August 17, 1979 - XTC and Making Plans For Nigel

Just two days after my last album, a new band briefly joins my library when XTC released their third album "Drums And Wires" on August 17, 1979, of which I have only the first song and hit single "Making Plans For Nigel". But who are XTC? They were a 4-piece pop/rock band from Swindon, England started by songwriters Colin Moulding (vocals, bass) and Andy Partridge (vocals, guitar, synthesizer). They recruited Terry Chambers (drums) and Dave Gregory (guitar) and this single was their breakthrough into the mainstream. Chambers starts it off with an echo-y drum beat and Moulding plays some decent bass to form the rhythm section as this main riff is driven by some computer-y synths by Partridge. He also sings lead vocals on this song and he sounds particularly British as it sounds like he's saying "Nigu" instead of "Nigel". The lyrics are about overprotective parents who want Nigel to work a simple job at British Steel and I the U.K. particularly this would become a very popular song. Moulding adds some odd backing vocals and neither of these guys sound like particularly great singers to me honestly. After a couple verses and chorus they slightly change the riff, but it's still basically the same thing as the bass and drums just keep repeating the same thing over and over. Gregory's guitar sounds decent in this little bridge but it's not long before they resume the main verse. After this verse Gregory gets a chance for a brief guitar solo and he does a good, but not great job with it. Partridge adds some more oomph to his voice as they continue to jam out the main riff. They start a slow fadeout as we hear "Nigel" over and over until the song finally comes to an end. It's not winning any awards or anything, but it's a fun little song and it's also the only band in my library that starts with X!

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