Nonsuch (album)

After the band's double album Oranges & Lemons (1989) was released to acclaim from music critics and modest commercial success, XTC took a short break. Band leader Andy Partridge produced And Love For All (1989), the second album by The Lilac Time, while also compering for an unbroadcast children's game show named Matchmakers,[1] and Dave Gregory played for Johnny Hates Jazz, Marc Almond and Francesco Messina whilst also producing for Cud, while Colin Moulding performed a special event concert with David Marx and the Refugees, a Swindon-based band that reunited him with former XTC member Barry Andrews.[2] The band soon reunited and began writing their next, tenth album, the soon-to-become Nonsuch, determined to record their new compositions in their native England, as recording Oranges & Lemons in Los Angeles had made the band absent from their families back in England.[1]

Having written some 32 songs for Nonsuch by 1991, it nonetheless took some time for the album to get off the ground. Initially, the band had issue with the musical director of their label Virgin Records, who, after seeing 32 songs written for Nonsuch, was convinced the band "could do better" and asked them to write other songs. Band leader Andy Partridge reflected: "We were ready [to record the album in 1990], but our English record company refused all our songs."[3] In Partridge's recollection, the director threatened that Virgin would drop the band if the band don't write an album "of twelve Top Ten guaranteed singles," and noted that this attitude held the band up in recording Nonsuch, which they refused to rewrite, believing its songs to be among the greatest they had written. With the band sitting on the material, the director left the label a year later, and his replacement liked the band's content, hurrying the band to record the album.[4]

Chipping Norton Recording Studios, where Nonsuch was recorded.

The band's initial choice of producers for the album were not available; they pursued Steve Lillywhite and Hugh Padgham, both of whom the band worked with before, to co-produce the album, but Lillywhite was unavailable due a holiday with his wife Kirsty MacColl and Padgham did not want to produce the album alone,[5] while the band found that hiring John Paul Jones as producer would be too expensive, and a deal to work with Bill Bottrell, who had recently worked on Dangerous (1991) by Michael Jackson, fell through.[6] With Partridge becoming so desperate to record Nonsuch that he "would have done it with the window cleaner,"[4] eccentric English producer Gus Dudgeon was the band's final choice, having been enticed by his work with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.[5] He produced the album, recorded at Chipping Norton Recording Studios, Oxfordshire, between July and October 1991.[7]

When Dudgeon arrived in the studio and Partridge saw his attire and expensive lifestyle, he felt "he was wrong [for the job], but by that time it was difficult to go back."[8] The band nicknamed him Guff Dungeon "because he was so flatulent." Partridge reflected: "Gus is old school, full of blusters and bluff [mimicking Dudgeon] 'Elton gave me this Rolls-Royce and I said, 'Oh Elton darling...'"[5] Dudgeon had heard of the tense relationship between Partridge and producer Todd Rundgren during the Skylarking sessions, and "had come in armed with a heavy supply for vitriol;" Partridge, meanwhile, started to compare his relationship with Dudgeon to Rundgren, especially after Dudgeon suggested removing one of Partridge's favourite songs on the album, "Rook", though the recording sessions were civil and the two regularly exchanged banter.[5] Dudgeon reportedly kept a tape of him and Partridge joking in the sessions and played it to party guests.[5] Nonetheless, Partridge later commented that "ultimately he wasn't the right producer for us."[9]

At Gregory's suggestion, Dave Mattacks of Fairport Convention played drums on the album.[7] When discussing "what drummer, as a fantasy, [the band] would really like to work with," Mattacks was top of the band's list. The same week, a friend of the band saw him perform live with Fairport Convention and brought XTC back a tour programme, in which Mattacks stated Joni Mitchell and XTC were the artists he would most like to drum for. Partridge, speaking to Bob Harris in a radio interview, commented that he "just had to get on the phone to him straight away."[10] Mattacks agreed to appear on the album because of the band's personality and the quality of the songs,[11] and later reflected that although it was challenging fitting into the band, it was not difficult, elaborating that "the experience was enjoyable. Great songs."[12] Meanwhile, Partridge felt that Dave Gregory improved at arranging musical structures during the sessions.[4] During recording of the album, Moulding and Gregory "found themselves working at a car rental spot to sustain themselves between royalty checks."[13]

