Keane - New Golden Age (2019)

Keane's fourth album was recorded and mixed at the beginning of 2012, with a tour commencing in March, and the lead single 'Silenced By the Night', being released in the UK on 15 April 2012, followed by 'Disconnected' six months later. The reception for the new album was not as universally positive as for the first three, with some critics saying that it was a step back to their comfort zone, and that the band lacked 'blood, guts and muscle'. In November 2013 they released a 'best of' compilation, which included two new tracks which were released as singles, with 'Higher Than the Sun' appearing in September 2013 and 'Won't Be Broken' in January 2014. On 20 October 2013 several publications, including The Sun and Digital Spy, claimed that Keane intended to split following the release of 'The Best Of Keane', but this was denied by Chaplin the next day, explaining that the band was not splitting up, but the members would like to "take a bit of time out from being Keane" after being busy for the past few years. This 'time out' lasted for six years, during which time Chaplin recorded a solo album titled 'The Wave' in 2016, and a Christmas-themed second album 'Twelve Tales Of Christmas' the next year, while Rice-Oxley and Quin continued with their side project Mt. Desolation, releasing 'When The Night Calls' in 2018. Toward the end of 2018, Keane posted a series of cryptic images onto their various social media accounts, hinting that the quartet were in the studio working on material, while on 6 February 2019 they posted several announcements on their Instagram and Facebook sites of various festivals in which the band would perform in the summer. In June 2019 the band released a new single from the forthcoming 'Cause And Effect' album, titled 'The Way I Feel', with the album finally appearing in September, including two bonus studio tracks on the European edition. The final post of this short series collects singles and b-sides from their last two albums, alongside some previously unreleased and bonus tracks, and their contribution to the soundtrack of 'A Monster Calls'. It nicely rounds off this four-volume collection of rarities from a band who dared to be different, and managed to make a 25 year career out of it, releasing almost as much music hidden away on singles and charity albums as they did on their five official records.   

Track listing 

01 Dinner At 8 (Rufus Wainwright cover from 'Connect Sets' EP 2010)
02 The Happy Soldier (previously unreleased 2010)
03 Myth (b-side of 'Silenced By The Night' 2012)
04 Difficult Child (b-side of 'Sovereign Light Cafe' digital download 2012)
05 Russian Farmer's Song (previously unreleased 2013)
06 Higher Than The Sun (single 2013)
07 Won't Be Broken (single 2014)
08 Tear Up This Town (single, from the soundtrack of the film 'A Monster Calls'  2016)
09 Glass Bottles (demo 2019)
10 New Golden Age (bonus track 2019)
11 Difficult Year (bonus track 2019)

Keane - Tyderian (2008)

'Under The Iron Sea' had a worldwide release in June 2006 and was at number 1 in the UK Albums Chart for the first two weeks of its release. Before the album appeared, Keane had started their second world tour, but as a result of the extensive touring, Chaplin announced he had admitted himself to a clinic for drinking and drug problems, resulting in the cancellation of three gigs, and postponement of their September leg of the tour. Chaplin left the Priory Clinic on 6 October, but continued to receive treatment, and the tour was restarted, for the first time travelling to Argentina, Chile and Brazil. A couple of years after it was released, 'Under The Iron Sea' was voted the 8th best British album of all time by a poll conducted by Q Magazine and HMV, and because Keane had become such a massive band in a relatively short time, and also because of their penchant for adding rare songs to their singles, bootlegs started to appear online, one of the very best of which was 'The Theft Of Octo', which not only gathered up some rare songs, but also managed to find two that had not previously appeared anywhere else, and housed it all in a sleeve which complemented some of their early singles. The title track was actually just a backwards version of 'Iron Sea' from the album, but 'Maps' really was an unheard rarity. In 2007 the band released another stand-alone single 'The Night Sky' in aid of the War Child charity, with this song not appearing on any of their albums. The band's third album 'Perfect Symmetry' was released in 2008, and with Jesse Quin now a  permanent studio and live member, playing bass, percussion, guitar, synths and backing vocals, the more 'organic' approach that Chaplin and Hughes had spoken about could be heard in their music, with guitars more prominent that on any of their previous records. Once again it was voted Best Album Of The Year by the readers of Q Magazine, and they commenced a world tour to promote it in November 2008. On 10 May 2010, they released the 'Night Train' EP, which became their fourth number 1 in the UK, made up of songs recorded during the 'Perfect Symmetry' world tour, and at first it was called it a mini-album, then it changed to an EP, but in an interview, Tim Rice-Oxley said that 'Night Train' is "pretty much an album". Because of this I haven't included anything from 'Night Train' itself, but we do have those two exclusive tracks from 'The Theft Of Octo', both sides of 'The Night Sky' charity record, and some b-sides of singles from 'Under The Iron Sea' and 'Perfect Symmetry'. 

