History Music / Skylarking

* NeverMyFault: Rundgren and Partridge pointed fingers at each other in separate interviews over Skylarking's polarity problems, likely due to the acrimonious recording sessions. Rundgren blamed Partridge for dropping "Dear God" from the initial tracklisting, leading to the need for a new master which Rundgren says introduced the polarity problems, while Partridge blamed an improperly wired mixing console in Rundgren's studio.

''Skylarking'' is a 1986 ConceptAlbum (sorta) by Swindon-based [[NewWaveMusic New Wavers]] turned neo-psychedelic AlternativeRock band Music/{{XTC}} and their eighth studio album.

The album was recorded in a bit of a TroubledProduction in 1986 in Woodstock, New York, with Music/ToddRundgren serving as producer, while Prairie Prince's drums were recorded separately at a studio in San Francisco (XTC had not had a permanent drummer since 1982, but worked with different drummers in the studio). Andy Partridge's original idea for the cover was to depict a woman's pubic hair with flowers involved. [[ExecutiveMeddling Virgin said no]], but somehow were convinced to use a cover that depicted a naked man and woman playing flutes. Partridge's original idea was used for the 2010 vinyl reissue. Its somewhat BaroquePop-meets-PsychedelicRock sound, heavily drawing from Music/TheBeatles, Music/TheBeachBoys and Music/TheKinks, gained praise from critics but barely crawled into the charts in both the USA and the band's native UK at first.

# "Sacrifical Bonfire" (3:49)

* ControlFreak: Andy Partridge claims that Rundgren was one during the sessions, as he'd already picked out a tracklisting and a concept from the band's pile of demo tapes before they arrived in the studio. Rundgren, for his part, claims that Partridge was one -- Rundgren was hired to be the producer and was simply doing his job, while Partridge whined, complained and loudly tried to override every decision Todd made. Rundgren eventually won, with Partridge grudgingly admitting that the album turned out as one of their very best due in large part to Rundgren's production work. But Rundgren and XTC never worked together again.

* ControlFreak: Andy Partridge claims that Rundgren was one during the sessions, as he'd already picked out a tracklisting and a concept from the band's pile of demo tapes before they arrived in the studio.

* EmphasisOnTheWrongSyllable: Partridge pronounces "umbilical" as "umBILical" in "Season Cycle".

The album was recorded in a bit of a TroubledProduction in 1986 in Woodstock, New York, with Music/ToddRundgren serving as producer, while Prairie Prince's drums were recorded separately at a studio in San Francisco (XTC had not had a permanent drummer since 1982, but worked with different drummers in the studio). Andy Partridge's original idea for the cover was to [[ContemptibleCover depict a woman's pubic hair with flowers involved]]. [[ExecutiveMeddling Virgin said no]], but somehow were convinced to use a cover that depicted a naked man and woman playing flutes. Partridge's original idea was used for the 2010 vinyl reissue. Its somewhat BaroquePop-meets-PsychedelicRock sound, heavily drawing from Music/TheBeatles, Music/TheBeachBoys and Music/TheKinks, gained praise from critics but barely crawled into the charts in both the USA and the band's native UK at first.

However, this situation was reversed when "Dear God" was issued as a single, reviving the album's sales somewhat. Originally intended for inclusion on the album, it was taken off of the UK release due to concerns over its perceived blasphemous content. Creator/VirginRecords would be proven partly right when the song saw release as a non-album single in the US (it was originally the B-side to "Grass"), prompting outcry from religious groups and at one point leading to a schoolboy holding the operators at his school's intercom by knifepoint and forcing them to air the song. However, despite [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity (or perhaps because of)]] the controversy, the single was a massive success, becoming [=XTC's=] [[OneHitWonder one hit]] in the United States and foreshadowing the emergence of alternative rock in the American mainstream the following year. As a result, the US release added "Dear God" back to the tracklist, albeit at the cost of cutting "Mermaid Smiled"; more recent reissues of the album include both tracks.

* YourCheatingHeart: "Another Satellite" is about Partridge's collapsing marriage to his wife Marianne and his relationship with Erica Wexler.

However, this situation was reversed when "Dear God" was issued as a single, reviving the album's sales somewhat. Originally intended for inclusion on the album, it was taken off of the UK release due to concerns over its perceived blasphemous content. Creator/VirginRecords would be proven partly right when the song saw release as a non-album single in the US (it was originally the B-side to "Grass"), prompting outcry from religious groups and at one point leading to a schoolboy holding the operators at his school's intercom by knifepoint and forcing them to air the song. However, despite [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity (or perhaps because of)]] the controversy, the single was a massive success, becoming [=XTC's=] [[OneHitWonder one hit]] in the United States, its success foreshadowing the emergence of alternative rock in the American mainstream the following year. As a result, the US release added "Dear God" back to the tracklist, albeit at the cost of cutting "Mermaid Smiled"; more recent reissues of the album include both tracks.

