XTC - 45 (Vol. 1)

Most young bands would have been lucky to have one great songwriter. XTC had two, Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding, and between 1977 and 1980 they proved it with a run of singles as inventive as anything the new wave produced. 45 (Vol. 1) gathers those A-sides onto one LP.

The sequence traces the band's rise from the wired, twitchy energy of "Science Friction," "Statue of Liberty," and "This Is Pop?" through "Are You Receiving Me?" and "Life Begins at the Hop" to the breakthrough of Moulding's "Making Plans for Nigel." Side two runs from the US A-side version of "Ten Feet Tall" through "Generals and Majors" and "Towers of London" and closes with the soundtrack rarity "Take This Town."

XTC treated every single as an event, and these songs show a band sharpening its pop instincts at remarkable speed on the way to the classic albums that followed. It is the band's Virgin-era 45s on vinyl for the first time since the early eighties.

Transferred from Virgin's original singles masters and mastered by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering, pressed on 200-gram vinyl. A UK import, out November 6. Reserve yours now.