XTC- Skylarking

Limited 200gm vinyl LP pressing. Song lyric sheet included. Newly mastered by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering from tapes approved by Andy Partridge. The first 1980s versions didn't include "Dear God" and after it was a hit, "Mermaid Smiled" was dropped on some later versions to include "Dear God". The full album has only been on vinyl in 2LP deluxe editions playing at 45RPM. When it came time to master the album on vinyl in 2010, Andy Partridge - still never entirely happy with the overall sound of the finished album - took it to award-winning mastering engineer John Dent, who noticed something that had never previously been spotted. Somewhere, possibly in the transfer from the multi-channel tape to the stereo master, a polarity had been reversed. This is not the same thing as a reversed left/right channel which puts a stereo picture out of phase and makes the sound unlistenable, but a much more difficult to pin down event that can be triggered by something as simple as a badly wired plug in the overall system which, nonetheless, removes some of the punch and presence from a finished recording. With the polarity corrected, the album - complete with original artwork and "Dear God" - was issued on vinyl as a double LP deluxe edition playing at 45rpm in the original rejected sleeve, then later reissued with the more familiar sleeve... Leaving some fans to wonder why they couldn't have the 15 song LP on single vinyl playing at 33 & 1/3 RPM. Well, now they can - beautifully mastered for single LP from the corrected polarity masters by Jason at Loud Mastering and pressed on superior 200gram vinyl.

Track List:

    1 Summer's Cauldron
    2 Grass
    3 The Meeting Place
    4 That's Really Super, Supergirl
    5 Ballet for a Rainy Day
    6 1000 Umbrellas
    7 Season Cycle
    8 Earn Enough for Us
    9 Big Day
    10 Another Satellite
    11 Mermaid Smiled
    12 The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul
    13 Dear God
    14 Dying
    15 Sacrificial Bonfire

In order to ship your records to you in the safest way possible, and to avoid seam splits, we recommend removing the record from the jacket when shipping. That said, we will never open sealed records and do this without your permission. If you would like your records shipped to you this way, please request this in the notes section of checkout. Want to see how we pack a standard Vinyl order?
Check out this video:

Darkside Records - How We Ship

Please review our shipping policy (link above) for information on our shipping rates and import fees.

All domestic Vinyl orders ship via UPS Ground (with the exception of PO Boxes, APO/FPO where we must choose USPS Priority) for a flat rate of $7.99 + $1 for each additional item. We take great care in our packaging to ensure orders arrive to you quickly and safely. Most orders are shipped within 24 hours of your order being placed (with some exceptions, e.g. post RSD when we have a massive influx of orders) and are packaged in Whiplash LP mailers that are specifically designed to protect your records. We use 100% recyclable packing materials, from paper tape to HexcelPack, to do our small part to cut out single-use plastics.

International Orders: Please note that we are not charging/collecting import fees/GST. These fees will be determined by your country upon entry of your package. Please keep this in mind when ordering that these extra fees will most likely apply. We know and agree that international shipping rates are incredibly expensive. Unfortunately at this time we do not feel that USPS is a reliable option for us to ship international orders so our prices exclusively reflect those of UPS. Please reach out to us with any questions.