The Big Express

The Big Express is the seventh studio album by the English band XTC, released in 1984. It was one of XTC's harder-edged albums, in contrast to the pastoral Mummer and Skylarking which were released in sequence with it. Initial copies of the LP were released in a round sleeve. Working titles considered for the album were Coalface, Head of Steam, Shaking Skin House, Bastard Son of Hard Blue Rayhead, The Known World, and Bull with the Golden Guts. The singles released from the album were "All You Pretty Girls" (released 3 September 1984 and reached No. 55 on the UK Singles Chart), "This World Over" (released 29 October 1984) and "Wake Up" (released 28 January 1985). The album reached No. 38 on the UK Albums Chart, and No. 178 on the U.S. Billboard 200. The band made a big-budget promotional video for "All You Pretty Girls", and appeared on the BBC-TV programme Saturday Superstore with lip-synch performances of "This World Over" and "All You Pretty Girls". The seventh track, "I Bought Myself a Liarbird" is about their former manager, Ian Reid. The fourth track, "Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss Her" was written by Partridge on the band's mellotron. It inspired the name of the Japanese indie rock band, Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her.