A Perfect Circle live album and greatest hits compilation confirmed

Rolling Stone recently interviewed Maynard James Keenan (Tool, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer) about his various musical and comedic outputs. The most exciting piece of information (for me at least) is the announcement of a box set of live A Perfect Circle performances, and a greatest hits compilation is also in the cards.

Rolling Stone (RS): What can you tell us about the Perfect Circle box set?

Maynard James Keenan (MJK): We did a short run a couple of years ago, where we did the albums front-to-back. Three nights, three records, the whole album. And some of the songs we haven't played in eight to 10 years. Some of them we hadn't played at all. In the box that you have, you have those three CDs, and then you have us live at Red Rocks. Always fun to play Red Rocks. And that's the full DVD – that's the full live performance. And there's other bells and whistles attached to it – there is an autographed lithograph. I think five lithographs are included in the box, and there is a custom-made resin A Perfect Circle box that it all goes in. So it's kind of fun.

(RS): And from what I understand, A Perfect Circle is releasing a "greatest hits" package, too.

(MJK): Of course, record companies always have their little clause in their contract, about their right to release a greatest hits record. I think that can be kind of weird sometimes, when you see "the greatest hits," no, no – "the greatest greatest hits." Releases by a record label that the band had nothing to do with, and there's several versions of the same thing, over and over again. That's kind of why we did the DVD and the box set. If you're going to release a greatest hits, we should also offer something that's not just the old recordings, rearranged. But on that greatest hits, there's going to be the studio version of "By and Down," which is the new track that we've been working on, that we never quite got around to recording. 

Man, that custom-made resin A Perfect Circle box looks really interesting. I doubt I'll be able to afford such a lavish sounding set, but one can live in hope. The greatest hits compilation sounds less inspiring though, especially as there is only confirmation of one new song.

The greatest hits compilation, Three Sixty is due out on 19 November, while the A Perfect Circle Live: Featuring Stone and Echo box set will land ten days later.

Puscifer's remix album

Puscifer have a new album coming out 27 August, called All Re-Mixed Up. It will feature remixes of tracks off the groups second album Conditions of My Parole. You can listen to it here.

Puscifer - Breathe (Drumcell remix)

A while back, I mentioned that one of my favourite tracks off Puscifer's new EP, was the Breathe reworking by Drumcell. Now you can also listen to the track via the Soundcloud widget below. 

Drumcell's version, as well as the original version of Breathe are available on the Donkey Punch the Night EP.

Puscifer's take on Bohemian Rhapsody

Puscifer's version of Bohemian rhapsody, originally released by Queen in 1975, may not be the first recorded cover of the song, but it is certainly my favourite.

In a typical tongue-in-cheek manner, Puscifer have also paid tribute to the original music video. The low budget green screen effects, and make up are quite comical.

Stream Puscifer's "Donkey Punch the Night EP"

You can listen to Puscifer's Donkey Punch the Night EP in its entirety over at Spin Magazine.

My favourite tracks are Puscifer's cover of Queen's classic, Bohemian rhapsody, and Drumcell's reinterpretation of the track Breathe. The band's front man  Maynard James Keenan, explained in an interview with Spin Magazine that Dear brother, the only other original track on the EP, was dedicated to several peers who recently passed away including Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, and Australian winemaker, Ray Beckworth.

Puscifer have a surprise waiting for you

This morning there was a post on Facebook by Puscifer simply reading, "Hmmm... if you visit Puscifer.com there might be a surprise waiting for you. http://www.puscifer.com/"

I haven't been over to the Puscifer website in some time, but I'm guessing the surprise is being able to listen to Breathe, the first single off their third EP, Donkey Punch the Night.

The EP features two new tracks, two cover versions, and several reworkings by the likes of Drumcell and Sonoio.

You can preorder the EP from the above links.

If that wasn't the surprise, then please let me know, because then I've missed it.