English Settlement (studio album) by XTC

Nice album, the first couple of tracks are really exciting and then it goes downhill for me.

From seb7 08/05/2021 03:37

Bit topheavy. Has good singles but overall isn’t super great.

XTC sing about Brexit.

I like it, but it isn't one of my favourite XTC albums. I still score it a good 80, but I feel there are three or four tracks that don't seem to be of their normal standard. Having said that even with them removed I don't think it would be scoring any higher as a single album (rather than a double).

From ImmortalAl 03/04/2017 05:07

An album I have no hesitancy rating a "100". Good job, guys. You earned it.

English Settlement marked the end of an era for XTC. It was the last album they ever performed live and the last to feature long time drummer Terry Chambers. It was here that the band began their slow metamorphosis from Frankenstein Punk to Pastoral Pop. This oncoming identity crisis coupled with extreme recording restriction (26 songs in a mere 28 days!) resulted in a chaotic and oddly vulnerable record. Not every song is a winner, and the production is noticeably less polished than other efforts, but there's a certain magic about English Settlement and tracks like Senses Working Overtime, Knuckle Down and Yacht Dance remain some of the highlights of the bands career.

This is an album that can really grow on you if you let it. The songs are catchy as hell and have the tendency to not leave your head after a while. Definitely my favorite XTC album that I've listened to so far.

From colonelchibbers 05/20/2016 03:33

What is timtooky even talking about?

From HoldenM 05/30/2015 03:02

Solid release. Maybe my favorite XTC album.

Exemplifies, more than any other XTC album, why I sometimes describe them as the band the Beatles would have been if they'd had to challenge themselves to expand the range of pop music beyond the range already established, before them, by the Beatles. Dense, layered, fussy, but exuberant songs as spiky and nerd-punk as "No Thugs in Our House", as whimsically twerpy as "Down in the Cockpit", as African and anthemic as "Melt the Guns", as prettily angular as "All of a Sudden", as gently haunting as "Runaway", as warped, subtle, and medieval as "Senses Working Overtime", and, when the chorus hits, as overflowing with perfect joy as "Senses Working Overtime".