XTC – Skylarking (200g Vinyl LP)

XTC’s ever popular Todd Rundgren produced Skylarking available on a single vinyl LP with all 15 tracks for the first time ever! It comes beautifully mastered for single LP from the corrected polarity masters by Jason at Loud Mastering and pressed on 200g vinyl with lyric sheet included. The original LP didn’t include “Dear God.” After “Dear God” was a hit, “Mermaid Smiled” was dropped on later versions to include the track. The full album has only been on vinyl in 2LP deluxe editions playing at 45RPM.

Released in 1986, XTC’s ambitious eighth album is a pop masterpiece built around a lush song-cycle with songwriting and arrangements greatly influenced by the post-psychedelic pop work of The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Kinks. Encompassing themes of birth, death, love, passing of the seasons and religion, Colin Moulding’s 5-songs here wonderfully complement those of Andy Partridge whose material dominates the rest of the atmospherically rich set. In addition to “Dear God,” it is home to the singles “Grass” and “The Meeting Place.”

1. Summer’s Cauldron
2. Grass
3. The Meeting Place
4. That’s Really Super, Supergirl
5. Ballet for a Rainy Day
6. 1000 Umbrellas
7. Season Cycle
8. Earn Enough for Us
9. Big Day
10. Another Satellite
11. Mermaid Smiled
12. The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul
13. Dear God
14. Dying
15. Sacrificial Bonfire