XTC - 3D EP - The CD (CD) - CD

Details: 2023 CD EP release. Reissued for the first time in decades as a standalone title for it's 47th (and a bit) anniversary, XTC's very first release, the 3D EP. The speed of musical change underneath the mainstream was as fast as a shouted "1, 2, 3, 4" on any number of monochrome identi-punk singles in equally drab sleeves, and it was into this febrile mix that XTC released it's first 12" EP - 3D, at the end of September '77 (a 7" version was withdrawn) and for all that it shared the freneticism of it's punkier brethren, it also boasted - even across just three tracks - a variety, a color and a pop sensibility that acted as a marker for the band's future rapid development. Whisper it, but these guys could actually play... and write tunes, accessible ones that burrowed their way into your ears and brain. An album wouldn't appear until early 1978 (by which time "Post Punk" was emerging as marketing name of the month) but XTC had made their recorded entry in that magical year and not for the first or last time, shown they could compete with the best (and worst) that 1977 placed on vinyl.