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XTC’s most commercially successful album was, for many years, also its most mythical with tales of “lost” multi-track tapes (sadly true of other XTC albums but not this one), a song originally dropped from the album only to be replaced when it inadvertently became a hit single in the USA, a perfect match, on paper, between the ideal Britpop band a decade before the term was invented & an Anglophile super-producer that turned rather imperfect in personality terms but still resulted in a classic album.
Still, a masterpiece remains a masterpiece however traumatic its origins & this is one of those few albums that sounded great at the time & sounds just as great, if not better, now.
When Steven Wilson remixed the album in 2016 – for new stereo & 5.1 Surround Sound editions on CD/Blu-ray, the release was successful again with both original & a new generation of fans. However, this remix was never released on vinyl.
Frequently requested as a vinyl release in recent years & with the new CD/Blu-ray release this Autumn in Dolby Atmos (remixed again by StevenWilson), the timing is ideal for Ape House to make the 2016 mix available on 200-gram vinyl the first of Steven’s XTC mixes to be issued on vinyl.
The new CD+Blu-Ray edition features the complete album in Dolby Atmos, along with four additional tracks & instrumental versions in that format.
The Blu-ray also includes the 2016 mixes in DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround, 24/96 Hi-Res Stereo plus instrumental versions – all mixed by Steven Wilson.
The Blu-ray also includes the original, Todd Rundgren produced, album mix in 24/96 Hi-Res stereo (corrected polarity edition).
The 2016 stereo mixes appear on the accompanying CD.
Tracklist
LP
Side 1
1 Summer's Cauldron
2 Grass
3 The Meeting Place
4 That's Really Super Supergirl
5 Ballet for a Rainy Day
6 1000 Umbrellas
7 Season Cycle
Side 2
1 Earn Enough for Us
2 Big Day
3 Another Satellite
4 Mermaid Smiled
5 The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul
6 Dear God
7 Dying
8 Sacrificial Bonfire
CD+Blu-Ray
1 Summer's Cauldron
2 Grass
3 The Meeting Place
4 That's Really Super, Supergirl
5 Ballet for a Rainy Day
6 1000 Umbrellas
7 Season Cycle
8 Earn Enough for Us
9 Big Day
10 Another Satellite
11 Mermaid Smiled
12 The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul
13 Dear God
14 Dying
15 Sacrificial Bonfire
+
16 Extrovert
17 Let’s Make a Den
18 Little Lighthouse
19 The Troubles