Track listing

01 He Used To Be A Lovely Boy (b-side of 'Is It Any Wonder?' 2006)

02 Let It Slide (b-side of 'Is It Any Wonder?' 2006)

03 Maybe I Can Change (b-side of 'Crystal Ball' 2006)

04 Thin Air (b-side of 'Nothing In My Way' 2006)

05 The Theft Of Octo (backwards version of 'Iron Sea' 2006) 

06 Tyderian (b-side of 'Nothing In My Way' 2006)

07 She Sells Sanctaury (b-side of 'A Bad Dream' 2007)

08 The Night Sky (single 2007)

09 Under Pressure (b-side of 'The Night Sky')

10 Time To Go (b-side of 'The Lovers Are Losing' 2008)

11 Staring At The Ceiling (b-side of 'Perfect Symmetry' 2008)

12 Maps (hidden track from 'The Theft Of Octo' compilation 2007)

Keane - Let It Slide (2005)

In 2005 Keane were nominated in a number of categories at the BRIT Awards, taking away Best British album and the British breakthrough act award as voted for by listeners of BBC Radio 1. The band are also patrons of the charity War Child, and in 2005 they recorded a cover of the Walker Brothers' 'The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore' and gave it to the War Child foundation website for download, as well as pressing up one thousand vinyl copies and giving them as a gift to some of their fans. Later that year they recorded a cover version of Elton John's 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' for the charity album 'Help: A Day In The Life', and they also gave a cover of 'What A Wonderful World' to Comic Relief. In April 2005, in the middle of the 'Hopes And Fears' tour, the band began recording their next record, titled 'Under The Iron Sea', at Helioscentric Studios, with some additional recording done at The Magic Shop Studios in New York. They were also regulars on British radio, recording a session for Jo Whiley, and playing 'White Christmas' on the Steve Lamacq show. With their second album on the horizon, we gather up the b-sides from the last couple of singles from 'Hopes And Fears', alongside all their charity recordings and radio sessions from 2004 and 2005. 

Track listing

01 She Opens Her Eyes (b-side of 'This Is The Last Time' 2004)

02 A Heart To Hold You (Jo Whiley session 2004

03 To The End Of The Earth (b-side of re-recorded 'Everybody's Changing' 2004)

04 White Christmas (Steve Lamacq show 2004)

05 Fly To Me (b-side of re-recorded 'Everybody's Changing' 2004)

06 With Or Without You (Jo Whiley session 2004)

07 Something In Me Was Dying (b-side of 'Bedshaped' 2004)

08 Untitled 2 (b-side of 'Bedshaped' 2004)

09 The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore (recorded for War Child 2005)

10 What A Wonderful World (recorded for Comic Relief 2005)

11 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (from the 'Help! A Day In The Life' charity album 2005)

Keane - Wolf At The Door (2004)

