Editing XTC (section)

===Group dynamic===

====Partridge and Moulding====
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| source = —Dave Gregory, 2007<ref name="Filter2007"/><ref>{{cite tweet |user=xtcfans |last=Partridge |first=Andy |author-link=Andy Partridge |date=29 January 2019|number=1090266549489811456|title=WC- Misquote, "Andy had a sort of unwritten rule that everything we did had to be completely original; any hint of chop-ism, any rock clichés,..." I think Dave said 'ROCKISM', not chop-ism.}}</ref>
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XTC's principal songwriters were guitarist Andy Partridge and bassist Colin Moulding. Partridge, who wrote the majority of XTC's songs, was the group's frontman and de facto leader. He drove the band's image, designed many of their record sleeves, and handled most of their interviews.<ref name="Word04">{{cite magazine|last1=Paphides |first1=Peter |title=Senses Working Overtime |url=http://chalkhills.org/articles/Word200404.html |website=Word |date=April 2004|issue=14}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|He described himself as the band's "battery"<ref name="Word04"/> and expressed resentment "that the other three, inevitably, would go off sightseeing while muggins here would be needed for radio, TV and magazine interviews."<ref name="teamrock16" /> Moulding said he was "happy for him to do the talking."<ref name="Moulding00">{{cite web |last1=Bernhardt |first1=Todd |title=Working from the Inside: A conversation with Colin Moulding |url=http://chalkhills.org/articles/TBColin20000523.html |website=Chalkihlls |access-date=24 August 2019 |date=23 May 2000}}</ref>}} His involvement with XTC's record sleeves stemmed from his disappointment with the sleeve for the "Statue of Liberty" single, which depicted a poorly cropped photo of the statue and the XTC logo in red.{{sfn|Farmer|1998|p=88}} He was less successful in his attempts to involve himself in the band's music videos, as he said, the woman in charge of Virgin's video department rebuked all his ideas, some of which other groups later adopted in award-winning videos.{{sfn|Partridge|Bernhardt|2016}}

Partridge and Moulding did not write together. Of their partnership, Moulding stated in 1992: "There's a lot of freedom to do what each of us likes with the other's songs, however. ... Each person puts his little prints on them."<ref name="brenda"/> They did collaborate on arrangements, with "horn lines and harmonies, that sort of thing."<ref name="OF03"/> He also lent praise to Partridge as "a real ideas man, and I love good ideas. It's not hard contributing bass parts when you have such good songs to contribute to."<ref name="brenda"/>{{refn|group=nb|Occasionally, Partridge also took to recording the bass parts, such as on Moulding's "What in the World??..." and "Vanishing Girl",<ref>{{cite web|last1=Bernhardt|first1=Todd|title=Andy discusses 'Mayor of Simpleton'|url=http://chalkhills.org/articles/XTCFans20070107.html|website=Chalkhills|date=7 January 2007|access-date=20 September 2017}}</ref> however, it was out of necessity in those cases due to recording logistics.<ref>{{cite tweet |user=xtcfans |last=Partridge |first=Andy |author-link=Andy Partridge |date=29 January 2019|number=1090265166019682311|title=WC-"Partridge even took to recording the bass parts himself, such as on Moulding's "What in the World??..." and "Vanishing Girl" Purely out of necessity, as Colin was playing rhythm guitar and the Dukes cut as live as they could. Not megalomania.}}</ref>}}

Discussing Moulding's songs, Partridge said that few were included on XTC albums because Moulding was not a prolific writer.<ref name="RundgrenRadio-Andy"/> Gregory said that all of Moulding's proposed songs would be recorded to preserve democracy in the band, and "occasionally at the expense of some of Andy's often superior offerings. This didn't always go down well, either with Andy or the band, but Colin did have some killer melodies and a sweeter sound to his voice that made a welcome diversion when listening to an album as a whole."<ref name="Filter2007"/> Partridge opined that Moulding's songs initially "came out as weird imitations of what I was doing", but by the time of ''Drums and Wires'', "he really started to take off as a songwriter."<ref name="Contrast1990" /> He was more effused with Moulding's offerings for ''Skylarking'', which included the highest ratio of Moulding songs for any XTC album.{{sfn|Myers|2010|p=258}}  On Moulding's bass-playing, Partridge praised his "old-fashioned" tendency to match notes to the bass drum.<ref name="oversight"/>

