1980-09-12
Black Sea
XTC
By Maeve C.
Black Sea was released on 12 September 1980. XTC’s fourth album opens with ‘Respectable Street’ and includes ‘Generals And Majors’, ‘Towers Of London’ and ‘Sgt. Rock (Is Going To Help Me)’. Steve Lillywhite produced the record.
The songs keep their edges while making room for big hooks. Follow the drums as closely as the vocal melodies: the arrangements give the band’s rhythmic precision plenty of space. The closing ‘Travels In Nihilon’ takes that insistence somewhere considerably darker.