Love him or hate him, Todd Rundgren is a musical genius. Sometimes when two large musical egos are forced to co-exist, as is the case here with Rundgren and XTC leader Andy Partridge, sparks will fly! That's Andy getting the wrong end of the lit match here... but to the benefit of everyone with ears. Rundgren was hired by XTC's record company (Virgin) to listen to the 23 or so demos the band had recorded for their next record (following "The Big Express"), edit and sort them into some cohesive order, and otherwise take whatever creative control necessary to salvage something of XTC's tattered career as it stood then - in 1986. Rundgren surpassed all expectations by producing their best-selling and best conceived record, even generating the surprising FM hits "Dear God" and "Summer's Cauldron/Grass." And as an added bonus, this turned out to be an absolutely AWESOME recording. What this all adds up to is an exquisite aural experience ... second to none.

It should be noted that this newest edition of "SKYLARKING" has received a "24-bit" remastering job as of Spring 2002. What was always a wonderfully bright and clean sounding recording has been made to sound even better. Perhaps more significantly, the original sequencing/running order of the record has been restored to its original state - the way producer Rundgren intended it to be heard - with "Dear God" added on at the very end as a bonus track. "Dear God" was originally intended and issued as the b-side of the 12-inch single "Summer's Cauldron/Grass."

Although Sir Partridge was irked by producer Rundgren's creative control over the recording sessions at the time this record was made, he now acknowledges that "Skylarking" is his band's finest work. Few records can ever be mentioned in the same breath as the Beatles "Sgt. Pepper." This is one of the very few that can. Enjoy!

This edition returns the album to the glory it deserves; the sound quality is comparable to the MFS gold disc and the packaging is terrific. Ian Cooper should be commended for his work here--he manages to turn his craft into a fine art. Thankfully, Cooper returned to the original configuration of the album (Skylarking was resequenced for the US market when Dear God became a alternative hit. Sadly one of Andy Partridge's finest songs Mermaid Smiled was dropped in the process)and added Dear God as a bonus track. While the import version was like this in many countries, there wasn't a consistency to the album. It reminded me of the way the Beatles, Stones and Kinks albums were reconfigured for the US market; while doing so helped market more commerical product it slighted the original works. The same is certainly true here as well.

The band has struggled over the years to come up with an album as consistent (Nonsvch and Apple Venus Volume 1 come darn close) as this work. Despite the unpleasant time the band had working with Todd Rundgren, their collaboration resulted in the best collaboration between producer and performer since the days of George Martin and The Beatles.

My only disappointment is in the fact that Virgin chose not to include the demos that were released as b sides. While they weren't of the same production quality (and in some cases lacked the cohesion of the best songs here), Skylarking would have been more complete with them (even if they were put on a second disc) than without them.

A great big fan's thank you to both Ian Cooper, the band and, yes, even Virgin for the extra effort that went into getting this right.