Apple Box

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Apple Box is a box set by XTC compiling Apple Venus Volume 1 and Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) along with their respective demo albums Homespun and Homegrown. It is the third box set of their career following Transistor Blast: The Best of the BBC Sessions and Coat of Many Cupboards, released by Idea Records.

Video Apple Box

Track listing

UK CD: IDEACD 007

All songs written by Andy Partridge, except where noted.

Apple Venus Volume 1

"River of Orchids" - 5:53
"I'd Like That" - 3:50
"Easter Theatre" - 4:37
"Knights in Shining Karma" - 3:39
"Frivolous Tonight (Colin Moulding) - 3:09
"Greenman" - 6:17
"Your Dictionary" - 3:14
"Fruit Nut" (Moulding) - 3:01
"I Can't Own Her" - 5:26
"Harvest Festival" - 4:15
"The Last Balloon" - 6:39

Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)

"Playground" - 4:17
"Stupidly Happy" - 4:13
"In Another Life" (Moulding) - 3:35
"My Brown Guitar" - 3:51
"Boarded Up" (Moulding) - 3:23
"I'm the Man Who Murdered Love" - 3:44
"We're All Light" - 4:39
"Standing in for Joe" (Moulding) - 3:42
"Wounded Horse" - 4:11
"You and the Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful" - 4:18
"Church of Women" - 5:06
"The Wheel and the Maypole" - 5:55

Homespun

"River of Orchids" - 4:10
"I'd Like That" - 4:47
"Easter Theatre" - 4:52
"Knights in Shining Karma" - 3:38
"Frivolous Tonight (Moulding) - 3:06
"Greenman" - 6:01
"Your Dictionary" - 3:14
"Fruit Nut" (Moulding) - 2:44
"I Can't Own Her" - 5:06
"Harvest Festival" - 5:17
"The Last Balloon" - 5:17

Homegrown

"Playground" - 4:25
"Stupidly Happy" - 3:45
"In Another Life" (Excerpt of original demo) (Colin Moulding) - 2:02
"In Another Life" (Jug band version) (Moulding) - 3:44
"Some Lovely" - 3:57
"Boarded Up" (Moulding) - 2:56
"I'm the Man Who Murdered Love" (Early 'other song' cassette idea) - 2:36
"I'm the Man Who Murdered Love" (Tamla version excerpt) - 0:39
"I'm the Man Who Murdered Love" - 3:33
"We're All Light" (Early cassette idea) - 1:14
"We're All Light" - 4:32
"Standing in for Joe" (Lounge version) (Moulding) - 2:41
"Standing in for Joe" (Moulding) - 3:34
"Wounded Horse" - 4:22
"You and the Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful" - 3:46
"Lie for a Lie" (Cassette demo) - 1:43
"Church of Women" - 4:36
"The Pot Won't Hold Our Love" (Early cassette idea) - 1:38
"Everything Decays" (Early cassette idea) - 2:26
"The Wheel and the Maypole" - 5:33

Purchase of the box set also provides instructions for downloading two non-album XTC tracks:

"Spiral" (Partridge)
"Say It" (Moulding)

Maps Apple Box

Personnel

Peter Ashworth - photography
Ian Cooper - mastering
Steve Gullick - photography
Valerie Phillips - photography
Andrew Swainson - design

Apple Venus Volume 1

XTC

Dave Gregory - piano, keyboards, keyboard programming, guitars, backing vocals (Gregory left the band during recording)
Colin Moulding - vocals, bass guitar
Andy Partridge - vocals, guitars

Additional musicians

Mike Batt - orchestral arrangements for "Greenman" and "I Can't Own Her"
Haydn Bendall - keyboards
Guy Barker - trumpet and flugelhorn solo on "The Last Balloon"
Nick Davis - keyboards
Prairie Prince - drums, percussion
Steve Sidwell - trumpet solo on "Easter Theatre"
All arrangements played by The London Sessions Orchestra under their leader Gavin Wright