“Summer's Cauldron” by XTC

"Summer's Cauldron" is Andy Partridge's song, words, music and lead vocal, from Skylarking, the eighth XTC album, released on Virgin on 27 October 1986. Todd Rundgren produced it, and the record is a loose concept piece about cycles (a day, a year, the seasons, a life) soaked in the same 1960s psychedelia the band had been chasing in their Dukes of Stratosphear side project.

Rundgren doesn't stay behind the glass here: besides producing and engineering, he's credited on melodica, and the Tubes' drummer Prairie Prince, who drummed on the album, sits in on the kit. Most of Skylarking was cut at Rundgren's Utopia Sound Studio in Woodstock, New York, and the sessions were fraught, with Partridge and his producer clashing over drum patterns and which songs made the record.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.