "The only problem is that the music and vocals of Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding are so entertainingly odd, they tend to deflate the stern-faced lyrics. ... As a whole, XTC may not shake, rattle and roll – but they do sputter, twitch and gyrate, and sometimes that can get you through the night just as well." Mark Dighton of The Michigan Daily opined that "there isn't really much wrong with English Settlement" apart from being "uncomfortably far from their best work." He praised its "lyrical intelligence" and added that most of the songs "would benefit greatly from a more adventurous and upfront attack."