Tom Chaplin and Tim Rice-Oxley became friends when they met at Vinehall School in Robertsbridge, East Sussex when they were young. The school was owned by Chaplin's family, and his father was the headmaster there, and when they left and moved on to Tonbridge School in Kent at the age of 13, they met Dominic Scott, and discovered their liking for music. Although Chaplin had learned to play the flute, he never considered music as a proper career at the time, but while Rice-Oxley was studying at University College London in 1995 he formed a rock band with Scott and invited another Tonbridge schoolfriend Richard Hughes to play drums. The band were named The Lotus Eaters, and started as a cover band, playing songs by U2, Oasis, and The Beatles, and rehearsing at home. After listening to Rice-Oxley's piano playing during a weekend in 1997, Chris Martin invited him to join his newly formed band Coldplay, but he declined because he didn't want to leave The Lotus Eaters, and because of Martin's offer, and although Hughes and Scott were originally opposed to it, Chaplin joined the band in 1997, taking Rice-Oxley's place as vocalist and adding himself as the acoustic guitarist. It was at this point that they band opted for a new name, choosing Cherry Keane after a friend of Chaplin's mother, whom Rice-Oxley and Chaplin knew when they were young, and which was later shortened to Keane. Chaplin departed for South Africa in Summer 1997 to work as a volunteer during his gap year, and when he returned in July 1998, he was picked up at the airport by the band, who announced that they had a gig booked in 10 days! Keane made their live debut at the Hope & Anchor pub on 13 July 1998, playing original material, and although Chaplin later went to Edinburgh University to study for a degree in art history, he quit his degree and moved to London to pursue a full-time musical career. In late 1999, and without a record deal, Keane recorded their first promotional single 'Call Me What You Like', which they released on their own Zoomorphic label, selling it at live gigs in early 2000. Only 500 copies were pressed, and so it was re-recorded in February 2001 and added as a b-side to their 'Wolf At The Door' single, but this was even rarer as only 50 CD-R copies were made. 

Because of the limited success Keane had at this time, Scott decided to leave the group a month after the single was released to continue his studies at the LSE, and the band decamped to James Sanger's recording studio at Les Essarts, France, where they taped a number of tracks in late 2001, including 'Bedshaped' and 'This Is the Last Time', and it was during these sessions that the idea of using a piano as lead instrument began to emerge. After they returned to the UK in November, they signed to BMG to publish their music, but still did not have a recording contract, and for most of 2002 all recording or live performances were stopped, with the band starting to agree with the departed Scott that they were going nowhere. In December 2002 they started playing live again, and one gig was attended by Simon Williams of Fierce Panda Records, who offered to release 'Everybody's Changing' as the first commercial single by the band. As a result of the attention garnered by the single, and because of the strong live reputation they had built up, a bidding war for the band ensued among major record labels, with Island Records eventually winning out, but they were allowed to issue 'This Is The Last Time' on Fierce Panda in October 2003 as the final release on that label. In January 2004 Keane was named the band most likely to achieve success in the coming year in the BBC's Sound of 2004 poll, and a month later their first single release on Island reached number three on the UK singles Chart. A re-release of 'Everybody's Changing' followed 'Somewhere Only We Know', featuring a new cover and b-sides, and that reached number four in the UK Singles Chart. Their debut album 'Hopes And Fears' was released on 10 May 2004 in the UK, and debuted at number one in the UK Albums Chart, becoming the second best-selling British album of the year. Despite their disjointed discography in the early days, the eight singles they released on Zoomorphic, Fierce Panda and Island included eleven new songs on the b-sides, and this was to continue for the rest of their career, with the band treating their fans to new songs or choice covers on nearly all of their subsequent singles. In what will be a multiple post from the band, we start with those first two singles, some early demos, and some exclusives b-sides, to hear how the band started out, from their formation in 1997 to their multi-million selling debut album some seven years later.  

Track listing

01 Emily (previously unreleased 1999)
02 More Matey (previously unreleased 1996)
03 New One (previously unreleased 2000)
04 Call Me What You Like (single 2000)
05 Rubbernecking (b-side of 'Call Me What You Like')
06 Closer Now (b-side of 'Call Me What You Like')
07 Wolf At The Door (single 2001)
08 The Way You Want It (b-side of 'Everybody's Changing' 2003)
09 Snowed Under (b-side of 'Somewhere Only We Know' 2004)
10 Allemande (b-side of 'This Is The Last Time' 2004)
11 Walnut Tree (b-side of 'Somewhere Only We Know' 2004)