FIRST PICTURES: Clarke and Ware / House Of Illustrious
Vince Clarke and Martyn Ware have collaborated on two albums in the past – Pretentious (1999) and Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle (2001). Both records experimental, atmospheric, ambient works. Since that time they’ve continued with their partnership and over time have assembled a totally unique collection of music.
The result is a collection of music known as House of Illustrious – a box set (of sorts), consisting of eight CDs of unreleased material plus the original two albums.
If you are getting a little fed up with predictable packaging of music boxes (books, posters, ephemera) then House of Illustrious is for you. It’s minimal, elegant and surprisingly compact. The design comes from renowned creative Malcom Garrett, Tim Milne (of Artomatic) and Martyn Ware himself.
Ware explains: “The original challenge of how to package ten CDs and accompanying information into a single desirable object has been achieved through beautiful and subtle graphic design of the CD’s themselves, combined with bespoke acrylic ‘hockey pucks’ as they became affectionately referred to, enabled the CD’s themselves to become the artistic component, together with the purpose-tooled stainless steel spindle (etched with ‘Made In Sheffield’).”
House of Illustrious is out today and is limited to 1000 copies. All come signed by Martyn Ware and Vince Clarke. They are available to order here priced at £79.95.
Scroll down to view more images (please note the set featured was an early prototype) and take a listen to some of the music.
SDE helps fans around the world discover physical music and discuss releases. To keep the site free, SDE participates in various affiliate programs, including Amazon and earns from qualifying purchases.
Related Content
News
I’ve only just discovered The Clarke and Ware Experiment. I found it fascinating who their clients were who commissioned the pieces. My favourite is Knots for the Royal Ballet. Part 1 is beautiful. Yes it’s expensive but give it a go.
Not my bag, musically speaking, but bloody gorgeous nonetheless. This is how you do it, Jagger. And, given it’s bespoke nature, a damn good price tag, too!
That is quite a unique packaging method! I thought about getting it a few weeks ago, however I did not know the music. When I checked it out I had to conclude that this isn’t made for my ears, so I saved myself some money :)
Still, looks nice!