Yeah Somnambulist drags the record to a screaming halt. It's better without it. Though I dunno if I'd want it placed at the end, since travels in nihilon is such an effective closer.

I don't mind the bonus tracks in the middle thing in theory, it works sometimes (Drums & Wires and Go2 both benefit from having the non-album single stuck in the middle) but other times it's just weird.

I really like about half of Mummer and the other half is just question marks over my head. Everything from Deliver Us from the Elements through Me and the Wind just kind of gets a "huh... that's certainly something" reaction from me (though I like Ladybird I suppose). Human Alchemy is one of my least favourite songs in XTC's whole catalogue. Love on a Farmboy's Wages is one of the best songs they ever did though, I adore that song. And ALL of the bonus tracks are great. Toys Jump and Gold are strait-up classic XTC songs. Desert Island is nice too, and even the instrumentals are kinda fun. Replace the middle of Mummer with all of the bonus tracks, and my score of it would jump at least an entire letter grade, maybe more.

Part of me wishes they would have just stuck all those bonuses on a compilation Past-Masters-style. But if you look at the compilations they have released, you quickly see how impractical that would have been since they have SOOOO many non-album tracks. Even between Rag and Bone Buffet and Coat of Many Cupboards there isn't much overlap in the rarities presented (and there isn't much overlap with the bonus tracks from the reissues either). Then Fuzzy Warbles doubled down with discs upon discs of songs that never made it to an album. And even that isn't comprehensive since I've uncovered some other rare tunes in my internet travels that don't appear on any of those releases. and then some of the newer releases they've put out in the last couple years have added new songs that didn't make any of those compilations but also hadn't leaked onto the internet, so I assume they haven't quite hit the bottom of the well yet.