XTC

English Settlement (Epic/Virgin)

For those brave souls who gritted their teeth through the hellish nightmare of mid-70's art-rock, the term art-pop may seem like just another thinly veiled dip into the abyss. But XTC blissfully balances the art-pop—the "art" part means that their hooks just happen to be consistently weird, and the "pop" part of it is that the weirdness is so catchy, it hardly ever seems selfconscious. XTC retains what was good about art-rock (believe it or not, in isolated moments, there were a few things)—namely, the form-oriented impressive musicianship. But they cut the excess and pseudo-classical crap, make the beat rockier and the choruses more memorable, then add lyrics which actually make sense, (no �Siberian Khatru� �s for them). Likewise, XTC�s vocal offerings reflect human quirkiness, not Yes or ELP�s �godlike� virtuosity.