a pop and rock album, although a variety of other styles are plundered throughout, such as jazz, reggae, hard rock, Middle Eastern music and Zairean soukous. It projected brighter, more upbeat and aggressive moods than XTC's recent work, and the harsher effect positioned the group closer to the sound of their earlier records. The psychedelic ambiance of the Dukes records is retained, albeit with a lesser emphasis on "loopy" humour. In Stereogum writer Rob Ham's description, the intention was to filter the Dukes aesthetic using contemporary instruments and technology; as a result, most of the album's songs, and especially Partridge's, are arranged in a maximalist fashion exemplified by the first song, "Garden of Earthly Delights". Gary Ramon of Record Collector concurred that "while a 60s edge was detectable, the sound was firmly rooted in the Eighties." Before sessions began, Partridge envisioned the album as "a very simple, banal-sounding record" with more basic arrangements than the final product: "it got lost in translation a little and came out rather multi-layered - in fact, very dense. We just got swept along with the enthusiasm." Journalist Nick Reed observed of the LP, "Nearly every instrument is mixed to the forefront; it's too well-arranged to be cacophonous, but there's a degree of sensory overload, especially given the band's newfound tendency to blast synthesizers in our faces." Many vocal counterpoints are heard throughout the record. Partridge likened it to "several songs happening at once. It's musical masturbation ... Not many people do that now - not since West Side Story or South Pacific". 23 songs were demoed for the LP, with the final 15 chosen by Paul Fox. All of the selections were written by Partridge, except three by Moulding ("King for a Day", "One of the Millions", and "Cynical Days"). Lyrically, several of the songs focus on parent-child relationships in addition to the state of world affairs. For Partridge, this was partly due to the fact that he had toddler-aged children. He attributed the influence of the Beach Boys' 1966 album Pet Sounds to Moulding's songs for the record. Moulding himself said that he had been in a depression writing the songs for the record. XTC biographer Chris Twomey identified "Garden of Earthly Delights", "Here Comes President Kill Again", and "The Loving" as examples where "the Dukes were still alive in spirit", whereas "King for a Day", "Poor Skeleton Steps Out", "Hold Me My