PRE-ORDER FROM APE HOUSE
Sgt. Rock (or is that Steven Wilson?) is going to help XTC fans this season with the fifth in an ongoing series of remixes of the beloved Swindon band's albums for Virgin Records: 1980's Black Sea.
XTC's fourth album (and second with the lineup of singer/guitarist Andy Partridge, singer/bassist Colin Moulding, guitarist/keyboardist Dave Gregory and drummer Terry Chambers) was almost immediately praised by critics upon its release, thanks to a potent brace of catchy, frenetic, barbed pop/rock songs (mostly written by Partridge, save for two by Moulding). Singles like "Generals and Majors," "Towers of London" and "Sgt. Rock is Going to Help Me" were melodic hits built for pogoing; all three hit the U.K. Top 40, with "Sgt. Rock" at No. 16, their highest-charting single at the time. The Steve Lillywhite-produced album was the band's first Top 20 at home, and at No. 41 became the group's highest-charting album in America.
Following remixed and expanded reissues of Nonsuch (1992), Drums and WIres (1979), Oranges and Lemons (1989) and Skylarking (1986) between 2013 and 2016, Wilson (with the approval of Partridge) has remixed the album from the original multitrack masters in both standard stereo and 5.1 surround sound. The CD/Blu-ray set follows the "virtual box set" format of the previous titles, with additional bonus audiovisual content. Thus far, that content has been confirmed as:
- The stereo mix in 24bit/96khz LPCM audio and 5.1 surround mix in LPCM and DTS HD Master Audio
- Seven additional songs from the album sessions in stereo and 5.1 surround (also mixed by Wilson), including an unreleased Colin Moulding song, "Let's Ban The Bomb," and the non-album single "Take This Town"
- A presentation of the original album and bonus tracks in their original stereo mixes
- Bonus mixes and instrumental versions overseen by Wilson
- Demos
- The music videos for "Towers Of London, "Generals and Majors" and "Respectable Street"
The CD portion will feature the new stereo mix and as-yet unannounced bonus tracks. Packaging includes new notes and interviews with all four band members and album engineer Hugh Padgham. The set is pre-orderable now through the band's Ape House label store with a street date of November 10; orders from that store will include a postcard signed by Chambers. And for U.K. fans, make sure to set your calendars for the October 7 airing of the new XTC documentary, This is Pop, on Sky Arts, featuring interviews with Partridge, Moulding, Gregory, Chambers and more.
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Great news! My favorite XTC record!!!
I would agree, its my favorite XTC album as well. Skylarking gets a lot of praise (as it should) but this is their first masterpiece.
Maybe it's just me, but for the life of me, I did not think that his remix of the Chicago album was anything revolutionary, And on a semi-unrelated topic, although I did buy that new Sgt. Pepper (2 disc), I was disappointed after all the hype. I am the only one who felt that way?
No Bill, you're not. I was disappointed as well with the new Sgt. Pepper remix. They said the aim was to "monofy the old stereo mix", but if so, thay failed miserably. It still mantains the odd quirkiness of the original stereo, and it's it still enormously less engaging than the mono mix, which is still the go-to version to this day.
How could you say that about Sgt Pepper?
The new mix is the first time the album has sounded "right" in stereo.
I've always implored people to check out the mono mix which was harder and has lots of bits simply missing from the mono version.
The new mix has all the qualities of the mono mix but in glorious stereo!
As I said - rather underwhelming. It seems I'm not the only one to think so. I still listen to the "glorious mono".
The remix of Chicago 2 is phenomenal. All versions I've owned sounded muddy and compressed. Wilson's remix makes space for the instruments. Pepper also sounds really good. Are you playing the music through high end equipment? My equipment is revealing sound and dynamic range that does not exist in prior remastering of the original mix for both recordings.