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[HIGHLIGHT] Why XTC Needed Todd Rundgren to Make 'Skylarking' - From EP 389 · Booked On Rock with Eric Senich

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Check out this clip from a recent episode of book
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Don Rock.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Alfredo Marciano is the author of XDC Skylarking, A Life
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: in a Day, the making of a pop classic. Heading
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: into the album, Virgin Records essentially gave XDC an ultimatum
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: find a new direction or work with an American producer
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: who could help the band in the US. How much
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: pressure did that situation placed on the group And do
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: you think Skylarking would have been a completely different album
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: had those commercial pressures not existed.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: I think so, because as I remember, I think it's
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Dave Gregory. Gregory that says that until the point XDC
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: used to have quite a free hand in choosing the
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: producers and choosing and the sounds of their records. When
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: they were confronting with Todd Ranger with a very you know,
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: quite strong personality, they have to face a man whether
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: a real clear idea of what he wanted the record
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: to sound like, and this, ah, you know, pushed to
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: give way to a strong personality clash between him and
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: at the Partridge with the more you know, uh strong
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: willed musician in in XDC and also the main composer
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: and so yes, of course, the mark of Todd Drangren
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: is very much present in in this record. I think
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: it would be it could have been a very very
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: different record if it's another producer had been chosen to
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: work on it instead of instead of Todd Drungren. Uh.
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: This is even at the Partridge now recognizes this, recognizes
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: that that thought made sometimes the very very clever decisions
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: and put he left a very strong mark on the record.
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: But it was for a good cause. It was for
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: a good goal.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Chapter three paints a vivid picture of XDC arriving in
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Woodstock and finding Runggren's rustic Utopia Studios. Several accounts described
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: the studio as somewhat chaotic, mouse nests in the chamberlain,
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: equipment scattered around, and a less than glamorous set up.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Before Rundgren even arrived, the band spent days rehearsing and
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: preparing songs. What were Runggren's first impressions of XTC and
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: the material that they brought with him, And how quickly
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: did it become clear that his vision for the album
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: might differ from theirs.
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: When Todd listened to the demos, he had already an
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: idea of the sequence of the songs. And how to
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: put them in the record, which one to select to
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: pick up and which one to discard. And that was
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: a big shock and a big surprise for Portridge in particular,
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: that was used to a totally different way of working,
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: to scatter ideas around, to have maybe twenty twenty five
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: thirty songs and then let them develop naturally organically, and
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: after that choosing the best ones instead. Todd from the
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: very beginning said no, this is the thirteen fourteen song
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: that we are we're going to use. So this is
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: the sequence of the songs. Just put them on tape
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: in the right with the right sounds and with the
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: right arrangements and with the right performance. So a big
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: shock for for them and for for Puntries particularly. There's
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: another thing that happened. They were not used to. They
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: didn't begin to to work with the tramp with the drummer.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: They started the recording the record without the drummer, so
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: they have to use the click tracks. And it was
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: quite you know, this this place and this come forth
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: in for them. Just after they went to San Francisco,
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: Prairie Prince put the drum tracks on the songs.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Don't miss the full conversation available wherever you listen to
• 4:35
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