Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)
Sidelined by a decade-long "strike" against their former record label, XTC's Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding nonetheless kept themselves busy writing songs and recording demos during the 1990s. The resulting body of work was divvied up stylistically, with the more pastoral/orchestral pieces consigned toApple Venus Volume One(andHomespun, its accompanying home-demo collection). The brash electric guitar flourish that launchesWasp Star's "Playground" heralds a collection that leans toward the jangly guitars and jagged rhythms of the band'sBlack SeaandEnglish Settlementprime. Adorned with ornate harmonic flourishes and their trademark pop sophistication,Wasp Starfinds creative mainstay Andy Partridge in a distinctly upbeat, romantically intoxicated state of mind (as witnessed by the virtually irony-free "Stupidly Happy"), yet one in which history-bred suspicions die hard. It's Moulding who seems the most melancholy here, with the gentle romantic prodding of "In Another Life" and in the downright gloomy take on his hometown's future, "Boarded Up." Known for occasional pointed social jabs, XTC's focus has become a bit more philosophical with age, Partridge and Moulding perhaps gleaning the wisdom that the hardest battles are sometimes fought on the home front. But if music this joyous and rewarding is the result, it's been the noblest of struggles.--Jerry McCulley