News

XTC / The Big Express CD+blu-ray

Features Steven Wilson Atmos, 5.1 and stereo mixes

By Paul Sinclair

Comments

58

Ratings Ratings

The Big Express / XTC CD+blu-ray

SDE Reader Rating

4.8

XTC’s 1984 album The Big Express will be reissued as a CD+blu-ray edition with new Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and stereo mixes by Steven Wilson.

This is the seventh in the ongoing series of expanded XTC reissues and as with the others it includes a wealth of audio including four album remixes by Wilson (Atmos, 5.1, stereo and instrumental), the whole album in demo form, plus extra demos and bonus tracks.

The Atmos Mix is actually a first for XTC since up until now the surround mixes have been 5.1 only, so that’s good news.

The original stereo mix of All You Pretty Girls

Described as “a neglected classic of its era”, The Big Express made extensive use of new technology, at the time, with Linn-Drum programming (alongside drummer Peter Phipps), E-mu Emulator and other synths. It was a 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

The two-disc set is packaged in a digipak sleeve and resides in a cardboard slip case. It comes with a 16-page booklet.

This CD+blu-ray edition of The Big Express will be released on 29 September 2023 (was 22 September), via APE. You can place an order via the SDE shop using this link or the button below.

EU SHIPPING NOTES: If you are ordering from the EU please be aware that that goods may be subject to import VAT when they arrive from the UK. The prices the SDE shop charge you do not include VAT

Tracklisting

The Big Express XTC / CD+blu-ray edition

    • CD: The Big Express (new stereo mix)
      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
      Bonus tracks
      1. Red Brick Dream
      2. Washaway
      3. Blue Overall

       

    • Blu-ray
      2023 Dolby Atmos and 5.1 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 2020 Dolby Atmos and 5.1 mixes
      1. Red Brick Dream
      2. Washaway
      3. Blue Overall
      2023 Stereo Outtakes
      1. Broomstick Rhythm (guide vocal)
      2. The Troubles (Big Express version – Backing Track)
      Instrumental 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
      12. Red Brick Dream
      13. Washaway
      14. Blue Overall
      Original Stereo and Extra Tracks
      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
      12. Red Brick Dream
      13. Washaway
      14. Blue Overall
      Album and Additional Demos
      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
      12. Red Brick Dream
      13. Washaway
      14. Blue Overall
      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

SuperDeluxeEdition.com 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

58 Comments

58 thoughts on “XTC / The Big Express CD+blu-ray”

  1. Just received the CD/Blu-ray in the mail, the album on the CD sounds fantastic on first listen, having checked the Blu-ray the only annoyance I have, despite the copious tracks/demos, is the lack of any visual treats. Not even the “All You Pretty Girls” video. This strikes me as a somewhat inconsistent move given the previous Blu-ray content on earlier reissues. Otherwise looking forward to digging in to this!

    1. Came here to say something similar or see if anyone had commented on it yet. Sorely disappointed that they did not include the video as they did with previous releases. I was hoping to have a complete collection of all of their videos by the time this series was complete!

  2. It’s a shame there’s an error on the instrumental mix of “Seagulls Screaming Kiss Her, Kiss her”.

    The opening synths which run through the song are incredibly distant. Sounds like just the reverb, and the main tracks are absent. Then they seem to disappear completely, leaving just the bass and drums.

    The instrumental mixes are a big part of why I buy these reissues, and this song is one of my faves so it’s particularly disappointing.

    Wonder what the chances are of a repress and replacement…? Probably not much.

    I’d have gladly sacrificed the new Dolby Atmos mix for the videos and it being error free.

  3. Thank you, Paul. My copy arrived today. Wow. The original album back in the 80s I was rather unimpressed by – nothing really memorable on first few listens and so ignored pretty much for 40 years or so. But the new Atmos mix is like listening to a whole new album. Lots of things I never noticed before. It’s like listening to a new album. It’ll never be my favourite XTC album, but this has improved it by about 1000%.

  4. I was wrong.

    This release (in America) is ~100% more expensive (“drop-date” MSRP) than ANY of the other XTC/Dukes cd/5.1 blu releases, that I own.

    Whew!

    A (24/48) Atmos-mix IS NOT WORTH this PRICE increase.

    Shame.

    “No bueno” until the price drops, DRASTICALLY!

