This album was basically the soundtrack to my first year as a student. I had just bought a portable minidisc recorder to make listening on the train much easier (this was before mp3 players or smartphones with a Spotify app) and to fill the minidiscs with music I had become a member of the public library in Rotterdam which claimed to feature “Europe’s largest record and CD collection”. This was the first title I borrowed. I’ve played it so much around that time that whenever I hear this music I still get memories of my train journeys between Nieuwerkerk and Rijswijk. Since it has remained my favourite XTC album, this was really the title I was hoping to see released in the XTC surround sound series when they started the project a few years ago. I’m glad they finally got around to do this album.
Since I missed the previous reissue I wanted to check out what this “corrected polarity” thing was all about. Therefore the first thing I listened to were Ian Cooper’s 2001 remaster and the 2010 corrected polarity mastering, just to hear if it really made a difference. Whether it’s the polarity or a mastering decision, there really is a big difference. The drums sound a lot more pleasant and the bass sounds very tight on the 2010 mastering. The strings in “1,000 Umbrellas” and “Sacrificial Bonfire” finally sound like real strings instead of sampled ones. There’s also more detail in the quieter tracks such as “Mermaid Smiled” and “Dying”, while the sound effects in “Sacrificial Bonfire” or “Summer’s Cauldron” also come out much better. It really is no contest, the 2010 corrected polarity mastering is easily the best version of the album I’ve heard so far.
On to Steven Wilson’s remixes. Let’s start in stereo. The feel in “Summer’s Cauldron” is very much the same as in the original stereo mix, but at times things just open up a bit more. More of the sound effects shine through, better bass, just a bit more seperation between the instruments and a bigger contrast between the reverb of the verses and dry sound of the choruses. “Grass” had the strings buried in the mix in the original, not here. I didn’t even realise before that the sound effects continued through the entire song, not just in the fade out. “The Meeting Place” also sounds really good. There aren’t as many revelations as in the first 2 songs since this one is relatively simple. But the new mix is much kinder to Colin’s bass and the backing vocals. It also has a much nicer piano sound.
“That’s Really Super, Supergirl” is a bit of a disappointment for me. The new mix is much busier with more things going on, giving it a bit of an overproduced sound which does not work for this kind of song. I prefer the fade out to the original mix though, nicely done! Steven Wilson goes for a more dry sound in “Ballet For A Rainy Day”. Although it takes a little while to get used to, I think it’s a good move since the reverb on the original was occasionally over the top. The strings in “1000 Umbrellas” sound just as real as in the 2010 remaster and with more transparancy in the mix I can finally hear what Andy is doing on acoustic guitar.
“Season Cycle” was one of Todd Rundgren’s masterpieces in its original mix. But Steven Wilson pulls this one off. Better vocal harmonies, making it all sound even more like the Beach Boys and the song’s many different moods are captured perfectly. Being so familiar with the original, I miss the mixing mistake on the drums after the “already there…” bit. It has been there for so long that it has become part of the song for me. But that’s a minor complaint. Where “Earn Enough For Us” sounded bigger with corrected polarity, it sadly sounds more flat in this new mix and the “more guitar” approach doesn’t work for me. The only true disappointment of the mix. “Big Day” gets a similar mixing approach, but here it works since Rundgren’s big sounds were
never right for this kind of song. Always my least favourite song of the album, but in the new mix I finally get it.
“Another Satellite” is not that different from the original mix. The echo effects are replicated very well and since there aren’t that many instruments there aren’t a lot of new things that suddenly stand out. Some keyboard parts come through just a little better. “Mermaid Smiled” is another one of my favourites. I prefer the drum sound here to the original mix, while the sound effects and keyboards also become a more prominent part of the song. By the way, this was the first song I ever played on the radio while doing sports broadcasts with my dad for the local radio station. “The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul” is another revelation. The original mix has always sounded dull to me, like the band was playing behind a curtain. That curtain has certainly opened up here. Lots of great guitar, drums, brass and piano parts which I never even noticed now jump right in your face.
