Colin Moulding marks 47 years since XTC’s “Making Plans for Nigel” with a three-track EP that documents both the finished song and the creative process behind it.
by Paul Cashmere
Colin Moulding has released Want It Bad (The Pep Talks and Playing Fields of Old England), a three-track EP that pairs a completed new recording with a James Bond-inspired songwriting experiment and a raw early demo. The CD was released on September 18, 2026 exclusively through Burning Shed, 47 years to the week after XTC’s “Making Plans for Nigel”, the Moulding-written song that became one of the band’s defining recordings.
The timing connects Moulding’s current solo work with a pivotal point in XTC’s history. “Making Plans for Nigel”, released in September 1979 as the lead single from Drums and Wires, was written and sung by Moulding and became XTC’s first UK Top 20 hit. The new EP provides a different perspective on his songwriting, presenting not only a finished composition but two recordings that reveal how ideas developed before reaching their final form.
At the centre of the release is “Want It Bad (The Pep Talks and Playing Fields of Old England)”, a song that began with a sporting theme before Moulding recognised a broader application. “Although this song started life as a sporting pep talk, it was clear that it could easy be thought of as a mantra for ones own life ambitions whatever they may be,” Moulding says.
His original concept was based around the idea that determination is required to achieve an ambition. That starting point gives the recording its connection with the EP’s artwork, which was created by Andrew Swainson from Robert Delaunay’s painting Les Coureurs. Moulding had been looking for an image representing human endeavour and connected the runners depicted by Delaunay with the sporting origins of the song.
The second track, “Something About The Boy (James Bond Demo for Female Voice)”, moves into a very different area of Moulding’s songwriting. The composition was influenced by his childhood interest in the James Bond films and an unrealised ambition to work with composer John Barry.
Moulding recalls seeing Dr No, From Russia with Love and Goldfinger with his father during the 1960s. He imagined the song as a possible project for Barry and a female vocalist, but ultimately had to record the demonstration himself to communicate the idea. The result documents an unusual side of his writing process, including the practical problem of demonstrating a female vocal melody in his own voice.
The EP closes with “Want It Bad (Demo)”, a four-minute-and-20-second recording made as a working demonstration. Moulding describes it as a version recorded in about an hour using a hand-held Shure 57 microphone, with different lyrics and no bass. Unlike the completed title track, the demo leaves the composition in an early and relatively exposed state.
Together, the three tracks provide a chronological glimpse into different stages of songwriting. The title track represents the developed composition, the Bond-themed piece captures an idea shaped by a longstanding musical influence, while the demo preserves the mechanics of building a song from its earliest form.
Moulding’s association with XTC began in the early 1970s after he met Andy Partridge and drummer Terry Chambers. The group became XTC in 1975 and went on to release 14 albums before disbanding in 2006. Moulding wrote several of the band’s major songs, including “Life Begins at the Hop”, “Making Plans for Nigel” and “Generals and Majors”. “Generals and Majors”, released in 1980, became XTC’s first US charting single.
His songwriting also extended beyond the core XTC catalogue. Moulding and Chambers later reunited as TC&I, releasing the Great Aspirations EP in 2017 and performing a series of shows in Swindon in 2018. Highlights from those performances were subsequently issued as Naked Flames: Live at Swindon Arts Centre.
Moulding released his first solo EP, The Hardest Battle, in 2021. Want It Bad therefore represents a continuation of a solo catalogue that has developed separately from XTC while retaining the melodic and exploratory songwriting approach associated with his work in the band.
The new EP is presented as a four-panel digisleeve CD. Writing, production and the three compositions are credited to Colin Moulding, with Stuart Rowe handling the mixing and Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering responsible for mastering. Andrew Swainson created the cover artwork.
The physical release is available exclusively through Burning Shed. The EP contains three recordings:
– Want It Bad (The Pep Talks and Playing Fields of Old England) 3:56
– Something About The Boy (James Bond Demo for Female Voice) 2:47
– Want It Bad (Demo) 4:20
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