play performers in the West Country of England, who appear in disguise, a conceit that Partridge felt reflected the band's new retirement from touring. A subsequent photoshoot featuring the band dressed in mummer suits was rejected by Virgin, who complained about the members' identities being concealed. On May 6, 2022, Ape House reissued the album on 200 gram vinyl with the originally intended sleeve art restored. Release The album's release was delayed for many months by Virgin, who did not think the album contained any hit singles. The label recruited Bob Sargeant to produce more tracks, and Partridge provided "Great Fire" and "Gold", which were then recorded at Odyssey Studios in London, with the former becoming the album's first single. After "Great Fire" was issued as a single on 22 April and was not successful, Virgin asked the band to provide additional new songs, to which they refused, so a compromise was struck; four potential singles that had already been recorded—"Wonderland", "Funk Pop a Roll", "Deliver Us From the Elements" and "Human Alchemy"—would be remixed by Alex Sadkin and Phil Thornalley, which eventually led the album to go over budget. "Wonderland" was issued as a single in June but was also unsuccessful, leading Virgin to ask the band for a third time to develop more songs. Gregory later recalled, "Virgin said, 'No album, sorry chaps. We want more songs.' We said 'No! You're not having any more songs. You're putting the album out. We're sick to death of it. We want it out of our lives so we can look to the future. We're fed up with this.'" Mummer was finally released on 30 August 1983. The U.S. release was initially scheduled for 26 May 1983 by Epic Records (it was even assigned a catalog number: BFE 38516), but the label thought it was too acoustic and pastoral for American audiences. It was finally issued in the U.S. by Geffen Records (who subsequently issued all of XTC's Virgin releases) in February 1984. "Wonderland" was the only single from the album issued by Geffen in the U.S. Promotion The only promotional public appearance made by the band for the album was in late 1983, when they appeared on the BBC-TV show Pebble Mill at One, where they lip-synced to "Love on a Farmboy's Wages". A promotional video was made for the "Wonderland" single, and five more videos were made in July