The Beast Box contains the two CD albums, the Beast Box video, and a book. The most positive surprise was that the Unanswerable Lust CD includes the two non-CD B-sides tracks from the '88 singles (She's Your Lover Now #1&2 and Sickly Thug & I).

The Beast Box video also features the promo vid for Redneck which I'd never seen before. It's pretty good, we get to see a lot of Howard, both with and without his glasses. It's surprising how much he looks like what he did back in 1980!

If I'd only seen a picture of him from this promo I'd probably have thought it was from the Magazine days. The promo is mostly like a "live" video, him and the band on stage. I certainly prefer it to the Beast Box video footage, which is a bit too weird for me. It's like a different theme for each song; eyes, feet, tongues. if you've seen it you'll know what I mean!

The book is pretty good as well; it's got some text in Japanese which I can't make out at all, but it's a safe bet that it tells the story of HD's musical career. Then there's some information about all the various releases (Buzzcocks-Luxuria), the Luxuria issues are then covered in greater detail, with track-listings etc. Then there are a few pictures of Devoto & Noko, like the ones already featured on the Jezebel sleeve and the Lifelines promo LP cover. Most of the book is made up of the lyrics from '76 to '90, and is basically a reproduction of the It Only Looks As If It Hurts book.

All in all, this boxset is a pretty interesting item that's well worth having. I wonder how many copies were made of it.al()

• Beast Box LP, Beggars Banquet BEGA 106, 1990
• Beast Box CD, Beggars Banquet BEGA 106 CD, 1990, includes the non-LP track Jezebel
• Beast Box 12-track video, Beggars Banquet, BB 009, 1990