The last album that XTC would deliver to their longtime benefactors Virgin Records, Nonsuch is a byproduct of peak CD-era hubris: a decent 10-track album padded out with filler and half-baked ideas until it ballooned up to 17 tracks and an hour-long running time.

The disc is also seemingly programmed to take into account the short attention spans of most modern music fans, as it is frontloaded with its best work. The first six tracks are peerless slices of pop, moving from the raw jangle of “The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead” to the lilting “My Bird Performs” to the stately 6/8 shuffle of “The Disappointed” with giddy ease.

It’s when the album hits Partridge’s ode to watching his daughter ride her favorite rocking horse (“Holly Up On Poppy”) that things start to go awry. The shifts in mood and tone become too jarring — the sparkly-eyed love song “Then She Appeared” bumping unnaturally against the martial anti-conflict sentiments of “War Dance,” or wedging the delicate “Bungalow” between two of Partridge’s most plodding rock numbers.

A further knock on this album is how everything is covered by this audibly digital sheen. Positively everything on here sounds clipped and unnatural, but you can hear it most in poor Dave Mattacks’ drums. Each cymbal crash and snare hit appears to be spilling over with ones and zeros. A bit of a slap in the face to a gent whose warm, jazz-inspired playing was so vital to folk-rock pioneers Fairport Convention.

The band still manages to grab some glory amid the chaos of Nonsuch’s last 40 minutes. Dave Gregory’s guitar solo on the otherwise throwaway “Crocodile” is appropriately beastly, and Colin Moulding’s “Bungalow” is a perfectly rendered ode to old age (a subject that seems to be constantly on the man’s mind). It’s not enough, though, to rescue this top-heavy ship from sinking under its own weight.

In spite of its failings, Nonsuch did tickle some influential ears. The album netted a Grammy nomination for “Best Alternative Music Album,” and radio airplay of its singles (“Pumpkinhead” and “Disappointed”) in the U.S. edged it to #97 on the Billboard 200.

It also provided a final nail in the heart of the band’s oft-fractured relationship with Virgin, as they pretty well gave up on promoting the album. “Wrapped In Grey” was planned as a third single, with money spent on a video and everything, but quickly withdrawn by the label. An unceremonious end to a long working relationship, and one that Partridge and co. are still feeling the effects of to this day.