Shining Like a "Ruby": Kaiser Chiefs to Release New Compilation

Shining Like a “Ruby”: Kaiser Chiefs to Release New Compilation

March 30, 2012 By Mike Duquette — No Comments

Indie rockers the Kaiser Chiefs are set to release their first career-spanning collection, Souvenir: The Singles 2004-2012, this summer.

The Leeds-based quintet formed in 1996 under the name Parva, and released one album on Beggars Banquet’s short-lived Mantra label. After their label shuttered, they rebuilt from the ground up, writing new, New Wave and punk-inspired songs under the Kaiser Chiefs moniker (named for the South African football club). Their buzzworthy live sets got them a deal with B-Unique Records (distributed by Universal Music on both sides of the Atlantic), and favorable reviews from the NME led to commercial and critical acclaim, including an Ivor Novello Award for Best Album and BRIT Award and Mercury Prize nominations. While critical marks have not been as consistently high for subsequent albums, the band continue to attract a devoted live following, as well as a healthy collaboration with notable rock producers, including Stephen Street, Mark Ronson and Tony Visconti. And their biggest hit, the U.K. No. 1 “Ruby,” was a hit for U.S. fans when it was included in the popular Guitar Hero series of video games.

The single-disc, 16-track set collates all the singles from the Leeds band’s four albums for B-Unique. Their native Top 10 hits, including “Ruby,” “Oh My God,” “I Predict a Riot,” “Never Miss a Beat” and “Every Day I Love You Less and Less,” are all here. There’s also a new track, “Listen to Your Head,” which the group has added to live setlists for awhile now, and for U.K.-based collectors, there’s also “On the Run,” a track released on Start the Revolution Without Me, the band’s fourth album in the United States, released only about a month ago. (This material, plus more, was released in 2011 as The Future is Medieval in England.)

Souvenir is out on June 4 in the U.K. and a day later in the U.S.; the full track list is after the jump.

Kaiser Chiefs, Souvenir: The Singles 2004-2012 (B-Unique, 2012)

Oh My God
Ruby
I Predict a Riot
Never Miss a Beat
Everything is Average Nowadays
The Angry Mob
Listen to Your Head
Every Day I Love You Less and Less
Little Shocks
Love’s Not a Competition (But I’m Winning)
Good Days Bad Days
On the Run
You Can Have It All
Modern Way
Man on Mars
Kinda Girl You Are

Tracks 1, 3, 8 and 13-14 from Employment (B-Unique, 2005)
Tracks 2, 5-6 and 10 from Yours Truly, Angry Mob (B-Unique, 2007)
Tracks 4 and 11 from Off with Their Heads (B-Unique, 2008)
Track 7 is a new track exclusive to this compilation
Tracks 9 and 15-16 from The Future is Medieval (B-Unique, 2011)
Track 12 from Start the Revolution Without Me (U.S. edition of The Future is Medieval) (Downtown/Fiction/Co-Op, 2012)

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Mike Duquette

Mike Duquette (Founder) was fascinated with catalog music ever since he was a teenager. A 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.A. in journalism, Mike paired his profession with his passion through The Second Disc, one of the first sites to focus on all reissue labels great and small. His passion for reissues turned into a career, having written at and worked for all three major catalogue music labels and contributing to Allmusic, Billboard, Discogs, City Pages and Ultimate Classic Rock. He's penned liner notes for Verve, Chess, Mondo and Soul Music Records.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike lives in Astoria, Queens with his wife, a cat named Ravioli, twin daughters and a large yet tasteful collection of music.