NewsIan Hunter / Stranded In Reality: career-spanning 30-disc box set
Track down Stranded In Reality, a mahoosive 30-disc anthology box set celebrating the solo career of British rock legend and Mott the Hoople icon Ian Hunter…
Strictly limited to 2,500 copies worldwide and available to buy exclusively through propermusic.com, the set has been compiled and curated by Ian Hunter and his biographer Campbell Devine. Covering the years 1975 to 2015, it comprises over 400 rock ‘n’ roll tracks, with 17 original albums spread across 19 CDs, nine ‘new’ discs of rare and unreleased tracks plus two DVDs.
The panoply of solo albums include expanded Anniversary Editions of Ian Hunter, All-American Alien Boy, You’re Never Alone with a Schizophrenic and Welcome to the Club, plus bonus track discs of Short Back n’ Sides, The Artful Dodger and When I’m President.
The other nine CDs offer many unheard and ‘lost’ songs from Hunter’s archive:
- Tilting the Mirror (rarities – two-CD)
- If You Wait Long Enough for Anything, You Can Get It On Sale (Live 1979-81 – two-CD)
- Bag of Tricks (Live Volumes 1, 2 and 3)
- Acoustic Shadows (The 2008 Acoustic Tour)
- Experiments (Unreleased Trax)
Highlights include San Diego Freeway, Nobody’s Perfect and Salvation as well as rarely performed live versions of Wild East, While You Were Looking At Me, The Outsider and a 2008 acoustic concert.
The worldwide-compatible two-DVD package that completes the set is entitled It Never Happened and features promo, concert and archive material, most of which has not been issued commercially on DVD before. It includes a TV film from the 1979 tour, live in Toronto
This weighty collection is presented in an LP-size box with specially commissioned Escher-esque cover artwork and various goodies to complement the music. There’s an 88-page hardback book with a comprehensive essay on Hunter, rare memorabilia and Ian Hunter ‘track by track’ for every song; an Alien Boy lithograph personally signed by Hunter; a reproduction Shades newspaper featuring classic old press features; and original and new album artwork in replica card sleeves.
Those wary of diving straight into such a pricey pre-order purchase, can first dip into seven-track CD Sampling In Reality, which contains five tracks from the forthcoming limited edition set plus two songs unique to the sampler (all songs on here are previously unreleased bar Your Eyes from Shrunken Heads from the Shrunken Heads EP).
Also look out for Hunter’s new studio album with his Rant Band, Fingers Crossed, scheduled for release a couple of weeks after Stranded In Reality. Among the self-penned ten new tracks is Dandy, his tribute to the David Bowie who produced and provided the hit title track for Mott the Hoople’s 1972 album All The Young Dudes.
And if all the above is not enough Hunter for you, fans in the UK, Sweden and Norway can look forward to catching him live on tour this November.
Stranded In Reality is released on 2 September 2016.
All pre-orders and full track listing over at ProperMusic.com.
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Excellent set. I haven’t listened to everything yet but it is a terrific and well designed package.
For some reason I thought these would be numbered but no biggie.
My only quibbles 1) should have included the new tracks on the sampler and the latest album with bonus tracks.its a minor point but, overall, they did a “proper” job with this set.
Just received the box set, and I must say it is the most impressive (and heaviest) box set I have ever seen. The quality is amazing, the book lavish, the signed litho is something very unique. I thought the 250 was a lot (and I had to add another 95 for duty in the Cayman Islands), but now that I have it and am listening to it; I have to say it’s worth every pound.
Personally this should win Ian his first Grammy for best re-issue; at least I hope so.
I have most of his cd’s post Mott. Not going to indulge, as I feel 16 Hunter cd’s are not worth repurchasing.
Doing the Ian Hunter box and the Stones Cd box as I already have all the vinyl. Now, if that Hunter box was to be released in vinyl format, then I’d be broke
Just imagine if you’re a fan of Ian Hunter and Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones and David Bowie. Their fall megaboxes will cost around an awful lot of money.
