Apple Box

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Pitchfork Media	(7.8/10) [2]

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.

Track listing

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

References