The
Dukes Of Stratosphere - 25 O'Clock/Psonic
Psunspot Reissues (Ape House Ltd.)
A quick backstory for the unaware: The Dukes
are the psychedelic alter-egos of British
punk- turned-pop-turned-psychedelic-themselves
group XTC, one of my very favorite bands.
These two releases are available now for the
first time separately on CD, after being paired
together as the Chips From The Chocolate
Fireball Anthology. The project was born
out of some unused studio time that XTC leader
Andy Partridge and producer John Leckie found
themselves
with after being taken off a production job.
Andy, anxious to have some fun making music,
and John, anxious to work with XTC again after
few album absence, decided to record some
psychedelic tunes that were way too over the
top for XTC. Andy, John, XTC bassist Colin
Moulding, XTC Guitarist Dave Gregory, and
Gregory's brother Ian - armed with a few paisley
shirts and some vintage recording equipment
- entered the studio and recorded the best
mini-LP the Pink Floyd never made. 25
O Clock is an incredible copy of all
of the mid to late 60's music that the members
of XTC grew up on. The title track, "Bike
Ride to the Moon," and "My Love
Explodes" wouldn't sound the least bit
out of place on Floyd's Piper At The Gates
Of Dawn or any of their early singles.
"Mole In The Ministry" owes a great
deal to The Beatles "I Am The Walrus."
25 O Clock was released on April
Fools Day 1985, with few knowing it was actually
XTC behind the psychedelic curtain, to great
success. It apparantly actually outsold the
previous couple of XTC records. A couple years
later, the group decided to reconvene in the
studio, this time for an LP. To me, the resulting
LP Psonic Psunspot just sounds like
an XTC record, which isn't a bad thing at
all. It just doesn't really compare to 25
O Clock which actually sounds like it
was released in 1967. The best part about
these reissues for me are the bonus tracks.
25 O Clock boasts 6 demos, (the most
interesting being Moulding's sole composition
on the record, "What In The World??..."
which sounds like it began life as a funky
dance tune,) and the fairly recent Dukes reunion
track, "Open A Can Of Human Beans."
Psunspot contains 6 pretty cool demos
of songs from the record, and both CD's contain
the promotion videos of their respective singles.
These reissues are an absolute MUST for any
XTC/Dukes fan, and only get me more excited
for the reissues of four more XTC titles that
are due out sometime this year. - Mike Yannich
