VNV Nation Box Set – Reformation 01

I received today the Reformation 01 box set (limited edition) by my favorite band “VNV Nation” that I pre-ordered at Amazon.com, who still sells it for only $21.xx dollars. (This is not my first exclusive post about VNV Nation. You can check out the other ones to learn more about VNV here and here.)

The limited edition of the Reformation 01 box set by VNV Nation is a real bargain. For little more than the price of a regular album CD you get 2 CD's and a video DVD with 8 tracks recorded at live concerts in Europe (mostly Hamburg, Germany).

Backup Link to Video on Vimeo
Download this video in AVI format in High Definition (1280x720, 81 MB)

Video Notes and Credits: The video above was edited by me and includes snippets from the DVD  that is part of the Reformation 01 box set. It also uses various images that are not part of the box set and video snippets from the viral “Illusion” video with animations by Andrew Huang, which were unfortunately not included in this box set (it would have been the right place for it though :) ). All music by VNV Nation.

I also like to remark that the box set includes the first ever LIVE ALBUM by VNV Nation, so fans who prefer VNV Nation live over the studio recordings (like I do) do not have to fall back on the not 100% legitimate Live album solution by ripping the audio tracks of the previously released Pastperfect Live DVD :). Vnv Nation - Pastperfect Limited Edition.

The latter one was actually suggested by Ronan and Mark from VNV themselves, when I meet them by accident in Berlin and asked them (AGAIN) why there is no VNV Live Album yet. I think I sent them all in all 2 or 3 additional emails before I talked to them in person and after. Well, the message finally “found its way home” hehe.

Ronan Harris, the main guy behind VNV Nation, is very responsive to contact attempts and close to the fans and not such an arrogant and careless asshole like the guys from Depeche Mode (a band that I used to adore for about 20 years of my life :( ). VNV has a MySpace page where you get fresh news and updates via their MySpace blog and also some nice goodies sometimes, like a preview of upcoming CD releases via the MySpace audio player. They did this for this Box Set actually.

 
VNV Nation is also on tour soon. The 2009 tour is called “Faith, Power and Glory”. Some tickets are on sale via Fan Direct sale (cheaper) at a ticket solution that I developed for the most part (and my old company hehe). It’s an older and heavily customized solution, because of it’s unique use for fan direct sales by artists. More tour dates and link to regular ticket purchases are available at this blog post at the VNV MySpace blog.

A new album with the same title as the tour will be released by VNV Nation on June 23, 2009. You can pre-order "Of Faith, Power and Glory" at Amazon.com for only $13.99

Now back to the Reformation 01 box set :)

CD 2 of the set includes in addition to various remixes of known songs also some new material, which was previously unreleased.

Last but not least some comments about the box set itself. It's of high quality, compared to other box sets by other bands that I have seen myself in the past. It also contains a thick booklet that wouldn't fit into a regular CD case. The only bummer here is that the booklet is glued to the box set and thus hard to read in comfort because of the 3 discs next to it (when you unfold the whole set).

You can get a good idea about the quality of the box set by looking at the large version of the product image that was provided by Amazon. Use the zoom feature to get a real close look at the material and the "engraved" VNV Nation logo. That's why is the cover so dark, because it isn't printed color. You can feel it (if you bought it :))

p.s. Yes, the links to Amazon.com are affiliate links and I will get $1 or so commission if you decide to by the set from Amazon, right after you clicked on my link. This is not the reason for this post and if you know me a bit better, you wouldn’t even assume that I would do something like that. But for those folks who don’t know me, be happy about this unnecessary disclaimer and shut up :).

VNV Nation – Reformation 01 – 3 Discs Box Set - Track List

Reformation 01 – CD #1 (the Live Album) 01    Joy              05:24 02    Chrome           04:49 03    Testament        06:22 04    Nemesis          04:37 05    Endless Skies    05:58 06    Farthest Star    05:06 07    Procession       05:26 08    Entropy          05:17 09    Illusion         04:51 10    Arena            05:34 11    Honour 2003      07:06 12    Perpetual        08:47 Note: Sound samples for every track of CD 1 and CD 2 are available for free at the Amazon.com web site.

Reformation 01 – CD #2 (the Remixes) 01  Chrome (27.2 Mhz Remix by Modcom)          06:26 02  Chrome (Sitd Remix)                        04:58 03  Chrome (Apoptygma Berzerk Remix)           04:42 04  Interceptor (ABM Version by VNV Nation)    05:35 05  Nemesis (S.A.M. Remix)                     03:50 06  Carry You (Frozen Plasma Remix)            06:36 07  Still Waters                               07:36 08  Suffer                                     07:00 09  Precipice                                  05:40 10  As it fades (2nd Mvmt. by VNV Nation)      03:31 11  Main Theme (from 'Gene Generation')        02:45 12  Mayhem (from 'Gene Generation')            02:03 13  The Lair (from 'Gene Generation')          02:57 The songs in red are NEW and previously unreleased. I also do not recall the songs from track 10-13, but I wasn’t able to listen to all of them without being distracted to be sure. Well, three new songs as bonus is better than none, but 7 would be more than twice as good hehe.

Reformation 01 – DVD #1 (the Live Videos) 01 Farthest Star     05:15 02 Chrome            04:48 03 Nemesis           06:00 04 Illusion          04:54 05 Homeward          05:42 06 Arena             05:57 07 Honor 2003        06:54 08 Perpetual         08:49 Only Honor 2003 was previously available on DVD Video. It’s a different recording though. A previous live recording of Honor 2003 is one of the hidden “Easter Eggs” of the “Pastperfect” Live DVD. Oops, did I say that out loud? Sorry ;)

Cheers!

Carsten aka Roy/SAC