Today saw the release of the Best Of Mansun on CD/DVD on Parlophone the final release which lays the band to rest. The package comes with an unreleased track Called 'South Of The Painted Hall' this is a download only track, and you can get it by inserting you CD after registering your details here

Parlophone are pleased to announce that Legacy - The Best Of Mansun will be released on 18 September on CD, Special Edition CD/DVD and Digital Download
 
Compiled by Paul Draper and Dom Chad, the collection features the lead tracks from all Parlophone EPs/singles including Wide Open Space, Stripper Vicar, I Can Only Disappoint U, Taxloss, and Legacy, as well as band favourites such as The Chad Who Loved Me and Getting Your Way.

The Special Edition CD/DVD format features all 16 promo videos, plus a brand new documentary cut from the band's own personal footage and narrated by Paul and Chad, who have given a new rare audio interview especially for the documentary (their first together since the end of the band). The DVD is completed with a montage of Super 8 footage and some recently discovered live footage of Taxloss at Brixton Academy 1998.
 
 

CD
 1. I Can Only Disappoint U
 2. Wide Open Space
 3. Stripper Vicar
 4. Being A Girl (Part One)
 5. Negative
 6. Take It Easy Chicken
 7. Legacy
 8. She Makes My Nose Bleed
 9. Closed For Business
 10. Six
 11. Getting Your Way
 12. Electric Man
 13. The Chad Who Loved Me
 14. Egg Shaped Fred
 15. Slipping Away
 16. Fool
 17. Taxloss
 
 DVD
 1. Flourella
 2. Egg Shaped Fred
 3. Take It Easy Chicken
 4. Stripper Vicar
 5. Wide Open Space
 6. Wide Open Space (US version)
 7. She Makes My Nose Bleed
 8. Taxloss
 9. Closed For Business
 10. Legacy
 11. Being A Girl (Part One)
 12. Negative
 13. Six
 14. I Can Only Disappoint U
 15. Electric Man
 16. Fool
 
 Plus
 Taxloss (Live at Brixton - 23/10/98)
 Love Remains (Super 8 montage)
 Nobody Cares When You're Gone (unseen documentary footage)

As reported on Tuesday, Legacy: The Best Of Mansun will be released on September 25th, it will be a CD and Special Edition CD/DVD and full details on the tracklisting will be revealed on the Mansun database very soon.

September is the release date for The Best Of Mansun CD/DVD An announcement should be made through the EMI Mansun email database soon, hopefully it will coincide with a Paul Draper diary entry containing his new demo tracks.

I done some investigating today, with a little help from a friend. I spoke personally with EMI, and was told, there are plans to release something next year, although nothing has been finalised as yet. To endorse this, my friend received an email from EMI which reads..

"Unfortunately there is no definite news as yet. There is a possibility of a 'best of' next year, but nothing is finalised. I have no news on solo work at all I'm afraid."

There is a rumour apparently coming from Parlophone that a Mansun best of and also a Mansun DVD are planned for release early in 2006, this is nothing but a rumour at this stage, keep checking this page for more regarding this.

It is now understood that there will be a posting on the official site this week announcing the new Mansun single (previously reported on this site nearly a month ago) it will be either Slipping Away or keep Telling Myself (you can download live versions of both tracks by clicking the titles and saving target as) The new single is thought to be played on the Steve Lamacq show on radio 1 this coming monday. It is also been said that Paul will appear on a couple of the shows to talk about things.

Parlophone have confirmed details of the tracks on the three CDs of forthcoming release 'Kleptomania'. The artwork described on the official site "The package will be a digipack with a PVC slipcase over it, on which will be a sticker describing the release.. The main image is the title 'KLEPTOMANIA', hand-written on white using a black marker pen, in a bootleg 'stolen' style."The 32-page booklet will feature an extensive discography, sleeve notes from Paul Draper on all 37 tracks, and also rare and unseen photos. 

This is fantastic news and now we can really look forward to Kleptomania Please celebrate with us this on the forum. Tracklisting is as follows..

CD1 - The 4th album sessions (previously unreleased)

Getting Your Way
Slipping Away
Keep Telling Myself
Harris
Love Remains
Cry 2 My Face
No Signal/No Complaints
Home
Fragile
Wanted So Much
Good Intentions Heal The Soul

CD2 - Non-album singles, B-sides and EP-only tracks

Take It Easy Chicken
Everyone Must Win
Closed For Business
Ski Jump Nose
Can't Afford To Die
Railings
Flourella
Decisions, Decisions
Been Here Before
My Idea Of Fun
When The Wind Blows
Check Under The Bed
Skin Up Pin Up
I Care
The World's Still Open

CD3 - Rarities, demos and unreleased tracks

Rock 'n' Roll Loser
Secrets
These Days (Full Length)
It's OK
Drones
Right To The End Of The Earth
I Can Only Disappoint U (Home Demo)
Love Is... (Home Demo)
Love Remains (Home Demo)
Shot By Both Sides (Live John Peel Session)
Taxloss (Live- Brixton Acadamy98)

-------------------

Also the planned single release (reported here) to be taken from CD1 is thought to get the go ahead in the near future.

In addition to the 3cd boxset entitled ‘Kleptomania’ (comprising of the lost 4th album sessions, non album tracks and B sides and rare & unreleased tracks) release on the 27th of September there is also a planned single release sometime in September, which will be either 'Slipping Away' or 'Keep Telling Myself.' There is also a possibility of a limited edition 7" vinyl with the same A-side and a recognised Mansun track thought to be 'TIEC' as the B-side.

Paul will be available for press interviews to promote these releases very soon so I am told.

Japan will see an enhanced section on ‘Kleptomania’ which will be released on the 20th september featuring additional tracks.

