25 O'Clock is the debut studio album by English rock band The Dukes Of Stratosphear and the eighth studio album by XTC. It was released on April 1, 1985 by Virgin Records. It was publicised as a long-lost collection of recordings by a late 1960s group, but actually consisted of new tracks recorded by Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, and Dave Gregory of XTC with Gregory's brother Ian.
The project was conceived by Partridge as a one-off excursion into 1960s-style psychedelic music. Three rules were set during its recording: songs must follow the conventions of 1967 and 1968 psychedelia, no more than two takes allowed, and use vintage equipment wherever possible. Virgin gave the group £5,000 and a two-week deadline for the sessions, in which the members adopted pseudonyms and dressed themselves in clothing of the era. Only six tracks were recorded due to time constraints.
Track listing[]
Original mini-album[]
All tracks are written by Andy Partridge except "What in the World??...", by Colin Moulding.
| Side one | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 1. | "25 O'Clock" | 5:01 | ||||||||
| 2. | "Bike Ride to the Moon" | 2:24 | ||||||||
| 3. | "My Love Explodes" | 3:54 | ||||||||
| Side one | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 1. | "What in the World??..." | 5:01 | ||||||||
| 2. | "Your Gold Dress" | 4:38 | ||||||||
| 3. | "The Mole from the Ministry" | 5:50 | ||||||||
Expanded edition[]
A remastered and expanded version of 25 O'Clock was released on 20 April 2009 by Partridge's Ape House record label. This edition of 25 O'Clock is credited to "XTC as The Dukes of Stratosphear". It also included the promotional video for "The Mole from the Ministry" as a QuickTime file.
| 2009 CD bonus tracks | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 7. | "25 O'Clock (Demo)" | 2:25 | ||||||||
| 8. | "Bike Ride to the Moon (Demo)" | 1:30 | ||||||||
| 9. | "My Love Explodes (Demo)" | 1:54 | ||||||||
| 10. | "What in the World??... (Demo)" | 3:40 | ||||||||
| 11. | "Nicely Nicely Jane (Demo)" | 1:17 | ||||||||
| 12. | "Susan Revolving (Demo)" | 1:24 | ||||||||
| 13. | "Black Jewelled Serpent of Sound (Radio Caroline Edit)" | 2:17 | ||||||||
| 14. | "Open a Can of Human Beans" | 4:44 | ||||||||
| 15. | "Tin Toy Clockwork Train" | 3:17 | ||||||||