XTC, as a non-touring band, between the recording/release of The Big Express and Skylarking, adopted the alter egos of The Dukes of Stratosphear and set about writing and recording 25 O’Clock, partying like it was 1967 and stereo phasing had just been popularized. With a clutch of songs as tuneful as Sgt. Pepper’s, guitars cranked up like a Kinks Pye b-side, the collective knowledge of a bunch of psych’s keenest fanboys and the engineering skills of John Leckie…the resulting album sits somewhere in the pantheon of greatness between Evolution, Their Satanic Majesties Request and S.F. Sorrow. 200g vinyl LP cut at Loud Mastering by Jason Mitchell.
