The long-running XTC audiophile reissue series continues this month with the first vinyl release in decades of the band’s second album Go2, which will be pressed on 200-gram heavyweight vinyl and packaged, in the initial pressing, as a 2LP set with the Go+ dub EP.
The new pressing of the 1978 album, cut from new masters by Jason Mitchell at LOUD Mastering and approved by the band’s Andy Partridge, is due out May 19 on Partridge’s Ape House Records.
It’s available for pre-order now via Amazon.com.
The new edition comes in a gatefold sleeve that maintains the album’s original all-text artwork, designed by Hipgnosis partner and Throbbing Gristle co-founder Peter Christopherson.
Once the reissue’s initial pressing is sold out, though, the release will revert to a single disc, without the bonus EP — just as the original album was released. The first 15,000 copies of the U.K. release of Go2 in 1978 included the EP — with five dub versions of Go2 tracks — and it was also later released on its own in the U.S.
In announcing the new reissue, Partridge says:
“After the big bang of (debut album) White Music, the rapidly expanding jagged, black and white universe of XTC grew apace. Colin (Moulding) was writing more, even Barry (Andrews) was writing, before he jumped swiftly into a parallel dimension, and left to join Robert Fripp’s League of Gentlemen. We became gently besotted with dub techniques and allowing more and more colour onto our palette. This album is where our future started”.
Below, check out the full tracklist:
XTC, Go2 + Go+ EP
Side A
1. “Meccanik Dancing (Oh We Go!)”
2. “Battery Brides (Andy Paints Brian)”
3. “Buzzcity Talking”
4. “Crowded Room”
5. “The Rhythm”
6. “Red”
Side B
1. “Beatown”
2. “Life Is Good in the Greenhouse”
3. “Jumping in Gomorrah”
4. “My Weapon”
5. “Super-Tuff”
6. “I Am the Audience”
Side C
1. “Dance with Me. Germany”
2. “Beat the Bible”
Side D
1. “A Dictionary of Modern Marriage”
2. “Clap Clap Clap”
3. “We Kill the Beast”
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- XTC’s Andy Partridge debuts new trio The 3 Clubmen — hear first single “Aviatrix”
- Andy Partridge releasing new EP, reissuing XTC’s “Mummer” with original sleeve art
- XTC’s Andy Partridge to launch ‘My Failed Songwriting Career’ series with 4-song EP
- XTC’s ‘Oranges & Lemons’ to be reissued on 200-gram audiophile vinyl
- XTC’s Dukes of Stratosphear albums freshly remixed for new ‘Psurroundabout Ride’ set
