their rock snap but does it with brass, acoustic guitars, violins, woodwinds and minimal percussion. (
Volume 2, due out later this year, promises more wattage.) Those beloved Fab Four references still surface on
Volume 1, but instead of evoking the Sixties, Partridge and Moulding suggest a timeless pastoral past rich with melody and subtlety.The protracted studio process nearly destroyed these New Wave graduates: Guitarist Dave Gregory left the band, and producer Haydn Bendall abandoned the sessions. Yet what remains ranks with XTC's best. A succinct, vitriolic spew aimed at Partridge's ex-wife, "Your Dictionary," in particular proves that Swindon, England's favorite sons can -- even without amplification -- sire more feisty allure than alt kids half their vintage. (RS 808)
BARRY WALTERS
