Anyone know if this is getting a physical release like the others in a small box cd/Bluray combo? I’d order it in a heartbeat.
Steven Wilson XTC - The Big Express (Steven Wilson Surround mixes coming in September!)
- Thread starter privateuniverse
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more than likely, yes
release date is unknown, but probably in the fall of this year (just like the other 6 releases)
MrSmithers
1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
Yeah I went - it was really good!
I think the mix will go down very well! It’s very discrete, the usual SW XTC but with lots of action in the heights and sides as well… I need to check a few tracks and come back for a better review. But it really is good! Apologies to Steven for not necessarily getting ‘the decisive moment’ either...
Mind2GrooveRatio
Member
So incredibly sad the English Settlement tapes are missing, but very excited for this one!
Scott65
1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
music to my ears.Yeah I went - it was really good!
View attachment 90290
According to other reports from those who were lucky enough to attend, apparently Steven also mentioned working on a remix of "a brit pop debut album celebrating its 30th anniversary". Predictions? I know I can think of one...
I think the Britpop reference is a misdirection play. I think the album in question is actually Shaq Diesel by Shaquille O'Neal.
The Verve's "A Storm In Heaven" was released in 1993 and I've always wanted a surround version of that one... they weren't really pop yet though.
TuliaNonTroppo
Active Member
This is fabulous news. I wish I had Atmos, but at least I will immediately enjoy the 5.1 of “The Big Express” when it is released this fall (fingers crossed). A
Aha, it's all a Blur to me....them Brit Pop years.
Suede’s debut album was 1993’s Suede and that’s sighted by many as being the first Brit pop album.
Blur however released their debut album Leisure in 1991 followed by Modern Life Is Rubbish in 93 so that wouldn’t be a 30th anniversary for the debut.
Blur however released their debut album Leisure in 1991 followed by Modern Life Is Rubbish in 93 so that wouldn’t be a 30th anniversary for the debut.
Radiohead also debuted in ‘93…
Hallefrigginlujah!
Yeah, but I wouldn't think anyone would call them Brit Pop. Hardly. My wish and guess is Blur (although they really didn't start in '93 their brit pop era likely did).
Oasis would be '94/2024
Some chatter from the other forum that I thought folks might find interesting:
And a Facebook post from Dave Gregory:
- At the Q&A afterwards SW explained that he’d met a young chap at a club in Chelsea who turned out to be in charge of Universal’s (I think) master tape library and was a massive XTC fan. A couple of days later he sent SW a list of what he had located including all of The Big Express hence this release. He’d also found parts of Mummer and parts of English Settlement.
- three additional b-sides of ‘Red brick dream’, ‘Wash away’ and ‘Blue Overall’ all mixed in Atmos
- Equally as this is the first XTC project that Steven has mixed in Atmos - the question is whether he and the band would consider returning to the albums he’s already remixed in 5.1. Steven swooned at the thought of what he might do with the bee in ‘Skylarking’ and the fun he could have with the Dukes’ ‘Psurroundabout ride’.
And a Facebook post from Dave Gregory:
https://burningshed.com/xtc_the-big-express_cd_blu-ray
!!!
The Big Express (1984) is the seventh in a series of expanded XTC album reissues, including 5.1 Surround mixes, Dolby Atmos (for the first time with an XTC album), 2023 stereo mixes and High-Resolution stereo mixes by Steven Wilson, along with a wealth of extra audio and visual material.
A neglected classic of its era, the album creatively fused the band's immense songwriting gifts with the technology of the day to produce a vibrant Post-Punk concept album about growing up in an industrial town.
“The Big Express is the closest we ever came to recording a 'concept' album. It’s full of Swindon and deep seams of life there, that run through myself, Colin, and Dave, (Terry too of course). It's populated by members of our families, our hopes and dreams. The things we wished for, or feared, a stew of memories.” - Andy Partridge (excerpted from the book Popartery, 2023)
Packaged in a 2-disc digipack sleeve with 16-page booklet in a cardboard slip case.
