XTC founding member and acclaimed songwriter Colin Moulding is back with ‘Want It Bad (The Pep Talks and Playing Fields of Old England)’, a three-track CD single that offers another tantalising glimpse into the creative process of one of the UK’s finest songwriters, plus an accompanying video.
Released via Burning Shed and presented in a four-panel digisleeve, the CD features the title track, along with ‘Something About The Boy (James Bond Demo for Female Voice)’ and an exploratory demo of the title track. Moulding continues to explore a distinctly English pop sensibility, showcasing his English pop vision with XTC’s trademark qualities of melody, rhythm, variety, and idiosyncratic subject matter, mixed in with nostalgia and a degree of pensiveness.
This is Moulding’s second solo release, following ‘The Hardest Battle’, released several years ago. the video for which focused on George IV and filmed at St Mary’s Uffington and Salisbury Cathedral in cooperation with the Royal Shakespeare Company on wardrobe.
While ‘Want It Bad’ began as a song of sport and camaraderie, it soon took on a broader meaning. Moulding shares, “Although this song started life as a sporting pep talk, it was clear that it could easy be thought of as a mantra for ones own life ambitions whatever they may be. If you want something in this life you have to really want it. And if you really want it, you’ll get it — that was my mantra.”
The artwork, created by Andrew Swainson, and Androideo video, created by Thomas Walsh, are derived from ‘Les Coureurs’ by Robert Delaunay, whose depiction of runners perfectly captured the spirit Moulding wanted to convey.
“I was scouting around for a cover that would signify human endeavour. I had written ‘Want It Bad’, which basically amounted to a pep talk by a sporting coach to his team. Football perhaps… something made me think of the runners on the beach in the film “Chariots of Fire”, explains Colin Moulding.
“After many permutations, Andrew, my artwork designer, said “What about Delaunay and his runners?” and when he showed me, there was no doubt. So it was derived from “Les Coureurs” by Robert Delaunay, a French painter from the early part of the twentieth century. Check him out!”
This new release also opens a window onto two very different stages of Moulding’s songwriting process ‘Something About The Boy (James Bond Demo for Female Voice)’ reveals a long-held ambition inspired by the James Bond films of Moulding’s childhood.
“I was a big James Bond fan. My father had taken me to see the first three – ‘Dr No’, ‘From Russia with Love’, and ‘Goldfinger’…..In the 1960’s. I had secretly nursed an ambition that one day John Barry and I would work on a theme together (hey ya got to have dreams kid!). So here then was my idea to put to John Barry. Only trouble was I had to sing it myself to demonstrate the female lead. The key could have been a problem, but it had not occurred to me. I’m still a dreamer even today,” shares Colin Moulding.
The third track, ‘Want It Bad (Demo)’, is an even more immediate snapshot of the writing process, with Colin noting, “Quite simply, my working demo knocked out in about an hour with a hand-held 57 microphone, different lyrics, and no bass. This is something for the musos, I guess.”
Founded in 1972, XTC only had their first UK charting single in 1979. Moulding wrote the first three charting singles (‘Life Begins at the Hop’, ‘Making Plans for Nigel’ and ‘Generals and Majors’) and continued with frontman Andy Partridge through the group’s dissolution in 2006. In 1984, Moulding also co-founded The Dukes of Stratosphear, anticipating and celebrated by retro-minded movements such as the Paisley Underground.
Decades later, Moulding reunited with original XTC drummer Terry Chambers under the TC&I moniker, releasing two CDs (the ‘Great Aspirations’ EP and the album ‘Naked Flames: Live at Swindon Arts Centre’) and playing a series of live shows through a Swindon residency.
A driving force in establishing XTC as one of Britain’s most inventive and influential bands, Moulding once again invites listeners behind the curtain — not simply presenting the finished song, but revealing some of the ideas, experiments and musical possibilities that shaped it along the way.
As of September 18, ‘Want It Bad’ is available on CD exclusively via Burning Shed, where ‘The Hardest Battle’ can also be obtained, as well as music and merch from TC&I and Colin’s other projects.
TRACK LIST
1 . Want It Bad (The Pep Talks and Playing Fields of Old England) 3:56
2 . Something About The Boy (James Bond Demo for Female Voice) 2:47
3 . Want It Bad (Demo) 4:20
CREDITS
Written & Produced by Colin Moulding
Mixed by Stuart Rowe
Mastered by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering
Manufactured by Noisebox Digital
Cover Artwork by Andrew Swainson
Released by Burning Shed. Catalogue #CMCD002
Androideo video created by Thomas Walsh
Colin Moulding photos by Geoff Winn
Publicity by Shameless Promotion PR