Jeff Buckley’s 1993 debut, Live at Sin-é, was initially a 4-track EP. A decade later, a 34-track 2CD ‘Legacy Edition’ was released and a 4LP version followed in 2018. Both formats are reissued by Sony this week (the 2CD is a cheap jewel-case version). The set includes live versions of favourites like ‘Grace’, ‘Last Goodbye’ and Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’.
Artist, producer and immersive audio mixer Steven Wilson has announced a new initiative, a website called Headphone Dust which is a hi-res audio resource that, in his words, “will provide a permanent home for my work to be downloaded in high resolution, 5.1 and Atmos / spatial audio”. In time, he hopes that it might include his work with other bands and collaborations etc.
To celebrate the launch he’s making some exclusive recordings/versions available including Impossible Tightrope: Live in Madrid, a two-hour plus live album that documents the final concert of the European leg of The Overview tour, from last year. The show has been mixed from the multi-tracks in stereo, 5.1 and Dolby Atmos. “There are no plans for any physical release of this recording”, Wilson says.
Steven has also remixed his 2013 album The Raven That Refused to Sing and 2015’s Hand.Cannot.Erase.in Dolby Atmos for the first time. Raven is available now and Hand.Cannot.Erase. is “coming soon”.
Branded as the ‘Definitive Digital Edition‘ the Raven download package includes Atmos, 5.1, Stereo, Binaural versions and extras, such as Jess Cope’s official music videos for ‘Drive Home’ and ‘The Raven That Refused To Sing’ in 4K and the complete The Raven That Refused To Sing studio documentary by Lasse Hoile, also now presented in 4K. Additionally, there’s a selection of demos.
The audio/video downloads are delivered either in MKV or FLAC files/containers and since Atmos playback across various devices is notoriously confusing (particularly the ‘Binaural’ versions on headphones) there’s a useful Playback Guide on the site which first asks whether you are a ‘casual listener‘ (headphones) ‘immersive listener‘ (5.1/soundbar) or an ‘enthusiast‘ (full beans Atmos set-up). The enthusiast is defined as someone who wants “reference quality” audio – which is the equivalent of blu-ray style uncompressed Dolby Atmos in True HD. Whereas via blu-ray audio, you ‘just’ need a blu-ray player, an Atmos-compatible amp/receiver and the appropriate speaker set-up, a TrueHD downloaded file is much more fussy and has more specific requirements.
Talking of blu-rays, fans of the format will be reassured, since Wilson says “I love (and am still committed to) the Blu-ray format, but not everyone has the capacity to play these discs”.
Paul McCartney is to release a soundtrack album as a companion to his impending Man on the Run documentary that explores his “creative rebirth” after The Beatles’ break-up and the Wings era, in particular.
The 12-track album follows hot on the heels of last year’s WINGS collection and features tracks from Paul McCartney, Paul and Linda McCartney and Wings.
Three of the songs are repeated from WINGS (‘Band on the Run‘, ‘Mull of Kintyre‘ and ‘Let Me Roll It‘), two tracks are McCartney solo songs from the beginning and end of the Wings era (‘That Would Be Something‘ from McCartney and ‘Coming Up‘ from McCartney II), a couple of numbers are from 1971’s Ram (‘Long Haired Lady‘ and ‘Too Many People‘), the demo of ‘Silly Love Songs‘ is included (taken from the 2014 reissue of At The Speed Of Sound), and Red Rose Speedway’s ‘Big Barn Bed‘ is on the release, which is the one Wings track that is included, in its standard album version, that wasn’t on WINGS.
That leaves three tracks, all of which are previously unreleased:
Gotta Sing Gotta Dance (from the James Paul McCartney 1973 TV special)
Live and Let Die (Rockshow) (from the 1980 Rockshow film)
Arrow Through Me (rough mix)
The inclusion of a ‘rough mix’ of ‘Arrow Through Me’ is interesting. The original is, of course, from 1979’s Back to the Egg so fans can either take that as a positive hint that the box is coming or think more negatively (if it was coming, Paul would surely ‘save’ this outtake for it). There are short previews this track and the Rockshow version of ‘Live and Let Die’ on Amazon at the moment.
The soundtrack to Paul McCartney: Man on the Run will be released on vinyl and CD on 27 February 2026 via UMe/Capitol. Amazon has an orange vinyl exclusive.