The album was mixed at Rockfield Studios, South Wales in November and December 1991.[7] The mixing was due to be done by Dudgeon who instructed Partridge not to attend, but Partridge insisted he would appear anyway. At the studios, Dudgeon refuted suggestions from Partridge concerning the mix and insisted he mix the album as he desired. This was at odds with engineer Barry Hammond, who had listened to Partridge's suggestions.[14] Both Partridge and Virgin Records were vocal in their dissatisfaction with the first three mixes that Dudgeon had created, with one Virgin executive even comparing one such mix to "ice blasts"; as a result, Dudgeon was subsequently fired, with Nick Davis, who had just finished mixing We Can't Dance by Genesis, being hired to mix the final version of Nonsuch, which he did in a comparatively fast space of two and a half weeks.[15] The album was mastered by Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk, New York.[7]

The detailed sound of Nonsuch retains parts of the psychedelic flourishes that defined the band's late 1980s work, except here "integrated into an elaborate, lush pop setting that falls somewhere between Skylarking and Oranges & Lemons," according to critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic.[16] Similarly, David Quantick of Vox found it to continue the jangle rock of the aforesaid albums.[17] Compared to Oranges & Lemons, Partridge described Nonsuch as being less immediate and simpler sounding: "It's not as immediate, and that's the way we want it."[18] Noting the album's eclecticism, music critic Greg Kot considered the album "a mix of Broadway pomp, McCartneyesque sing-song, lilting melodies, delightful odes to everyday pleasures and humbling introspection,"[19] while T.J. McGrath of Dirty Linen said Nonsuch "studiously explores jazz-fusion ("That Wave"), folk-rock ("Then She Appeared"), soundtrack muzak ("Bungalow"), cowboy punk ("Crocodile"), psychedelic-power swirl ("Humble Daisy"), and classical sad ballad ("Rook")."[20] Guitar and keyboard textures on the album regularly shift,[21] and strings, horns and piano are included in the album's instrumentation in a fashion that has been compared to the Beach Boys.[22]

Thirteen of the songs are written by Partridge, with the remaining four written by Colin Moulding.[7] In Isler's opinion, Partridge's songs are concerned with themes such as "love, politics and the human comedy," and noting songs which "[blur] these topical boundaries,"[21] while the NME noted lyrics about omnibuses, orchards and miscreants.[23] Blogger Roger Friedman of Details noted lyrical content ranging from book burning, the Gulf War and P.T. Barnum and felt the album was a song cycle,[24] while, citing themes of sad retirement in "Bungalow" and maddening alienation in "Rook", Martin Townsend of Vox called the album "precisely of its time," feeling it to reflect "the mental and physical landscape of the [then-current] recession," and felt it was arguably the band's darkest album.[25] It has also been cited as the band's most political album.[26] Unlike previous XTC albums, Partridge composed many of his songs on Nonsuch using the keyboard, an instrument Partridge referred to as "this grinning shark; stroke its teeth and any minute it'll swallow you up." He said he was so unfamiliar with the keyboard that he played it "by drumming on it, two fingers here, two fingers there."[18]

A 17th-century map of Nonsuch Palace illustrated by cartographer John Speed, which served as the basis of the album cover.[7]

Partridge selected the name of the album after encountering a drawing of the former Nonsuch Palace in Surrey and, thinking that the archaic word "Nonsuch" meant "does not exist" rather than, as he later learned, "unique". Other proposed names for the album were Balloon, which Partridge thought was "a lovely, round word" which "evokes associations with related traveling", The Last Balloon Ride Home and Milkfloat.[43] Partridge said of the final title: "It is a very beautiful word, but also one of my favorite record companies, the American record company Nonesuch, which releases this old music I like a lot. I then discovered it was the most marvellous castle ever, covered with gold, sculptures and paints, it looked like a fairy tale's wedding cake. It was built by that tyrant, Henry VIII, who razed a village for it. The edifice quickly disappeared, it exists only on two second-rate drawings."[3] He felt the album title was a good way to sum up the otherwise disparate content of the album and present them as an entirety, explaining to one interviewer how he picked the title:

"Its usually words and phrases [that he uses as album titles] that get stuck in my head like some sort of fish hook that I can't get out, and with a mind to finding some kind of ribbon that would tie up any given bouquet of disparate songs which makes up an album, because they're all totally disparate blooms. You got roses in there, you got nettles, you got common daisies, you got the most exotic orchids, and how the hell do you wrap them all up and present them so that people are going to be able to accept it as a whole thing? So its finding that piece of ribbon and finding that piece of cellophane. What type of ribbon and cellophane you use to wrap all these things up."[4]

