Mummer

Mummer, from 1983, was the first fruit of the British pop combo's "pastoral" period, but merely proved to be the inaugural chapter in XTC's mercifully brief midlife crises. A commercial flop, stalling outside of the U.K. Top 50--a major setback considering the bridgeheads established in both the British and American charts by the preceding Black Sea and English Settlement albums--Mummer was considered something of an artistic disappointment at the time. Even so, any record that contains such moments of delicious rural innocence as the folksy "Love on a Farmboy's Wages" ("shilling for the fellow who brings the sheep in") or the mangled, chamber orchestra pyromania of "Great Fire" is worth a listen, while the addition of several alternately odd and poppy B-sides only adds to the intrigue. The poorer cousin of the subsequent Skylarking, perhaps, but well worth reassessing now that time has passed. --Kevin Maidment