XTC and Steve Wilson's next release tease?

The way I read it, it seemed like it was one of the bonus tracks

 

"Open a Can (of Human Beans)" is the upmixed song. From a one-off Dukes reunion for a 2003 charity album.

 

I got the Planet England EP earlier and posted this little review in the Dukes thread, when it should really be here, so excuse fingers.

Planet England:

Robyn Hitchcock takes lead vocals. Andy takes more of a back seat in that department but his presence actually quietly dominates the proceedings. He can still be heard quite plainly though (their duet on 'Got My', a rather beautiful acoustic number that brings English Settlement and Skylarking meandering back to mind is worth the price of this EP on it's own). Lyrically I'd say it's slightly more skewed to Robyn. Musically its a pleasing amalgam of XTC, Dukes and Beatles (if you even care to distinguish between them ) with a hint of classic Hitchcockian psych. 'Planet England' itself is more of a balanced collaboration I think that would sound equally at home on either artist's solo or group records.

So our two heroes compliment each other perfectly here, I reckon. Shame there isn't more of it!

(four songs, 17 minutes)




EDIT: Heh, shouldn't be here either, it should really be in the Ape House thread.

Posting it three times is probably a bit much, though, anybody would think I thought I was Lester Bangs

 

I recently ordered the whole series. Been a casual XTC fan for a year or so, never paid them much mind back in the day. I had heard Nigel, Dear God and Peter Pumpkinhead over the years but had zero idea they were all the same band.

I'm really impressed, sonically and musically by these releases.

One question without wading through 14 pages of speculation: Are the chances of 5.1 mixes for English Settlement, Mummer and Big Express good, or are a lot of these multis lost?

 

On those records you mentioned. The multi tracks are lost for most or all of the tracks on those albums at this time.

 

Well, that's a shame.

 

We still hope for a miracle.

 

Miracle’s can happen

 

'New' single from Andy, an unreleased track from the aborted bubblegum project:
Cavegirl

Like most Andy demos, pretty much a finished song, just a little rough fidelity-wise. Mildly surprising to me that this is from the first half of the 90s as it very much sounds related to Wasp Star, but I guess a number of tracks on that album (Colin's specifically) were originally written for the same project

 

What is the consensus about the STEREO remixes? I'm able to find a lot online about the 5.1 mixes but I'd like to know what we think of the stereo.

 

I like them all to be honest. But, by far, my favourites are the ones on Psurroundabout Ride. The instrumental versions are as fascinating as they are sensational! That whole release is like a dream come true. I was always under the impression that remixing those tracks wasn't going to be possible as some of the effects were flown-in during mixdown to stereo, but evidently that wasn't the case. If we never get another XTC release in this format I will still die a happy man. I still listen to The Dukes at least once a week!

 

Do the stereo mixes remain more or less faithful to the originals or are there any major changes? Big drums? Anything like that?

 

The sounds of the instruments are the same, they're just mixed differently! There aren't any radical departures.

 

I have only heard the stereo remixes (no 5.1 system), and I think they're all fantastic. No huge changes from the original mixes, just bigger, better, really clear, not at all congested or loud like the 2001 remasters. And the amount of extra stuff on the blurays is just staggering considering the price, like a 4 or 5 disc box set without the £50 price tag. Buy with confidence.

 

Oranges and Lemons seems to have some slightly different things here and there that I just can't put my finger on. Honestly, I love every single one of the stereo mixes. I agree that The Dukes stuff is the best for me.

 

Thanks for the notice -the download was free! This will fit just fine with the other Fuzzy Warbles.

 

If you are not familiar with how Steven Wilson remixes classic albums, rest assured he is very faithful to the original mixes. I echo what everybody else wrote.

 

I think Oranges and Lemons is simply a much better mix than the original album. Perhaps the most improved of the releases so far. Whereas Black Sea, for example, now just has two different, excellent mixes.

 

Wilson doesn't usually deviate much from the original stereo mixes - he just cleans them up and maybe brings forward elements that were previously buried. The biggest difference from the original mixes, in my opinion, is that Wilson got rid of most of the crossfades (because so many people listen digitally and shuffle tracks). He did leave the overlap from "Ballet for a Rainy Day" into "1000 Umbrellas."

 

Have there been any recent announcements about upcoming Wilson remixes? Somehow I've been hoping that he's been busy working on them during the lockdown. At least something good could come out of this mess. . .

 

I agree with this!

 

There are a few things (hopefully) coming up... including new Gentle Giant remixes: Freehand, The Missing Piece and Interview.

 

Please, please, please, please, please! Freehand Pa-lease! So looking forward to more GG!

 

Freehand would be amazeballz!

 

Hopefully the first album 5.1 mix which is part of the expensive boxset will be released separately one day.
Regarding XTC, from all the news about missing tapes I think that there might be only the first two (?) and the last two albums to remix. You should know better than anyone...