  5. Blu-Ray seems to be the best way forward to save the physical format. These XTC reissues are an exemplary example of how to reissue an album while keeping cost low and content high. I feel this will only happen if the record companies see another opportunity to get us to buy a beloved album for the 5th or 6th time but it would mean that horrific prices like the “Who’s Next” box might not be possible. Blu-Ray needs to be promoted as the go to audio format alongside vinyl and it would allow the continued market for CD and DVD at low cost. This could help avoid the situation that has happened with Disney stopping DVDs in Australia spreading to the rest of the world. No more “Lion King” in a sale for £4 or a charity shop for £2 just a download £10 forever more.

  6. As a fan of late 70s and 80s music, recently I have been wondering what band (that I’d never considered previously) whose music I could start collecting now. In my teens I purchased the cassette of Waxworks/Beeswax but, other than MPfN – a massive single here in NZ, that was my only real exposure. I have an affinity for English Bands from the 80s (The Sound, Echo & the Bunnymen, OMD, to name just a few) so it only seems natural that XTC should be in my collection. With this announcement, I have now pre-ordered this, as well as ordered the previous 6 releases in this CD/blu-ray series, and am looking forward to dwelving into XTC’s catalogue. It would be nice to have the other 6 albums eventually released in this format if possible.

  7. So glad to see this series continuing on, and now with an Atmos mix too! I will definitely be adding this to my other XTC blu-ray discs. I just wish more labels would issue cd/blu-ray releases! In my opinion, it is the perfect way to offer optical discs for both the home (surround) and the car (cd). Looking forward to this!

  8. To anyone who is uncertain in the description above, the album and additional tracks are also available in the original stereo mixes on the Blu-ray in High Resolution (not sure of the exact resolution for all mixes, except the Atmos as that always seems to be capped 24/48, regardless if the stereo and / or 5.1 is 24/96 or 24/192). This is based on the information from the Burning Shed listing.

  11. A band whom already are perfectionists in recording their music teams up with Wilson again, great music that’s made for Multichannel.

    Easy buy for me, Blu-Ray Audio….check……. Atmos mix……. check………

  14. Excellent LP. I won’t buy as I don’t have the gear for Atmos/5.1 and I’m happy with my 2001 vinyl replica edition which reproduces the circular sleeve ( a la Ogden’s) I understand some of 1984 vinyl copies were issued in. Surprised they haven’t replicated that packaging.

    1. Maybe not feasible for a multi-disc set?
      Also I suppose they may have wanted to keep it consistent with the rest of the series, it’s unlikely many people will be buying only this one.

    2. If they replicated the circular packaging of the LP they would cut off the little cricket :(
      (See around 5 o’clock on the sleeve)

  15. Great news! Not as great as if AP – one can dreams – had announced a proper first solo album (those demos EPs are fine, but…) or a second collaborative effort with Robyn Hitchcock, but great news anyway. I already own two copies of The Big Express, one on vinyl, from way back when, and one on CD, on Geffen Records. The peculiar thing about the latter is that the bonus songs (the same three ones as the new edition) are sandwiched between what was sides 1 and 2 on vinyl. It makes for a strange listening experience when you’re used to the original version.

      1. Yeah all the ones that had bonus tracks at all put them in the middle. I can see the logic of this because it means the album still ends as it was originally designed to, but it’s confusing where some of them don’t even indicate which tracks are the extra ones.
        I think Virgin did this for a few of their early CDs.

        1. Wild Frontier by Gary Moore has a really weird change from the LP to the CD, by sticking the 12″ version of the title track between the two LP sides and finishing with two more bonus tracks. Whoever thought THAT was a good idea… Thankfully the remaster makes more sense of it, track order wise.

  18. Despite being a fan of 30 years bizarrely I feel to some degree I’m still discovering their work. Partly down to these bku ray releases and gradually collecting their catalogue
    Still don’t own the first two albums though. Not much interest in those.

    1. Re: the first two albums I was the same, also with the Beatles* (geddit?) but I decided to get them in either case. I now really enjoy them both XTC & The Beatles.

      *Obviously this was way before XTC were a sparkle in Andy Partridge’s eyes.§

  19. Kudos to whoever it was that discovered the multi track tapes for this.

    I was devastated when i read here some years ago that those had vanished and thought that i never would be able to listen to this album in all its glory.

