When Scotland’s Arab Strap named their career-capping 2006 compilation Ten Years of Tears, they weren’t trying for irony. Those guys really did have a decade-long career of sad, defeated-sounding indie rock. Their niche has since been covered by countrymen in mope like Frightened Rabbit and The Twilight Sad, but Arab Strap’s particular brand of downtrodden music won’t be forgotten. Chemikal Underground is taking measures to ensure that Arab Strap’s glorious sadness isn’t lost to the new generation of depressives, namely by reissuing the band’s first two albums: 1996’s The Week Never Starts Around Here and 1998’s Philophobia. The pair of reissues will be available on August 17, complete with bonus discs featuring Peel Sessions and live tracks. These reissues also mark the first time these records will be available in digital format, bringing the unshakable feeling of despair and desperation and whiskey into the future!
The Week Never Starts Round Here reissue tracklist:
Disc 1:
01. Coming Down
02. The Clearing
03. Driving
04. Gourmet
05. I Work in a Saloon
06. Wasting
07. General Plea to a Girlfriend
08. The First Big Weekend
09. Kate Moss
10. Little Girls
11. Phone Me Tonight
12. Blood
13. Deeper
Disc 2:
01. The Smell of Outdoor Cooking (Peel Session 1 - March 1997)
02. Soaps (Peel Session 1 - March 1997)
03. I Saw You (Peel Session 1 - March 1997)
04. The First Big Peel Thing (Peel Session 1 - March 1997)
05. Intro (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
06. General Plea to a Girlfriend (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
07. The Clearing (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
08. Kate Moss (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
09. Gilded (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
10. Driving (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
11. I Work in a Saloon (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
12. Phone Me Tonight (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
13. Blood (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
14. The First Big Weekend (live at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut - October 1996)
Philophobia reissue tracklist:
Disc 1:
01. Packs of Three
02. Soaps
03. Here We Go
04. New Birds
05. One Day, After School
06. Islands
07. The Night Before the Funeral
08. Not Quite a Yes
09. Piglet
10. Afterwards
11. My Favourite Muse
12. I Would’ve Liked Me a Lot Last Night
13. The First Time You’re Unfaithful
Disc 2:
01. Packs of Three (Peel Session 2 - March 1998)
02. Piglet (Peel Session 2 - March 1998)
03. The Night Before the Funeral (Peel Session 2 - March 1998)
04. Blood (Peel Session 2 - March 1998)
05. Girls of Summer (live at T in the Park - 1998)
06. New Birds (live at T in the Park - 1998)
07. Here We Go (live at T in the Park - 1998)
08. Soaps (live at T in the Park - 1998)
09. Afterwards (live at T in the Park - 1998)
10. I Would’ve Like Me a Lot Last Night (live at T in the Park - 1998)
• Arab Strap: http://www.myspace.com/arabstrapmusic
• Chemikal Underground: http://www.chemikal.co.uk
