Keane: Hopes and Fears (2LP, 20th anniversary edition, green & grey vinyl, expanded edition) [USM]

Why you'll love it

This 20th anniversary 2LP set on green & grey vinyl pairs the original album, remastered at Abbey Road, with a second LP of B-sides and rarities, plus lyrics and new liner notes by the band. Hopes and Fears topped the UK chart, won the Brit Award for Best Album and has sold more than 5.8 million copies worldwide.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 20th anniversary edition
• Green & grey vinyl
• Remastered at Abbey Road Studios
• B-sides and rarities LP
• Gatefold jacket
• Lyrics and new liner notes by Keane
• Pressed in the Czech Republic

About the album

Keane made one of the biggest British debuts of the decade without a guitarist in the band. Tom Chaplin's soaring voice, Tim Rice-Oxley's piano and Richard Hughes's drums were enough, and the songs, some of them years in the making, did the rest.

Four were recorded with James Sanger in Normandy, including "This Is the Last Time" and "Bedshaped," while the rest came together with Andy Green at Helioscentric Studios in Rye. "Somewhere Only We Know" and "Everybody's Changing" became modern standards, "Bend and Break" and "Can't Stop Now" swoon, and "Untitled 1" booms. The bonus LP gathers B-sides such as "Snowed Under," "Fly to Me" and "Walnut Tree," plus "Allemande" and "Love Actually."

Q magazine compared its confidence to Oasis's Definitely Maybe, and fans in a 40,000-strong NME poll voted it among the 100 best albums ever. Play "Somewhere Only We Know" near a piano in a shop and someone will start singing; we've tested this more than strictly necessary.

Also at Kops: more Keane on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Island / Universal Music Recordings (cat# 5864337), a reissue of the 2004 album.