Noone else but XTC’s Andy Partridge has been working with the 80s pop infused act Darling Boy (aka Alexander Gold) for the new single “Breaking Into Forever” as far as production goes.

Not all that surprising as we have seen Partridge’s credits popping up allover the place in the past few years namely in records by (and we limit to those which will interest the scene public more or less): Tricky, Blur, Thomas Dolby, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Icehouse, Primus, Sarah McLachlan, Bad Company, The Stranglers, The Mission, The Residents, and many many more.

Not sure if you will like the bubblegum pop produced here though.

On a side-note, Darling Boy refers to “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)”, a song written and performed by John Lennon. It was released on the 1980 album “Double Fantasy”, the last album by Lennon and Ono released before his death. Paul McCartney has stated this is one of his favourite songs composed by Lennon, and when he appeared on Desert Island Discs in 1982 included it as his favorite in his selection, as did Yoko Ono as the only John Lennon song in 2007. It was used as the B-side of “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” to promote the compilation album “The John Lennon Collection” in November 1982.

Music history, it never stops to amaze us doesn’t it.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Author Mark Fisher presents a new musical exploration of the cult UK act XTC: “What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book”. The book will hold 228 pages that involves not only the band, but also some of the world’s leading musicians and keenest XTC fans. “What Do You Call That Noise?” will be released on March 4.

Every member of XTC makes an appearance. Andy Partridge speaks about mixing, Dave Gregory on arranging and Barry Andrews on the piano. The book also features interviews with XTC drummers Pete Phipps, Pat Mastelotto, Ian Gregory, Prairie Prince, Dave Mattacks and Chuck Sabo. But that’s not all. In this new XTC book, you’ll find contributions from Peter Gabriel and members of The Jam, Squeeze, The Bangles, Dr Hook, New York Dolls, Barenaked Ladies, The Waitresses, Voice of the Beehive, Odds, Jellyfish, Fassine and Future of the Left, among many others.

In 2017, Fisher already published “The XTC Bumper Book of Fun for Boys and Girls”.

Here’s a YouTube teaser for the book:

2018 marked the 40-year anniversary of XTC’s first studio album “White Music”. While XTC was founded in 1972, it wasn’t until 1979 that XTC had their first UK charting single. Colin Moulding and Andy Partridge continued their partnership until the group’s dissolution in 2006. Lately there has been renewed interest in XTC, in part due to the release of eye-opening XTC documentary “This Is Pop” about the band’s history and legacy, which looks at XTC and their journey from mercurial pop outsiders to full blown national treasures and one of Britain’s most influential yet unsung bands.

In case you never heard of the band – which we highly doubt – then you will surely know this fabulous track:

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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