h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I still find it difficult to listen to "Skylarking" without thinking back to the horror that surrounded the sessions for that album. There was some really incredible stuff recorded but I still can't help wondering how it would have turned out with a more judicial producer on the project. There was no way of getting around the stalemate between Andy and Todd. It was excruciating to hear about, much less have to be party to the constant pressure for weeks on end. There was no compromising once Todd decided on the tracks he wanted to use. The band simply didn't have much of a say. And for Andy and Colin, as songwriters, these are their babies. And no one wants to be told how to bring up their own children. So for someone to just shoot you down without the slightest interest to any of your own suggestions is criminal at best.

In hindsight, much has been forgiven and some even applauded in regards to the production of this album, both critically and from the band. But I still say that the best combination of songs were not used and as a result, the album's day passing theme is reduced a lazy sunday afternoon floating in a sonombulistic haze, rather than taking from all the emotional phases that one experiences thoughout a typical day. Quite simply, the edges that were sharpened to fine and dangerous points during the creation of this album were whitled away and polished over with a cruel perfection. Essentially, the perfect murder. This easily could have been the album that marked the end the band forever. Andy without Colin is unthinkable. No XTC is even more unthinkable. We are very lucky indeed that hearts and minds were eventually mended.

Considering all this band has been through, it's a wonder they still forge on, all the while getting better and better. Having to battle all the nonsense they've had to endure over the years shows that first and foremost, music is their number one love. Name one other band that after twenty years of recording would still be faced with the humiliation of having to submit demos to their record label before being given the go ahead to record an album. You can't. XTC is probably not the most horribly treated band in the history of pop music but they are the undoubtable the finest band to ever be treated so horribly.