I feel like there's something about this which grabs me in a way that Mummer didn't. This is 1984 now, so very much into my musical years. I would have been listening to an odd amalgamation at this point, half Peel-inspired Smiths, Fall, Billy Bragg, Cocteau Twins, half break-time swaps of Nik Kershaw, pocket money Duran Duran, Thompson Twins and Ultravox. XTC would probably have cropped up in the pages of Smash Hits, and latterly the NME, but The Big Express did not cross my radar.

Maybe this is us into the phase of being a song driven band appreciated by songwriters but not much beyond that. I don't know. I suppose there isn't a clear "hit" in the way that Nigel or Senses grabbed you. And ultimately, it's an album about building trains, right?

Back to Chalkhills and the sense that if this wasn't willfully obscure, it was at least not a full-fronted assault on the charts. Terry Chambers has gone, so in on drums comes Peter Phipps, incredibly from the Glitter Band and later Denim. The Lawrence effect really does get everywhere. Some of it veers almost into country territory, a twang of the guitar that moves us further and further away from that English sound.

Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her is perhaps the closest we come yet to a template for the Blur sound. This album seems to be cited more as an influence than it is actually enjoyed by anyone. Likewise, Everday Story of Smalltown feels like it could sit quite easily on Parklife, and to be fair, is very much a return to the XTC mould of yore.

I'm surprised I never heard this album, but then where would I have heard it? Too straight for Peel, too weird for daytime Radio 1, too niche to make the charts, perhaps too square for the early evening Jensen/Long axis.

The now-obligatory AP quote: “Call me stupid, but these were good records. If you bastards don't want to buy 'em, what can I do? I had faith in my art.”