In ''Song Stories'', Neville Farmer comments that Partridge "is the boss—erratic but willful [and] runs the band on instinct", while Moulding "is the voice of calm ... a foil to Andy's radical side."{{sfn|Farmer|1998|p=309}} Music journalist Peter Paphides felt that the songwriters' personalities "couldn't seem more different," with Moulding "phlegmatic, shy, and heartbreakingly pretty" and Partridge an "art-school dropout ... uptight, dominating and extrovert."<ref name="Word04" /> In Moulding's view, Partridge also typically acted as an "executive producer" for albums while frequently undermining the authority of the actual credited producer.{{sfn|Myers|2010|p=255}}{{refn|group=nb|Partridge commented: "There's a lot of, 'Andy must be awful in the studio' [written on the Internet]. I'm not, I'm mister fucking nice!"<ref name="teamrock16" /> He said that the only producers he ever had trouble with were Todd Rundgren on ''Skylarking'' and Gus Dudgeon on ''Nonsuch''.<ref name="RundgrenRadio-Andy" />}}  Their recording approaches differed in that Moulding sometimes preferred spontaneous or imperfect performances, whereas Partridge working method was to refine a song through repeated [[take]]s.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bernhardt |first1=Todd |last2=Moulding |first2=Colin |author-link2=Colin Moulding|title=Colin discusses 'The Meeting Place' |url=http://chalkhills.org/articles/XTCFans20090125.html |website=Chalkhills |date=26 January 2009}}</ref> The band occasionally took to the term "Andy-ness" to describe Partridge's studio indulgences.{{sfn|Twomey|1992|p=162}}{{refn|group=nb|Partridge thought of the band's producers as "a funnel through which I can talk to other members of the band ... They'll accept it coming from another person, but they won't accept it from a contemporary."<ref name="Chicago2000" /> }}  Despite this, they rarely found themselves encumbered by serious creative differences. In 1997, Moulding called one dispute over a ''Skylarking'' bass part the "only real argument" between him and Partridge in the band's history.{{sfn|Farmer|1998|p=194}}

====Andrews, Gregory and drummers====

Barry Andrews, XTC's keyboard player for their first two albums, emerged as a third solo songwriter on the group's second album ''Go 2'', and left the band shortly thereafter.<ref name="Mojo1999" /> His replacement, guitarist Dave Gregory, did not contribute songs, but was the only one in the band who could [[full score|score]] music, and frequently contributed orchestral arrangements.{{sfn|Farmer|1998|p=61}} Moulding said that when Andrews was in the band, Partridge had "no kind of foil" to work with, as both musicians were drawn to dissonant harmonies: "[Andy] used to like the real kind of angular, spiky, upward-thrusting guitar ... if one is angular, the other has to kind of straighten him out ... So when Dave came in, and was a much straighter player, it seemed to make more sense, I think."<ref name="LBAT09"/> Starting in 1982, Gregory extended his talents to keyboards as well,<ref name="Mojo1999" /> since Partridge and Moulding were not adept with the instrument.{{sfn|Farmer|1998|p=309}}

Gregory never presented a completed idea for a song to the band partly because he felt intimidated by Partridge's scrutiny.{{sfn|Farmer|1998|p=309}}{{refn|group=nb|During the sessions for ''Drums and Wires'' or ''Black Sea'', Gregory did present an original song, but it was rejected on the grounds that it was too derivative of [[Steely Dan]].<ref>{{cite tweet |user=xtcfans |last=Partridge |first=Andy |author-link=Andy Partridge |date=29 January 2019|number=1090264471774232581|title=WC-Re Dave songwriting, "He never presented a completed idea for a song to the band, partly because he felt intimidated by Partridge's scrutiny." He did bring up a song, either at DRUMS or SEA sessions. The rest of the band thought it too derivative of Steely Dan,so didn't pursue}}</ref>}} Since he "couldn't continue grinding out old blues clichés and [[power chord]]s," he decided to "think more in terms of the songs as the masters and the instruments as the servants."<ref name="Filter2007" /> Discussing Gregory's contributions to the group, Farmer writes of "a precision and correctness that carries through from his prerehearsal of guitar solos to ... his encyclopedic knowledge of guitars and who-played-what-on-which-instrument-with-which-amplifier-in-which-studio-on-which-record-under-the-influence-of-what-star-sign-or-guru-or-drug."{{sfn|Farmer|1998|p=309}}

Terry Chambers was the band's original drummer. He was described by Partridge as "the [drummer] that's been the most primitive, but probably the most thrilling for inventiveness, because he would blunder into [different ideas]."<ref name="oversight">{{cite web |last1=Bernhardt |first1=Todd |title=Andy Partridge: Providing XTC's Rhythmic Oversight |url=http://chalkhills.org/articles/TBAndy19980517.html |website=Chalkhills |access-date=25 August 2019 |date=17 May 1998}}</ref> One of his characteristic techniques was the use of [[cymbal choke|hi-hat chokes]].<ref name="LBAT09" /> After he left in 1983, the group employed a succession of session drummers for their studio recordings.<ref name="brenda"/> This included [[Pete Phipps]] (''Mummer'' and ''The Big Express''), [[Prairie Prince]] (''Skylarking'' and ''Apple Venus''), [[Pat Mastelotto]] (''Oranges & Lemons''), and [[Dave Mattacks]] (''Nonsuch'').{{sfn|Farmer|1998}} [[Drum machine]]s also began to be incorporated into the group's sound.<ref name="oversight"/> None of the studio drummers were accepted as official members of the band. Partridge explained that this was because the group did not tour and because "There's lots of local, interpersonal language that means nothing to anybody outside the band and is very difficult to bring people into."<ref name="George83"/>