XTC "3D EP" | Virgin

First of all, this child above is completely OK... For wonderers, there is the whole story at end of the post.

"3D EP" was the band's vinyl debut. It was released on October 7, 1977 on Virgin Records. It was 12" single and was initially proposed with a 7" single (known as the 3D Single). However instead of issuing both Virgin recalled the 7" at the very last minute (however a few singles did escape). The singles that do exist have been known to fetch upwards of $1,000. ' Taken from Wikipedia.
In three songs the sound of XTC is firmly established. “Science Friction” promotes equally the skills of all the band members. Andy attacks his guitar to produce the most jagged mixture of ska and chord riffs anywhere west of early Gang Of Four. Terry maintains a steady fast pop dance beat, intentionally not interacting with Andy’s ska guitar pulls. Colin plays bouncy and creative bass guitar while Barry creates a twisted-carnival fun-house atmosphere with his farfisa organ. The stop & go rhythms defy you to dance and then make you spastically trip over yourself when you do. Mostly there’s Andy’s voice - puns and wit delivered in a voice that prefers to stutter and hiccup the words. If you listen to just Andy Partridge on the first few albums you’ll hear the most under-rated singer/guitarist in the history of new wave. His playing is jagged, intense, pissed and often discordant with the rest of the song, while his voice is an acrobatic marvel. “She’s So Square” is a more straight-forward pop song while “Dance Band” represents the other side of early XTC - slow, robotic dance anthems for manipulated and alienated youth (a theme expressed often in early new wave). ' Taken from Old Punks.

• The sleeve info:
1977 Virgin Records
Andy Partridge - Guitar, Vocals
Colin Moulding - Bass, Vocals
Terry Chambers - Drums, metal door of microphone cupboard, filing cabinet
Barry Andrews - Keyboards, Vocals
Produced and engineered by John Leckie
Tapes 'worked' by Haydn Bendall
Vans and Smooth Talk Steve 'Fullblast' Warren, Jeff 'money' Fitches
Recorded and mixed at EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London NW8
Printed in England by Robor Limited
(All sleeves are usually embeded, you can see these in iTunes artwork section).

Bizarro pop, early new wave.

↑ Download XTC "3D EP" (18 Mb)

PS. "Pic story". Serching for some pic based on any correspods to that 12'' name or sleeve design to illustrate this post I've hit on that photo of Laura from Portland, Oregon. Here is the story: "I really envied my friends with freckles. So one fine day I got a brown felt-tip marker and gave myself freckles. It did not work very well". The corresponds are dubious - felt-tip markers were also used on 3D LP cover and here is E.T. printed on the T-shirt, well, that's almost "EP"=)...