''Skylarking'' is a 1986 ConceptAlbum (sorta) by Swindon-based [[NewWaveMusic New Wavers]] turned neo-psychedelic band Music/{{XTC}} and their eighth studio album.

However, this situation was reversed when "Dear God" was issued as a single, reviving the album's sales somewhat. Originally intended for inclusion on the album, it was taken off of the UK release due to concerns over its perceived blasphemous content. Creator/VirginRecords would be proven partly right when the song saw release as a non-album single in the US (it was originally the B-side to "Grass"), prompting outcry from religious groups and at one point leading to a schoolboy holding the operators at his school's intercom by knifepoint and forcing them to air the song. However, despite [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity (or perhaps because of)]] the controversy, the single was a massive success, becoming [=XTC's=] [[OneHitWonder one hit]] in the United States, its success foreshadowing the emergence of AlternativeRock in the American mainstream the following year. As a result, the US release added "Dear God" back to the tracklist, albeit at the cost of cutting "Mermaid Smiled"; more recent reissues of the album include both tracks.

However, this situation was reversed when "Dear God" was issued as a single, reviving the album's sales somewhat. Originally intended for inclusion on the album, it was taken off of the UK release due to concerns over its perceived blasphemous content. Creator/VirginRecords would be proven partly right when the song saw release as a non-album single in the US (it was originally the B-side to "Grass"), prompting outcry from religious groups and at one point leading to a schoolboy holding the operators at his school's intercom by knifepoint and forcing them to air the song. However, despite [[NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity (or perhaps because of)]] the controversy, the single was a massive success, becoming [=XTC's=] [[OneHitWonder one hit]] in the United States. As a result, the US release added "Dear God" back to the tracklist, albeit at the cost of cutting "Mermaid Smiled"; more recent reissues of the album include both tracks.

[[quoteright:331:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Skylarking_3010.jpg]]

The album was recorded in a bit of a TroubledProduction in 1986 in Woodstock, New York, with Music/ToddRundgren serving as producer, while Prairie Prince's drums were recorded separately at a studio in San Francisco (XTC had not had a permanent drummer since 1982, but worked with different drummers in the studio). Andy Partridge's original idea for the cover was to [[ContemptibleCover depict a woman's pubic hair with flowers involved]]. [[ExecutiveMeddling Virgin said no]], but somehow were convinced to use a cover that depicted a naked man and woman playing flutes. Partridge's original idea was used for the 2010 vinyl reissue. Its somewhat BaroquePop-meets-PsychedelicRock sound, heavily drawing from Music/TheBeatles, Music/TheBeachBoys and Music/TheKinks, gained praise from critics but barely crawled into the charts in both the USA and the band's native UK at first. However, this situation was reversed when the controversial "Dear God" was issued as a single, reviving the album's sales somewhat.

# "Mermaid Smiled" (2:26)

# "Dear God" (3:34)

!! ''Dear God, I do believe in these tropes'':

--> ''Your name is on a lot of quotes in this book, and us crazy humans wrote it''
--> ''you should take a look, and all the people that you made in your image still believing that junk is true''.
* BlasphemousBoast:
--> ''Dear God, I don't believe in you.''

--> ''Did you make mankind after we made you? And the devil too!''

* NeverMyFault: Rundgren and Partridge pointed fingers at each other in separate interviews over Skylarking's polarity problems, likely due to the acrimonious recording sessions. Rundgren blamed Partridge for dropping "Dear God" from the initial tracklisting, leading to the need for a new master which Rundgren says introduced the polarity problems, while Partridge blamed an improperly wired mixing console in the studio Rundgren used.

* BrokenPedestal: Before he produced the album, Music/ToddRundgren was a fan of XTC. In interviews since, it's clear that he's just as bitter toward Andy Partridge as Partridge was toward Rundgren, largely over [[WagTheDirector Partridge's attempts to assert creative control]] of the project.

* GriefSong: "Dying", written about Colin Moulding's ailing grandfather.

* GriefSong: "Dying".

** A 2010 remaster by John Dent was released to vinyl by Andy Partridge's APE House company. This attracted attention because Dent announced he had discovered that a mistake during the original's mastering had reversed the sound polarity and made it sound more thin and bass-less, but had managed to restore the original sound quality. This one includes both "Mermaid Smiled" and "Dear God", but changes the order slightly, placing "Dear God" right before "Dying".
** Music/StevenWilson remixed the album from the original multitrack tapes in 2016. This version includes the original "reversed polarity" mix, the original "corrected polarity" mix, instrumental mixes created by Wilson, Wilson's stereo mix, Wilson's 5.1-channel surround sound mix, demo versions of the entire album, numerous demos and outtakes from the album sessions, and promo films for "Dear God" and "Grass".

** Music/StevenWilson remixed the album from the original multitrack tapes in 2016. This version includes the original "reversed polarity" mix, the original "corrected polarity" mix, instrumental mixes, Wilson's stereo mix, and Wilson's 5.1-channel surround sound mix.