1983 for the television documentary program Play at Home. Reception Critical J. D. Considine of Rolling Stone felt that Mummer found the band "concentrating on reinforcing, not cluttering, its material", resulting in "XTC's most accessible album yet", and that its "most impressive moments come when the band employs more standard songwriting devices or simply relies on unadorned melodic charm." Conversely, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice felt the album saw the band sounding "more mannered and arid than ever". He concluded that "The eccentric dissonances that sour [Partridge's] melodies and the fitful time shifts that undercut his groove may well bespeak his own sense of distance, but art-poppers who command both melody and groove are rare enough that I wish he'd find another way." In 1987, David Sinclair of Q opined that the album "paraded moments of inconsequential pastoral whimsy" with "performances of irritating pomposity". In his 1992 appraisal of the band for the Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot stated that Mummer "combines lilting love songs with clumsy social commentaries." In a later retrospective review for AllMusic, Chris Woodstra felt the album was "very much the work of an eccentric in isolation" and featured "moments of real inspiration, resulting in some of the band's finest songs to date". He added that the overall sound set a "pleasingly consistent mood, although the sameness tends to work against the lesser material." Track listing CD issues prior to 2001 placed the bonus tracks between the original sides one and two of the album. Original release information for bonus tracks sourced from Chalkhills and Children (1992), by Chris Twomey. Personnel Credits adapted from the album's liner notes, except where otherwise indicated. XTC Andy Partridge – guitar, vocals; saxophone ("Great Fire") Colin Moulding – bass, vocals, Dave Gregory – guitar, keyboards, vocals Additional personnel Terry Chambers – drums ("Beating of Hearts", "Wonderland", "Toys") Pete Phipps – drums on remaining tracks Steve Nye – miniKORG ("Wonderland"), Mellotron ("Deliver Us from the Elements") Gavyn Wright – strings ("Great Fire") Nigel Warren-Green – strings ("Great Fire") Hans the wind – de vente Vince Sullivan – trombone ("Gold") Technical Steve Nye – co-producer, engineer (except "Great Fire", "Gold", "Frost Circus", "Procession Towards Learning Land") XTC – co-producer; producer ("Frost Circus", "Procession Towards Learning Land"); mixing ("Desert Island", "Toys") Bob Sargeant – co-producer ("Great Fire", "Gold") Alex Sadkin – remixing ("Wonderland", "Human Alchemy", "Funk Pop a Roll") Phil Thornalley – remixing,