Neko Case / Truckdriver, Gladiator, Mule / 8LP vinyl box set

Get eight solo albums by ‘country noir’ singer-songwriter Neko Case and other goodies with her forthcoming Truckdriver, Gladiator, Mule set.

Issued by Anti-Records, this set includes all of Case’s albums bar one, from her 1997 debut The Virginian (on vinyl here for the first time) to 2013 release The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You. Six studio albums are complemented by the eight-track Canadian Amp EP and The Tigers Have Spoken, a live album compiled from various shows in Chicago and Toronto in spring 2004.

This set features new remasters from the original analog tapes, pressed on 180-gram vinyl and are packaged in a custom storage box, complete with an 80-page book and illustrated vinyl slipmat, both designed by Case herself (who holds a Bachelor Fine Arts degree).

Born in Virginia to parents of Ukrainian descent, Case moved to Vancouver, Canada, in 1994 aged 24 to attend art school and that was where she made her first album. The Virginian is a full-on country music affair, whereas her second album Furnace Room Lullaby (2000) established her signature ‘country noir’ style.

Canadian Amp (2001), recorded in her kitchen at her new home in Chicago, was her first without the assistance of ‘Her Boyfriends’, the backing group with an ever-changing line-up who’d played on the first two albums. Six of the eight tracks are covers, including Neil Young’s Dreaming Man. Running out of Fools, previously a hit for Aretha Franklin is one of two cover versions on the darkly, atmospheric Blacklisted (2002). Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (2006) earned much critical acclaim, and here autobiographical song Hold On, Hold On would later be covered by Marianne Faithfull.

Her most recent albums, Middle Cyclone and the GRAMMY^®-nominated The Worse Things Get… both hit number one in the US Indie charts, with The Worse Things Get… peaking at number three in the regular US chart.

Alongside the announcement of the new set, Case has penned an extended note to her fans reminiscing about her career so far, and concluding with the following words:

‘Being in a band isn’t a race to an awards platform. It is a life, a great and complicated, messy, anxious, hilarious and homemade life. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, ever. I gave up a lot of what makes people “normal”, but it was always my choice. That is a victory in itself. This is a long story, which I will continue later, but for now, here are some images and music to take in and wonder about. I made all this for you and me. Without you, however, the circuit does not complete. Thank you for being here with me and making music.’

Shortly after the release of the box set, Case’s UK fans will have a couple chances to catch her playing live – on 28 November at the Mutations Festival, Brighton, or at the beautiful Union Chapel venue in North London, on 1 December.

Truckdriver, Gladiator, Mule is released on 13 November 2015.

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The Virginian

1. Timber
2. Bowling Green
3. Jettison
4. High On Cruel
5. Karoline
6. Lonely Old Lies
7. Honky Tonk Hiccups
8. The Virginian
9. Duchess
10. Thanks A Lot
11. Somebody Led Me Away
12. Misfire

Furnace Room Lullaby

1. Set Out Running
2. Guided by Wire
3. Porchlight
4. Mood to Burn Bridges
5. No Need to Cry
6. Twist the Knife
7. Thrice All American
8. We’ve Never Met
9. Whip the Blankets
10. South Tacoma Way
11. Bought and Sold
12. Furnace Room Lullaby

Canadian Amp

1. Andy
2. Dreaming Man
3. Knock Loud
4. Make Your Bed
5. Poor Ellen Smith
6. In California
7. Alone and Forsaken
8. Favorite

Blacklisted

1. Things That Scare Me
2. Deep Red Bells
3. Outro with Bees
4. Lady Pilot
5. Tightly
6. Look for Me (I’ll Be Around)
7. Stinging Velvet
8. Pretty Girls
9. I Missed the Point
10. Blacklisted
11. I Wish I Was the Moon
12. Runnin’ Out of Fools

13.Ghost Wiring

14. Outro with Bees (Reprise)

The Tigers Have Spoken

1. If You Knew
2. Soulful Shade of Blue
3. Hex
4. The Train From Kansas City
5. The Tigers Have Spoken
6. Blacklisted
7. Loretta
8. Favorite
9. Rated X
10. This Little Light
11. Wayfaring Stranger
12. Tigers Are Noble (dialogue)

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

1. Margaret vs. Pauline
2. Star Witness
3. Hold On, Hold On
4. A Widow’s Toast
5. That Teenage Feeling
6. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
7. John Saw That Number
8. Dirty Knife
9. Lion’s Jaws
10. Maybe Sparrow
11. At Last
12. The Needle Has Landed

Middle Cyclone

1. This Tornado Loves You
2. The Next Time You Say Forever
3. People Got a Lotta Nerve
4. Polar Nettles
5. Vengeance Is Sleeping
6. Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth
7. Middle Cyclone
8. Fever
9. Magpie to the Morning
10. I’m an Animal
11. Prison Girls
12. Don’t Forget Me
13. The Pharaohs
14. Red Tide
15. Marais la Nuit

The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You

1. Wild Creatures
2. Night Still Comes
3. Man
4. I’m From Nowhere
5. Bracing for Sunday
6. Nearly Midnight, Honolulu
7. Calling Cards
8. City Swans
9. Afraid
10. Local Girl
11. Where Did I Leave That Fire
12. Ragtime

• • UK Pre-order: Truckdriver, Gladiator, Mule vinyl box
• • USA Pre-order: Truckdriver, Gladiator, Mule vinyl box
• • CANADA Pre-order: Truckdriver, Gladiator, Mule vinyl box
• • GERMANY Pre-order: Truckdriver, Gladiator, Mule vinyl box
• • ITALY Pre-order: Truckdriver, Gladiator, Mule vinyl box *great price

• JPC.de European Pre-order: Truckdriver, Gladiator, Mule vinyl box