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)
Leave a Reply