Comedian and musician Matt Berry has announced the release of a career-spanning box set to celebrate his tenth anniversary with record label Acid Jazz.
Gather Up will be a five album or four CD box set, which will be released through Acid Jazz on November 26.
Over 10 years with Acid Jazz Records Berry has released nine albums (including one live album). From the tangled-folk rock thickets of Witchazel and Kill The Wolf (which features the song from which this box gets its name), to the out-there explorations of Music For Insomniacs or TV Themes’ retro-kitsch delights, through the soul power in Matt Berry & The Maypoles Live or the twilight grooves of The Small Hours to the classic pedal-steel songwriting of Phantom Birds and the smorgasbord of psychedelic sounds on The Blue Elephant.
“It feels like ten minutes ago that I first walked into Acid Jazz,” says Berry of the past decade. “It certainly doesn’t feel like ten years and eight albums when you’re in the middle of it. I know that once this is done we’ll just be into making the next thing. We’ve never been ones to talk about what we’ve done, it’s all about what we’re going to do next.”
Discs one and two, Gather Up Part 1 and Part 2, pulls together an excellent 21-track career spanning collection expertly compiled by Berry, including non-album tracks such as Snuff Box Theme. Disc three in the set is a selection of rare and never heard before outtakes. Disc four, Phantom First, comprises demo recordings of some songs which did and did not evolve into the Phantom Birds album. And disc five, Live At A Festival, features five songs recorded over three festivals In 2015.
The vinyl box set features five LPs, two original Matt Berry artwork prints, a signed certificate of authentication and a 64-page hardback book, with extensive sleevenotes by journalist Chris Catchpole, exclusive photographic archive of Matt’s 10 years on Acid Jazz, including previously unseen images, album cover contact sheets and more.
The CD set features four CDs in a hardback book box and a 24-page fully illustrated booklet with extensive sleevenotes by journalist Chris Catchpole.
It is also available as a 21-track 2LP, double vinyl and single CD compilation, featuring Gather Up Part 1 & 2.
