“Runaways” by XTC

Colin Moulding wrote "Runaways", words and music, and sings lead on this track from English Settlement, the double album XTC released in February 1982. He plays fretless bass, piano and synthesizer on it too, with Andy Partridge on 12-string and electric guitar, synth and backing vocals, Dave Gregory on synthesizer and Terry Chambers on drums and drum machine.

XTC made it at The Manor in Oxfordshire with Hugh Padgham, who had engineered their previous two albums and here co-produced with the band, and it carries the sounds the record leaned on as it turned toward pastoral pop: 12-string guitar and fretless bass. That turn was partly a way off the road. Partridge, worn out by touring, wanted music less suited to the stage, and when his exhaustion cut the tour behind the album short, XTC never went back to playing live.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.