45 (Vol 1)

November 2026 marks the arrival of 45 (Vol.1), a brand-new LP compilation on 200-gram vinyl, celebrating XTC’s explosive run of singles between 1977 to 1980. Bringing together the A-sides from the band’s first, fiercely inventive years (including the US A side version of ‘Ten Feet Tall’ and soundtrack rarity ‘Take This Town’), the collection captures XTC in an era where many new bands would have sacrificed future first-borns to have one decent songwriter. Yet this run of singles made it abundantly obvious that XTC contained two – in Colin Moulding and Andy Partridge.

Punk and its assorted brethren from New Wave to DIY Electronica, Mod, Ska revivals and more sub-genres shared one vital element in common it was, for a brief few years, to re-establish the primacy of the 7” single. While XTC is, rightly, now remembered more for the consistent brilliance of its albums output, its commitment to the notion that every single should be an event: solid catchy A side, equally inventive (if sometimes more experimental) B side and artwork given as much attention as an album. This made all of their singles, the hits and the non-hits alike, one of the most distinguished catalogues of the 7” artform, from the (planned for end of ’77, actually released January 1978) ‘Science Friction’ through to the 1992 almost release of ‘Wrapped in Gray’ the key single from “Nonsuch” which was caught up in and lost via the turmoil of Virgin’s takeover by EMI. 

Listened to now, as a collection, it’s the pace of development of the songwriters in a period of a little over three years that impresses, while the arrival of Dave Gregory following the departure of Barry Andrews gave the band a confident musical stability that enabled it to grow rapidly. The demands of regular singles releases – many of them non-album tracks in this period – pushed the pace of the band’s development which, in turn, fed back into the albums.

Perhaps that’s why XTC are still popular across continents and feel relevant today. Many of their singles resonate as individual songs because they never chased fashion and they built their own distinctive sound. 

45 (Vol.1) is more than a retrospective.  It’s a reminder of how exciting the very idea of the single could be.