NOW Music will issue the fifth in their occasional ‘Era’ series of themed compilations in March and this new one – called NOWThat’s What I Call an Era (Feels Like) Heaven 1978-1985 returns to a genre that is probably most associated with ‘NOW’, and that is synth-pop.
Spanning an eight year period between 1978 and 1985 this new release offers 80 tracks across four CDs (the usual variants: deluxe hardcover book and cheaper card sleeve) and 43 on the triple LP, coloured vinyl edition.
The 4CD deluxe version of (Feels Like) Heaven 1978-1985
The selections are familiar enough, with many of the usual suspects represented, including Eurythmics, Ultravox, Gary Numan and Tubeway Army, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Japan, OMD, Soft Cell, Scritti Politti, Tears For Fears, Bronksi Beat, Dead Or Alive, a-ha, The Buggles, Thompson Twins, Sparks, The Human League, Nena, New Order and many, many more.
It has to be said that CD 2 has a pleasing ‘alternative’ vibe, with contributions from Laurie Anderson, Our Daughter’s Wedding, Fad Gadget, The Associates, New Order, Propaganda, Talk Talk, Telex, Yello and others. You can scroll down for the full tracklistings.
NOWThat’s What I Call an Era (Feels Like) Heaven 1978-1985 will be released on 13 March 2026.
Mark Knopfler and American singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris’ collaborative2006 studio album, Allthe Roadrunning, will be reissued on SDE exclusive blu-ray audio in April, to mark the album’s 20th anniversary.
The 12-track long-player was a top 10 hit in the UK and reached the top 20 in the US and features the singles ‘This Is Us’ and ‘Beachcombing’.
The forthcoming blu-ray – the fourth Knopfler-related album in the SDE Surround Series – features a 2026Dolby Atmos Mix by Guy Fletcher, an exclusive instrumental version of the album, also in Atmos, as well as the original stereo mix. Additionally, the blu-ray continues a previously unreleased 5.1 mix, by Chuck Ainlay, from 2006.
Audio streams on the SDE exclusive blu-ray:
2026 Dolby Atmos Mix (48/24)
2026 Dolby Atmos Instrumental Mix (48/24)
2006 DTS-HD 5.1 Mix (48/24)
2006 Original Stereo Mix – 2026 Remaster (96/24)
This All The Roadrunning release is a region-free blu-ray audio and is #58 in the ongoing SDE Surround Series. It will be packaged similarly in a clear amaray case and ships with a FREE, collectible SDE Surround Series slipcase. At the artist’s request, there may be some availability of this blu-ray on his UK store (without the slipcase).
This is a limited edition and has a 14 day pre-order window, which closes on Monday 16 February 2026. Availability cannot be guaranteed after that date. Pre-order via the SDE shop using this link, or the button below.
All the Roadrunning will be released on 17 April 2026 via UMR/Mercury. A 2LP vinyl edition has been announced for Record Store Day 2026, which is on Saturday 18 April.
Tracklisting
All The RoadrunningMark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris/SDE exclusive blu-ray audio
Album in Dolby Atmos, Dolby Atmos Instrumentals, 5.1 DTS-HD & Hi-Res Stereo
Beachcombing
I Dug Up a Diamond
This Is Us
Red Staggerwing
Rollin’ On
Love and Happiness
Right Now
Donkey Town
Belle Starr
Beyond My Wildest Dreams
All the Roadrunning
If This Is Goodbye
57 The Who / Quadrophenia
56 George Michael / Faith
55 Bryan Ferry / Boys and Girls
54 Thin Lizzy / Nightlife
53 Fine Young Cannibals / The Raw & The Cooked
52 Tears For Fears / Songs From The Big Chair
51 Propaganda / A Secret Wish
50 Frankie Goes To Hollywood / Welcome to the Pleasuredome
49 Elton John / Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy – Still available
48 The Who / Who Are You
47 The Human League / Dare
46 Split Enz / ENZyclopedia Volumes 1 & 2
45 Mark Knopfler / Sailing to Philadelphia
44 Matt Deighton / Today Become Forever
43 De La Soul / 3 Feet High and Rising
42 Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel / The Best Years of Our Lives
Peter Gabriel has made available the second single from his forthcoming album o/i.
