Todd Rundgren on producing XTC's Skylarking with Andy Partridge

Todd Rundgren discusses Andy Partridge and the infamous XTC Skylarking recording sessions with Steve Jones in this interview excerpt from Jonesy's Jukebox.
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[moonbeanification]

Skylarking is an absolute masterpiece. The writing, the performing, the production. Truly magnificent pop music! ♥

[deanevangelista]

I have the first release without "Dear God." I had never heard that song until months after listening to Skylarking.

[mikehagmaier]

Todd’s comments on The Big Express album are totally on point. It’s a good album but there’s not a lot of breathing room on it.

[ryanjacobson]

Todd makes some good points.... Artists tend to have big egos and be perfectionists, so often times they will claim that a work of theirs would have been better with more time, more money etc... But as Todd points out, an artist can drown themselves in meticulously working and re-working something for ages, with no real improvement made.

[krisscanlon]

This feud is legendary...Andy XTC loved Todd's droll sense of humor. Todd is oddly opinionated and wasn't taking their bull. It would of been crazy if they had any footage of their debates. Todd's been dining out on this story! Todd wanted control of the beast! Again Todd defacing the muzak! Todd knew his mixes! Big Express Todd😂

[irishsox]

Between the Big Express & Skylarking XTC did the Dukes of Stratosphere.

[thommyberlin]

Andy is a control freak. No wonder he couldn't manage a decent (post English Settlement) record until Todd said 'I'm here till it's done. AND he was completely right about Dear God.

[ArmandoMPR]

Steve Jones is a bit of a fool if he thinks Steel Wheels is a bad record, when it’s actually quite good.

I’m a huge XTC fan, but Steel Wheels is clearly better than White Music, Go 2, English Settlement, The Big Express, and Wasp Star. It’s also just as good as Mummer and Oranges and Lemons.

[MacSoundSolutions]

I got to chat with Todd at the Iridium in NYC after a show, Todd was in the audience not performing, I introduced myself as the house recording engineer and said I have one word for you", Todd said "ok" I said "Skylarking" Todd said 'Oh one of the hardest records I ever produced." And we talked for a bit before a waitress interrupted us and he had to split, it was so cool to hear about it from him and he was very friendly, It's one of my favorite albums of all time.

[theonlyjamiebourgeois]

10, 000 Umbrellas is such an incredible song! That 3 song medley is my favorite part of the album.
This is so cool for me because in the late '80s I was a punk/metal-head but somehow fell in love with the Skylarking album. It's one of those albums sort of like Sergeant Pepper's, where every song is a completely different ensemble of instruments and sounds.

[dougvolchko]

Todd totally gets it that a space is a powerful as a note.

[Fontsman-]

'Mermaid Smiled, ' is breathtakingly beautiful. Skylarking is a magnificent achievement.

[jasperchance]

Great job by Todd, probably the best production XTC ever got.

[Prousto]

Definitive interview on the subject. TR is such an unassuming guy that it’s easy to overlook his status as one of the most important musicians/producers of the last fifty-plus years.

[billhennigan]

just bought this and black sea..I am 72 yrs old and never heard XTC..love Todd and have a signed blackie strat..A great producer, performer and guitarist with Ringo's all star

[gLittle]

Skylarking is one of MANY examples of a beautiful masterpiece album somehow made through personal troubles, fighting, musical disputes etc. Right from the beginning, "Summer's Cauldron" going into "Grass"...Just love that album so much and always will!

[victorhawkins]

I interviewed Andy upon the release of ORANGES & LEMONS. It was like pulling teeth (I hadn't been privy to the cold turkey Valium withdrawals, etc.). Now, I LOVE me some XTC...and I LOVE me some Todd! But when I praised SKYLARKING and asked about working with Todd, the interview was effectively over. Andy would not discuss it, saying he had nothing nice to say about "Mr. Rundgren." Yikes! I was glad to discover, via a couple of recent Chanan Hanspal video interviews with Andy here on YouTube, that he's in a MUCH better place than he was all those years ago. Andy even mentioned Todd in a non-disparaging manner and actually called him "Todd!"

[Archibald_von_Munch]

Enough for Us is one of my top 5 songs by anyone at any time. Skylarking is a masterpiece.

[Uuuuyyyyuuu]

I have heard about a different side of Todd Rundgren and the way he treats people that unfortunately changed my opinion of him. There are two or more sides to every story of course, but the story told about how he treated the band Splendor during the making of their debut album is comical. He was an absolute a-hole to those guys from the start and ended up walking away mid project. The first hand account of this is relayed by the singer/songwriter of the band Splendor Waymon Boone on a podcast called "Something Came From Baltimore: Waymon Boone".

It's one thing to have a bad day, it's one thing to have artistic disagreements, but to me- the mark of an individual is how you treat other people. Todd went beyond disagreements and literally treated other people with contempt, aggression, and malice, which is relayed first hand by the band that experienced his negative behavior. I wonder if he has changed since then.

[mwells]

Skylarking is one of those albums that is a barometer for musical taste. Anybody who actually likes music can appreciate what XTC did with this album.