Consumer Guide Album

XTC: Waxworks: Some Singles 1977-1982 [Geffen, 1984]
Proof, or at least evidence, that they're the pop band they claim to be: though most of these songs were also album cuts, not a one of them--not even the samples from Drums and Wires, their most hard-edged and least fussy long-player--sounds more at home on its respective album than it does here, in the company of its peers. In short, this is the essential collection, less compelling than the Buzzcocks' comparable Singles Going Steady only because they mean to stimulate rather than compel. More equal than others: "Statue of Liberty," "Senses Working Overtime." A-