All copies come with a postcard signed by Colin Moulding (while stocks last).
————
CD features the complete album newly mixed in stereo + three additional tracks.
Blu-Ray includes the newly mixed material as featured on CD in Hi-Res Stereo, 5.1 Surround and Dolby Atmos + 2023 stereo out-takes & instrumental mixes in Hi-Res stereo. Also includes the original album + additional tracks in Hi-Res stereo. The complete album & more also appear in demo form (16/48 stereo reflecting the source material).
————
XTC’s seventh album, “The Big Express” was virtually ignored on release, much as its immediate predecessor “Mummer” (which was reissued on vinyl earlier this year to universal acclaim) had been. If Mummer was XTC’s quiet album, this was its polar opposite: bright, brash, noisy - even cluttered on occasion if the song demanded it - as it became a concept album of sorts, a partly autobiographical reflection on growing up in an industrial town, Swindon, with its history of engineering and railway accomplishments.
Perhaps in keeping with that tradition of technical innovation, the album also made extensive use of (at the time) new technology with Linn-Drum programming (alongside drummer Peter Phipps), E-mu Emulator and other synths claiming space among the more traditional guitars, bass and drums mix under-pinning the vocals.
This technology was juxtaposed with technology of a slightly earlier pop/rock era as phasing, backwards tapes and the inclusion of a mellotron hinted at a psychedelic influence that would move more centre stage with the band’s next project – ‘The Dukes of Stratosphear’.
With XTC no longer touring, the sound radically different to any previous XTC album, in a musical climate where the upper end of the charts reflected national radio, producing the most mainstream result for years: Lionel Richie, Sade, Spandau Ballet, Howard Jones, Tina Turner, Queen – Frank Sinatra’s final solo studio album… the space for a metallic, post-punk concept album about growing up amidst the ghosts of Swindon’s industrial heritage proved non-existent.
Of course the songs were as good as on any other XTC album - a very high standard indeed – but they went largely unheard. Given that position, it would be easy to conclude that the timing was wrong for the album. But the best musicians follow the music and allow the times to catch up with that; precisely what happened when XTC released its next album “Skylarking” in 1986.
Coal for the Soul.
CD (2023 Mixes)
1. Wake Up
2. All You Pretty Girls
3. Shake You Donkey Up
4. Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her
5. This World Over
6. The Everyday Story Of Smalltown
7. I Bought Myself A Liarbird
8. Reign Of Blows
9. You’re The Wish You Are I Had
10. I Remember The Sun
11. Train Running Low On Soul Coal
Additional tracks
12. Red Brick Dream
13. Washaway
14. Blue Overall
Blu-ray
Album and additional tracks of 2023 Mix in Dolby Atmos, Hi-Res Stereo and DTS-HD MA Surround Sound & instrumental mixes in Hi-Res Stereo all mixed by Steven WIlson
Plus album and additional tracks of original mix in Hi-Res stereo, with additional out-takes.
Additional out-takes:
15. Broomstick Rhythm (guide vocal)
16. The Troubles (Big Express Version – Backing Track)
Album and additional tracks in demo form in 16/48 Hi-Res stereo with additional demos of songs written for The Big Express
Additional demos:-
15. Now we all Dead (It Doesn't Matter)
16. Work
17. Gangway, Electric Guitar is Coming Through
18. Broomstick Rhythm
19. Shiny Cage
20. A Patriotic Romance
!!!
The Big Express (1984) is the seventh in a series of expanded XTC album reissues, including 5.1 Surround mixes, Dolby Atmos (for the first time with an XTC album), 2023 stereo mixes and High-Resolution stereo mixes by Steven Wilson, along with a wealth of extra audio and visual material.
A neglected classic of its era, the album creatively fused the band's immense songwriting gifts with the technology of the day to produce a vibrant Post-Punk concept album about growing up in an industrial town.
