''Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)''
| Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by XTC | ||||
| Released | 23 May 2000 | |||
| Recorded | April–December 1999, Idea Studios, Wiltshire and Chipping Norton Recording Studios, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom | |||
| Genre | Pop rock, rock | |||
| Length | 50:54 | |||
| Language | English | |||
| Label | Cooking Vinyl | |||
| Producer | Nick Davis | |||
| XTC chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) | ||||
| ||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 75/100 [1] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [2] |
| NME | (7/10) [3] |
| Pitchfork | (8.0/10) [4] |
| PopMatters | (9/10) [5] |
| Q | [6] |
| Robert Christgau |  [7] |
| Rolling Stone | [8] |
Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) is the fourteenth and final studio album by the English band XTC, released on Cooking Vinyl/Idea Records on 23 May 2000. It is the second volume of the Apple Venus set and reached the UK Top 40 albums chart.
At this point, guitarist and singer Andy Partridge and bassist and singer Colin Moulding were the only two band members left. The duo therefore utilised session musicians on every track to fill in the musical elements that they were incapable of performing themselves. Partridge's daughter Holly made her singing debut on record singing backup vocals in the song "Playground"; she now sings and plays guitar in the English pop-rock group The SheBeats.
In 2002 XTC released an instrumental version of the album entitled Waspstrumental.
The song "Stupidly Happy" has been featured in an episode of the British teenage drama Skins, and in 2011 it was used in an advertisement for DFS.
Colin Moulding's songs were all older material presented for previous albums but rejected due to space or other considerations. "Standing In For Joe" was originally written for aborted 'Bubblegum' album project in the early 1990s and "In Another Life" was originally demoed for Oranges & Lemons.
Track listing
All tracks written by Andy Partridge, except where noted.
| UK CD: COOKCD 194 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 1. | "Playground" | 4:17 | |
| 2. | "Stupidly Happy" | 4:13 | |
| 3. | "In Another Life" | Colin Moulding | 3:35 |
| 4. | "My Brown Guitar" | 3:51 | |
| 5. | "Boarded Up" | Moulding | 3:23 |
| 6. | "I'm the Man Who Murdered Love" | 3:44 | |
| 7. | "We're All Light" | 4:39 | |
| 8. | "Standing in for Joe" | Moulding | 3:42 |
| 9. | "Wounded Horse" | 4:11 | |
| 10. | "You and the Clouds Will Still be Beautiful" | 4:18 | |
| 11. | "Church of Women" | 5:06 | |
| 12. | "The Wheel and the Maypole" | 5:55 | |
Personnel
- Colin Moulding – vocals, bass guitar, harmonica on "In Another Life", guitar on "Boarded Up"
- Andy Partridge – vocals, guitar
with:
- Caroline Dale – cello
- Nick Davis – keyboards
- Simon Gardner – flugelhorn
- Patrick Kiernan – violin
- Peter Lale – viola
- Holly Partridge – backing vocals on "Playground"
- Prairie Prince – drums (2, 3, 4, 12)
- Chuck Sabo – drums (1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
- Kate St. John – oboe
- Matt Vaughn – programming
- Gavin Wright – violin
- Production
- Haydn Bendall – recording engineering
- Nick Davis – producer, mixing, recording engineering
- Simon Dawson – mix engineer
- Alan Douglas – recording engineering
- Barry Hammond – recording engineering
- Bob Ludwig – mastering
- Leonard B. Johnson - A&R Coordination
Chart performance
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart [9] | 40 |
| Billboard 200 [10] | 108 |
References
- ↑ "XTC - Wasp Star (Apple Venus, Volume 2)". Metacritic. CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
- ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Review: XTC - Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
- ↑ "Review: XTC - Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)". NME. IPC Media. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
- ↑ Hooker, Zach. "Review: XTC - Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)". Pitchfork. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
- ↑ Schabe, Patrick. "Review: XTC - Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)". PopMatters. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
- ↑ Aizlewood, John. "Review: XTC - Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)". Q. Bauer Media Group. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
- ↑ Christgau, Robert. "Review: XTC - Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
- ↑ Moon, Tom. "Review: XTC - Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. Archived from the original on 11 April 2009. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
- ↑ "XTC - Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)". Chart Stats. Retrieved 16 June 2011.
- ↑ "XTC - Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)". Billboard 200. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 16 June 2011.