of $150,000—including tape costs, studio hire, lodging, and his production fee—which the band accepted. Concept and style In January 1986, Partridge and Moulding mailed Rundgren a collection of more than 20 demo tapes they had stockpiled in advance of the album. Rundgren convinced the band that the songs they had written could form a concept album as a way to bridge what he described "Colin's 'pastoral' tunes and subject matter and Andy's 'pop anthems' and sly poetry." He also suggested a provisional title, Day Passes, and said that the album The chosen songs were of a gentler atmosphere and relations were drawn between tempo, key, and subject matter. Partridge thought well of the selections, but was annoyed that the tracks and running order were determined so early on in the process, remarking that "you hadn't spoken to the bloke for three minutes, and he'd already been hacking and throwing your work in the bin". Working titles included All Day Life, Rite, Rite Things, Leftover Rites, Summer Good, and Pink Things Sing. They settled on Skylarking, referring to a type of bird (skylark) and the Royal Navy term "skylarking", which means "fooling around". Partridge commented that the album espoused the feeling of "a playfully sexual hot summer ... It's just about summer and being out in the open and discovering sex in a stumbly, teenage way." Similar to 25 O'Clock, the music was heavily influenced by the 1960s psychedelic era. However, Skylarking contrasted significantly from earlier XTC efforts. As music critic A.D. Amorosi wrote, "More lyrically mature, lush and gently psychedelic than anything before in their catalog, Skylarking borrowed the hilly, holy feel of Mummer, as well as the ringing Beatles-ish vibe from ... The Big Express, but with a softly sweeping gracefulness and a finessed orchestral swirl. It has been variously described as an album of art rock, art pop, new wave, psychedelic pop, psychedelic rock, neo-psychedelia, post-punk, and chamber pop. Partridge surmised that the lyric content of XTC songs became more worldly as result of his "coming off—rather abruptly—of 13 years of valium addiction". He had also recently become a father and began listening to numerous Beach Boys albums, before which he had only been familiar with their singles. Moulding had recently listened to Pink Floyd's 1967 debut The Piper at the Gates of Dawn for the first time and was influenced by Syd Barrett's "free-form" songwriting style. The