‘Put the Bucket Down’ is available first in its Bright-Side Mix by Mark ‘Spike’ Stent and a Dark-Side Mix by Tchad Blake will follow later in the month (on the new moon, to be exact).
The song’s foundation is a mid-paced funk groove and it runs for nearly seven minutes. There’s plenty of production flourishes, a strong piano-based chorus section, a horn break and lots to enjoy.
Gabriel explains that the ‘bucket’ is “all the crap that goes around our head all the time”, with the idea being that putting the bucket down is how we find a way forward. He also revealed an intriguing “show” concept:
“As a side project, I am working on a show with the brain as the central core and there are a number of songs, some on i/o and some on o\i that will be part of that. This is one of those and it’s a point in the narrative where we can both read and write thoughts and the person singing is not sure whether he has his own thoughts or not. Is he inside his own mind or inside someone else’s?” Peter Gabriel
The songs artwork has been created by Tomás Saraceno and three different type of spiders, Cyrtophora citricola, Nephila senegalensis and Holocnemus pluchei. The work is called Cosmic Spider/Web and it’s Saraceno and 12 spiders who are credited with “authorship”.
The pre-order window for The Who’s Quadrophenia SDE-exclusive blu-ray closes today.
The blu-ray audio – #57 in the ongoing SDE Suround Series – includes 2025 Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and Stereo mixes of Quadrophenia mixed by Richard Whittaker, whose association with the band goes back decades. The disc also includes instrumental mixes in Atmos, 5.1 and Stereo.
Richard Whittaker explained to SDE his approach to mixing this album in Atmos: “The original stereo mix by Ron Nevison and Pete Townshend was somehow superseded by a stereo remix in the mid 90’s that was mixed by Jon Astley & Andy MacPherson. Sonically, these two versions are really quite different, so Bob Pridden and I decided to study and reference both sets of mixes whilst creating the new Quadrophenia 2025 mixes in Atmos, 5.1 and Stereo. In doing so, the new mixes sit (sonically) between the two stereo versions and have elements re-instated from the original mix that didn’t make the 90’s remix”.
Audio streams on the Quadrophenia SDE exclusive blu-ray
Additionally, the disc includes the unique Quadrophenia 5.1 EP which has been unavailable since 2011. This special 8-track selection contains unique 5.1 mixes/segues and was previously only available in the long out-of-print Director’s Cut box set.
Tracks that form the 2011 Quadrophenia 5.1 E.P
I Am The Sea
The Real Me
Quadrophenia
I’ve Had Enough
5:15
Doctor Jimmy
The Rock
Love, Reign O’er Me
This Quadrophenia SDE exclusiveblu-ray audio will be released in just under a month, on 27 February 2026. It will be packaged similarly to previous editions (in a clear amaray case) and ships with a free, collectible SDE Surround Series slipcase.
Do not miss out. The pre-order window TODAY. Availability cannot be guaranteed after today. Pre-order via the SDE using this link or the buttons below.
After initially announcing a disc replacement programme for both CD and vinyl versions of the super deluxe edition of this reissue, Universal Music eventually chose to recall both products and set a new release date of 15 May. Therefore the 6CD and 3LP editions of The Style Council’sCafé Bleu are now out this week.
Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live is a new 3CD deluxe set that offers early demos and live tracks from Talking Heads.
This release follows the last year’s Black Friday RSD vinyl release of Tentative Decisions which effectively offered CD 1 of the new deluxe on clear vinyl. That same vinyl edition is now available to full retail on black vinyl, accompanied with the same seven-inch single (with A and B-sides of ‘Psycho Killer’ and ‘Warning Sign’).
Black vinyl version is being released
CD 2 offers more demos, this time 15 Columbia/CBS demos from September 1975, all of which are previously unreleased.
The disc offers 17 live cuts from 1976 and 1977, from three different gigs. The October 1976 performance at Max’s Kansas City took place just a few weeks before the group met with Seymour Stein and signed to Sire Records. The January 1977 show at The Jabberwocky Club in Syracuse was shortly before Jerry Harrison joined.
Tentative Decisions: Demos & Live will be released on CD on 6 March 2026, and on vinyl on 27 March, both via Rhino/Sire.
‘Boys Don’t Cry’, one of The Cure’s signature tracks, is being reissued on CD and vinyl to mark the fact that it’s become the band’s first song to chalk up over a billion streams on Spotify.