“The Big Express is the closest we ever came to recording a 'concept' album. It’s full of Swindon and deep seams of life there, that run through myself, Colin, and Dave, (Terry too of course). It's populated by members of our families, our hopes and dreams. The things we wished for, or feared, a stew of memories.” - Andy Partridge (excerpted from the book Popartery, 2023)
Packaged in a 2-disc digipack sleeve with 16-page booklet in a cardboard slip case.
All copies come with a postcard signed by Colin Moulding (while stocks last).
————
CD features the complete album newly mixed in stereo + three additional tracks.
Blu-Ray includes the newly mixed material as featured on CD in Hi-Res Stereo, 5.1 Surround and Dolby Atmos + 2023 stereo out-takes & instrumental mixes in Hi-Res stereo. Also includes the original album + additional tracks in Hi-Res stereo. The complete album & more also appear in demo form (16/48 stereo reflecting the source material).
————
XTC’s seventh album, “The Big Express” was virtually ignored on release, much as its immediate predecessor “Mummer” (which was reissued on vinyl earlier this year to universal acclaim) had been. If Mummer was XTC’s quiet album, this was its polar opposite: bright, brash, noisy - even cluttered on occasion if the song demanded it - as it became a concept album of sorts, a partly autobiographical reflection on growing up in an industrial town, Swindon, with its history of engineering and railway accomplishments.
Perhaps in keeping with that tradition of technical innovation, the album also made extensive use of (at the time) new technology with Linn-Drum programming (alongside drummer Peter Phipps), E-mu Emulator and other synths claiming space among the more traditional guitars, bass and drums mix under-pinning the vocals.
This technology was juxtaposed with technology of a slightly earlier pop/rock era as phasing, backwards tapes and the inclusion of a mellotron hinted at a psychedelic influence that would move more centre stage with the band’s next project – ‘The Dukes of Stratosphear’.
With XTC no longer touring, the sound radically different to any previous XTC album, in a musical climate where the upper end of the charts reflected national radio, producing the most mainstream result for years: Lionel Richie, Sade, Spandau Ballet, Howard Jones, Tina Turner, Queen – Frank Sinatra’s final solo studio album… the space for a metallic, post-punk concept album about growing up amidst the ghosts of Swindon’s industrial heritage proved non-existent.
Of course the songs were as good as on any other XTC album - a very high standard indeed – but they went largely unheard. Given that position, it would be easy to conclude that the timing was wrong for the album. But the best musicians follow the music and allow the times to catch up with that; precisely what happened when XTC released its next album “Skylarking” in 1986.
Coal for the Soul.
CD (2023 Mixes)
1. Wake Up
2. All You Pretty Girls
3. Shake You Donkey Up
4. Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her
5. This World Over
6. The Everyday Story Of Smalltown
7. I Bought Myself A Liarbird
8. Reign Of Blows
9. You’re The Wish You Are I Had
10. I Remember The Sun
11. Train Running Low On Soul Coal
Additional tracks
12. Red Brick Dream
13. Washaway
14. Blue Overall
Blu-ray
Album and additional tracks of 2023 Mix in Dolby Atmos, Hi-Res Stereo and DTS-HD MA Surround Sound & instrumental mixes in Hi-Res Stereo all mixed by Steven WIlson
Plus album and additional tracks of original mix in Hi-Res stereo, with additional out-takes.
Additional out-takes:
15. Broomstick Rhythm (guide vocal)
16. The Troubles (Big Express Version – Backing Track)
Album and additional tracks in demo form in 16/48 Hi-Res stereo with additional demos of songs written for The Big Express
Additional demos:-
15. Now we all Dead (It Doesn't Matter)
16. Work
17. Gangway, Electric Guitar is Coming Through
18. Broomstick Rhythm
19. Shiny Cage
20. A Patriotic Romance
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