XTC — Black Sea

It seems a little lazy to tag an XTC record as “new wave” but that’s what I found and I can’t think of anything better. Black Sea (1980) is definitely my favorite of their albums. Mary is the real XTC fan in this house, but anyone can enjoy songs like “Respectable Street” and “Generals and Majors.” Other than those my favorite is probably “Burning with Optimism’s Flames.” I’m not sure when or where she got this but it appears to be another “cut out.” Black Sea made it to No. 41 on the Billboard charts so no doubt many more were sold than returned to the label or put on sale in the cut out bins.

Track listing from Wikipedia:

All songs written by Andy Partridge, except where noted.

1. “Respectable Street” – 3:37
2. “Generals and Majors” (Colin Moulding) – 4:04
3. “Living through Another Cuba” – 4:44
4. “Love at First Sight” (Moulding) – 3:07
5. “Rocket from a Bottle” – 3:30
6. “No Language in Our Lungs” – 4:53
7. “Towers of London” – 5:24
8. “Paper and Iron (Notes and Coins)” – 4:17
9. “Burning with Optimism’s Flames” – 4:15
10. “Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)” – 3:56
11. “Travels in Nihilon” – 7:0