Aqualung's American debut, Strange & Beautiful, combines the best tracks from both albums. "It's kind of a Frankenstein album--in a nice way," Hales says. Strange & Beautiful features remixes by Spike Stent, Jim Copperthwaite (who co-produced the first disc), and Hales himself, remixes that are designed to sonically bridge the gap between the two U.K. discs. "I really wanted the whole album to still have the authentic flow and feel of an album in its own right, rather than have it be sort of cut and paste."

Combining the two albums was easier than Hales expected: "There's a lot of common ground," he says. "They always felt to me like the first and second chapters of the same book. Strange & Beautiful is kind of a synopsis of those chapters. The first album, lyrically and musically, was kind of a summing-up, a retrospective record, looking back at my life, and Still Life was sort of a taking stock record, much more about the present. The thing that both records have is a kind of dawn-'till-dusk feeling. Each ends with a lullaby, albeit unsettling ones. And it made sense to give Strange & Beautiful that flavor as well."

Strange & Beautiful features songwriting contributions from Hales' wife, Kim Oliver, as well as his brother and former 45s bandmate Ben, who also plays guitar on the album. While there are different voices flowing through them, the songs tell a story about one character: Matt. Hales was 30 when he started writing these songs. And they carry the perspective of a 30-year-old evaluating his past and future, and coping with loved ones passing.