25 O'Clock

25 O'Clock is the debut record by the English rock band the Dukes of Stratosphear and the eighth studio album by XTC, released on April Fools Day 1985 through Virgin Records. It was publicised as a long-lost collection of recordings by a late 1960s group, but actually consisted of new tracks recorded by Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, and Dave Gregory of XTC with Gregory's brother Ian on drums. The project was conceived by Partridge as a one-off excursion into 1960s-style psychedelic music. Three rules were set during its recording: songs must follow the conventions of 1967 and 1968 psychedelia, no more than two takes of each song were allowed, and the band had to use vintage equipment wherever possible. Virgin gave the group £5,000 and a two-week deadline for the sessions, in which the members adopted pseudonyms and dressed in period clothing. Only six tracks were recorded due to time constraints. Upon its release in the UK, 25 O'Clock sold twice as many copies as XTC's album The Big Express (1984) had in the country, even before the Dukes' identity was made public. One single was issued, the Beatles pastiche "The Mole from the Ministry", with an accompanying music video. 25 O'Clock was followed in 1987 by the LP Psonic Psunspot, which contained the outtake "Have You Seen Jackie?". Another outtake, "Big Day", was reworked for XTC's 1986 album Skylarking. 25 O'Clock and Psonic Psunspot were later collected on the CD compilation Chips from the Chocolate Fireball.