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Repudiated, despised, rejected eighties. And yet... upon closer inspection, many interesting things happened, and referring to those years as the "dark ages" of pop music seems somewhat exaggerated. Certainly biased. The years of Reagan-era disengagement after the activist binge of the seventies, the disco after the strikes. But also years in which true gems of originality and musical creativity appeared. Take this album, for example. Semi-unknown. Quickly relegated to an ungrateful oblivion despite the universally recognized depth of the duo Andy Partridge – Colin Moulding and despite the genius of the best iconoclastic new wave madness, in its vernacular phase, fused with Beatles-inspired pop.
So, we're in 1982, the year when two albums destined for vast (and above all lasting) success were released, like the Cure's Pornography and Violent Femmes, but both exaggeratedly inferior to the potential expressed or merely suggested by English Settlement. This only contributes to the stereotypical image of the talented and (strangely) unlucky group capable of producing real masterpieces. Back to the record: the gestation is complicated and initially conceived as a double album, later assembled into a single work. It represents a kind of unicum in the production of the Swindon-native group because it is the convergence point between two ages of the band. It is a sort of stylistic summa between their early music (where their schizophrenic writing ability is much more readable) and what their sound will be in a few years (inspired pop songs, but more linear, and a less sporadic use of electronics to fill and embellish slick arrangements).
English Settlement is much more acoustic than previous works, and precisely this lightening allows one to fully enjoy the captivating melodic inventions and the elegant ties between verses and choruses that the Partridge-Moulding duo is capable of embedding in every single track. Result: excessive repeated listening risks leaving deep grooves in memory. And this is not necessarily a bad thing.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Melt the Guns ()
(Andy Partridge)
Programmes of violence,
As entertainment,
Brings the disease into your room.
We know the germ,
Which is man-made in metal,
Is really a key to your own tomb.
Prevention is better than cure,
Bad apples affecting the pure,
You'll gather your senses I'm sure
Then agree to,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
And never more to fire them.
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
And never more desire them.
Children will want them,
Mothers supply them,
As long as your killers are heroes.
And all the media
Will fiddle while Rome burns,
Acting like modern-time Neros.
Prevention is better than cure,
Bad apples affecting the pure,
You'll gather your senses I'm sure
Then agree to,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
And never more to fire them.
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
And never more desire them.
I'm speaking to the Justice League of America.
The U S of A,
Hey you,
Yes you in particular!
When it comes to the judgement day and you're standing at the gates with your weaponry,
You dead go down on one knee,
Clasp your hands in prayer and start quoting me,
'Cos we say...
Our father we've managed to contain the epidemic in one place, now,
Let's hope they shoot themselves instead of others,
Help to civilize the race now.
We've trapped the cause of the plague,
In the land of the free and the home of the brave.
If we listen quietly we can hear them shooting from grave to grave.
You ought to,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
And never more to fire them.
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
Melt the guns,
And never more desire them.
03 English Roundabout ()
(Colin Moulding)
People rushing round with no time to spare.
I'm so dizzy,
I'm neither here nor there.
In this traffic jam,
I just want to shout,
Let me off o' this English roundabout
English roundabout
And all the the horns go 'beep! beep!'
All the people follow like sheep,
I'm full of light and sound,
Making my head go round, round.
Everyone is cursing under their breath,
I'm a passenger,
I feel close to death,
Hopeless situation,
I have no doubt.
Stop the madness, English roundabout
English roundabout
And all the cars go 'brum! brum!'
And in my ears I feel a hum,
The neons blind my eyes,
All those tempers rise, rise.
Cars and buses go,
Puffing out their smoke,
Roll my window down,
I begin to choke.
I have had enough,
I just want to get out.
Let me off o' this English roundabout.
English roundabout.
05 Down in the Cockpit ()
(Andy Partridge) Man acting like a farmer and, He's treated the woman like a poor cow, We got to treat you better from now, But man is just a baby and, He's needing your milk of kindness. I vow to drink as much as you will allow. All the way through history, Man, machine, no mystery, All the way through history, Girl have the brain to act like the weaker sex. Down in the cockpit, Man need the woman to pull him right out of it, Down in the cockpit, Man need the woman to pull him right out of it. Queen wants the castle, back from the rascal, Queen wants the castle. The girl tribe are growing up and, Filling the world full with a new soul, To get so far they payed a high toll. Try not to make, The same mistakes, As man has done, or you'll fall in that hole, And you will see us changing our role. All the way through history, Man, machine, no mystery, All the way through history, Girl have the brain to act like the weaker sex. Down in the cockpit, Man need the woman to pull him right out of it, Down in the cockpit, Man need the woman to pull him right out of it. Queen wants the castle, back from the rascal, Queen wants the castle.
07 Snowman ()
(Andy Partridge)
It isn't even winter and I'm freezing, freezing,
This sort of feeling isn't pleasing,
And what I want to know, man,
why, oh why,
Does she treat me like a snowman?
She's been building me,
Up quite steadily,
Seems like I've been here years and years and years and years;
I wait patiently,
Froze in history,
All ice-water is tears and tears and tears and tears;
She treats me far too frosty,
This hanging on has cost me dear.
It isn't even winter and I'm shivering, shivering,
Waiting for the love that's not delivering,
What I want to know, man,
Why oh why,
Does she treat me like a snowman?
It seems you would say I was too soft-hearted,
If you made a dunce-cap I'd don it!
People will always be tempted to wipe their feet,
On anything with 'welcome' written on it.
It isn't even winter and I'm freezing, freezing,
And this sort of feeling isn't pleasing,
And what I want to know, man,
Why, oh why,
Does she treat me like a snowman?
08 Fly on the Wall ()
I am the fly on the wall,
My prying eyes are looking through your bottom drawer.
I just came flying through your door,
You didn't notice that your number had been called.
I see the mother who's beating the babe,
I see the money,
The pennies you save, Stored on computers,
From birth to the grave.
The fly on the wall, He's seeing it all.
I am the fly upon the wall,
You're in the index of the files that stand so tall.
Although your health is rather poor,
We have a place for those who cannot find a cure.
I know your income, Your daily crust,
I know your pleasures, Your passion, your lust,
I know when you're living and I know when you're dust.
The fly on the wall, He's seeing it all.
One is born and one will die, it's all understood
The bit that's in the middle doesn't count
I am the fly on the wall,
My prying eyes are looking through your bottom drawer.
I just came flying through your door,
You didn't notice that your number had been called.
I see the mother who's beating the babe, I see the money,
The pennies you save, Stored on computers,
From birth to the grave.
The fly on the wall, He's seeing it all. I am the fly
I am the fly upon the wall,
You're in the index of the files that stand so tall.
Although your health is rather poor,
We have a place for those who cannot find a cure.
I know your income, Your daily crust,
I know your pleasures, Your passion,
Your lust, I know when you're living and I know when you're dust.
The fly on the wall, He's seeing it all.
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