Initially released as a standalone single in the summer of 1979, ‘Boys Don’t Cry’became the title track of the US edition of the band’s debut album, Three Imaginary Boys and then a remix, with a new vocal from Robert Smith (subtitled, logically enough, ‘New Voice – New Mix’) was issued in 1986 to promote the ‘best of’ collection Staring At The Sea – The Singles.
Bizarrely, Staring at the Sea didn’t use the new version (go figure…), but instead featured the original ’79 cut of the song, meaning that the 1986 version of ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ is extremely rare on CD and hasn’t been issued digitally (all those streams are for the old version).
Now re-badged ‘Boys Don’t Cry (86 Mix)’ the version released in 1986 is being issued on CD single, 12-inch vinyl and seven-inch vinyl alongside 12-inch mixes and original B-sides (‘Pillbox Tales’ and ‘Do The Hansa’). All audio is remastered by Matt Colton.
The CD single is released on 30 January while the 12-inch and seven-inch won’t appear until 21 April 2026 (both via Fiction).
Tori Amos’ forthcoming studio album, In Times of Dragons, now has official, final artwork and a confirmed release date.
The album originally got a ‘soft launch’, with placeholder artwork, late last year, to promote Tori’s forthcoming tour but there is still no tracklisting available and little information in general, other than the following: “In Times of Dragons is a metaphorical story about the fight for Democracy over Tyranny, reflecting the current abhorrent non accidental burning down of democracy in real time by the ‘Dictator believing Lizard Demons’ in their usurpation of America”.
The album is available as a 2LP vinyl set or a 2CD soft-pack edition. We suspect the 2CD might be two parts to the record over two discs rather than bonus tracks of some sort, but nothing is confirmed.
In Times of Dragons will be released on 1 May 2026, via Decca.
Cherry Red will issue another Level 42 CD box set in March, the fourth in the ongoing series which started back in March 2020 with the first Polydor collection
The Later Years 2001-2020 is a 7CD box which features their last studio album (to date), 2006’s Retroglide, a disc of acoustic versions of some of their best known tracks, 2013’s Sirens EP and an enormous amount of 12-inch remixes, radio edits and other rarities. Full tracklisting, below.
As with previous boxes, this has been compiled in conjunction with Level 42 experts Paul Waller and Simon Carson and with the cooperation of the band. Daryl Easlea-penned sleeve notes feature in the booklet.
The Later Years 2001-2020 will be released on 24 April 2026 (was 27 March) via Cherry Red.
Peter Gabriel’s 2003 live performance in the ‘Big Room’ at Real World Studios gets a physical release on CD and vinyl in March.
This intimate concert was for members of Peter Gabriel’s Full Moon Club and took place during a short run of live shows in November 2003 that also included a performance for the UK’s Children in Need charity at Cyfarthfa Castle in Merthyr Tydfil, a show at the Brighton Centre and the Nelson Mandela 46664 Concert in Cape Town.
“I’d not really taken advantage of the big room as a performance space myself and when, in 2003, the opportunity came up, we grabbed it and offered the small number of seats to members of the Full Moon club. It was not part of a big tour so we weren’t as polished and rehearsed as we might have been while on tour, but it made for a more awake and edgy performance, as we were fully concentrating on what we were doing. There was no elaborate visual show, the whole focus was about making it sound good. I had pretty much forgotten how these songs sounded but listening back to these mixes I was pleasantly surprised how alive they were. I hope you enjoy this as much as we did”. – pg
The 14-song set draws on material from both the Growing Up Live tour (2002/2003) in support of his Up album -and the Still Growing Up Live tour that followed in 2004. The musicians Gabriel’s touring band from this period of Tony Levin (bass), David Rhodes (guitar), Ged Lynch (drums), Richard Evans (guitar, whistle, mandolin), Rachel Z (keyboard and backing vox) and Melanie Gabriel (backing vox).
In The Big Room is released on 2LP vinyl and as a 2CD set. Both contain the same songs and are packaged similarly, with the CDs coming in mini-LP vinyl replica sleeves. Live at WOMAD 1982 is also being released physically in May as a 2LP vinyl set (side 4 is etched) and on CD.
