I was so surprised to hear this song on the series premiere of "Halt and Catch Fire" last night. While the show itself was okay, the soundtrack was impressive, so I'll certainly be tuning in for more episodes!
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Let's go back to 1979. XTC again, this time with the unique sound of 'Complicated Game'. There are several classy standout tracks on the XTC's third album Drums and Wires. 'Making Plans For Nigel' is one of them. 'Ten Feet Tall' is another. This fatalistic ditty though stands out for me for its compelling persistent LFO-type rhythm and surely one of the most impressive uses of call-and-response style vocal delay this side of Freddie Mercury's taped canon delays in 'The Prophet's Song' 4 years earlier. Like Mercury's use, it's not an effect, it becomes an integral part of the song (check out the burst of vocal cross rhythms built at 2:54-2:59). Real punk grit and bare bitterness in songwriting plus some imaginative studio processing takes this simple song to accomplished depths.
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