Speaker 1: Check out this clip from a recent episode of book
Speaker 1: Don Rock.
Speaker 2: Alfredo Marciano is the author of XDC Skylarking, A Life
Speaker 2: in a Day, the making of a pop classic. Heading
Speaker 2: into the album, Virgin Records essentially gave XDC an ultimatum
Speaker 2: find a new direction or work with an American producer
Speaker 2: who could help the band in the US. How much
Speaker 2: pressure did that situation placed on the group And do
Speaker 2: you think Skylarking would have been a completely different album
Speaker 2: had those commercial pressures not existed.
Speaker 3: I think so, because as I remember, I think it's
Speaker 3: Dave Gregory. Gregory that says that until the point XDC
Speaker 3: used to have quite a free hand in choosing the
Speaker 3: producers and choosing and the sounds of their records. When
Speaker 3: they were confronting with Todd Ranger with a very you know,
Speaker 3: quite strong personality, they have to face a man whether
Speaker 3: a real clear idea of what he wanted the record
Speaker 3: to sound like, and this, ah, you know, pushed to
Speaker 3: give way to a strong personality clash between him and
Speaker 3: at the Partridge with the more you know, uh strong
Speaker 3: willed musician in in XDC and also the main composer
Speaker 3: and so yes, of course, the mark of Todd Drangren
Speaker 3: is very much present in in this record. I think
Speaker 3: it would be it could have been a very very
Speaker 3: different record if it's another producer had been chosen to
Speaker 3: work on it instead of instead of Todd Drungren. Uh.
Speaker 3: This is even at the Partridge now recognizes this, recognizes
Speaker 3: that that thought made sometimes the very very clever decisions
Speaker 3: and put he left a very strong mark on the record.
Speaker 3: But it was for a good cause. It was for
Speaker 3: a good goal.
Speaker 1: Chapter three paints a vivid picture of XDC arriving in
Speaker 1: Woodstock and finding Runggren's rustic Utopia Studios. Several accounts described
Speaker 1: the studio as somewhat chaotic, mouse nests in the chamberlain,
Speaker 1: equipment scattered around, and a less than glamorous set up.
Speaker 1: Before Rundgren even arrived, the band spent days rehearsing and
Speaker 1: preparing songs. What were Runggren's first impressions of XTC and
Speaker 1: the material that they brought with him, And how quickly
Speaker 1: did it become clear that his vision for the album
Speaker 1: might differ from theirs.
Speaker 3: When Todd listened to the demos, he had already an
Speaker 3: idea of the sequence of the songs. And how to
Speaker 3: put them in the record, which one to select to
Speaker 3: pick up and which one to discard. And that was
Speaker 3: a big shock and a big surprise for Portridge in particular,
Speaker 3: that was used to a totally different way of working,
Speaker 3: to scatter ideas around, to have maybe twenty twenty five
Speaker 3: thirty songs and then let them develop naturally organically, and
Speaker 3: after that choosing the best ones instead. Todd from the
Speaker 3: very beginning said no, this is the thirteen fourteen song
Speaker 3: that we are we're going to use. So this is
Speaker 3: the sequence of the songs. Just put them on tape
Speaker 3: in the right with the right sounds and with the
Speaker 3: right arrangements and with the right performance. So a big
Speaker 3: shock for for them and for for Puntries particularly. There's
Speaker 3: another thing that happened. They were not used to. They
Speaker 3: didn't begin to to work with the tramp with the drummer.
Speaker 3: They started the recording the record without the drummer, so
Speaker 3: they have to use the click tracks. And it was
Speaker 3: quite you know, this this place and this come forth
Speaker 3: in for them. Just after they went to San Francisco,
Speaker 3: Prairie Prince put the drum tracks on the songs.
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