In The Big Room is released on 13 March 2026 while Live at WOMAD 1982 follows on 8 May 2026.
Various Artists / Musik Music Musique 1979: The Roots of Synth Pop
3CD set from Cherry Red that features an array of artists who would become household names and dominate the pop scene during the first half of the 1980s, “alongside lesser-known scenesters, independent innovators and one-off scene hoppers”.
Talk Talk’s fourth studio album, 1988’s The Spirit of Eden, is reissued on vinyl. The album has been cut at half-speed for the first time at Metropolis Studios and is presented on black vinyl with an OBI-strip.
Good price for the rather lovely WINGS 3LP set in black vinyl. You can watch the #SDEtv ‘all formats’ unboxing video if you want a close look at this edition
The Rolling Stones/Black and Blue super 4CD+blu-ray – $994CD+blu-ray
Quadrophenia, The Who’s sixth studio album, will be released as an SDE exclusive blu-ray audio, in February 2026
Issued as a double album in October 1973 by Track Records, it’s the group’s second full scale ‘rock opera’, set in London and Brighton in 1965, with a narrative that follows a young mod named Jimmy and his search for self-worth and importance. The album reached No 2 in both the UK and US album charts and features the singles ‘5:15’ (a UK top 20 hit), ‘Love, Reign o’er Me’ and ‘The Real Me’.
The SDE blu-ray includes 2025 Dolby Atmos, 5.1 and Stereo mixes of Quadrophenia mixed by Richard Whittaker, whose association with the band goes back decades. Additionally, the disc includes instrumental mixes in Atmos, 5.1 and Stereo, the unique Quadrophenia 5.1 EP (which contains unique mixes/segues was previously only available in the out-of-print Director’s Cut box set of 2011) and the 2013 stereo remaster. Note: There are no other formats for this Quadrophenia reissue (no box sets or vinyl) just the SDE blu-ray.
Richard Whittaker explained to SDE his approach to mixing this album in Atmos: “The original stereo mix by Ron Nevison and Pete Townshend was somehow superseded by a stereo remix in the mid 90’s that was mixed by Jon Astley & Andy MacPherson. Sonically, these two versions are really quite different, so Bob Pridden and I decided to study and reference both sets of mixes whilst creating the new Quadrophenia 2025 mixes in Atmos, 5.1 and Stereo. In doing so, the new mixes sit (sonically) between the two stereo versions and have elements re-instated from the original mix that didn’t make the 90’s remix”.
The audio streams of Quadrophenia on the SDE-exclusive blu-ray are as follows:
The Quadrophenia (Region-free) blu-ray audio is #57 in the ongoing SDE Surround Series and Quadrophenia will be packaged similarly to previous editions and ships with a free, collectible SDE Surround Series slipcase.
It will released on 27 February 2026. This is TIME LIMITED release; It available to pre-order for two weeks only, starting today. The pre-order window closes at midnight GMT on 29 January 2026. Availability after that point cannot be guaranteed.
Secure your copy of this SDE exclusive blu-ray of Quadrophenia by using this SDE shop link or the button below.
NOW Music ‘finished off’ the 1980s in 2025 when it comes to their Yearbook series, but there’s always time for an encore, so as in 2022 there’s a ‘Final Chapter’ release coming designed to mop up half a decade of hits that somehow escaped the clutches of the Yearbooks proper and their ‘Extra’ siblings. This time it’s the second half of the decade, 1985-1989 that’s in focus, rather than 1980-1984.
The formats conform to the usual Yearbook pattern: 4CD versions (79 tracks in this instance) in both deluxe hardcover book and standard card sleeve versions and a 3LP set (42 tracks) in coloured vinyl (silver this time).
A quick glance at the tracklisting (scroll down) and the gut reaction is one of surprise. These are far from leftovers. They aren’t the roast potatoes that have been sitting on the hotplate since noon and are still there at 10 in the evening. Example? Pet Shop Boys feature with both ‘West End Girls’ and ‘It’s A Sin’ – their two biggest hits! Queen are represented by ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ and Freddie Mercury’s UK hit, ‘The Great Pretender’. Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Dancing in the Dark’ leads off CD 3 and a-ha, Thompson Twins, Eurythmics, Go West, Sade, Sananda Maitreya (Terence Trent D’Arby) are all represented by tracks that were mostly sizeable hits.
