No. 80: ’25 O’Clock’

We all know about “The Midnight Hour.” When the love come tumblin’ down. All that. But what to make of “25 O’Clock,” the most curious of hours, a temporal slot found somewhere between the imagination of poets and the yearnings of generations of barflies.

“At 25 o’clock, that’s when you’re going to be mine,” Andy Partridge sings with more than a touch of menace. “25 o’clock, we’ll be together ’til the end of time …”

The stalker piece might not fit the swinging ’60s vibe, but the music — as played by the mythical Dukes of Stratosphear — surely summons the era of peace, love & Orange Sunshine.

Listen:

A clock ticks. Sounds familiar. A grandfather clock. Alarm bells! “Time!” Perhaps we’re headed for the dark side of the moon. But suddenly the clicky one-two bass pattern comes in — it’s late 1966, we’ve crossed the Pond … and we’ve had far too much to dream.

Vocals quantum leaping about the soundstage — as if stereo had just gone mainstream. Instruments changing places in the stereophonic mix. Left, then right. Right! Then left. A facetious Farfisa sound drives the proceedings. Our drummer struggles to maintain the “Bolero” rhythm. The singer/narrator stumbles out of the garage, a snarling piece of proto-punk teen beef, intent on absolute possession of his intended.

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Fooling almost no one, XTC kicked off its psychedelic tribute EP with this dark and marvelous title track. Adding an amateur drummer to the trio, the new-wave-era stars presented as the Dukes of Stratosphear, a moth-eaten English act somehow lost in the mists of psychedelia.

In reality, it was the mid-1980s. “I found myself longing to be doing the music that I loved as a kid of 13 or 14,” said XTC leader Andy Partridge. The label wasn’t excited, but found a few pounds for the project. “I knew I wanted to do something like Syd Barrett,” Partridge said.

The band took on far-out identities: “Sir John Johns” (Partridge) “Lord Cornelius Plum” (guitarist and keyboardist Dave Gregory), “The Red Curtain” (bassist Colin Moulding) and “E.I.E.I. Owen” (drummer Ian Gregory). The band donned paisley garb for sessions and sought out vintage hardware. Producer John Leckie shares credit with Swami Anand Nagara.

In tune with the project, the title track remains something of a goof. While most of the Dukes’ output recalls the psychedelic Brits — Tomorrow, the Small Faces, the Fabs — in scattershot fashion, “25 O’Clock” clearly mines the Electric Prunes hit “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night).”

“I’m shamelessly being over-melodramatic with the vocal and the melody,” Partridge admitted in a talk with Todd Bernhardt (2009). Nearing the 5-minute mark, Partridge unleashes his best god of hellfire imitation. As the track collapses upon itself, we hear metal scraping across undampened piano strings. And it’s a wrap.

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Virgin Records released “25 O’Clock” on April Fool’s Day, 1985. Hipper record stores soon started filing the disc under XTC. The masquerade held for a bit, however, and the Dukes followed with a full-blown album in 1987. (Like the “25 O’Clock” EP, the long player “Psonic Psunspot” opened with its strongest track: The Hollies-inspired “Vanishing Girl.”)

“25 O’Clock” arrived on the crest of a minor psychedelic music revival that was largely headquartered in L.A. The public was more than ready: The Dukes disc handily outsold the previous XTC album.

XTC emerged changed from the time-traveling EP experience, recording “Skylarking” in 1986. Producer Todd Rundgren had done his share of recycling the psychedelic era (“Faithful”). While the Partridge-Rundgren sessions proved difficult at best, their neo-psychedelic efforts resulted in what many fans consider the band’s masterwork.

Liner notes: The CD era loomed in the mid-’80s, of course, and EPs were pushed off the shelves. The Dukes’ output was combined on one CD in 1987 as “Chips from the Chocolate Fireball.” … 1985 also saw the release of the neo-psychedelic works “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” cooked up by Tom Petty and Dave Stewart, and Prince’s “Around the World in a Day.” … Hat tip to reader J. Ward, who nominated “25 O’Clock” as one of the great psychedelic records.

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