Celebrate 10 Years Of Alabama Shakes’ ‘Boys & Girls’ With New Deluxe Edition
The deluxe edition includes 11 bonus tracks.
Alabama Shakes have released the 10th anniversary edition of their breakthrough album Boys & Girls. The two-disc collection has been repackaged in a foil-board gatefold jacket with new, unreleased photos and a bonus radio session.
“I can’t believe it has been 10 years since the release of Boys & Girls,” says singer/guitarist Brittany Howard. “At the time, we were just excited to be putting out music and playing shows. We had pretty much recorded the album in between our day jobs and had zero expectations. What followed completely blew our minds. This was such a magical period in all of our lives.”
In addition to the album’s original 11 songs, the deluxe edition offers 11 tracks from the band’s explosive live performance on KCRW’s “Morning Becomes Eclectic.” Recorded in January 2012 during Alabama Shakes’ first trip to Los Angeles, the set included a performance of “Always Alright”–a non-album track that appeared on the soundtrack for the Oscar-nominated film Silver Linings Playbook and received a Grammy nomination.
Hailed as one of the best albums of 2012 by Rolling Stone and numerous other publications, Boys & Girls entered Billboard’s Independent Albums chart at No.1. It went on to attain Platinum certification and earn the band multiple Grammy nominations. Lead single “Hold On” was voted the No.1 Best Song of 2012 by Rolling Stone.
Alabama Shakes–comprising Howard, guitarist Heath Fogg, bassist Zac Cockrell, and drummer Steve Johnson–recorded Boys & Girls at Bomb Shelter in Nashville. Soon after its release, the bandmates found themselves thrust into the global spotlight, achieving such milestones as performing at the White House and on Saturday Night Live along with winning widespread critical praise. Pitchfork lauded “Howard’s gale-force delivery, an instrument that could have blown Otis Redding back.” The New York Times’ Jon Pareles said, “Alabama Shakes sound raw-boned and proudly unprocessed.” NME hailed the band as “a genuine, word-of-mouth, go-see-them-then-tell-10-friends-how-amazing-they-are thing.” The Guardian observed, “their music, a deep earthy pit of blues and soul and swamp, is the sort of stuff that honeys the soul and puts fire in the loins.”
