All part of decency's jigsaw

XTC, 1980: (l-r) Dave Gregory, Colin Moulding, Terry Chambers, Andy Partridge

There are some dated moments within XTC’s terrific run of albums in the 1980s (Black Sea, English Settlement, Mummer, The Big Express, Skylarking, and Oranges & Lemons) where the studio-finessed, contrived productions can sound fussily splashy. But great XTC songs transcend the origins of their composition, to paraphrase Joyce Carol Oates. Songs like “Generals and Majors,” “Senses Working Overtime,” “Love on a Farmboy's...