“Dear God” has much better sounding strings, a more pleasant drum sound. And is that cello sound Dave Gregory’s Chamberlin from the credits or real cellos? Planetmellotron.com doesn’t have an answer. Anyway, I never heard it before. “Not particularly audible” in the original mix according to planetmellotron.com, but much more obvious here is the Chamberlin on “Dying”, one of Colin’s most underrated compositions. I can finally hear the clarinets are not real, but a tape replay part. “Sacrificial Bonfire” opens up in the same way as “The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul”, giving the song even more drama as the original, bringing the album to a wonderful big conclusion.
On to Steven Wilson’s 5.1 surround mix. Since this review is already long enough as it is, I won’t cover this as extensively as the new stereo mix but I’ll give a few impressions. Nice use of sound effects, you’re really surrounded by the crickets and bugs in the first 2 songs, one of them even flies through your room. With more speakers things really open up and vocals sound even more clearly than in the new stereo mix. The overproduction on songs like “Supergirl” doesn’t really bother me here, with more speakers it doesn’t sound as busy as in stereo. Prairie Prince’s drums gets to shine more than in any other mix. Then there’s “Season Cycle” and “Another Satellite”, the kind of productions that were just waiting for 5.1 surround to come along. Steven Wilson does not disappoint. They’re everything I hoped for, and more. Even simple songs like “Dying” get an interesting treatment. I really have nothing to complain about here, it’s gorgeous to hear the album this way.
The instrumental mix of the entire album reveals even more things than the surround and new stereo mix. Interesting guitar work in “Ballet For A Rainy Day”, the complexities of Dave Gregory’s string quartet score for “1,000 Umbrellas”, Colin’s bass in “Season Cycle”, is this really what is going on behind Colin’s vocals in the intro of “Big Day”? For someone who is not a big fan of the album this may be a weird listen, but for those who love it as much as I do this instrumental mix contains several interesting revelations. It makes me love the album and especially Todd Rundgren’s superb production even more.
There’s also the entire album in demo form. A lot of these demos are already familiar to fans who own the Fuzzy Warbles and Coat Of Many Cupboards collections. However, the demos of “Big Day”, “Dying” and “Sacrificial Bonfire” haven’t appeared anywhere before. It’s an interesting way to hear the album, but most fans will no doubt prefer the final versions. And there’s more: we also get non-album demos from both Andy and Colin. This means several alternate versions of songs from the album, demos of the B-sides and songs that went unreleased. Some familiar from the aforementioned collections, but some new.
Then there’s also 4 bonus songs which did not appear on the original album. All get the new stereo/surround/instrumental mix treatment like the original album. I was expecting these to be a bit unnecessary, since the outtakes I had previously heard were all clearly inferior to the original album. However, these versions turn out to be quite a surprise. “Extrovert” was released as a B-side (also available on the Rag & Bone Buffet collection), the new surround mix is very nice. “Let’s Make A Den” has been only available as a demo so far, but this full band recording is a lot better. “The Troubles” also beats the demo that was previously available. But the most pleasant surprise is “Little Lighthouse”, a song originally released on Psonic Psunspot, their album as the Dukes Of Stratosphear. I didn’t know they had attempted it during the Skylarking sessions. This version is not nearly as psychedelic, but more in the Skylarking style. Hearing it in surround is a joy.
We’re still not finished though. The Bluray also adds the videos of “Grass” and “Dear God”. The quality isn’t amazing, but it’s nice to have them. And then there’s a booklet in which Andy and Colin both give us their thoughts about the album, as well as track by track comments. Also lots of photographs, some familiar from previous releases, others entirely new to me.
So, with brand new stereo and surround mixes, as well as the original mix and all of the outtakes, demos and b-sides from the era, all in perfect quality, this is really the only release of this album that I need. To have it all not in an oversized, overpriced box, but in a nice small package that fits on the shelves with all the regular CDs is also a delight. Easily my favourite reissue of the year so far. Thank you Steven Wilson for all your great work, thanks Andy, Colin and Dave for all the wonderful music.
Add Some Music To Your Day 