XTC: Fossil Fuel

ARGUABLY the most intense and most intensely English musical experience to have arisen from the brief heyday of the new wave that succeeded punk, XTC have always been too individual to fit in with any passing fashion. Even the early singles, when the band was being touted as part of the new wave, revealed a lyrical intelligence, ironic whimsy and a musical scope that clearly didn't belong anywhere outsideof Andy Partridge's private universe. Rather than fitting into a convenient marketing niche, it was essential for Partridge and Co to appeal to like-minded souls of which, fortunately, there have always been enough to keep the band afloat, even when the record industry didn't know where to find them.