Northern Wish

Back in 1989 I bought my first XTC album. I was late on the scene as an XTC fan since this was, in fact, their ninth album. I had heard “Making Plans For Nigil”, “Senses Working Overtime” and “Dear God” and a few other things over the years but had never been drawn in. Anyway something inspired me at the time to buy “Oranges And Lemons” when it came out. It was their most Beatle-esque album to date and it easily became on of my favorite albums. The first three songs in particular are one of the best 1-2-3 punches of any album. “Garden of Earthly Delights”, “The Mayor of Simpleton” and one of Colin Moulding’s best songs “King for a Day”. There are other great songs on the album as well including “The Loving”, “Merely A Man” and “Chalkhills And Children”. It is a quirky, varied and inspiring album both musically and lyrically. The follow up album “Nonesuch” was almost as good and contained their last “Hit” single “The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead” which is apparently about John F. Kennedy if you get the metaphor.

Anyway I found this 12inch single version of “King For A Day” on http://bornagain80s.blogspot.com.
Here is the video from youtube .
Here is the second version of the video

and here is them performing it on David Letterman after not performing for 7 years due to Andy Partridge’s well documented stage fright issues.

Also, here is live XTC show from 1979 at the Rainbow Room in London which was given to me by RP. The setlist is:
Beatown; Real By Reel; The Rhythm; Roads Girdle The Globe; Science Friction; Life Begins At The Hop; Helicopter; Battery Brides; Making Plans For Nigel; Scissor Man; Instant Tunes; Outside World; Life Is Good In The Greenhouse; Crowded Room; Radios In Motion; Are You Receiving Me?; Set Myself On Fire. Encores: Meccanik Dancing; This Is Pop; Dance Band; Statue Of Liberty.
It is downloadable in 2 parts:
Part 1
Part 2