There is a lot more to Athlete than meets the eye. The South London quartet are known for their hooks, harmonies and soaring rock anthems. But the band's first retrospective album, 'Singles 01-10', also celebrates their impressive breadth and diversity.
Spanning the past decade, the collection features all of their big anthems. It includes 'El Salvador' and 'Westside', from Mercury-nominated debut album, 'Vehicles & Animals', plus the Ivor Novello Award-winning, 'Wires', from 2005's chart-topping, 'Tourist'. There are also tracks that reveal a different side to the band, notably, 'The Outsiders' (which climaxes with a long, decidedly radio-unfriendly piano outro) and 'Black Swan Song' (a vividly poignant piece that would tug at the strings of the hardest heart).
The band have even unearthed a previously unreleased gem of a song for the occasion. 'Back Track' was originally earmarked as a single in 2003, but ended up failing to make the final cut on their first album. Now, though, it has been gloriously resurrected from the tape-room, with the band taking the novel approach of using only the equipment available to them nine years ago to finally finish recording it.
As singer and guitarist Joel Pott attests, Athlete have always refused to be pigeonholed. 'People want you to fit in with a scene,' he says. 'But we never wanted to be part of anything like that.'
Singles 01-10 will be available as a 2 CD package with exclusive stories and memories written by the band.
Catch the band live on the following UK dates.
November
16th Liverpool O2 Academy
17th Leamington Spa Assembly
18th Nottingham Rock City
20th Kentish Town Forum
21st Norwich Waterfront
22nd Cambridge Junction
24th Oxford O2 Academy
25th Bournemouth O2 Academy
27th Leeds O2 Academy
29th SheffieldO2 Academy2
30th Glasgow O2 ABC
December
1st Newcastle O2 Academy
3rd Manchester Academy 2
4th Birmingham HMV Institute
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