ALTERED IMAGES – Bite 40th Anniversary Edition
2023 sees classic Altered Images album Bite celebrating its 40th anniversary. As a result, it will be reissued in two limited edition formats, a half-speed mastered 180-gram black vinyl with a signed print and a double CD in a unique gatefold 7” packaging.
Originally released in the Summer of 1983, Bite was a giant leap forward for the band (see issue 9 of Blitzed for our own 40th Anniversary feature). Produced by Tony Visconti and Mike Chapman, it featured lush arrangements, dance floor friendly singles, and the iconic Audrey Hepburn inspired photograph of singer Clare Grogan on the cover taken by Neil Kirk, best known for his work on the Roxy Music albums Manifesto, Flesh And Blood and Avalon. It featured the top ten lead single ‘Don’t Talk To Me About Love’, but Bite would be the last Altered Images album for 39 years.
Looking back on the album last year, Clare told the website Super Deluxe Edition “I like that record a lot. Stephen (Lironi, drummer and Grogan’s husband) came along and took us to another level, as he was obsessed by technology. He had a Linn drum, and he was the first person I knew who owned a computer. He was obsessively tech and we had a lot of attention to detail. Also, imagine getting to make a record with Mike Chapman and Tony Visconti. In your wildest dreams – tick. The gobby Glaswegian side of us had to be there for Bite: working with legends like that and telling them how you want it to work. That’s just cheeky. Mike is brilliant. I saw him a few years ago, and he told me: ‘You guys nearly pushed me over the edge.’ I felt quite proud of that.”
The 40th-anniversary edition of Bite will be available as a 2CD set in seven-inch deluxe gatefold packaging, with an 8-page booklet. CD1 features the original album, while bonus CD2 contains three non-album B-sides, two extended 12” versions including the highly sought after 8 minute 30 second version of ‘Don’t Talk To Me About Love’, a live track and three single edits. The half-speed mastered 1LP on 180-gram black vinyl has an outer sleeve with obi strip, a poly-lined inner sleeve, and a 4-page insert.
This half-speed mastered edition of the vinyl has been expertly mastered by Barry Grint, who has worked on records by Prince, Madonna, Robbie Williams & Noel Gallagher, to name a few, at AIR Mastering from the original stereo tapes using precision half-speed mastering. Half-speed mastering is a vinyl cutting technique that improves groove accuracy and transient information creating an incredibly detailed stereo image with a natural high frequency response.
Bite – 40th Anniversary Edition is released 27 October 2023 via Edsel Records and Demon Records. Preorder via:
https://alteredimages.lnk.to/Bite
Altered Images are also staging a special Bite 40th Anniversary concert at 229, London on 29 October 2023. Tickets on sale Friday 11th August.
https://www.seetickets.com/event/altered-images-bite-40th-anniversary/229/2740528