I reacquainted myself with XTC several months back and most of their albums grew in stature in my estimation, particularly Skylarking, though I'd still only rank it as their #2 (a good distance behind Black Sea) and a 'very good' album overall.

(side note: most every XTC album through Skylarking is very good, but Black Sea is, in my opinion, their only all-timer)

I still find it way too thin for a supposed classic, both in terms of production (way too dinky and plastic-sounding in overall approach, though admittedly with nice touches throughout) and content (a few too many songs register as empty Beatles pastiche; mostly Andy's, but also Colin's "Big Day"), and not every song is top-tier XTC even allowing for those flaws ("The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul" can go straight to hell).

On the other hand, 2/3rds of the melodies are fantastic, and it starts and ends about as well as any concept album you could care to name, so I could certainly understand the argument that it overcomes those flaws (though I'll never agree that it's flawless).

Rain Dogs eats it for lunch, of course.