Cold War Kids announce double career-spanning anthology

In their impressive, steadily rising career, soulful, blues-tinted rockers Cold War Kids have proven to be one of the most prolific commercially successful bands around. Never ones to rest, from the beginning they’ve utilized all manners of getting their music out to their fans, releasing a steady stream of EPs and digital singles between their full-length studio albums. As they peer over the horizon at their 15 year anniversary next year and reflect on how far they’ve come since forming in Southern California’s burgeoning indie rock scene in 2004, the band, now signed to Capitol Records, has collected together all of their radio singles spanning their tenure on Downtown Records, from 2005-2015, along with some of their best unreleased and rare tracks for a double disc collection titled This Will All Blow Over In Time. The anthology will be released December 7th via Downtown Records/UMe on 2 CD and digital with a 2 LP on translucent yellow vinyl to follow in February. Pre-orders come with an instant grat download of the unreleased track “Vacation In Chicago,” a live version of fan favorite “We Used To Vacation,” appropriately recorded in Chicago.

Led by rousing frontman Nathan Willett (vocals/piano/guitar), Cold War Kids exploded onto the national spotlight in 2006 with their first single, “Hang Me Up To Dry,” which led to appearances on “Letterman” and “Conan” and prompted Rolling Stone to dub it one of “The 100 Best Songs Of The Year,” enthusing: “Indie rock with a little sex: Nathan Willett howls like a country bluesman as the other three Kids elbow their way through a mess of art-damaged funk.” Originally released on their third independently released EP Up In Rags, the song was included on the band’s breakout debut full-length Robbers & Cowards along with fellow radio hits “We Used To Vacation” and “Hospital Beds.” This Will All Blow Over In Time includes these songs as well as all their radio singles from their first five records.

Sequenced in chronological order from year of full-length album release, the first half of the retrospective, aptly titled Singles Worked At Radio, ranges from the soulful urgency of tracks “I’ve Seen Enough” and “Something Is Not Right With Me,” from Loyalty to Loyalty, the band’s first album to reach the top 50 on the Billboard 200, to “Louder Than Ever” and “Royal Blue” from 2011’s bigger and bolder Jacquire King-produced Mine Is Yours, to the funky, anthemic “Audience Of One” from their 2009 EP Behave Yourself, to the driving piano stomper “Miracle Mile,” their fifth top 40 hot in Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart, and the electro-tinged “Lost That Easy” from 2013’s Dear Miss Lonelyhearts. Their final record for Downtown, 2014’s Hold My Home, is represented with the infectious, dramatic rocker “All This Could Be Yours” and the clap-along anthem “First,” which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart earning the band their highest charting single which has since been certified Gold.

Titled Songs From All Over The Place, the second half brings together an exciting mix of 11 unreleased songs and rarities to give a fuller picture of the band’s eclectic and prolific output over the last decade and a half. Kicking off with the aforementioned “Vacation In Chicago,” it includes the demo for “First,” a cover of Nick Cave’s “Opium Tea,” previously only available to stream online only, and “Goodnight Tennessee,” originally released as an iTunes bonus track for Mine Is Yours. Some of the many other highlights include the dubby remake of “Minimum Day” titled “Minimum Mistake,” produced by the late Richard Swift and originally only available as a download, “Coffee Spoon,” a standout from their seventh EP Behave Yourself, and “In Harmony In Silver” and “Quiet Please” from their long-out-of-print debut EP Mulberry Street released in 2005 on Monarchy Music. The set closes with “Fashionable,” a sprawling track released on the deluxe edition of Mine Is Yours.

This Will All Blow Over Time serves as both the first collection of the band’s many hits and a gift to longtime fans who will revel in the unreleased songs and rare tracks from their hard to find early releases. It also chronicles the band’s trajectory and showcases their continued artistic evolution as they get ready to celebrate a milestone anniversary.

2 CD | 2 LP

[one_half]CD 1: Singles Worked At Radio

1. Hang Me Up To Dry
2. We Used To Vacation
3. Hospital Beds
4. I’ve Seen Enough
5. Something Is Not Right With Me
6. Louder Than Ever
7. Royal Blue
8. Audience of One
9. Miracle Mile
10. Lost That Easy
11. All This Could Be Yours
12. First[/one_half]

[one_half_last]CD 2: Songs From All Over The Place

1. Vacation In Chicago
2. First (Demo)
3. Opium Tea
4. Goodnight Tennessee
5. Coffee Spoon
6. Minimum Mistake
7. In Harmony In Silver
8. Quiet, Please
9. Expensive Tastes
10. Romance Languages #1
11. Fashionable[/one_half_last]

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn