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Jellyfish: “Bellybutton” and “Spilt Milk” Deluxe Editions on the way

By Paul Sinclair

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Omnivore Recordings in the US are preparing deluxe editions of the two Jellyfish albums for release in May.

Contrary to the information in the early Amazon pre-order listings, Bellybutton (1990) and Spilt Milk (1993) will both be two-CD sets and will offer an abundance of bonus material, largely made up of demos and live tracks. Expect around 80-90 minutes of extra audio for each reissue.

Shortly after it was originally issued, Bellybutton was re-released in the UK as a ‘special edition’ which added five live tracks (most of which had appeared on the UK CD singles) and Spilt Milk-era demos like Watching The Rain and Family Tree were commercially issued on The Ghost At Number One singles (further demos appeared on the New Mistake single).

fanclub
Out-of-print ‘Fan Club’ set now sells for big money

The four-CD Fan Club box set (issued by Not Lame Recordings in 2002) is the most sought after Jellyfish collection, with an enormous amount of material (demos, live tracks) not found on any other release. Omnivore plundered this for 2012’s Live At Bogart’s so it is highly likely that Fan Club will be a ‘pick ‘n’ mix’ selection for the bonus tracks on the reissues.

Jellyfish originally featured Andy Sturmer (vocals/drums), Jason Falkner (guitars, bass, vocals) and Roger Manning (keyboards, vocals). Although Bellybutton lacked any big UK hits, all four singles did penetrate the top 75, with Baby’s Coming Back also reaching number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100. By the time of the more elaborate Spilt Milk, Falkner had departed and Tim Smith was brought in for bass duties. The band split in 1994.

Omnivore will release in these in North America and Canada, while Universal will issue the same sets in UK and Europe. These are slated for 6 May but this is likely to be approximate at this stage. Will we bring you the full track listings soon.

Bellybutton 2CD deluxe reissue

Spilt Milk 2CD deluxe reissue

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30 thoughts on “Jellyfish: “Bellybutton” and “Spilt Milk” Deluxe Editions on the way”

  1. Pingback: Jellyfish: Bellybutton and Spilt Milk 2CD deluxe reissues confirmed | superdeluxeedition

          1. Thanks for the update. Well – that’s another date to possibly look forward to. My hopes are not too high at this point.

  6. I contacted Omnivore about a month ago to check on track lists. They said that there is no release planned at this time.

    Bummer.

    1. These are both happening. I don’t know why Omnivore insist on denying it. The cat is out of the bag, so it’s all rather tedious pretending it’s not happening.

  7. I attempted to pre-order both sets from Amazon US today and the checkout page said they would e-mail me when they had a shipping estimate. I take this as an indication that Amazon is not in possession of these releases yet, which means they probably are not coming out May 6th. Also, Omnivore has no information on their website indicating any CD releases for Bellybutton and Spilt Milk. I hope they are just delayed, because I was looking forward to these.

  9. Honestly, I’d be stoked just to have each of the albums properly remixed and remastered. I hope they will be… Spilt Milk especially deserves the very best sound that a compact disc can offer.

    1. Remastered? These are already two of the best sounding CD’s I own. Spilt Milk has been used as a reference disc by engineers because it’s mastering is so good. The only thing that would likely come from re-doing it is a brickwall treatment.

  10. It would be awesome if we could get the deluxe editions on colored vinyl. I wasn’t able to snag the colored vinyl issues of the two albums, so having deluxe colored vinyl issues would be fantastic!

  11. I too own “Fan Club”, & am stocked for these 2CD reissues because FINALLY, “Bellybutton” and “Spilt Milk” will be remastered on CD, not just vinyl (I have the 2 coloured vinyl remasters of the albums as well as the 3-sided Bogarts vinyl)…as for the extras…it would be cool if something unreleased was unearthed and not just taken from “Fan Club”, like the certain tracks from “Best!!” UK hits collection was…it would be REALLY cool if, instead of rehashed audio tracks. the extra disc on each is a DVD of vidclips, live & TV footage!! NOTHING has been released commercially on DVD…I have a bootleg DVD of a German TV concert that is just swell, and it has them doing Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way” as an encore that is amazing…I’m sure the folks at Omnivore can gather something neat for these reissues…if not a DVD, that’s what should be next…

  12. I too own the Fan Club set, that said, these tracks will most likely be completely remastered… therefore, rendering them essential for the completeist.

  13. To be honest, Paul, the Wembley tracks on “Fan Club” aren’t great quality. They do sound like they were taped from the radio broadcast. And, yes, they do sound a bit lost in such a huge venue. But, like you, I have fond memories of seeing them live on both tours. They were astoundingly tight! Remember the white picket fence?

  14. @ Gary Clarke – Some of their INXS Wembley set is on the “Fan Club” box set. Five songs, anyway – don’t know if that was the extent of their spot. It may turn up on the “Bellybutton” reissue.

  15. Spilt Milk is a great, GREAT album, fully deserving of the deluxe treatment – if Omnivore can find *something* that hasn’t already featured in the Fan Club box set. Chances are good that they will – witness the unheard live/session tracks that featured in the Live at Bogart’s and Radio Jellyfish sets respectively.

    Whether they will turn up enough unheard stuff to justify the price of admission however remains to be seen.

    1. Good deal.
      Does anyone remember, or maybe you attended, a big concert at Wembley one summer where INXS headlined (those were the days!) and Jellyfish were on the bill too? I remember hearing it on the radio during a long drive but have never come across it since.
      INXS may have released a DVD of the concert.
      Gary C

      1. I have virtually exactly the same memory, hearing them support INXS on the radio. It was Wembley Stadium, wasn’t it? I remember thinking they didn’t sound that good on such a big stage. I’d seen them at Camden’s Underworld at the time of Bellybutton which was incredible. I don’t have Fan Club so would be interested to know how good the Wembley stuff does sound, when properly mixed etc.

  17. Yep, another disappointed ‘Fan Club’ owner here. Of course, I’m waiting to see tracklistings before I throw my toys out of the pram but, given the extras are demos and lives, it’s inevitable they’ll be lifted from ‘Fan Club’.

  18. I agree with you Mike, although I`m gonna be one of the lucky ones `cause I don`t have Fan Club. I loved Jellyfish back in the `90`s, still do, so I`ll be getting the new reissues. This has reminded me to dig out the CD singles which I haven`t played in years.

  19. As an owner of Fan Club, to see that they’re only re-issuing these two discs with already released tracks (albeit out of print) is pretty lame. I’d rather they do a whole show from that tour or something that hasn’t already been released officially. Of course, if you don’t have “Fan Club” then I guess this is your lucky day…

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