XTC - Skylarking (2016 Steven Wilson Mix) (LP)

Andy Partridge ~ Colin Moulding ~ Dave Gregory With: Prairie Prince: Drums Skylarking: XTC’s most commercially successful album was, for many years, also its most mythical with tales of “lost” multi-track tapes (sadly true of other XTC albums but not this one), a song originally dropped from the album only to be replaced when it inadvertently became a hit single in the USA, a perfect match, on paper, between the ideal Britpop band a decade before the term was invented and an Anglophile super-producer that turned rather imperfect in personality terms but still resulted in a classic album. Still, a masterpiece remains a masterpiece however traumatic its origins & this is one of those few albums that sounded great at the time & sounds just as great, if not better, now.

When Steven Wilson remixed the album in 2016 – for new stereo & 5.1 Surround Sound editions on CD/Blu-ray, the release was successful again with both original & a new generation of fans. However, this remix was never released on vinyl. Frequently requested as a vinyl release in recent years & with the new CD/Blu-ray release this Autumn in Dolby Atmos (remixed again by Steven Wilson), the timing is ideal for Ape House to make the 2016 mix available on 200-gram vinyl the first of Steven’s XTC mixes to be issued on vinyl.

Tracklist: LP – 200 gram vinyl (2016 Steven Wilson mix) Side A 1 Summer's Cauldron 2 Grass 3 The Meeting Place 4 That's Really Super Supergirl 5 Ballet for a Rainy Day 6 1000 Umbrellas 7 Season Cycle Side B 1 Earn Enough for Us 2 Big Day 3 Another Satellite 4 Mermaid Smiled 5 The Man Who Sailed Around His Soul 6 Dear God 7 Dying 8 Sacrificial Bonfire.