Mummer is an album by XTC which was released on August 30, 1983. It reached No. 51 on the UK album chart and No. 145 on the U.S. Billboard album charts.
It spawned three UK singles; "Great Fire" (released April 22, 1983), "Wonderland" (released June 24, 1983) and "Love on a Farmboy's Wages" (released September 19, 1983 and reached No. 50 on the UK singles chart).
The album was delayed many months by Virgin Records. It was originally supposed to be released by Epic Records on May 26, 1983 in the U.S.A. (it even had a catalog number: BFE 38516), but the label thought it was too acoustic and pastoral for American audiences. It was finally issued in the U.S. by Geffen Records (who subsequently issued all of XTC's Virgin releases) in February 1984. "Wonderland" was the only single issued by Geffen from the album.
The only promotional public appearance made by the band for this album was in late 1983 when they appeared on the BBC-TV show Pebble Mill At One where they lip-synced to "Love on a Farmboy's Wages". A promotional video was made for the "Wonderland" single. Five more videos were also made in July 1983 for the television documentary program Play At Home.
This was the final album that Terry Chambers appeared on with XTC.
Track listing[]
- All songs written by Andy Partridge, except where noted.
- "Beating of Hearts" – 3:56
- "Wonderland" (Colin Moulding) – 4:50
- "Love on a Farmboy's Wages" – 3:58
- "Great Fire" – 3:47
- "Deliver Us from the Elements" (Moulding) – 4:36
- "Human Alchemy" – 5:11
- "Ladybird" – 4:32
- "In Loving Memory of a Name" (Moulding) – 3:16
- "Me and the Wind" – 4:17
- "Funk Pop a Roll" – 3:14
CD bonus tracks[]
- "Frost Circus (Homo Safari No. 5)" – 3:53
- "Jump (Love and Swimming Pools)" – 4:39
- "Toys" – 4:20
- "Gold" – 3:33
- "Procession Towards Learning Land (Homo Safari No. 6)" – 3:46
- "Desert Island" – 4:52
Personnel[]
- Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, Dave Gregory - vocals, instruments
- Peter Phipps - drums
- Terry Chambers - drums on "Beating of Hearts", "Wonderland" and the bonus track "Toys".
- Steve Nye - mini-korg on "Wonderland", mellotron on "Elements"
- Gavin Wright, Nigel Warren-Green - strings on "Great Fire"