DYNAMIC LIVE BROADCAST PERFORMANCE FROM 1980 BY SWINDON S FINEST Formed in Swindon as far back as 1972, XTC, led by songwriters Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding, gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the mid to late 1970s, but had started as a Glam-Rock band (which also featured Terry Chambers on drums, who remained with XTC until 1982). The group went by a variety of names until 1975, when they became XTC. In 1977, XTC debuted on Virgin Records and, for the next five years, were noted for their energetic live performances and releases. The group always aspired to be completely original and refused to conform to punk doctrine, instead synthesising influences from 1960s pop, dub music and the avant-garde. Andy Partridge, frontman and primary songwriter, insisted that the band was blatantly just pop music . XTC s fourth studio album, Black Sea, came in August 1980 to huge critical acclaim. Featuring the singles, General And Majors , Towers Of London and Sgt Rock , the record was also their most politically charged release to date, featuring too the timely Living Though Another Cuba . In support of their new record, XTC played at West London s Hammersmith Palais on December 20th 1980, performing a dynamic show that was recorded for live FM broadcast by the BBC. Playing several cuts from Black Sea, alongside a host of tracks from their previous records, this CD now features the entire performance XTC gave on this legendary winter evening almost 40 years ago.
