The long-awaited This Mortal Coil anthology first announced a year ago — a 4CD box set featuring the 4AD collective’s three albums and a fourth disc of singles and rarities — finally will be released this November, while a Blu-ray disc called Tears in the Dropbox that includes all three albums in high-definition audio remains in the works.
After teasing it last week, both 4AD and sister label Beggars Archive this morning announced the box set from 4AD label chief Ivo Watts-Russell’s mid-to-late-’80s dreampop collaboration — which involved members of Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance and the Pixies. The set is due out Nov. 7 in the U.K. and Nov. 8 in the U.S.; the U.S. edition can be pre-ordered here for $105.
According to Beggars Archive, the box set features remastered, HD editions of the This Mortal Coil’s three albums — It’ll End in Tears (1984), Filigree & Shadow (1986) and Blood (1991) — repackaged in Japanese paper gatefold sleeves with “re-worked” art by Watts-Russell and famed 4AD designer Vaughan Oliver (see video of the box set below).
The box includes a fourth CD, Dust & Guitars, which collects the band’s three singles and EPs, plus two recently discovered tracks that had been earmarked for the Rough Trade Singles Club in 1992 but weren’t issued: “Thais (Bird of Paradise),” a variation of the Filigree & Shadow track, and a cover of Neil Young’s “We Never Danced” recorded for Blood but not used.
As for Tears in the Dropbox, that will include all three albums and the Dust & Guitars set on a single Blu-ray disc in high-definition stereo (24bit/96khz), along with the band’s videos and both CD-quality FLAC files and MP3 files. A release date has not been set for the Blu-ray.
Tracklist: This Mortal Coil box set
IT’LL END IN TEARS
1. “Kanga-Roo”
2. “Song to the Siren”
3. “Holocaust”
4. “Fyt”
5. “Fond Affections”
6. “The Last Ray”
7. “Another Day”
8. “Waves Become Wings”
9. “Barramundi”
10. “Dreams Made Flesh”
11. “Not Me”
12. “A Single Wish”
FILIGREE & SHADOW
1. “Velvet Belly”
2. “The Jeweller”
3. “Ivy and Neet”
4. “Meniscus”
5. “Tarantula”
6. “My Father”
7. “Come Here My Love”
8. “At First, and Then”
9. “Strength of Strings”
10. “Morning Glory”
11. “Inch-Blue”
12. “I Want to Live”
13. “Mama K”
14. “Filigree & Shadow”
15. “Firebrothers”
16. “Thaïs”
17. “I Must Have Been Blind”
18. “A Heart of Glass”
19. “Alone”
20. “Mama K”
21. “The Horizon Bleeds and Sucks Its Thumb”
22. “Drugs”
23. “Red Rain”
24. “Thaïs”
BLOOD
1. “Lace Maker”
2. “Mr. Somewhere”
3. “Andialu”
4. “With Tomorrow”
5. “Loose Joints”
6. “You and Your Sister”
7. “Nature’s Way”
8. “I Come and Stand at Every Door”
9. “Bitter”
10. “Baby Ray Baby”11. “Several Times”
12. “The Lacemaker II”
13. “Late Night”
14. “Ruddy and Wretched”
15. “Help Me Lift You Up”
16. “Carolyn’s Song”
17. “D.D. and E.”
18. “‘Til I Gain Control Again”
19. “Dreams Are Like Water”
20. “I Am the Cosmos”
21. “(Nothing But) Blood”
DUST & GUITARS
1. “Sixteen Days/Gathering Dust”
2. “Song To The Siren”
3. “Sixteen Days (Reprise)”
4. “Kangaroo”
5. “It’ll End In Tears”
6. “Come Here My Love”
7. “Drugs”
8. “Acid, Bitter and Sad”
9. “We Never Danced” *
10. “Thais (Bird of Paradise)” *
* Previously unreleased
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
This is amazing! I am loving the Beggars archive series. They have done a great job so far.
absolutely stunning!,thanks for posting :)
Nov 7th. 8th for USA
http://archive.beggars.com/releases/152/this-mortal-coil-hd-cd-box-set
How many times are they going to exhume the body and put it back on display? 1993, 2011,…will I get to buy another one in 2029?
again with the reissues. although this looks tempting, i already have the discography on vinyl, cassette, cd and the last box set. sigh, but this IS in HD audio. blast you beggers!!!
i’m trying to think of an album that had a bigger impact on me than “Filigree and Shadow” when it came out. a masterpiece, by any standard.
Make a Japanese pressed 200 gram vinyl box set. I’ll buy it.
Filigree and Shadow is just stunning from start to finish…..
I’ve been waiting for this set since August 2010, but I’ll be super pissed if they don’t release the Blu-Ray. After the earthquakes in Japan and the riots in London, I’m amazed this set is almost ready. I’d be willing to wait until next spring if they include the Blu-Ray disc.
A $105 price point for a 4-CD box set? At the price, I had expected it to be vinyl. I don’t need it to be 200 gram, but an LP edition of this box set would make it a must-purchase for me – although I hesitate to speculate how they would price that one.