Christmas in XTC: A Cool Yule w/ Andy Partridge

One trip to the mail box and this holiday season has already been better than any in recent memory. There’s a package. From Andy Partridge – four Christmas tunes on a festive slab of vinyl entitled My Failed Christmas Career. It’s gonna be a cool yule.

The first thing you need to know is that each and every tune is an original – despite the fact that they were written for other artists. All except the last one was refused. And so, Partridge decided to record them himself. And the results are predictably satisfying.

In the words of the artist, the opening song, “Let There Be Snow”, was banged out “with a great deal of affection for a well-loved group so I was disappointed that they didn’t pick it up as I think it’s a goodie.” I’ll let you guess who it was meant for. I have my own ideas.

A Partridge Family Christmas

Like all classic Partridge compositions, it has a whopping hook for a chorus. A call and response along with sleigh bells (which according to the liner notes were a “massive headache” to mix) put the listener in the festive mood right away. It’s a wonder this one wasn’t enthusiastically embraced by the artist it was written for.

“Through this Winter World” has a country twang to it and features Andy’s deft mandolin playing. Always one for anti-war songs, “Cool Yule” fits well into the artist’s existing catalog. And finally, “Unwrap You at Christmas” features Holly Partridge, Andy’s daughter. This final track is the only one that had previously been recorded, having been written on request for The Monkees. It would become the opening track on the guys’ 2019 Christmas album.

Get Andy Partridge’s Christmas EP Here

Partridge hasn’t released any sound samples or videos in support of the EP so far. That being the case, I’ve placed a video of “Unwrap You at Christmas”, as performed by The Monkees, below. Is it too late for a Partridge in a pear tree joke?

Get Andy Partridge’s My Failed Christmas Career at Amazon. And have a cool yule.