Album · XTC
English Settlement by XTC
English Settlement is an album by XTC, released in 1982. 6 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 55 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Senses Working Overtime”, on 38 lists with a best position of #23.
English Settlement, XTC's fifth album and their first double, came out on Virgin on 12 February 1982, and it finds the Swindon band trading the jittery angles of old for something greener and more pastoral. They cut it at The Manor in Oxfordshire with Hugh Padgham, who had engineered their previous two LPs, and the sound leans on acoustic guitar, chiming 12-string electric and the rubbery slither of Colin Moulding's fretless bass, with Dave Gregory on guitar and Terry Chambers on drums.
The songs run longer, the arrangements get knottier, and Andy Partridge's lyrics look out at society at large. He was worn down by endless touring and wanted music that would be hard to take on the road; he got his wish when exhaustion cut the next tour short after a handful of dates, and XTC never went back out. The title nods to the Uffington White Horse on the cover and to a band settling into its own Englishness. It was their only UK top ten album.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from English Settlement on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Senses Working Overtime | 38 | #23 | – | 1982–2021 | |
| 2 | Ball and Chain | 10 | #980 | – | 1999–2009 | |
| 3 | Fly on the Wall | 2 | #605 | – | 2002–2003 | |
| 4 | No Thugs in Our House | 3 | #406 | – | 1989–1991 | |
| 5 | Runaways | 1 | #819 | – | 2010 | |
| 6 | Snowman | 1 | #496 | – | 1989 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.