The album cover features an illustration of the palace, taken from a 1611 map of Surrey by John Speed.[7] Deborah A. Levinson of The Tech felt that the "certain formal elegance" of the Nonsuch Palace illustration and the typeface used in the packaging—a variation of Caslon, albeit with wobbly, uneven letters intended to appear like handwriting—displays a "gracefulness that nulls the listener, making Nonsuch sound harmless, when in fact it's XTC's most political album."[26] Each song on the album has its own illustration on the back cover. Partridge explained: "[T]hey call them chapbook drawings, they're supposed to educate children, you know, you gave a pic then you have a word underneath it, and the child is supposed to look at the drawing and copy the word and all that sort of stuff."[44]

Nonsuch was released on 27 April 1992 by Virgin Records in the United Kingdom and by Geffen Records a day later in the United States.[18] In addition to single CD and cassette releases, Nonsuch was released as a double vinyl in the UK but not in the US.[4] It reached number 28 on the UK Albums Chart, becoming their second consecutive and final Top 40 album,[45] although it only stayed on the chart for two weeks.[46] Comparatively, the album spent eleven weeks on the US Billboard 200, where it peaked at number 97.[47] The album also reached number one on the Rolling Stone College album chart,[48] at the time a significant feat,[49] and number 75 in the Australian ARIA Charts.[50] Music critic Nick Reed described its minor commercial success as "business as usual for the band."[13]

The album produced two singles, the first of which was "The Disappointed", which reached number 33 on the UK Singles Chart,[51] and became nominated for an Ivor Novello Award in 1993.[41][52] The second single "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" reached number 71 in the UK.[51] "Wrapped in Grey" was intended as the third single in September 1992, but was withdrawn by Virgin immediately as they did not think it would be commercially successful.[53] Ultimately 1,000 CD copies were pressed and it was the band's final single before leaving Virgin. Partridge reflected: "It was the great cot-death single – they pressed it and then changed their minds, such a shame."[5] Promotional videos for all three songs were made, with the "Peter Pumpkinhead" video receiving much airplay on MTV that summer; the band also performed "Books Are Burning" live with Mattacks on The Late Show on BBC Two in April 1992. The album was promoted with music magazine advertisements that featured joke quotes such as "George Bush doesn't get it", "David Duke thinks it contains communist codes" and "William Kennedy Smith just wants to know if it gets chicks hot."[54] Other advertisements featured the tagline: "Still Not on Tour (Cheer up, there is a new album)".[55]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[16]
Chicago Tribune	[19]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[56]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[57]
NME	7/10[23]
Q	[42]
Record Collector	[58]
Rolling Stone	[22]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[59]
Select	4/5[60]

Nonsuch received acclaim from music critics.[13] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune felt that "the vast majority of the 17 songs are dazzlers,"[19] while Michael Azerrad of Rolling Stone felt that "Nonsuch is what happens when three men who grew up on Sgt. Pepper and Pet Sounds stay true. Too lovely for college radio, too challenging for legions of baby boomers unwilling to progress, XTC has built itself a very gorgeous golden cage."[22] Brent Anderson of Sunday Morning Post said Nonsuch is "a multidimensional feast that shows XTC at its most adept and affecting,"[61] while Scott Isler of Musician favourably compared parts of Nonsuch to the Beach Boys' Smiley Smile (1967).[21] Terry Staunton of NME wrote that the record "would be an improvement to anyone's record shelf [...] another extremely good XTC album with the usual fractured guitar melodies coupled with cute and curious lyrics about what a nice place England is. Oddly enough, it's the Americans who buy most of this stuff."[23]

By contrast, Robert Christgau dismissed the album as a "dud" and later remarked that "[since the band's] idea of a class pop arranger was the same as Elton John's, I figured that if they were feuding with their record company their record company was right."[62] Entertainment Weekly's Bill Wyman called the album a "kaleidoscopic, highly intelligent collection of off-kilter pop craft that goes on a bit too long. At its best, however, it’s a witty and engaging White Album-ish collection of fairy tales and funny stories."[57] David Hepworth of Q wrote that "Nonsuch contains 17 dense, melodic, intelligent and occasionally irritating pop songs," while commenting that "[t]he level of XTC's invention is evidenced by the arrangements of the guitars and the layers of backing vocals." However, he criticised the album's "tendency to underscore the lyrical message of tunes like ['War Dance'] which is sometimes tiresome."[42] In 1993, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, but lost to Tom Waits' Bone Machine.[63] Colin Larkin rated the album five stars out of five in The Encyclopedia of Popular Music,[56] and ranked "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" at number 85 in his list of the 100 best singles ever.[56]

