Black Sea (album)

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Black Sea
Studio album by XTC
Released	September 12, 1980
Recorded	June–July, 1980 at The Town House, London, England
Genre	Pop rock
Length	48:55
Label	Virgin Records
Producer(s)	Steve Lillywhite
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Pitchfork Media (9.2/10) link Q link Robert Christgau (B+) link Rolling Stone link
XTC chronology
Drums and Wires (1979)	Black Sea (1980)	English Settlement (1982)

Black Sea is an XTC album released on September 12, 1980. It spawned five singles - "Generals And Majors" (released August 9, 1980 and reached No. 32 on the UK singles chart and No. 104 on the Billboard Pop chart), "Towers Of London" (released October 10, 1980 and reached No. 31 on the UK singles chart), "Sgt. Rock (Is Going To Help Me)" (released December 5, 1980 and reached No. 16 on the UK singles chart), "Love At First Sight" (released January 23, 1981 in Canada only) and a re-recording of "Respectable Street" (released March 13, 1981). The band re-recorded the song to change a few words as per the BBC - who ended up never playing the clean version anyway.

The album reached No. 16 on the UK album chart, No. 41 on the Billboard U.S. Hot 100 album chart and No. 1 on the New Zealand album chart.

The album is considered one of the more consistent albums by the group. Black Sea is not as dark as its predecessor, Drums and Wires, although it is still focused on big drums and sharp guitars. Early copies of the album came with the sleeve enclosed in a lime-green paper bag.

| Virgin media mogul Richard Branson appeared in the "Generals and Major's" video with several other cadaverous aristocrats!

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by Andy Partridge, except where noted.

1. "Respectable Street" – 3:37
2. "Generals and Majors" (Colin Moulding) – 4:04
3. "Living through Another Cuba" – 4:44
4. "Love at First Sight" (Moulding) – 3:07
5. "Rocket from a Bottle" – 3:30
6. "No Language in Our Lungs" – 4:53
7. "Towers of London" – 5:24
8. "Paper and Iron (Notes and Coins)" – 4:17
9. "Burning with Optimism's Flames" – 4:15
10. "Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)" – 3:56
11. "Travels in Nihilon" – 7:04

[edit] CD bonus tracks

1. "Smokeless Zone" (Moulding) – 3:50
2. "Don't Lose Your Temper" – 2:32
3. "The Somnambulist" – 4:38

[edit] Personnel

• Terry Chambers - Tama drums, Snyper drum synthesiser, free form vocals
• Dave Gregory - guitars, synth, piano, vox humana
• Colin Moulding - vocals, Epiphone Newport bass
• Andy Partridge - vocals, guitar, synth

XTC
Andy Partridge | Colin Moulding Dave Gregory | Terry Chambers | Barry Andrews
Discography
Studio albums White Music (1978) | Go 2 (1978) | Drums and Wires (1979) | Black Sea (1980) | English Settlement (1982) | Mummer (1983) | The Big Express (1984) | Skylarking (1986) | Oranges and Lemons (1989) | Nonsuch (1992) | Apple Venus Volume 1 (1999) | Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) (2000) The Dukes of Stratosphear releases: 25 O'Clock (1985) | Psonic Psunspot (1987) | Chips from the Chocolate Fireball (1987) Compilations, instrumentals, demos, live and tribute albums: Take Away / The Lure of Salvage (1980) | Waxworks: Some Singles 1977-1982 (1982) | Beeswax: Some B-Sides 1977-1982 (1982) | The Compact XTC (1987) | Explode Together: The Dub Experiments 78-80 (1990) | Rag and Bone Buffet: Rare Cuts and Leftovers (1990) | BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert (1992) | Drums and Wireless: BBC Radio Sessions 77-89 (1994) | A Testimonial Dinner: The Songs of XTC (1995) | Fossil Fuel: The XTC Singles 1977-92 (1996) | Upsy Daisy Assortment (1997) | Transistor Blast: The Best of the BBC Sessions (1998) | Homespun (1999) | Homegrown (2001) | Coat of Many Cupboards (2002) | Instruvenus (2002) | Waspstrumental (2002) | Apple Box 2005 Fuzzy Warbles albums: Fuzzy Warbles Volume 1 (2002) | Fuzzy Warbles Volume 2 (2002) | Fuzzy Warbles Volume 3 (2003) | Fuzzy Warbles Volume 4 | (2003) | Fuzzy Warbles Volume 5 (2004) | Fuzzy Warbles Volume 6 (2004) | Fuzzy Warbles Volume 7 (2006) | Fuzzy Warbles Volume 8 (2006) | Hinges (2006)
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