XTC Ten Feet Tall & Show # 328

In January of 1980, the UK band XTC released a single in the US for the song "Ten Feet Tall". The song was originally found on the bands third full length album Drums and Wires, but the single version that was released in the USA in January of 1980 was completely different than the album version, it was re-recorded. This single was also the bands first single to be released in the US, it was done so to coincide with their first US tour. The song itself was a catchy New Wave Pop song, the album version featured acoustic guitar while the US single version featured electric and was a bit faster. The album Drums and Wires itself reached number 34 on the UK album charts and number 176 on the US album charts. The album is notable for containing the song "Making Plans for Nigel", a song that reached number 17 on the UK Singles charts and number 12 on the Canadian Singles Charts. The album also produced the single "Life Begins At The Hop", which was included on some versions of the album. The album was originally released with six different track listings in different parts of the world.

The artwork for the single featured a stacked up tape measure. The design was simple and straight to the point, but it was also a visual pun of sorts. If you look carefully there are ten tape measures stacked up, it was also designed by Andy Partridge of XTC.  The bands previous album cover for their album Go2, was an anti-album cover of sorts featuring just text, poking fun at usual album covers. Regardless the catchy song featured attractive artwork and stayed true to the bands interesting album art covers that they always seemed to have. The single version of "Ten Feet Tall" can now be found on the two disc singles collection Fossil Fuel. 

The Play List:

1. The Ruts - Babylon's Burning
2. The Specials - You're Wondering Now
3. The Nefidovs - Absent Jackets
4. Weekend - Coma Summer
5. Construction & Destruction - The Oracle
6. Disco Zombies - Drums Over London
7. The Worst - Can't Stand This Love
8. The Smugglers - 5-4-3-2-1
9. Raptors - Kids All Want Something
10. Red Red Meat - Braindead
11. No Age - Eraser
12. Pluto - Pretty Little Jacket
13. The Wipers - Rebel With A Cause
14. The Soft Boys - Hear My Brane
15. What Seas What Shores - Pave The Oceans
16. Magazine - Give Me Everything
17. XTC - Ten Feet Tall
18. X-Ray Spex - Oh Bondage Up Yours!
19. Siouxise and the Banshees - Mirage
20. The Mark Inside - Shots From A Broken Bottle
21. The D4 - Stops Me Cold
22. Ramones - It's A Long Way Back

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for November 30th. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.