Released 27 February 1989 Length 60:50 Artist XTC Producer Paul Fox | Recorded 1988 Oranges & Lemons
(1989) Nonsuch
(1992) Release date 21 February 1989 Label Virgin Records Canada | |
 | ||
Studio Ocean Way Recording, Los Angeles Genres Pop rock, Alternative rock, Psychedelic rock, Psychedelic pop Similar XTC albums, Pop rock albums | ||
Oranges & Lemons is the eleventh studio album by English band XTC, released in 1989. The name of the album came from the old English nursery rhyme, also referenced in the song "Ballet for a Rainy Day" on their previous album Skylarking. Oranges & Lemons was XTC's second double album, after 1982's English Settlement. The band was sent to Los Angeles to record the album, and Paul Fox was recruited for his first producing gig.
Contents
Release
The album produced three singles, "Mayor of Simpleton", "King for a Day", and "The Loving". "Mayor of Simpleton" was a minor US hit (reaching No. 1 on the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, No. 72 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and No. 46 on the UK singles chart) and was the only XTC song ever to hit the US Hot 100 chart. It was accompanied by a music video, which resembled the opening credits of an Avengers-type TV show and saw significant airplay on MTV, especially on the alternative music show 120 Minutes. In addition, the Steely Dan-influenced "King for a Day" reached No. 10 on the US alternative / modern rock charts. The album itself was a commercial success, reaching No. 1 on the US college / alternative album chart, No. 44 on the US Billboard Top 200 chart, and No. 28 on the UK album chart.
To promote the album and appease the stage-shy Andy Partridge, the band went on a two-week acoustic radio-station tour of the US on which they performed a few songs from the album and a few medleys of earlier hits, as well as album reject "Blue Beret". The tour commenced on 15 May 1989 in Boston and ended on 31 May 1989 at Eastern Sound Studios in Toronto before a live studio audience of two hundred people.
The album cover, designed by Andy Partridge with Dave Dragon and Ken Ansell of The Design Clinic, is directly inspired by a 1965 WOR-FM 98.7 radio advert poster by Milton Glaser.
Variations
The album was also available as a limited edition 3-Mini CD box set (CDVT2581), with a slightly different running order (switching the positions of "Cynical Days" and "Across This Antheap"); also, because "Poor Skeleton Steps Out" opens disc two of this edition the song starts cleanly rather than cross-fading from previous song "The Loving". A Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab gold-plated "Ultradisc" CD remaster (UDCD 682) was released in 1997.
On the 2001 remastered CD edition, "Garden of Earthly Delights" is a new edit (removing the brief gap between the fade-in section and the first verse), "King for a Day" is an alternate mix (with more low-end information and an emphasised woodblock part), and "One of the Millions" has a shorter introduction (omitting the first two rings of the bell in the fade-in section).
It was remixed for stereo and 5.1 surround sound from the original analogue tapes by Steven Wilson in 2015.
Track listing
All tracks written by Andy Partridge, except where noted.
Personnel
with:
Charts
Album
Single
Songs
1Garden of Earthly Delights5:03
2The Mayor of Simpleton3:58
3King for a Day3:37