Strike period In 1993, Partridge conceived XTC's next project to be an album of
bubblegum pop songs disguising itself as a retrospective compilation featuring 12 different groups from the early 1970s. The lyrics were also heavily sexual, with song titles such as "Lolly (Suck It and See)" and "Visit to the Doctor". Partridge recalled playing some demos for Virgin agents, and compared their reaction to the "
Springtime for Hitler" scene from the 1967 film
The Producers. The label rejected his idea. In the meantime, Partridge produced
Martin Newell's 1993 album
The Greatest Living Englishman and early sessions for
Blur's second album. "I thought I did sterling work. ... Next day,
[David Balfe from
the Teardrop Explodes said], 'Quite frankly, Andy, this is shit.), XTC found themselves freed from financial debt and from Virgin after "making some heavy concessions". Partridge fantasised that people from the label "met in the dark and thought, 'These blokes are not making a living. We've had 'em all these years and we've got their catalogue and the copyright to their songs for evermore and we've stitched 'em up real good with a rotten deal so, erm, maybe we should let them go.' I like to think that it was a guilt thing." In 1998,
Song Stories, an authorized overview of the band's catalog by journalist and longtime friend
Neville Farmer was published. Partridge said the book was badly edited and "used the crappiest quotes". Partridge thought the new songs were "some of the best stuff, if not the best stuff, ever. It's even more intensely passionate than before." Gregory denied that his leaving pertained to "musical differences", and that it was moreso "personal problems" related to Partridge. In contrast, the companion album
Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) (2000), consisting of more guitar-based material, was regarded as one of the band's "weakest" albums. Upon release, its British chart peak was higher than
Volume 1, at number 40 in the UK,—were reunited for the charity single "Open a Can (of Human Beans)" (2003). Another set,
Apple Box (2005), included two new tracks: "Spiral", written by Partridge and "Say It", by Moulding. These songs were available to purchasers of the box set in digital format only, with the use of a special download code. This followed with a digital-exclusive track, Moulding's "Where Did the Ordinary People Go?", released in December 2005. From 2002 to 2006, Partridge simultaneously released volumes in the multi-album
Fuzzy Warbles series, a set dedicated to unreleased solo demos and other material. He felt that such "petty" arguments about XTC's finances precipitated the band's unofficial break-up, as he said in reference to the
Fuzzy Warbles collection, "I got the impression he was going for broke ..." Near the end of the year, he told an interviewer that Moulding recently ("a couple of months back") lost interest in writing, performing or even listening to music. He remained hopeful that the situation was temporary and assured that they had "not killed off the XTC head. I mean, we still have the head cryogenically frozen. ... It's no good making a record and calling it XTC, certainly, if Colin isn't involved." In November, he stated that he had been forced to regard the group "in the past tense," with no likelihood of a new project unless Moulding should have a change of heart. Months later, Partridge intimated that Moulding had moved and changed his phone number, effectively ending all contact between the two and reducing their correspondence to emails exchanged via their manager to discuss the division of the band's assets. Partridge also said he and Gregory—their differences now resolved—had considered working together again. In July 2008, Partridge wrote in the
Swindon Advertiser that he believed his "musical partnership with Colin Moulding has come to an end. For reasons too personal and varied to go into here, but we had a good run as they say and produced some real good work. No, I won't be working with him in the future." In December, Moulding resurfaced for a live radio interview where he confirmed his recent disillusionment with music, but revealed that he was thinking of working on solo material. His given reasons for the break-up were financial discord, disagreement over the extent of the
Fuzzy Warbles project, and a "change in mindset" between him and Partridge. He also stated that he and Partridge were once again communicating directly by email.
Reissue programme and TC&I XTC did not technically break up in a legal sense. As of 2014, the group still existed as a trademark controlled by Partridge and Moulding. Throughout the 2010s, selected albums from the band's catalog were reissued as deluxe packages centred on new stereo and
surround sound mixes by
Steven Wilson. Partridge said that he did not "insist on any mastering or messing with XTC 5.1" and that his involvement with Wilson's mixes goes only as far as authorizing them. The official XTC
Twitter account @xtcfans was originally managed by writer Todd Bernhardt. According to Partridge, after some time, "I sort of took it over, because I thought it was weird that there was another person in the way." In 2016, Partridge and Bernhardt released a book,
Complicated Game: Inside the Songs of XTC, that contains discussions between the two about 29 XTC songs, one Partridge solo track, and an overview of his approach to songwriting. It was published by Jawbone Press. Until 2016, Moulding remained largely inactive as a musician. In October 2017, he and Terry Chambers issued a four-song EP,
Great Aspirations (credited to "TC&I"). Its release coincided with a televised documentary film of the band's career,
XTC: This Is Pop, which premiered on Sky Arts on 7 October. The documentary featured new interviews with Partridge, Gregory, Moulding and Chambers. Moulding praised the film and commented on the possibility of a full-fledged XTC reunion: "They say never say never, don't they? It would seem unlikely, put it that way." From 29 October to 20 November, TC&I performed six sold-out shows at Swindon's Art's Centre, in Old Town. For the shows, TC&I was augmented by Steve Tilling (from
Circu5), Gary Bamford, Susannah Bevington, and Moulding's son, Lee Moulding. It was the first time Moulding and Chambers had played a live gig in decades. TC&I subsequently released a live album of the shows titled
Naked Flames. In 2021, Moulding told
Mojo that he and Partridge had recently become on good terms with each other. "[Andy and I] didn't speak for a long time, except about business, and then it was quite terse. But we're quite cordial with each other now, it's probably as good as it's been for quite some time. Would we do XTC again? (
laughs) I don't think we would, because I'm not sure whether I could put up with his dictatorial ways any more, or whether he could put up with me." On 13 April 2024, it was announced that original keyboardist Jon Perkins had died at the age of 66. ==Musical style and development==