The Beta Band Chronicled with Career-Spanning Box Set

BY Alex HudsonPublished Jul 26, 2013

The Beta Band haven't been active for almost a decade now, with frontman Steve Mason now focusing on his solo career, but the group's memory lives on — partly thanks to their prominent inclusion in the classic music-nerd flick High Fidelity. This fall, the band's catalogue will be chronicled with the release of a six-CD box set.

The career-spanning package is called The Regal Years (1997-2004). It's due out on October 7 in the UK through Parlophone and offers an overview of the folktronic experimentalists' studio output, along with non-LP extras.

The first four discs consist of the full-length albums The Beta Band (1999), Hot Shots II (2001) and Heroes to Zeroes (2004), plus the classic The Three EPs (1998). These include some bonus tracks in the form of live cuts and remixes. The fifth disc compiles BBC Radio sessions, with disc six bringing together demos, live recordings and an XFM radio session.

Peruse the tracklist below.

The Regal Years (1997-2004):

CD 1 - The Three EPs:

1 . Dry the Rain

2. I Know

3. B + A

4. Dogs Got a Bone

5. Inner Meet Me

6. The House Song

7. Monolith

8. She's the One

9. Push It Out

10. It's Over

11. Dr. Baker

12. Needles in My Eyes

CD 2 - The Beta Band:


1. The Beta Band Rap

2. It's Not Too Beautiful

3. Simple Boy

4. Round the Bend

5. Dance o'er the Border

6. Brokenupadingdong

7. Number 15

8. Smiling

9. The Hard One

10. The Cow's Wrong

11. Dance o'er the Border (live at Glastonbury Festival) (bonus track)

12. The Hard One (manmouse Remix) (bonus track)

CD 3 - Hot Shots II:


1. Squares

2. Al Sharp

3. Human Being

4. Gone Dragon

5. Broke

6. Quiet

7. Alleged

8. Life

9. Eclipse

10. To You Alone (bonus track)

11. Sequinsizer (bonus track)

12. Won (bonus track)

13. Unknown Squares (bloah Mix) (bonus track)

14. Quiet (acoustic – From 99x Atlanta Session) (bonus track)

15. Squares (roman Nose Mix) (bonus track)

CD 4 - Heroes to Zeros:


1. Assessment

2. Space

3. Lion Thief

4. Easy

5. Wonderful

6. Troubles

7. Out-side

8. Space Beatle

9. Rhododendron

10. Liquid Bird

11. Simple

12. Pure For

13. Out-side (roman Nose Remix) (bonus track)

14. Assessment (c Swing's Bootleg Mix) (bonus track)

15. Shrek Out-side (depth Charge Remix) (bonus track)

CD 5 - BBC Live:

BBC Radio 1, Evening Session (10/9/97):

1. Dry the Rain

2. Monolith

3. B + A

4. Shepherd's Dub

BBC Radio 1, Lamacq Live (5/7/99):


5. The Hard One

6. Brokenupadingdong

BBC 6 Music, Rocket Science Session (01/05/04):

7. Dog's Got a Bone

8. Outside

BBC Radio, T in the Park Live (10/7/04):


9. Inner Meet Me

10. Outside

11. She's the One

12. Dry the Rain

13. Broke

CD 6 - Demo, Live & Sessions
:

1997 demo recordings:

1. Idea for House Track
2. Longer Idea for Above

3. Bed in the Sunlight

4. B an A


Live at Roskilde Festival 2002:


5. Inner Meet Me

6. Life

7. Human Being


Xfm studio session 2004:


8. Dog's Got a Bone

9. Outside

10. Simple


Live At Shepherds Bush Empire 29th Nov 2004:


11. Squares

12. Simple

13. Easy

14. Dr. Baker

15. Quiet

16. The House Song

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