XTC's dangerous Andy Partridge and his bizarre 1980 album

Mr Partridge : Rotary

[Purchase]

In March of 1980 XTC's Andy Partridge released Take Away/The Lure of Salvage, a collection of very alternative takes of XTC songs and a few other things the Swindon celebrity kept in a closet. I'll let Red Starr have a go at describing the album in his 8/10 Smash Hits review:

Mr is Andy of XTC and (t)his is a VERY strange album. Based on the dub "GO" + EP given away with XTC's "Go2" album, this is basically old XTC rhythm tracks onto which genius Andy has added all kinds of echoed effects, strange rhythms, scat singing and electronics until they're virtually unrecognisable. Witty, wondrous and quite bewildering. Best tracks: "The Rotary", "Cairo."

"The Rotary" is based on the Drums and Wires track "Helicopter". 

The opening track "Commerciality" is based on the White Music outtake "Refrigeration Blues".

Among the critics reviewing the album was the "godfather of home recording" and WFMU FM DJ R. Stevie Moore who wrote this for Slash magazine ( his editor is Kickboy Face --the legendary and late Claude Bess).

Now we have Mr. Partridge, the Andy force of XTC (remember them?), out with a disc that takes description-defiance to the extreme. This "solo" LP is outrageous in the sense that it makes Godley-Creme (remember them?) sound like amateurs, compares to Fripp's "Exposure" like a gull to a fly, thumbs ContortionsWireGangofFourBuzzcocksReside ntsevenPiLallfaveweirdwavewavewaveeave into the dirt, puts ole Eno (remember him?) into his ambient casket, and most of all, transcends even the best of XTC (bless their hearts) by miles. 

 I love (and think I understand) too much musical genius. That must be my problem, because like so many vinyl junkies-cum-artists, I'm waiting. For something. Something to change the world, maybe? I dunno. Beatlemania must have been the last big mistake. 

 Partridge's tongue-in-cheek/dead serious collage of edge rock should be the best techno-pop album ever made (so far, right?). But it won't be. Is it gimmicks? Is it the brain of an extraordinary forerunner? Does even he know?? Smart punks are dangerous.