Just tweeted by Ape House: "2021 News: Restoration of multi track tapes is underway for the XTC album APPLE VENUS (vol 1). As soon as the cleaning & rebuild finishes, the man with the expert touch, Steven Wilson, will be making a 5.1 & new stereo mix. Another great quality APE release to look forward to " Can't bloody wait!
This isn't necessarily my favorite XTC album, but with the lavish string arrangements, it should sound great in surround. Looking forward to it.
I’ve loved (or at least liked) SW’s remixes so far, but Apple Venus is already one of their best sounding albums. I’m not interested in 5.1 (don’t have a system) and I already have Homespun, the demos album, and all the Fuzzy Warbles, so I wonder if there will be any particular selling points aside from the 5.1 mix. I’ll buy it anyway, of course. Everything in this series has been outstanding so far, so I’m sure this will be as well-thought out as the others. Just curious though.
I think they've dumped out all the material for these sessions and beyond, unless there was something else recorded when they did Say It, Spiral and Where Do The Ordinary People Go (which I doubt, and I don't think actually have Andy and Colin playing on each other's songs?)
Never been able to get into this album. I think I get what others see in it but it's not what I want from an XTC record. But given how good (and keenly priced) the others in this series have been I guess it's as good a time as any to give it another try
I'm super stoked for this! I was always hoping for a 5.1 release of this. I'm looking forward to River of Orchids in surround. Should be awesome! This is a great album.
Yeah, looking forward to hearing it in 5.1 out of interest. I'm still listening to the Dukes remixes regularly. That release is one of the greatest things that has ever existed, full stop!!
I love this album, so I`m definitely in for this. All the releases so far, IMHO, have benefited from Steven Wilson`s magic touch.
A great sounding reissue on vinyl came out a few years ago. An improvement over my original vinyl copy.
Also available for inclusion on the BluRay will be the "How X Came to Be" mini-documentaries from the singles. They're quite charming, as Andy and Colin go through their songwriting process in detail. They cover 'Easter Theatre', 'I'd Like That' and 'Frivolous Tonight'. No idea whether or not more might have been produced at the time. Also, there are a bunch of stray tracks from the pre-Apple Venus quiet period from various compilations, like 'The Good Things', 'Cherry in Your Tree' and 'I Am the Walrus', plus demos for songs written for the eventual "next album" that never made it .
Looking forward to this bluray. I loved the Instruvenus instrumental release they issued at the time - it was my first digital purchase. That hard drive died a long time ago and I never picked up the CD version of it. I assume this will have these versions too...as the other Blu Rays have had. The recent vinyl reissue sounded great - much better than the original vinyl release. I know Steven Wilson will do a great job on the surround
IMO, it's actually the one where I think the most can be gained sonically in terms of dynamics and impact, simply due to the fact the original Apple Venus albums were mastered much louder than any of their other records. The Apple Vinyls 7" boxset is audibly more dynamic than either the CD, the original LP, or the reissue (blatantly so to my ears) and already offers a solid alternative, but it's of course completely impractical to listen to in its physical format. I think a flat transfer of whatever masters were used for that making it onto the Blu-ray would make the purchase in and of itself, but odds are the original mix will be represented by whatever files were already used for the recent LP. No doubt in my mind however the Wilson 2.0 will have full dynamics and won't make any changes that are too objectionable (and could possibly better the original mix in some ways) so I think it'll still have a lot to offer as a new digital version even if you don't have surround.
I have a vague memory of there being a download code in the 4 CD box for a couple of bonus songs. That would be a minor selling point to have them in non MP3/AAC resolution.
I am not familiar with this album at all, but have loved the 5.1's so far.... I keep hoping they find the tapes for English Settlement, Mummer and Big Express. That is my favourite period for the band.
