XTC

XTC
MUMMER (1983)
REMASTER
320 KBPS

Mummer, the first album to follow Andy Partridge's mental breakdown, which led to XTC's retirement from touring, is very much the work of an eccentric in isolation. The album is a collection that builds on the groundwork of English Settlement with gentle, acoustic songs that evoke pastoral images and peaceful times. There are moments of real inspiration, resulting in some of the band's finest songs to date — "Love on a Farmboy's Wages," "Great Fire," and "Lady Bird" — and the sound sets a pleasingly consistent mood, although the sameness tends to work against the lesser material. Only the out-of-place afterthought of "Funk Pop a Roll," a tirade against the music industry, breaks things up, recapturing the abrasive Partridge of past.

1. Beating Of Hearts
2. Wonderland
3. Love On A Farmboy's Wages
4. Great Fire
5. Deliver Us From The Elements
6. Human Alchemy
7. Ladybird
8. In Loving Memory Of A Name
9. Me And The Wind
10. Funk Pop A Roll
Bonus tracks
11. Frost Circus
12. Jump
13. Toys
14. Gold
15. Procession Towards Learning Land
16. Desert Island