There is a possibility of a greatest hits CD which would be around in 2005.

Paul's own solo career will also be kicking off, with an acoustic set to be screened on the internet, likely to be on the new website www.pauldraper.info.

I have also learned from various contacts that Paul is now signed to Parlophone as a solo artist. All this info should be confirmed in the very near future.

Discuss this topic here

The 'Kleptomania'  release date I mentioned on MML forum last week has been confirmed on the official site..

From the official site.

"Kleptomania, the forthcoming collector's 3-CD Mansun release, is to have the contents of its second CD decided by fans of the band in an online poll. You can now vote through this page on MANSUN.ORG, rating your opinion of each of the 52 non-album tracks that the band released in their eight year career, right the way from classics 'Take It Easy Chicken' and 'Skin Up Pin Up', up to songs from their last single 'Fool', with live favourites 'Everyone Must Win', 'Ski Jump Nose' and many many more. There are links on the poll page to online soundclips of each of the tracks should you need your memory jogging.

Each track can be voted for with a mark from 0 to 10, and the votes for each will be averaged to determine an overall score (as in the style of the last B-sides poll that the band ran online in 1999) for that track. The poll will run for a week (until July 14th), and will help determine the tracklisting of CD2 of 'Kleptomania'. MANSUN.NET can officially announce that 'Kleptomania' will be released in the UK on Parlophone Records on Monday September 27th 2004."

The new boxset titled 'Kleptomania' from the now split Mansun containing the 4th unreleased album, b sides, and rarities CDs will be released in september this year believed to be either 13th or 27th! You can pre order it on the HMV website now.

There will be an announcement this week with the release details..

I have been emailing someone close to Richard Rainey recently and today he told me that the 4th album was completed but hadn't been mixed, it apparently sounded great a bit like 'Depeche Mode' but basically the band imploded..

From Mansun.net. I will also be keeping you all posted on any info i receive on this site..

Hi everyone,

Firstly, big apologies for not updating you for such a long time. I will try to keep you informed regularly from now on about future plans for the band and myself - thank you so much for your patience. I'll try and explain why things have been so quiet, and shed a bit of light on the band's split (which was an incredibly difficult decision to make). But more of that later...

Over the past few months I've been working with Parlophone on pulling together the loose ends since the split of the band. What we have decided is that Mansun's fourth album sessions will be released later this year. These recordings will appear in a three CD package, entitled 'Kleptomania'. CD1 will be the fourth album sessions, CD2 will have the best stuff from the EPs (the tracks that weren't ever available on the albums), and CD3 will be rare and unreleased material that we have dug up from the vaults at Abbey Road. I will also be writing detailed sleeve notes for the release which should be out in the autumn of this year.

To explain... at the point of the band's split, we had completed four sessions for the fourth album, and were potentially going to go into the studio again to add a few extra songs. So the album wasn't fully completed as such, although there are more than enough tracks from which the CD1 of the forthcoming set will be compiled. New tracks appearing on 'Kleptomania' will include some of the songs that we played on the final tour in 2002, like 'Slipping Away', 'Keep Telling Myself' and 'Getting Your Way'. A full detailed running order of the whole album will be announced soon and as I get further down the road of putting this record together, I'll put up regular posts informing you of how it's progressing.

So, what else have I been up to? Well, I've started work on my own solo record, but am also busy with a few writing and production collaborations at the moment. I'll be launching an official website of my own in the very near future, where I want to go into a bit more detail about what I've been doing and I'll also keep you informed of what I'm going to be up to in the future. A message will be posted on MANSUN.NET and to the e-mail list as soon as my new site is ready, and I'll continue to have MANSUN.NET updated with news on any future Mansun releases.

Thank you for your ongoing support and patience.

Andie Rathbone has joined Blondie covers band Into The Bleach. Before this I am told he has been playing drums for a band called Amsterdam for a while. At the moment it is not known what Chad and Stove are up to these days.

I phoned EMI and spoke to Kevin McCabe yesterday and I asked him what was happening regarding the Mansun releases this year, and I was met a with positive reaction he told me that the band (yes the band) will be posting a message on the official site very soon, I asked how soon and he again repeated very soon. This is straight from the head of the promotion dept at EMI, so it is an extremely reliable source.

Please note the information below is nothing more then a rumour at present! but given that Kevin McCabe at Parlophone has confirmed that there will be a CD and a DVD released this it is very possible that this is true. I will keep you posted as and when details for the releases surface.....

"All the tracks for the fourth album are being collected to put together and an album of the sessions will be put out along with a bonus disk of
rarities and b-sides. Paul and Chad are also putting a DVD together but as yet it is no certain what it will be but it will have backstage / concert footage filmed during the bands career and possibly some dialogue from Paul and Chad but its early days. Although Parlophone have given no release date, I think the summer will be roughly when the stuff will be released. Paul is writing with Skin (ex-of Skunk Anansie) at the moment in France, this is material for Skin as a solo artist. Paul finishes writing with Skin soon and will then begin demoing material for his solo project. He had been in the USA on a writing trip prior to writing with Skin . Paul and Chad have not been working on material together for a while, but will start doing some stuff together in the near future."

Received this today from Parlophone. Still no clues as to what these releases are, discuss this topic at the forum.

"There will be a Mansun release, both CD and DVD, later in the year.
More news will be announced in the not too distant future."

I received an email from from a contact at Parlophone today saying the following.

"Hi Richie, all I know is there is a possibility of a best of album this year."

He isn't sure of the Paul solo rumour's as yet, but i will keep you all posted when I know more so check back. You can chat about this subject on the forum.

Mansun Heaven has been re launched after three and a half years along with a new FTP site. This free service allows fans to share bootlegs over the internet.