I’m in if Ian releases the five CDs along with the DVDs in a smaller box. I can’t go back and rebuy everything again.
Agree with Wayne totally. Release the rare stuff on it’s own as Springsteen did with Tracks.
Very tempted by this – but why, oh why are there ‘2 songs unique to this sampler’ (and thus I gather not in the box), and as there’s only 2 weeks between them, why not include the new album in the box as well…
Hey come on DavyT, you must have figured out by now how these things work!
All the way from Memphis to the pension pot, eh Ian?
£250. My God, I don’t think I’ll live long enough to listen to all of this and the Floyd set as well. Hunter’s recording career started locally to me in Northampton with recordings made to 7″ vinyl in Gold’s music shop in the mid to late 1950’s. I know this as someone I know has got and shown me the very first 7″ he ever recorded in the original Gold’s record sleeve at a local car boot where he was flogging stuff like this as well as more mundane items. It’s worth hundreds, apparently, due to it’s absolute rareness. I have tried to persuade him to offer it to Hunter, but not much came of this at the time.
I thought PROPER was a budget grey label? If the price for the Ian Hunter CD box set was closer to $100, I’d be interested.
Awesome cover. Is there a booklet that comes in this?
Looks like an amazing set for Ian Hunter fans. I’m not going to take the plunge yet (just moved countries/bought new house etc…) although this release has inspired me to research more of his work. I just looked on Amazon and saw “All The Young Dudes” is £3.99 on CD – I’ll start my journey there.
Look at the name of the second rarities set. Is that a joke for us poor people?
Is it April 1st?
I am indeed screwed… Floyd I could pass on (though it pains me), but this…? Almost essential! Genuinely limited too. Unlike the Floyd (unless I missed something). Now wondering how many of the tracks on this set I actually own. Most I suspect as I’ve loyaly bought all Hunter stuff on LP… then CD… the the CD-reissues etc etc for years. In fact, thinking about this, on that basis alone, I should qualify for a free one if anyone I know who has anything to do with Proper Music is reading this. You know who you are, and you know my address… :-P
At the risk of being “that guy”, this would have been a great opportunity to reprint his excellent “Diary Of A Rock & Roll Star”, which has been out-of-print for decades…
… and I don’t mean to be (too) snarky, but 2 comments for this, and 27 for Betty Boo? C’mon folks…
And not to be (too) snarky back but does Ian’s solo career box set contain anything that “peaked at number four in the UK chart and achieved platinum status (300,000 sales thanks to the inclusion of three top 10 singles”?
+1 comment for Ian anyway. may hit 27 yet.
“Once bitten, twice shy” came in at number 14 on the UK charts in its original version. Great White’s (horrible) cover made it to number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified RIAA Gold (over 500,000 sold), and the (terrible) album containing it went double platinum (over 2,000,000 sold).
Probably because no one has heard of him.
I’ve never heard of him but I like reading and learning about music I have no knowledge of.
This 30 disc set got my attention because I thought this guy must have been around a while to be able to release 30 discs – that in itself is impressive.
:-)
Anthony
Good For You!!
Start with his first LP & then Welcome To the Club. Then Short Back & Sides & You’re Never Alone With a Schizophrenic. He never really made a bad LP and even Barry Manilow recorded his songs. And then there is Mott
J
What J says above, but personally start with “Schizophrenic” right after the first album (you will know it as it opens with “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” which is still one of the all-time great singles) – Ronno is on top form throughout this album, and “Bastard” just rocks like one every time I hear it.
“Welcome To The Club” is what every live album wants to be – great songs superbly played.
And indeed, then there is Mott…..
Should you be fan of both Pink Floyd and Ian Hunter….you’re dead !! :)
Nice box set, by the way !!
Exactly!!
Paul,
Any word from Proper about possibly doing a scaled down version of this with the unheard/lost songs discs being made available later?
If not dead, at least in serious debt :-) And yes, I simply had to pre-order this. Still wondering what to do with the Pink Floyd box set… Thanks for the info, Paul! I knew about this Ian Hunter box set, but might not have noticed the release date.