Soft Play: Are You Satisfied? (2LP, 10th anniversary edition) [VIRGIN EMI]

Why you'll love it

This 10th anniversary 2LP set adds the extended-edition bonus tracks, including "Where's Your Car Debbie?" and two BBC Radio 1 sessions. The album reached No. 8 in the UK and was nominated for the 2015 Mercury Prize.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 10th anniversary edition
• Bonus tracks from the extended edition
• BBC Radio 1 session recordings
• Pressed in Germany

About the album

Two blokes from Kent, a stand-up drum kit and a guitar turned up loud: that was the whole setup. Isaac Holman and Laurie Vincent made this debut under their old name, Slaves, and it hit like a door kicked open, all shouted choruses and riffs built for a sweaty room.

"The Hunter" and "Cheer Up London" set the pace, "Sockets" and "Do Something" bark and bounce, and the title track slows down long enough for Holman to sit at a piano. "Feed the Mantaray" and "Live Like an Animal" are pure adrenaline, and "Hey" barely pauses for breath. The extras dig deeper into the era, from the punchy single "Where's Your Car Debbie?" and songs off the Sugar Coated Bitter Truth EP to a BBC Radio 1 take on LCD Soundsystem's "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House" and a demo of "Tricky." Jolyon Thomas adds synths and extra percussion around the duo's racket.

The band now play as Soft Play, and this anniversary set gathers the whole first chapter in one place. Two people make all this noise, which is roughly the same ratio as our Saturday shift.

Also at Kops: more Soft Play on vinyl · browse Punk

Tracklist

Listen

On Virgin EMI (cat# 7816362), a reissue of the 2015 album.