4CD deluxe hardcover book edition
There’s a nice run mid-CD 2 that includes The Stranglers, Big Country, Simple Minds, R.E.M., The Cure, New Order and The Sisters of Mercy and Paul McCartney’s last US top 10 single, ‘Spies Like Us’, pops up on the third disc (we’re still waiting for the seven-inch mix of ‘Pretty Little Head’ although that’s arguably more of a ‘Vault’ track since it was what we’ll politely refer to as a ‘non-hit’).
It’s not all from the top tier, but who doesn’t enjoy Hollywood Beyond’s ‘What’s The Colour of Money’, Alexander O’Neal’s excellent ‘If You Were Here Tonight’, China Crisis’ ‘King In A Catholic Style (Wake Up)’, The Art of Noise with Tom Jones doing ‘Kiss’, Swing Out Sister’s ‘Twilight World’ and a special treat at the end Cliff Richard – and The Young Ones – doing ‘Living Doll’ (one for the UK fans).
So that’s it then… at least until we get an ‘Extra’ version of NOW Yearbook 1985-1989: The Final Chapter. You know it’s going to happen. Until then, this is out on 13 February 2026.
Limited to 1000 copies • Cult classic album • Now expanded and reissued by SDE Records • Available to pre-order exclusively from the SDE shop
In 1991 duo Eg and Alice released 24 Years of Hunger, their only album, on Warner Music (WEA). The album was very well received critically at the time (Q Magazine gave it four stars, praising its “curiously unforgettable songs” and later saying it had “the class of Steely Dan and the intriguing detachment of the Blue Nile”) but sadly it came and went in the blink of an eye. Its two singles made little impact commercially after which Alice Temple left. It was over.
Eg stayed with the label and issued a solo album in 1996, but later pursued a very successful career as a songwriter and producer, crafting songs for others including Will Young’s UK No 1 ‘Leave Right Now’. White also co-wrote and produced James Morrison’s top 5 hit ‘You Give Me Something’, Adele’s ‘Chasing Pavements’, and many others. To date, he’s won three Ivor Novello Awards and has a few Grammy nominations for his songwriting.
Back to the early 1990s, and in Alice’s words “Eg and I were both completely obsessed at the time with Prince, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan and Curtis Mayfield” and those artists very much influence 24 Years of Hunger an album which also has hints of Prefab Sprout, Talk Talk and a dash of The Blue Nile (as Q pointed out).
The first single was ‘Indian‘ (there was no video) which you can hear above and the sparse funk of ‘Doesn’t Mean That Much To Me’ followed after the album’s release. The opening track ‘Rockets‘ is a wonderful example of the sophistication of 24 Years of Hunger and the album, remarkably, was mostly recorded in Eg’s kitchen in Notting Hill on two Fostex E16 analogue 16-track tape recorders.
Alice: “The studio took over the kitchen completely in the end, because of this proper old school analogue set-up. It got bigger and bigger, and there were wires everywhere. Eg put it all together and had his soldering iron out”.
Eg: “I got in deep shit from the neighbour underneath. It was a hot summer, and we just played with the windows open! So, we were getting in trouble… including from the Police”.
24 Years of Hunger has been out-of-print for well over three decades and has never been reissued, anywhere. SDE Records, the recently formed label from SDE, is proud to have chosen Eg and Alice’s only long-player as its first release on CD, issued with the full co-operation and involvement of Eg White and Alice Temple.
The reissue is a 2CD deluxe edition, which features the full 11-track version of 24 Years of Hunger – the original 1991 master, at Eg’s request – on CD 1 and a fantastic bonus CD of mostly unreleased songsanddemos (newly mastered) from Eg and Alice’s personal archive.
As well as demos of key album tracks such as ‘Rockets’, ‘New Year’s Eve’ and ‘Indian’ this second disc features eight unreleased songs written and recorded in demo form – to a high level of sophistication, the word ‘demo’ doesn’t do them justice – by Eg and Alice in the years leading up to the release of 24 Years of Hunger. Amongst them is ‘Highway’, the very first song the pair recorded together; a demo that has remained unheard for over 35 years. In fact, the bonus CD offers two quite different versions of ‘Highway’ as Eg and Alice sought to develop the song. Demo 1 of ‘Highway’ can be heard below as a taster of the bonus CD which is almost like an alternate version of the album with all the new songs.
