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Arab Strap
Ten Years of Tears
(Chemikal Underground)
All good things must come to an end -- so really, Arab Strap should have carried on forever. But no -- the dreary, dark, and dour Scottish duo decided to chuck it in last year after a decade.
But their loss is our gain: The Strap are going out with both a bang and a whimper -- in the form of the career-ending anthology Ten Years of Tears. Less a hits set than a junk drawer of odds 'n' sods, this 20-track disc compiles a slew of obscure singles, B-sides, live cuts, demos and unreleased tunes from eternally depressed vocalist Aidan Moffat and musical foil Malcolm Middleton.
As always, Moffat narcoleptically mutters sexually frank tales about drunken weekends, unsatisfying sex, hungover mornings, unfounded jealousy and pathetic betrayal while Middleton fashions starkly beautiful ballads that contrast yet complete those dysfunctional monologues. But for two guys who paint themselves as pathetic losers, they're diligent archivists.
Ten Years includes everything from their very first home tape and the first tune they played live to their final recordings. And, as icing on their farewell cake, there's even a hidden cover of Bonnie Tyler's It's a Heartache.
If that doesn't bring a tear to your eye, nothing will.
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Track Listing:
1. Preface: Set the Scene
2. Islands [Original 1995 Demo]
3. First Big Weekend
4. Gilded [Live]
5. I Saw You
6. Clearing [Version 2]
7. Packs of Three [Acoustic Version]
8. (Afternoon) Soaps
9. Rocket, Take Your Turn
10. To All a Good Night
11. Turbulence [Bis Remix Radio Edit][Edit][Mix]
12. Shy Retirer
13. Blood [Live]
14. If There's No Hope for Us [Rogue Version]
15. Where We've Left Our Love
16. Girl I Loved
17. Oxytocin
18. There Is No Ending/It's a Heartache/Bon Voyage