The Dukes of Stratosphear

The Dukes of Stratosphear arrived wrapped in paisley and mystery, and Virgin sold them as a strange new act. They were nothing of the sort: this was XTC in fancy dress, Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory plus Ian Gregory, formed in 1984 to scratch an itch Partridge and Dave Gregory had been nursing since 1979. Partridge pictured the band as a blend of everybody's favorite groups from 1967, and they played it dead straight.

The rules for the first session, a few days in December 1984 that produced 25 O'Clock, were strict: stick to the conventions of 1967 and 1968 psychedelia, take no more than two passes at any song, and use vintage gear wherever possible. Psonic Psunspot followed in 1987, and "Vanishing Girl" is its sugar rush, all chiming harmonies and sunshine borrowed from two decades back. In the UK the two records outsold the XTC albums of the day, The Big Express and Skylarking, a joke that turned out to be on the parent band.

Then XTC told the press the Dukes had perished in a "horrible sherbet accident". They kept turning up anyway, with a song for the MS Society in 2003 and two Partridge tracks for Eurostar in 2008, and the retro-minded kids of the Paisley Underground had long since taken the hint.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.