TV tip

"XTC: This is Pop"

Showtime

If Colin Moulding was the main songwriter in your band, you'd spend a long time counting your blessings. But if he was only the second songwriter in your band — and the main dude was Andy Partridge — well, you'd have the core creative force behind XTC. Along with guitarist Dave Gregory, whose sonic textures were similarly important, XTC was probably the most consistently creative and forward-thinking British rock band not named The Beatles. This wonderful documentary, with plenty of witty and insightful commentary from all principals, fleshes out the best known minutiae about the group's bio, gives delicious background on songwriting and the recording process, and adds a ton of suprises as well. It's a charming, affectionate and effortlessly entertaining documentary — and, after watching it, if you don't immediately order any/all XTC albums missing from your collection, you have no soul, heart or ears.

— Rick Koster