"Making Plans for Nigel" Released: 14 September 1979
Drums and Wires is the third studio album by the English rock band XTC, released 17 August 1979 on Virgin Records. It is a more pop-orientated affair than the band's previous, Go 2 (1978), and was named for its emphasis on guitars ("wires") and expansive-sounding drums. The album was their first issued in the United States and their first recorded with guitarist Dave Gregory, who had replaced keyboardist Barry Andrews earlier in 1979. It features a mix of pop, art rock, new wave and punk styles with much rhythmic interplay between XTC's two guitarists.
Bassist Colin Moulding's dissatisfaction with XTC's "quirky" reputation inspired the group to take a more accessible approach, starting with the non-album single "Life Begins at the Hop". Drums and Wires was recorded in four weeks at the newly built Town House studio in London with producer Steve Lillywhite and engineer Hugh Padgham, who were beginning to develop their signature gated reverb production technique, as demonstrated on the album opener and lead single "Making Plans for Nigel". Lyrically, the album focuses on the trappings or titillations of the modern world, with several songs about submitting to external forces. Frontman and guitarist Andy Partridge conceptualised Jill Mumford's cover artwork, which depicts the band logo forming the outline of a face.
Drums and Wires reached number 34 on the UK Albums Chart and number 176 on the US Billboard 200. "Making Plans for Nigel" reached number 17 on the UK Singles Chart and marked the band's commercial breakthrough. In 1980, Partridge recorded Take Away / The Lure of Salvage, an LP consisting mostly of dub remixes of Drums and Wires tracks. In later years, Drums and Wires became the best-known of XTC's albums. In 2004 it was ranked number 38 on Pitchfork's list of "The Top Albums of the 1970s", and in 2019, it was ranked number 31 in a similar list by Paste.
released by Virgin Records as the lead single from their 1979 album DrumsandWires. It was written by Colin Moulding, the band's bassist. The lyrics are...
stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often used in orchestras, concert bands, marching bands, parades, drumlines, drum corps...
a round, drum-shaped object such as a spool used to carry various types of electrical wires. Cable reels, which can also be termed as drums, have been...
player, such as bongo drumsand timpani. A number of different drums together with cymbals form the basic modern drum kit. Drums are usually played by...
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums in popular music context) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and sometimes other auxiliary...
London for Virgin Records. The resulting album, DrumsandWires, was released on 17 August 1979 and "Making Plans for Nigel", the single taken from the...
of Bare Wires combine these seven songs onto a single track with the title "Bare Wires Suite", seemingly inspired by the headline "Bare Wires: A Suite...
keyboards, and Martyn Barker on drums. The group has released an album of the same name, as well as a download-only EP known as Fine Wires Humming a New...
Story of the Thumb-Sucker" when they wrote "Scissor Man". from 1979's DrumsandWires. The British post-punk band Shock Headed Peters, formed in 1982, took...
reverb and a noise gate that cuts the tail of the reverb. The effect is typically applied to recordings of drums (or live sound reinforcement of drums in...
the local grocers, and at the age of 14 bought his first drum kit. Chambers played on XTC's 3D - EP, White Music, Go 2, DrumsandWires, Black Sea, English...
cross-sectional area. Wires are used to bear mechanical loads, often in the form of wire rope. In electricity and telecommunications signals, a "wire" can refer...
XTC—and particularly frontman Andy Partridge—were fatigued from their grueling touring regimen. During one performance on their 1979–1980 DrumsandWires...
electric piano, Minimoog, Clavinet, grand piano, vocals and saxophone Terry Chambers – drumsand vocals Additional personnel John Leckie – production/engineering...
"Buzzcity Talking" "Crowded Room" "The Rhythm" "I Am the Audience" DrumsandWires (1979) "Making Plans for Nigel" "Day in Day Out" "Ten Feet Tall" "That...
the wires making up a steel cable are less critical as the other wires easily take up the load. While friction between the individual wiresand strands...
that were spun by rapidly pulling out wires from drums wound inside the torpedo. Differential speed on the wires connected to the shore station allowed...
drums to guide the spooling of rope. Grooved shape steel segments were simply welded or screwed to existing plain steel drums. Ever since then, drum groovings...
Semantics Siouxsie and the Banshees - Hyæna Elton John - Breaking Hearts XTC - White Music (reissue) XTC - Go 2 (reissue) XTC - DrumsandWires (reissue) XTC...
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