XTC co-frontman Colin Moulding and original XTC drummer Terry Chambers give an epic live rendition of the XTC classic track known as ‘Grass’. Recorded live for their album titled ‘Naked Flames: Live at Swindon Arts Centre‘ This rendition gives the impression of a more weathered and experienced group of musicians done out of love and appreciation of their combined legacies. And this shows not only on ‘Grass’ but within each track of the live album in their own individual ways. It’s a rare thing to listen to a group of artists with such a valued and cherished history as XTC play each song with this in mind and heart because sometimes time wears on the soul. But, for one night, at the Swindon Arts Centre, time made the hearts of everyone there grow fonder and come alive as one because the fans were playing on the stage and not only listening in the aisles. And that is what makes TC&I great.
“I’d never heard a lot of these tunes in any concert hall and I felt I deserved a chance to put that right….yes a bit of TC&I too, but my songs have been stuck in the closet too long, and I wanted to dry clean them and give them an evening out, or six…”
– Colin Moulding
The album will be released on Friday, August 16, 2019 and can be ordered on CD exclusively via Burning Shed. A bundle order is also available, including two CDs from TC&I – the ‘Naked Flames’ album and their debut ‘Great Aspirations’ EP. Both options Include signed postcards (while stocks last).
About TC&I & Naked Flames: Live at Swindon Arts Centre
XTC co-frontman Colin Moulding and original XTC drummer Terry Chambers have announced their new TC&I album ‘Naked Flames: Live at Swindon Arts Centre’, which will be released on CD via Burning Shed. This follows up their debut ‘Great Aspirations’ EP, released in late 2017.
Naked Flames collects the best from TC&I’s six momentous and stupendous shows at the Swindon Arts Centre in October and November 2018. These were the first live shows together for Moulding and Chambers in 36 years.
They played a selection of the songs from the XTC catalogue written by Colin, many of which had never been played live as the band stopped touring in 1982, not long before Chambers’ departure. They also played material from TC&I’s debut EP, where Moulding andy Chambers offer some truly original music. ‘Scatter Me’ and the other three resulting recordings showcase Colin’s English pop vision – the first new material from Moulding in many years, featuring XTC’s trademark qualities of melody, rhythm, variety, and idiosyncratic subject matter, mixed in with nostalgia-fuelled by understated political anger.
“I’d never heard a lot of these tunes in any concert hall and I felt I deserved a chance to put that right….yes a bit of TC&I too, but my songs have been stuck in the closet too long, and I wanted to dry clean them and give them an evening out, or six,” says Colin Moulding.
“I was as excited about these gigs as I was in 1973 playing our first gig at the Arts Centre Swindon as a 17 year Helium Kid, and the first time to be playing with Colin together on stage since San Diego,” says Terry Chambers.
For this mini-residency in Swindon, XTC’s long-standing rhythm section was joined by music veterans Steve Tilling on guitar and Gary Bamford on keyboards and guitar.
Who knows whether there’s more to come… these artists do not even know… Here TC&I intend to release a memento of last autumn’s live shows in Swindon. For the fans who went… and for those who wished they had gone, this is a time capsule for all concerned…..enjoy this total eclipse.
2018 marked the 40-year anniversary of XTC’s first studio album ‘White Music’. Founded in 1972, XTC only had their first UK charting single in 1979. Moulding wrote the first three charting singles (‘Life Begins at the Hop’, ‘Making Plans for Nigel’, and ‘Generals and Majors’). Chambers left XTC in the 1980s, while Moulding continued with frontman Andy Partridge through the group’s dissolution in 2006.
There is new fervour over XTC, in part due to the eye-opening documentary ‘This Is Pop’ about the band’s legacy, exploring their journey from mercurial pop outsiders to full-blown national treasures and one of Britain’s most influential yet unsung bands.
Featured image by Simon Hogg.
“One of the more unexpected and pleasant surprises in the music world this year was the announcement of a new EP recorded by former XTC members Colin Moulding and Terry Chambers… the four-song release nestles in comfortably with the many songs that Moulding contributed to XTC over the years”
– Billboard“What Colin and Terry have created here is something tasteful, deftly wrought, restrained and wonderfully English, West Country…. lyrically funny, emotive and poignant and falls into a sort of alternative pop territory that seems to be done so well in this country. Triumph and hopefully merely the first chapter of a new musical novel”
– Dancing About Architecture“Formidable rhythm section… ‘Great Aspirations’ harkens a bit back to the early glory days of XTC, but how could it not with this pedigree… the EP is a delight to listen to… includes adult themes about things like conservation and happily facing mortality”
– Blurt Magazine
CREDITS
- Colin Moulding – Bass guitar and lead vocals
- Terry Chambers – Drums
- Gary Bamford – Keyboards, guitar, and vocals
- Steve Tilling – Lead Guitar and vocals
- Lee Moulding – Percussion and vocals
- Susannah Bevington – Soprano voice on Scatter Me
All songs were written by Colin Moulding except ‘Statue of Liberty’ (written by Andy Partridge)
Recorded by Stuart Rowe and Paul Ballimore. Assisted by Evan Costello.
Mixed by Stuart Rowe. Assisted by Terry Chambers.
Mastered by Jason Mitchell at LOUD Mastering
Design by Andrew Swainson from a concept by TC&I
Cover photography by Geoff Winn
Inner sleeve photography by Lou Dommett Young
Naked Flames: Live at Swindon Arts Centre Tracklist
- Say It
- Ten Feet Tall
- Scatter Me
- Wonderland
- Grass
- The Meeting Place
- Bungalow
- Big Day
- Standing In For Joe
- Generals and Majors
- Making Plans For Nigel
- Statue Of Liberty
- Life Begins At The Hop
LINKS:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeyKX6mvA6dFdIx39a3S89g/videos
https://www.facebook.com/tcandimusic
https://www.facebook.com/groups/433386610411385
https://soundcloud.com/user-316294301
https://burningshed.com/tcandi_naked-flames_cd
https://burningshed.com/tcandi_great-aspirations_cd?filter_name=colin%20moulding&filter_sub_category=true