Among retrospective reviews, Oregano Rathbone of Record Collector gave the album a perfect score, calling it "a paragon of peerless songwriting and enchanted, inimitable musicianship."[58] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described Nonsuch "modest, minor masterpiece" and the band's "most immaculate album to date," finding the album's content to be "carefully composed and crafted."[16] David Quantick of Q reflected that the album was "very much malt XTC, a fine blend of all their various styles matured to an extraordinary refinement. So no hits then, but 17 excellent songs."[64] Writing in 2014, Nick Reed of The Quietus wrote that Nonsuch is "refreshingly more restrained than Oranges & Lemons was, and holds up a lot better today." He elaborated: "Listening to it today, it feels like XTC realizing that it may be their last chance, and therefore putting everything they've got into making something timeless."[13] Conversely, The Chicago Reader's J.R. Jones dismissed it as "downright awful, and its album cover, a two-dimensional drawing of a Tudor palace, is an apt illustration for its opaque sound."[65] Stereogum's Robert Ham evaluated the album as the second-worst of the group's discography. He criticised the production's "digital sheen" which he thought was most audible in "poor Dave Mattacks' drums. Each cymbal crash and snare hit appears to be spilling over with ones and zeros."[66]

Partridge was pleased with Nonsuch, joking that "on a scale of 0 to 1, its nearly 1."[4] According to The Boston Globe writer Jim Sullivan, although Partridge pleased with the acclaim the album received, he remained modest about its success.[48] In the seven years following the album's release, XTC went on strike against Virgin Records, partly because of the label's refusal to release "Wrapped in Grey" as a single, and would not return with new music until the album Apple Venus Volume 1 (1999).[67] Musician John Grant cited Nonsuch as his favourite XTC album, calling it "lousy with masterpieces."[11] Joe Jackson called Nonsuch perhaps his favourite XTC album and "a treasure trove to be dipped into again and again."[68]

On 11 June 2001, Virgin released a new version of Nonsuch, with remastering by Ian Cooper, as part of their XTC remasters series released without input from the band. The original back cover design, reproduced on the back cover of the new remastered edition, was accidentally printed an inch and a half too far to the right. Moulding said of the remasters: "The whole thing was a shambles. I think the artwork in particular. A lot of it's all wrong, and so badly printed. I think Nonsuch, the whole thing is shifted about an inch-and-a-half one way I think. It's just a complete muck-up. I don't think they really thought too much about it."[69]

New 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround sound mixes from the original Nonsuch multitracks by Steven Wilson were released by Partridge's label Ape Records on 4 November 2013.[70] It was released as single CD, CD+DVD and CD+Blu-Ray editions, the video disc of the latter two editions including a plethora of bonus material, including a DVD-Audio version of the album, home demos of the songs by Andy Partridge, work tapes of several songs by Colin Moulding and, exclusively to the Blu-Ray edition, a 48-minute "making of" documentary documenting the album's recording and the music videos for "The Disappointed" and "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead".[71] One notable change with the 2013 versions is that the crossfades between several songs were removed, a decision Wilson persuaded Partridge into allowing.[71]

XTC

• Andy Partridge – vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, harmonica, tambourine, percussion, shaker, synthesizers, bell tree
• Colin Moulding – vocals, bass guitar, electric guitar, acoustic guitar
• Dave Gregory – electric guitar, electric 12-string guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, synthesizers, Hammond organ, backing vocals, church bell

Additional personnel

• Dave Mattacks – drums, tambourine, samples, shaker, percussion
• Gus Dudgeon – "ringmaster," tambourine, percussion, chorus
• Guy Barker – flugelhorns, trumpet
• Florence Lovegrove – viola
• Rose Hull – cello
• Stuart Gordon – violin
• Gina Griffin – violin
• Neville Farmer – chorus

Technical

• Gus Dudgeon – producer
• Barry Hammond – engineer
• Nick Davis – mixing
• Simon Dawson – mixing assistant
• Dave Dragon – sleeve
• Kevin Westenberg – photography

String and brass arrangements by Dave Gregory, except "Rook" and "Omnibus" by Andy Partridge and "War Dance" by Colin Moulding. Strings on "The Disappointed" arranged by Andy Partridge and Dave Gregory.