Released by the Major Minor label in 1968, the self-titled July album has long been acknowledged by genre enthusiasts as one of the classic UK psychedelic one-shots, mixing the ambition and experimentation of "Sgt. Pepper" with a lo-fi charm and endearing garage band artlessness. It is also one of the most hotly-pursued artefacts of the British psychedelic era, with an original UK copy (only graded at VG++) recently selling on eBay for around £3700. Our definitive 6-CD overview of the band's activities includes newly-remastered versions of the album in both mono and stereo formats (the latter only previously available on the original 1968 American release) as well as the various single issues, including a completely different recording of album nugget 'The Way'. Disc Three contains "The Second Of July", a collection of pre-album demos that appeared in the mid-Nineties to capitalise on the band's growing reputation as original copies of their LP began to sell for increasingly large sums of money. The remainder of the boxed set consists of more recent July recordings following their triumphant return to live work a few years ago. Disc Four is the aborted album "Temporal Anomaly", which was recorded circa 2010 but which gains a first-ever release, while Disc 5 is the appropriately-titled "Resurrection", which received a limited release in 2013. Disc Six comprises the latest July magnum opus, "The Wight Album", which has been pieced together over the last few years by Tom Newman and Peter Cook at Tom's recording studio on the Isle of Wight. Now finally completed, "The Wight Album" - described by Tom as "the greatest July album" - brings the July story bang up to date. Housed in a clamshell box, and with a 40-page booklet containing a 7000 word essay on the band featuring new quotes and some priceless period photos, The Complete Recordings is an epic look at the studio activities of one of the biggest cults to emerge from the original British psychedelic scene.
01 My Clown 02 Dandelion Seeds 03 Jolly Mary 04 Hallo To Me 05 You Missed It All 06 The Way 07 To Be Free 08 Move On Sweet Flower 09 Crying Is For Writers 10 I See 11 Friendly Man 12 A Bird Lived
13 Bonus Tracks 14 My Clown (single Version) 15 Dandelion Seeds (single Version) 16 Hello Who's There? 17 The Way (single Version)
Disc 2
01 My Clown 02 Dandelion Seeds 03 Jolly Mary 04 Hallo To Me 05 You Missed It All 06 The Way 07 To Be Free 08 Move On Sweet Flower 09 Crying Is For Writers 10 I See 11 Friendly Man 12 A Bird Lived
Disc 3
01 You Missed It All 02 My Clown 03 Dandelion Seeds 04 The Stamping Machine 05 A Bird Lived 06 Look At Her 07 The Way 08 Friendly Man 09 The Girl In The Cafe 10 You See Me I See You 11 Man Outside 12 Move On Sweet Flower 13 Hallo To Me
Disc 4
01 I Like It 02 If 03 A Day To Remember 04 All The Hours There Are 05 Don't Let Me Down 06 Magical Days 07 Regeneration 08 Dreams 09 I'm Talking To You 10 Lights
Disc 5
01 Dreams 02 I Like It 03 Can I Go Back Again 04 Counting The Minutes 05 A Day To Remember 06 King Bee 07 All The Hours There Are 08 I'm Talkin' To You 09 Linear Thinking 10 Heaven Or Hell 11 Magical Days 12 Regeneration 13 Bonus Tracks 14 Can I Go Back Again (extended Version) 15 Can I Go Back Again (original Demo)
Disc 6
01 The Devil Inside 02 Special Guy 03 Sophie 04 Animals 05 We Are The Masters 06 Love 'n' Love 07 Protest Song 08 Henry's Squirrel 09 It's Up To Me 10 Seeking The Hacksaw Blades 11 Let Me 12 Catchin' Up 13 Mods Of Ryde 14 The Game 15 What's Gonna Be 16 Disc Klingon 17 It's A Fine Line 18 Dancing 19 Truth 20 The Traveller 21 Home 22 Once When We Was Free 23 Right Place Wrong Time