This album reissue has been a decade in the making. A check of my emails, confirms that I approached both Eg and Alice back in 2016 and I interviewed them individually, at length, in 2019, when I had no idea if we could actually make this happen. Those conversations have been edited into the ‘in their own words’ feature where the duotalk you through the album track-by-track and discuss the recording, release and promotion of the album; over 5,000 words. I kept pushing and while COVID put the brakes on progress for at least a couple of years, my interest in the album at least alerted Warners to its presence and result in 24 Years of Hunger appearing on streaming platforms a few years ago!
I persevered because have loved the album since I bought it on cassette in 1991. It has everything: fantastic songs, a wonderful production and a certain element of mystery. This is one of those albums where it’s always wonderful if you meet someone who knows it, because they will LOVE IT and you normally end up bonding over it! Speaking of which, it turns out that Don Letts is a big fan:
I’ve always said there’s no justice in the music business. How else do you explain a gem like this slipping beneath the radar? But dems’ the breaks. I can’t remember how ’24 Years of Hunger’ appeared on my radar (probably via my weekly trips to Rough Trade) anyhow, appear it did. Sounding like the aftermath of a long night in London—scarred, soulful, and stubbornly alive. Eg & Alice weren’t chasing trends; they were documenting survival and turning emotional scarcity into a record that breathes like a ghost of its own time.
Don Letts aka The Rebel Dread
24 Years of Hunger is somehow never dulled by repeated listening, and my hope is that this new edition will introduce the album to a wider audience who will be similarly seduced by its charms. For those that already cherish this record, the deluxe edition expands the story with the unheard songs, the demos and comprehensive notes from Eg and Alice.”
The 2CD set is presented in a high quality DVD-sized casebound book deluxe edition, with a matt laminated and spot varnished front cover. 36 pages offer the above testimony about 24 Years of Hunger and previously unseen photos of Eg and Alice during the recording of the album. This special physical edition is limited to 1,000 units worldwide and is an SDE exclusive available only from the SDE shop. You can secure your copy using this link or the button below.
24 Years of Hunger, the 35th anniversary 2CD deluxe edition, will be released on 24 April 2026 (was 10 April) via SDE Records.
Tracklisting
24 Years of HungerEg and Alice/2CD deluxe edition
CD 1: 24 Years of Hunger
Rockets
In A Cold Way
Mystery man
And I Have Seen Myself
So High, So Low
New Year’s Eve
Indian
Doesn’t Mean That Much To Me
Crosstown
IOU
I Wish
CD 2: Lonely Road: Demos & Remixes
Here Come The Rockets (Demo)*
Highway (Demo 1)*†
Lonely For Too Long (See What I Mean) (Demo)* †
Indian (Demo)*
Bobby & Holly
Shadow (Demo)* †
New Year’s Eve (Demo)*
Lazy Woman
Under My Spell (Demo)* †
Running To America (Demo)* †
Crazy Bastard (Demo)* †
Teenage Cinema Problem (Demo)* †
Highway (Demo 2)* †
It Doesn’t Mean That Much To Me (7” Version)
It Doesn’t Mean That Much To Me (Jesus Loves You Mix)
Concord Music will reissue R.E.M.’s 2018 At The BBC box set in March.
The 8CD+DVD package comprises a treasure trove of rare and unreleased live and studio recordings culled from the BBC and band archives.
The box set features in-studio performances such as a John Peel Session (1998), Drivetime and Mark and Lard appearances (2003) and a Radio 1 Live Lounge performance (2008). Amongst the live broadcasts are a show from Nottingham’s Rock City (1984), the 1995 Milton Keynes Monster Tour, the 1999 Glastonbury headline set and an invitation-only 2004 show at London’s St James’s Church. In total there are eight CDs of this kind of audio.
The DVD includes the sixty-minute Accelerating Backwards documentary (previously broadcast in the UK but never available commercially) and also offers a complete 1998 Later….With Jools Holland episode dedicated to the band, plus TV appearances on Top of the Pops and more.
Packaging for the box looks to be identical to what came before, but there is no sign this time around of The Best of R.E.M. at the BBC highlights variant which was available on 2CD and 2LP back in 2018.
R.E.M. at the BBC will be released on 6 March 2026 via Concord.
