Play at Home (1984) User Reviews

Much better than "XTC at the Manor"

[keeleymw · 9/10 · 13 June 2002]

This one's much better... you get a bunch of promotional videos from Mummer, a few live performances, and a bunch of stuff with just hanging out with XTC in Swindon. Unlike At The Manor, it's actually interesting and not boring! Hopefully this'll come out on DVD at some point, with XTC's other promotional videos..

Very Entertaining Program Of Mummer Era XTC

[billjsw · 10/10 · 9 September 2005]

"Play At Home" was a program that featured acts performing live in their hometowns. Other notable acts to be featured on the program were Echo And The Bunnymen. So it's odd that XTC is the only band accounted for here. However it's safe to say that XTC was the most costly production (instead of setting up a camera and playing live they produced five music videos). For any XTC fan this is amazing. The videos are all good and it even includes an acoustic version of a then unreleased song (a superior version of "Train Running Low On Soul Coal" which would not see release for another fifteen months) performed by Dave and Andy. It features interviews of the band in Pegs's Pantry (a now defunct café in Swindon) and individually as the band discusses their hobbies (Daves' is home recording, Colins' is fresh-water fishing, Andys' is making board games). It shows the band as they had just finished recording Mummer and a surprisingly non-so-timid Andy considering he had just had a nervous breakdown. Great program!