    As it was the first album of XTC i discovered at the time of release and i became somewhat obsessed with the band after that i can say that to me this is the most eagerly awaited reissue of the year so far.

    Now would the person who gave this an overall 3-star-rating on the widget please stand up so i can give him (or her) a big scolding…

  20. Is this their XTC does OMD album? I’m pretty sure that was my thought at the time, but I may be thinking of a later album. Not for me, but have to admire these Blu Ray releases. Such excellent value, though the only one I bought is Black Sea. I like XTC but something has always stopped me going too deep. Probably the fear that I’d become obsessed.

  22. I’ve been hoping this one was imminent since that Pitchblack spatial audio playback event back in the spring.

    This was the album where they properly got stuck into their second incarnation as a studio-bound entity, without fear of having to reproduce any of it live. I always found that at times the shiny new period tech does overwhelm it a bit, but there are some superb songs here that should really shine in the new mix. Particularly looking forward to hearing Wake Up, Train Running Low and I Remember The Sun.

    And of course another pleasure of listening to TBE is putting it in context, knowing that XTC would just keep on getting even better after this.

    I really hope we get Mummer next with the restored artwork as per recent vinyl release.

  24. “This is the seventh in the ongoing series of expanded XTC reissues” had me worried that I missed one until I remembered the Dukes of Stratosphere release. Phew. Will definitely purchase this set. These XTC reissues are the model for SDE’s in my humble opinion – remastered album, 5.1 (now Atmos) mix, instrumental mix, demos, b-sides, non album singles, and some video content – all for around £25! Thank you Mr. Partridge, Mr. Moulding, and Mr. Wilson!

      1. That’s great news (that I missed). I always thought AP was slightly less optimistic they would be found.

        I like XTC but not my absolute favourite … however English Settlement is probably my favourite ever album!

        Sonically, English Settlement would be perfectly suited to this remaster programme

      1. Thematic, for sure. I, still, have to thank Paul @SDE for “turning me on” to XTC’s back catalogue in 5.1, no less.

        “All Hail to SDE!”

  28. Pre ordered. What a day for XTC fans! This one snuck up on me as the last thing I remember hearing was they couldn’t find all the tapes. Lets hope Mummer and English Settlement aren’t too far behind. Fantastic news!

  29. Possibly the most underrated band ever? Love the XTC special editions. Everything you could hope for for less than £25! I still live in hope that one day English Settlement will get the deluxe treatment but I’m happy that we’re getting Big Express. 5 stars from me!

  30. This is a somewhat neglected record isn’t it?
    It has some excellent songs on it but some odd stylistic choices. I love synths and 80s production but they work against the songs a bit here. Some harsh, brittle sounds especially the vocals and the slamming Linn Drum. Its Genetically modified XTC.
    Remember the Sun stands out, light and jazzy and more organic sounding, bit of a precursor to Skylarking in fact. Looking forward to hearing what Mr Wilson has done with it and interested to know what others think of this record.

  31. Very upset to read about Andy’s health problems recently but also relieved that he is making good progress and is as grumpy and cantankerous as ever.
    As for this release… Whoopee!!!!

  32. The best value for money, reissue campaign ever, regardless if they can find the multi-tracks for the other albums or not.
    Immediate purchase.

  35. Great news!

    Not wishing to steal any of your SDE Shop customers but if you purchase the set from APE initial copies come with a postcard signed by Colin (similar to the cards signed by various band members for the other releases).

    1. I have the first six releases in this series and all except the first one, “Nonsuch”, came with an album artwork postcard signed by a band member. I managed to get all five.

  37. I was hoping the Pretty Girls promo video would be added since it’s never been commercially available as far as I know. Some of the previous releases have included the promo videos so it wouldn’t be out of place.

  38. I’ve bought all of the releases in the series but since the last instalment I no longer have a cd player in living room.
    Think I’ve reached the point where I am thinking should I buy this or just stream it?
    Funny how things change. Looks a great release.

    1. Based on the other releases in the series, this likely won’t be available on the streaming services (at least not in the States).

    2. Definitely won’t be streaming. I asked Andy on a forum about this when the first Surround Series release dropped. He confirmed that Virgin have only licenced the albums to APE, begrudgingly, for these physical releases only. They will continue to stream their 2001 remasters.

Leave a Reply