English Settlement

Partridge reasoned that a record less geared to the stage might ease the pressure to play live. He moved the band toward what he called a more pastoral, more acoustic direction. Moulding bought a fretless bass, Gregory a Rickenbacker 12-string, and Chambers a drum synthesiser. The band recorded about 30 songs in six weeks at The Manor Studio in Oxfordshire, self-produced with Hugh Padgham, and it was released as a double album, though several territories outside the UK received a single LP. The cover shows the Uffington White Horse, which lies about nine miles east of Swindon.

The album went to number 5 in the UK, and Senses Working Overtime to number 10, XTC's highest placings. It reached 48 in the US. Ball and Chain reached 58. An international tour began in March, but only nine full shows were played, and the band did not tour again. The Quietus wrote on its 30th anniversary that many critics had regarded it as their finest album, and Pitchfork placed it at 46 on its 2002 list of the best albums of the 1980s.