The CD release of Live Boots Emerald City, Cherry Hill, New Jersey 17th April 1981 is imminent! Originally broadcast on FM radio and released on Record Store Day 2026 on 200gm vinyl, it has now been mastered for a 2 CD release on 19 June 2026.

Record Store Day 2026: Live Boots - Live At Emerald City 1981 is the first of what we hope is a series of official releases of previously bootlegged performances. Recorded in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, on April 17, 1981, and originally broadcast on FM radio and released on bootleg LPs, it is now being released as a double LP on 200gm vinyl, mastering supervised by Andy Partridge. We hope this will also become available for download in the near future.

The 2025 Drums and Wires CD/Blu-ray presents the album and a number of additional tracks in Dolby Atmos, mixed and produced by Steven Wilson as he approached an album he first mixed in 2014 and again brings a fresh aural perspective to one of 1979’s most memorable albums – a line ascribed to the 2014 mixes that’s even more accurate now.

Steven Wilson comments that “during the remix process it became apparent that the masters of “Officer Blue” and “That is the Way” were both slowed down significantly for the original release. It’s not uncommon for tracks to be slightly speeded up during mastering to make them sound sprightlier, but no one could remember why, in this case, the tracks were slowed down. For the 2025 mixes, in consultation with Colin Moulding - songwriter of both titles - the decision was made to include B-side “Officer Blue” as the band recorded it, at the correct speed for the first time.

In the case of “That is the Way” - it being a key album track - the new mix has been slowed down to match the familiar album version but additionally, a bonus version is included which has no adjustment to the pitch and is exactly as the band recorded it”.

Joining the new Dolby Atmos mix is all of the audio material first presented on the (now long-unavailable) 2014 edition when Steven Wilson remixed the album in new stereo and 5.1 editions alongside a number of additional tracks all presented on Blu-ray here with minor revisions and a set of stereo instrumentals of the album.