Pitchfork: XTC Release Another Box Set

It's not so suprising that a musician afflicted with stage fright would embrace digital technology to enhance his/her music's distribution, but dammit if Andy Partridge (aka "scaredy kat") and Colin Moulding haven't taken it to a whole 'nother level.

Today, the two core members of XTC will re-release 1999's Apple Venus, Volume One and 2000's Wasp Star as one album (as they had originally intended, before former label TVT had their say), accompanied by a slew of rarities in a handy box set. The Apple Box will be augmented by two CDs of demos, 1999's Homespun and 2001's Homegrown, as well as new artwork, liner notes and lyrics.

Since XTC will be releasing this four-CD set on their own label, Idea Records, they won't be offering an American edition, and that's where your computer enters the picture. Fans ordering the set from the XTC website will receive a "content card" which will allow them to download two brand new XTC tracks, "Spiral" and "Say It", as well as an XTC ringtone, for free. Super duper fans can order the limited-edition "Apple Set", which contains the box set, two t-shirts, a badge and a mysterious "extra item."

Apple Box tracklist:

Disc 1 - Apple Venus:

01 River of Orchids
02 I'd Like That
03 Easter Theatre
04 Knights in Shining Karma
05 Frivolous Tonight
06 Greenman
07 Your Dictionary
08 Fruit Nut
09 I Can't Own Her
10 Harvest Festival
11 The Last Balloon

Disc 2 - Wasp Star:

01 Playground
02 Stupidly Happy
03 In Another Life
04 My Brown Guitar
05 Boarded Up
06 I'm the Man Who Murdered Love
07 Were All Light
08 Standing in for Joe
09 Wounded Horse
10 You and the Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful
11 Church of Women
12 The Wheel and the Maypole

Disc 3 - Homespun Demo Recordings:

Disc 4 - Homegrown Demo Recordings:

01 Playground
02 Stupidly Happy
03 In Another Life (excerpt of original demo)
04 In Another Life (jug band version)
05 Some Lovely
06 Boarded Up
07 I'm the Man Who Murdered Love (early other cassette)
08 I'm the Man Who Murdered Love (Tamla demo excerpt)
09 I'm the Man Who Murdered Love
10 Were All Light (early cassette idea)
11 Were All Light
12 Standing in for Joe (lounge version)
13 Standing in for Joe
14 Wounded Horse
15 You and the Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful
16 Lie for a Lie (cassette demo)
17 Church of Women
18 The Pot Won't Hold Our Love (cassette demo)
19 Everything Decays (early cassette demo)
20 The Wheel and the Maypole

Foraging even deeper into cyberspace, Partridge is making the catalogue of his record label, Ape, available on iTunes, including his bewildering six-volume Fuzzy Warbles set of demos he wrote for XTC, but which never made it on an album. Call him prolific, and he'll throw a song at you. Ape has also released a collaborative album by Partridge and Peter Blegvad (of Slapp Happy) and albums by The Milk and Honey Band and Canadian singer/songwriter Veda Hille.

Finally, if you're too cheap to jump at Apple Box, XTC will soon be mounting a Quicktime player on their site which will stream the two latest XTC tracks, plus selections from Ape releases. If all that doesn't smack of a good faith effort to make up for the complete lack of live performances, then you're probably not an XTC fan. But at least they're trying.