Electronic music pioneers Vince Clarke and Martyn Ware teamed up in the late ’90s to record a pair of atmospheric albums under the moniker The Clarke & Ware Experiment. Now, a dozen years later, they’ve paired those two albums with eight CDs of unreleased material to create a limited-edition box set called The House of Illustrious.
The collection, “housed in a unique collectable box set of the highest standard and quality,” is available for pre-order starting today through Lexer Music, and is limited to 1,000 copies. After it’s sold out, Clarke and Ware say “none of the music will be released in a physical format again.”
The previously unreleased music from Clarke (Erasure, Depeche Mode) and Ware (Heaven 17, The Human League, B.E.F.) originally was commissioned for a variety of projects, including film soundtracks, video-game launch parties and a variety of sound installations.
The signed and numbered box sets — priced at £79.95 or about $138 — will be released on Nov. 26. See the tracklist below, and check out the microsite and video posted below for more details.
Tracklist: The Clarke & Ware Experiment, The House of Illustrious
CD 1
1. “The 4th Place” (63:26)
2. “The Game of Their Lives” (07:45)
CD 2
1. “Knots Pt 1” (04:53)
2. “Knots Pt 2” (03:59)
3. “Knots Pt 3” (03:59)
4. “Knots Pt 4” (04:11)
5. “Knots Pt 5” (04:49)
6. “Transparent Mirrors” (10:42)
7. “Virtual Wishing Tree” (14:39)
8. “On Public Display” (09:25)
CD 3
1. “New Ages of Man” (06:12)
2. “Town and Country” (14:33)
3. “Helios Suite” (10:00)
4. “Imagine a World…” (16:00)
5. “Timepiece” (16:00)
CD 4
1. “Shine” (61:00)
CD 5
1. “Everytime I See the Sea…” (11:37)
2. “Diaspora Magnet” (12:09)
3. “Tokyo Soundscape” (02:17)
4. “Vegas” (06:26)
5. “2007 FPS A London Conversation” (06:54)
6. “Ghost Machine” (10:03)
CD 6
1. “Starbirth” (23:08)
2. “Futurescape 1” (08:38)
3. “Futurescape 2” (08:46)
4. “Futurescape 3” (08:37)
5. “New City” (07:22)
CD 7
1. “SoundLife London” (30:00)
2. “Kubla Khan Soundscape” (03:13)
3. “Feelosophy” (24:33)
CD 8
1. “The Sound of Diamonds” (17:46)
2. “Sparking Reaction” (24:00)
3. “Remote Experiments” (05:42)
CD 9: Pretentious
1. “Music For Multiple Dimensions” (14:17)
2. “Open Our Eyes” (07:52)
3. “Too Deep For Tears” (09:24)
4. “I Think I’m In Love” (09:01)
5. “The East Is Falling” (09:35)
6. “Wilderness/Turbulence” (08:01)
7. “Disappearing Breakthroughs” (06:39)
8. “The Light Far Away” (07:43)
CD 10: Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle
1. “White [you are in heaven]” (12:37)
2. “Yellow [you are on a beach]” (12:01)
3. “Red [you are in the womb]” (12:39)
4. “Blue [you are underwater]” (12:20)
5. “Green [you are in a forest]” (12:03)
6. “White [you are in heaven again]” (12:15)
