Explode Together

Today's oddest listening, of a record that seems to exist on-line only in a negative All Music review, was XTC's Go +. It's a 5 song 12" of dub-influenced "remixes" of tracks from their then-new album Go 2. It initially came as a bonus EP with the album itself (don't blame it for today's remix trend), but was then released on its own. For a record that had 15,000 copies given away for free, I'd expect it to turn up more often. Some of the songs just sound like lazy reconstructions of XTC songs, most notably a sped-up instrumental of "Battery Brides" called "A Dictionary of Modern Marriage". Others, like opener "Dance with Me, Germany", are harder to identify. I find it more consistent than the Mr. Partridge Take Away LP that appears alongside it on the CD reissue called Explode Together. It's also vaguely reminiscent of Basement 5's In Dub, where Martin Hannett similarly destroys tracks from their 1965-1980 LP. Despite its on-line mauling and general invisibility, I'd definitely recommend a listen to Go + for its odd alternation of interesting novelty and genuinely inspired weirdness. The 45-RPM 12" format is a nice one, and the record is cut well for a promo aside.