![Drums & Wires [Remastered] (CD/Blu-Ray) on CD by XTC](https://d3fa68hw0m2vcc.cloudfront.net/725/113591190.jpeg "Drums & Wires [Remastered] (CD/Blu-Ray) on CD by XTC")
Skylarking: Corrected Polarity Edition
Skylarking is the ninth studio album by the English rock band XTC, released on 27 October 1986. Produced by American musician Todd Rundgren, Skylarking is a loose concept album centered around various cycles in life, such as the seasons, days, and years. The title was chosen as a double entendre, referring to a type of bird (skylark), as well as the Royal Navy term “skylarking”, which means “fooling around”. Skylarking later became XTC's best-known album and is generally regarded as their finest work
Andy: “Musician and producer Todd Rundgren squeezed the XTC clay into its most complete/connected/cyclical record ever. Not an easy album to make for various ego reasons but time has humbled me into admitting that Todd conjured up some of the most magical production and arranging conceivable. A summer's day cooked into one cake.”
Andy: “The initial sleeve opened at the top: there were then two fronts, or two backs. On one side, pubic hairs of a woman photographed very closely, with meadow flowers tangled, on the other one, pubic hairs of a man with flowers tangled. You then could choose the side you wanted to see. But we had problems with our record company and the record shops. Yet, one could see almost nothing, all was in the imagination. . . I found that it nicely summarized the time, the place and the feeling of the album, and there was a Lady Chatterley's Lover side, mischievous outdoor sex.”
Andy: “When we delivered Skylarking, they told us it didn't have any singles on it and we should go a write something in the style of ZZ Top.