n 1985, the XTC recorded as The Dukes Of Stratosphear – an amazing tribute to late 60’s psychedelic pop. Music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that this was far more than a trippy parody, but “some of the best pure pop tunes XTC ever wrote” and that the group never sounded as “immediately catchy or consistent.”
Also released is the 2nd album, “Psonic Psunspot.” Remastered from the original analogue tapes, and available for the first time on CD in its own right. Produced by John Leckie the album includes 6 bonus demo recordings and is packaged in a hard back book format with a full colour 24 page booklet with all the lyrics and reams of brand new sleeve notes written by Dave Gregory, Colin Moulding and Andy Partridge. According to the site, Buy both The Dukes CD’s and get a set of 6 FREE set of XTC as The Dukes Badges from Ape Records.
Preorder both albums directly from Andy’s label Ape Records.
I’ve always hated tacked-on bonus tracks on classic albums of which I’m a fan. At least they should put that stuff on a separate disc so it won’t ruin the feel of the original album.
Bonus tracks and remastering have near-ruined many great albums, in my opinion. I always look for an earlier release if I can find one (even in second hand stores).
Thanks for your blog, BTW. I’ve picked up many really good albums I would have missed if it weren’t for it.
The combined release “Chips from The Chocolate Fireball” is fine, if you are not a raving XTC fan. I own that CD. However, the new discs have demos that were never released before on any of Andy’s Fuzzy Warbles or XTC’s coat of cupboards discs. So for the completist — it’s the way to go.
Usually, “remastering” means they’ve added tons of compression to make it sound like crap. I wonder if this is the case here, too.
In any case, what’s the need for these releases? The old two-in-one CD release is great, no?