25 O'Clock

Did You Know?

• A remastered and expanded version of 25 O'Clock was released on 20 April 2009 by Partridge's Ape House record label, credited to "XTC as The Dukes of Stratosphear".
• The expanded edition included the promotional video for "The Mole from the Ministry" as a QuickTime file.
• 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot were later collected on the CD compilation Chips from the Chocolate Fireball.

Background

When guitarist Dave Gregory joined XTC in 1979, Andy Partridge discovered they both loved 1960s psychedelic music. They considered making an album in that style right away, but their contract with Virgin Records and the punk scene's hostility toward older pop music stopped them. After XTC quit touring in 1982, they focused on studio work. While recording 1984's The Big Express, Partridge started writing songs he thought could work as psychedelia, beginning with "Your Gold Dress."

He later said he could no longer hold back the urge, and that it had been "leaking out earlier." In November 1984, a month after The Big Express came out, Partridge traveled to Monmouth, Wales with engineer John Leckie to produce Mary Margaret O'Hara's album Miss America for Virgin. O'Hara, a devout Catholic, fired them due to disagreements over religion. With free time, Partridge was inspired by Nick Nicely's 1982 psychedelic single "Hilly Fields (1892)" and set up a recording project.

He set strict rules: songs had to follow 1967–1968 psychedelic conventions, no more than two takes per track, and vintage gear wherever possible. Partridge admitted he didn't have finished songs, only ideas. He wanted something like Syd Barrett or a Beatles-style track, and called the other band members, saying, "Hey, let's put on a show!"

Recording

Leckie agreed to take on production duties and searched for a cheap studio for the band. Partridge invited his XTC bandmates to participate; they were augmented on drums by Dave Gregory's brother Ian, since the group did not have a drummer following the departure of Terry Chambers. The song "25 O'Clock" was quickly written as they waited for the project to be greenlit by Virgin. After the label reluctantly loaned the group £5,000, two weeks were spent on the album's recording and mixing at Chapel Lane Studios in Hereford, England.

The project was planned as a full-length LP, but only six songs were completed due to time constraints. The album was produced so cheaply that the band refunded £1,000 of the advance back to the label. Partridge looked back on these sessions as the "most fun we ever had in the studio." Each musician adopted a pseudonym: "Sir John Johns" (Partridge), "Lord Cornelius Plum" (Dave Gregory), "The Red Curtain" (Colin Moulding), and "E.I.E.I. Owen" (Ian Gregory).

Partridge's moniker was inspired by DC Comics character the Martian Manhunter's name (J'onn J'onzz), while Moulding's was derived from an old nickname referring to the length of his hair. The band dressed themselves in Paisley outfits for the sessions and lit scented candles. According to Partridge, "Dave Gregory took to the Dukes a bit too much. Elephant jumbo cord flares, big white belt, beads - we were a bit worried."

In contrast to himself and Gregory, "Colin was more of a heavy metal kid. He was more into Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep and people like that. So he didn't really have much of a grasp on psychedelia." "25 O'Clock" and "Bike Ride to the Moon" were direct pastiches of the Electric Prunes' "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" (1966) and Tomorrow's "My White Bicycle" (1967), respectively. One of the "best bits on the EP," Partridge later said, was Moulding's "What in the World??...", which featured tape manipulation akin to the Beatles' "Only a Northern Song" (1969).

Moulding offered another song, "Big Day", but the group deemed it good enough for the next XTC album, Skylarking (1986): "The Dukes thing was written in an air of 'Well, it doesn't really matter, we'll tart it all up in the mix.'" The song "Have You Seen Jackie?" was also left off the album, later being included on the full-length Dukes LP Psonic Psunspot.