Released in 1978, Go 2 was XTC’s second album. The times were interesting as disco had peaked and beginning to decline, punk was in its heyday, and the rumblings of New Wave were on the horizon.
This album certainly has mixed reviews, with fans of the later year XTC being less enthusiastic. I’m a big fan, though. It was very quirky for the times, and I think that was what attracted me. In the same song you could have a high level of discordance, power pop & smart lyricism. There were definitely hints of what XTC would grow into under the writing of Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding. I liked the overall feel of the album and its “herky-jerky-quirkiness”; it fit well with my mood at the time, and I still enjoy listening to it. It certainly is not a fit for everyone, but I daresay when it fits, it will fit well. As an aside, the album cover killed me. I talk about my album selection criteria in another post on the site (link), and to have this album cover absolutely literally speak to that flat out made me laugh.
The exception for me were the two songs “My Weapon” & “Super-Tuff” written by Barry Andrews, who left the band after this album. They don’t really fit with overall album, and have not aged well.