200g Vinyl LP

This is the 2019 vinyl reissue of Black Sea on Ape House, Andy Partridge's label for the XTC catalog, under catalog number APELP104. Jason Mitchell newly cut it at Loud Mastering for a 200-gram pressing, and the original eleven-song sequence runs six and five across the two sides.

Black Sea was XTC's fourth album, first released in September 1980. Steve Lillywhite produced it and Hugh Padgham engineered, with the main sessions at The Townhouse after a set of live demos at Phonogram's studios. The working title was Work Under Pressure, which accounts for the diving suits in the sleeve photograph. According to the label's notes, the band changed it only so their manager at the time would not read it as a criticism of his management style.

It became XTC's first Top 20 album in the UK. In the US, where it was issued that November, it peaked at No. 41 and spent 24 weeks on the Billboard chart. "Generals and Majors" and "Towers of London" were back-to-back UK Top 40 singles in September and October 1980, and "Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)" took the band back into the UK Top 20 in January 1981.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Respectable Street
2. Generals and Majors
3. Living Through Another Cuba
4. Love at First Sight
5. Rocket From a Bottle
6. No Language in Our Lungs

Side B

7. Towers of London
8. Paper and Iron (Notes and Coins)
9. Burning With Optimism's Flames
10. Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)
11. Travels in Nihilon

Complete the Collection

XTC at Evergreen Vinyl, three titles counting this one: English Settlement and Skylarking.

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Last updated: 2/6/26

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Last updated: 2/6/26