Apple Venus Volume 1 (1999)

Apple Venus Volume 1 is the thirteenth studio album by the English rock band XTC, released on February 17, 1999. It was the first on the band's own Idea Records label, distributed through Cooking Vinyl in the United Kingdom and TVT Records in the United States. The album relies heavily on strings, acoustic guitars and keyboards, expanding upon the more orchestral approach developed on the group's previous LP Nonsuch (1992), whilst its lyrics reflect themes of paganism, middle age, romance and rebirth. Apple Venus Volume 1 was met with critical acclaim and moderate commercial success, peaking at number 42 on the UK Albums Chart and number 106 on the Billboard 200 in the US.

Bandleader Andy Partridge, who wrote most of Apple Venus, characterised it as "orchustic" (a portmanteau of "orchestral" and "acoustic"). He meant for the album title to refer to "a beautiful woman". The album effectively marked a comeback for XTC, who spent half the decade on strike against their former label Virgin Records. Apple Venus was originally planned as a double album, but because the group did not have enough money to record all the material they had stockpiled, they elected to split the more rock-oriented songs as "volume two" (released one year later as Wasp Star).

The making of Volume 1 was fraught with personal conflicts, budgetary concerns and numerous false starts. Most of the orchestral portions were rush-recorded in one day with a 40-piece symphony at Abbey Road Studios, and had to be edited over a months-spanning period. It was the group's last album with guitarist and keyboardist Dave Gregory, who departed during the sessions due to frustrations with Partridge. By the time of its release, Partridge no longer viewed XTC as a band, and preferred it to be known as a "brand" covering his and Colin Moulding's music.

In late 1999, XTC released Homespun, a version of Apple Venus consisting of its demos. This was followed in 2002 with Instruvenus, containing the album's backing tracks. In 2003, Mojo ranked Apple Venus at number 47 in its list of the "Top 50 Eccentric Albums". The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Background

XTC's previous album, Nonsuch, was received with critical acclaim when released in April 1992. The song "Wrapped in Grey" was intended as the third single from the album, but was immediately withdrawn by their label Virgin Records. This left bandleader Andy Partridge particularly dismayed with the label. In 1993, he conceived the band's next project to be an album of bubblegum pop songs; the LP would have disguised itself as a retrospective compilation featuring 12 different groups from the early 1970s. The lyrics were heavily sexual, with song titles such as "Lolly (Suck It and See)" and "Visit to the Doctor". Partridge recalled playing some demos for Virgin agents, who rejected the project; he compared their reaction to the "Springtime for Hitler" scene from Mel Brooks' film The Producers.

Virgin also denied Partridge's requests to renegotiate or revoke XTC's contract. A&R representative Paul Kinder said: "What XTC wanted and what Virgin were prepared to do were poles apart. The contract was so old it got to the point where Andy wanted the moon and Virgin weren't prepared to give it him." Whatever new music the band recorded would have been automatically owned by Virgin, and so the group went on strike, refusing to record new material. Partridge was also beset by health issues and in the process of divorcing his first wife at the time.

In 1997 (also reported as in late 1994), the band found themselves freed from financial debt and Virgin after "making some heavy concessions"; Partridge fantasied that the label had taken pity on the band for giving them a "rotten deal". He expressed distaste with the word "comeback" to describe Apple Venus, telling an interviewer in 1998: "We never went away! We just weren't legally allowed to work. Comebacks always have such glittery-suit, Fablon, working-men's clubs connotations."

Composition and lyrics

By 1997, Partridge and bassist Colin Moulding had amassed over 40 new songs, most of which were written by the former. The 11 that were ultimately selected for Apple Venus Volume 1 were written between 1992 and 1994. Partridge's offerings were an elaboration on the orchestral style he had developed on the Nonsuch tracks "Omnibus", "Wrapped in Grey" and "Rook". When Nonsuch was completed, Partridge purchased an E-mu Proteus, and felt inspired by its samples, even though he was not a proficient keyboard player. His writing process changed in that, for some cases, the arrangement was completed before the actual composition. The songs changed little from how they were conceived on their early demo tapes when recorded in a professional studio.