XTC - WAXWORKS/BEESWAX - 1982 - UK VINTAGE 2 LPs - VIRGIN RECORDS V2251 / OVED 9

$

75

Purchased BRAND NEW in a record store as a UK  Import Bundled together in shrink wrap. NEVER BEEN PLAYED. My fellow collector and huge XTC  fan had put these on tape for me before I even purchased this collection. He did that quite frequently for me. Both albums have been stored in their own plastic bag since purchasing.
Waxworks has very slight wear on front top and bottom corners (see pictures). All edges are in excellent shape with a nice spine and lettering close to centered on spine. Inner paper sleeve has Patent no.1,125,555 and Made in Great Britain printed on bottom of one side. In excellent shape with no rips, tears, splits, wrinkling or creases.  Waxworks vinyl is PRISTEEN. No visible "surface scuffing" or "surface scratching" visible.Labels are beautiful with no marks on them. 
Beeswax has very slight wear on front top and bottom corners (see pictures). Back cover bottom left corner has a "pressure crease" Has nice edges and a  nice spine and lettering being centered on spine. Back cover album access edge has a "color blemish" at center but there is no damage (see picture). Inner paper sleeve has Patent no.1,125,555 and Made in Great Britain printed on bottom of one side. In excellent shape with no rips, tears, splits, wrinkling or creases.  Beeswax vinyl is PRISTEEN. No visible "surface scuffing" or "surface scratching" visible There is a "scuff" on Side B BUT IT IS ONLY IN THE RUNOUT AREA, NOT IN THE ACTUAL GROOVES. .Labels are beautiful with no marks on them.   Originally packaged with companion LP Beeswax Some B-Sides 1977-1982 in a bundle edition listed as: Waxworks - Some Singles 1977-1982 / Beeswax Some B-Sides 1977-1982
Waxworks - Some Singles 1977-1982 Runouts are etched, aside from Λ and TOWNHOUSED, which are stamped.

• Matrix / Runout (Side A - runout, Variant 3): V-2251-A1 TOWNHOUSED Λ
• Matrix / Runout (Side B - runout, Variant 3): V-2251-B1 TOWNHOUSED Λ
• 
  
• Beeswax Some B-Sides 1977-1982
• Matrix / Runout (Side A runout): OVED-9-A1 TOWNHOUSED
• Matrix / Runout (Side B runout): OVED-9-B1 TOWNHOUSED
• 
  

XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (vocals, guitars) and Colin Moulding (vocals, bass), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing in a variety of styles that ranged from angular guitar riffs to elaborately arranged pop. Partly because the group did not fit into contemporary trends, they achieved only sporadic commercial success in the UK and US, but attracted a considerable cult following. They have since been recognized for their influence on post-punk, Britpop and later power pop acts.In August 1977, XTC made their first commercially released studio recordings with producer John Leckie at Abbey Road, which appeared on their debut release 3D EP in October.Their first full-length record, White Music, was then recorded in less than two weeks, and released for January 1978. Partridge characterized the album as "Captain Beefheart meets the Archies" shrouded in 1950s-style retrofuturism. He reflected that the album was the sum of everything the band enjoyed, including the Beatles, Sun Ra, and Atomic Rooster, but dismissed the contents as premature songs "built around this electric wordplay stuff". White Music reached number 38 on the UK Albums Chart. Although the album was well received by the press (Melody Maker, NME, Sounds, and Record Mirror all gave positive reviews), none of its singles managed to chart. They rerecorded "This is Pop" as a lead single. Its follow-up, "Statue of Liberty", was banned on BBC Radio due to the lyric "I sail beneath her skirt". With each member placed on a £25 weekly salary, the band toured for the next five years. By August 1978, XTC were prepared to record their next album. The band had contacted Brian Eno to produce after they learned that he was a fan, but he declined, telling them that they were good enough to produce themselves. Virgin rejected Eno's advice, and the group instead returned to Abbey Road with Leckie. Andrews appeared at the sessions with several original songs, but Partridge did not feel they were right for the band. He began taking Moulding and Chambers out for drinks without inviting Partridge, allegedly in an attempt to take over the group. After most of Andrews' songs were dropped from the final track list, the keyboardist told journalists that he foresaw the band "exploding pretty soon". Go 2, a more experimental venture, was released in October to positive reviews and a number 21 chart peak. Like White Music, it was given praise in Sounds, Melody Maker, and the NME. One of the tracks, "Battery Brides (Andy Paints Brian)", was written in tribute to Eno.The album also included a bonus EP, Go+, which consisted of five dub remixes of XTC songs.

The album's title was chosen in reference to the board game Go in order to continue the black-and-white colour scheme from White Music. The "2" was added by Andrews. Its cover was designed and executed byHipgnosis.  It consists of an essay about how album covers are used to attract buyers of the album. On the first British pressings of the LP version of the Go 2 album the track listing on the vinyl disc label mimicked the type style of the cover art. The label is crammed full of text. In some non-English speaking countries, the group shot that was featured on the album's inner sleeve in the UK was used instead as the album cover. The French 13-track album, including the bonus track "Are You Receiving Me?", was one of the releases that featured this sleeve. Yugoslavia was another country that issued this version of the sleeve.

The essay would change depending on the medium (vinyl or CD) and label (Virgin, Epic or Geffen) the album was released on. A separate essay was prepared for cassette editions in the UK.

Go 2 was released in October 1978 to positive reviews and a number 21 chart peak. The initial 15,000 pressings of the album came with a bonus disc of five dub remixes entitled Go+. In 1990, these tracks were included on the compilation Explode Together: The Dub Experiments 78-80. Like White Music, Go 2 was given praise in Sounds, Melody Maker, and theNME. The Nottingham Evening Post wrote that "there's a wider range of experimentation, less instrumental clutter and a hatful of unpredictable twists," and noted that the hooklines are "just as tricksily devastating." Waxworks: Some Singles 1977–1982 is the first compilation album by English rock band XTC, released in November 1982 by Virgin Records. Though it followed closely on the heels of the successful English Settlement album and its lead-off single "Senses Working Overtime", it failed to crack the Top 40 perhaps signalling their commercial decline in Britain. All twelve tracks appear on the first disc of 1996's Fossil Fuel: The XTC Singles 1977-92. It was initially released shrinkwrapped with the Beeswax: Some B-Sides 1977-1982 included as a "free bonus album"
Part of my personal collection.