Apple Box

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.

UK CD: IDEACD 007
All songs written by Andy Partridge, except where noted.


 * Apple Venus Volume 1
 * 1) "River of Orchids" – 5:53
 * 2) "I'd Like That" – 3:50
 * 3) "Easter Theatre" – 4:37
 * 4) "Knights in Shining Karma" – 3:39
 * 5) "Frivolous Tonight (Colin Moulding) – 3:09
 * 6) "Greenman" – 6:17
 * 7) "Your Dictionary" – 3:14
 * 8) "Fruit Nut" (Moulding) – 3:01
 * 9) "I Can't Own Her" – 5:26
 * 10) "Harvest Festival" – 4:15
 * 11) "The Last Balloon" – 6:39


 * Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)
 * 1) "Playground" – 4:17
 * 2) "Stupidly Happy" – 4:13
 * 3) "In Another Life" (Moulding) – 3:35
 * 4) "My Brown Guitar" – 3:51
 * 5) "Boarded Up" (Moulding) – 3:23
 * 6) "I'm the Man Who Murdered Love" – 3:44
 * 7) "We're All Light" – 4:39
 * 8) "Standing in for Joe" (Moulding) – 3:42
 * 9) "Wounded Horse" – 4:11
 * 10) "You and the Clouds Will Still Be Beautiful" – 4:18
 * 11) "Church of Women" – 5:06
 * 12) "The Wheel and the Maypole" – 5:55


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


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

Purchase of the box set also provides instructions for downloading two non-album XTC tracks:
 * 1) "Spiral" (Partridge)
 * 2) "Say It" (Moulding)

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


 * Production
 * Haydn Bendall – original production, engineering
 * Nick Davis – additional production, engineering, mix
 * Simon Dawson – mix assistance
 * Alan Douglas – recording engineer
 * Barry Hammond – recording engineer
 * Tim Young – mastering

Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2)

 * XTC
 * Colin Moulding – vocals, bass guitar
 * Andy Partridge – vocals, guitar


 * Additional musicians
 * Caroline Dale – cello
 * Nick Davis – keyboards
 * Simon Gardner – flugelhorn
 * Patrick Kiernan – violin
 * Peter Lale – viola
 * Holly Partridge – backing vocals on "Playground"
 * Prairie Prince – drums (2, 3, 4, 12)
 * Chuck Sabo – drums (1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
 * Kate St. John – oboe
 * Matt Vaughn – programming
 * Gavin Wright – violin


 * Production
 * Haydn Bendall – recording engineering
 * Nick Davis – producer, mixing, recording engineering
 * Simon Dawson – mix engineer
 * Alan Douglas – recording engineering
 * Barry Hammond – recording engineering
 * Bob Ludwig – mastering

Homespun and Homegrown

 * Andy Partridge
 * Colin Moulding