In my opinion XTC were the best band to come out of these shores. As Andy Partridge hinted there is only one other band that just got better and better despite stopping touring. There are many Beatlesque moments here, and Partridge actually sounds McCartney-like on tracks like Summers Cauldron and Season Cycle. Moulding's compositions are easily a match for Partridges own compositions; evoking psychedelic-era schoolday romances on Grass and the medieval paganistic feel of Sacrificial Bonfire.

Notwithstanding the nods to the fab four this album stands unparalleled in it's own right; a timeless whimsical and nostalgic journey that takes the listener through mankind's relationship with the seasons impacting life, death and rebirth from a quntessentialy English perspective.

I know that Andy Partridge and Todd Rungren didn't see eye to eye over the making of the album and that there were issues with the polarity of the recording, but the end product is a perfect pastoral pop confection with a nod to past masters and a wink to their own exceptional songwriting art.

If you like beautifully crafted melodic (sometimes orchestrated) classic British pop music then you will not get better than this. A Classic!