Fossil Fuel: The XTC Singles 1977-1992
Encyclopedia
Fossil Fuel: The XTC Singles 1977-92 is a compilation album by XTC
XTC
XTC were a New Wave band from Swindon, England, active between 1976 and 2005. The band enjoyed some chart success, including the UK and Canadian hits "Making Plans for Nigel" and "Senses Working Overtime" , but are perhaps even better known for their long-standing critical success.- Early years:...

 released in 1996. It was their third such Greatest Hits
Greatest hits
A greatest hits album is a music compilation album of successful, previously released songs by a particular artist or band...

 album following 1982's Waxworks: Some Singles 1977-1982
Waxworks: Some Singles 1977-1982
Waxworks: Some Singles 1977-1982 is a compilation album released by XTC in 1982. Though it followed closely on the heels of the successful English Settlement album and its lead-off single "Senses Working Overtime", it failed to crack the Top 40 perhaps signalling their commercial decline in Britain...

and 1987's The Compact XTC
The Compact XTC
The Compact XTC: The Singles 1978-1985 is a compilation album by XTC released in 1987. It replaced Waxworks: Some Singles 1977-1982 as a Greatest Hits album, adding six singles issued between English Settlement and The Big Express. It took advantage of the compact disc's greater storage capacity to...

. It collects all thirty-one of their Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...

 UK singles in chronological order. It does not include their pseudonymous singles as The Dukes of Stratosphear
The Dukes of Stratosphear
The Dukes of Stratosphear was a pseudonym used by the British rock band XTC in the mid to late 1980s, concurrently with XTC's continued musical activities...

, The Three Wise Men or The Colonel.

The two discs reflect their shift in popularity from Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in the mid-eighties. Some of Disc 1's tracks ("Making Plans for Nigel", "Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)", "Senses Working Overtime
Senses Working Overtime
"Senses Working Overtime" is a single by XTC released in 1982. It is at once the apogee of their early-eighties British popularity as well as their last gasp of mainstream success in their homeland...

") were Top 40 hits in their homeland while a handful of songs from Disc 2 became popular on stateside college radio ("Dear God", "The Mayor of Simpleton", "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead").

With no little significance, the compilation closes out with "Wrapped in Grey", which had been released as the third single from 1992's Nonsuch
Nonsuch (album)
Nonsuch is the eleventh studio album by XTC, released on 27 April 1992. In a 1992 MTV interview, Andy Partridge said that he had selected the name of the album after encountering a drawing of Nonsuch Palace and, thinking that the archaic word "Nonsuch" meant "does not exist" rather than, as he...

and then quickly recalled and deleted by Virgin Records, an event which effectively ended XTC's association with the label.

It reached No. 33 on the UK album charts.

Disc 1

  1. "Science Friction" – 3:14
  2. "Statue of Liberty" – 2:52
  3. "This is Pop?" – 2:40
  4. "Are You Receiving Me?" – 3:04
  5. "Life Begins at the Hop
    Life Begins at the Hop
    "Life Begins at the Hop" is a single by XTC released in 1979. Their fifth single, it was the first indication of a change in their late-seventies sound from urgent post-punk to power pop. As their sound changed, so too did their line-up as keyboardist Barry Andrews was replaced by second guitarist...

    " (Colin Moulding
    Colin Moulding
    Colin Ivor Moulding is a bassist, songwriter and vocalist. He is a founding member of the band XTC. Though less prolific than bandmate Andy Partridge, Moulding wrote many of the group's most popular songs, including their first three UK hit singles: "Life Begins At The Hop", "Making Plans For...

    ) – 3:47
  6. "Making Plans for Nigel" (Moulding) – 4:12
  7. "Ten Feet Tall" (Moulding) – 3:13
  8. "Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down" – 4:20
  9. "Generals and Majors" (Moulding) – 3:41
  10. "Towers of London" – 4:38
  11. "Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)" – 3:36
  12. "Love at First Sight" (Moulding) – 3:07
  13. "Respectable Street" – 3:07
  14. "Senses Working Overtime
    Senses Working Overtime
    "Senses Working Overtime" is a single by XTC released in 1982. It is at once the apogee of their early-eighties British popularity as well as their last gasp of mainstream success in their homeland...

    " – 4:34
  15. "Ball and Chain" (Moulding) – 4:29
  16. "No Thugs in Our House" – 5:10

Disc 2

  1. "Great Fire" – 3:50
  2. "Wonderland
    Wonderland (XTC single)
    "Wonderland" is a single by XTC released in June 1983, written by Colin Moulding and taken from the album Mummer.Although they had shifted in a more acoustic direction on their previous album English Settlement, it was with "Wonderland" that their sound could first be described as pastoral, which...

    " (Moulding) – 4:15
  3. "Love on a Farmboy's Wages" – 3:59
  4. "All You Pretty Girls" – 3:59
  5. "This World Over" – 4:45
  6. "Wake Up" (Moulding) – 3:40
  7. "Grass" (Moulding) – 2:42
  8. "The Meeting Place" (Moulding) – 3:13
  9. "Dear God
    Dear God (XTC song)
    "Dear God" is a song on XTC's 1986 album Skylarking. It was not a part of the original Skylarking album, but after DJs across America picked up the song, Geffen Records decided to replace "Mermaid Smiled" with "Dear God." The song was inspired by a series of books with the same title, seen by...

    " – 3:37
  10. "Mayor of Simpleton" – 3:57
  11. "King for a Day" (Moulding) – 3:36
  12. "The Loving" – 3:54
  13. "The Disappointed" – 3:38
  14. "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" – 5:03
  15. "Wrapped in Grey" – 3:46



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