The Boxer is the debut solo album by Kele Okereke , the lead singer of British indie rock band Bloc Party . Okereke released the album under the professional name of Kele on 21 June 2010.[1] As promotion, he uploaded the songs "Rise" and "Walk Tall" to his personal website on 13 May. The first single from The Boxer was "Tenderoni ", released on 14 June, and the second, "Everything You Wanted ", on 16 August.[1] The album's third single "On the Lam " was released on 25 October.
The album was released by Wichita Recordings worldwide, except for the US and Canada (Glassnote Records ), Australia (a co-release with Shock Records and Co-Op ) and Japan (a co-release with Hostess Entertainment ). Vinyl copies of the album were released by Wichita and Polydor .
The digital and Japanese versions of the album included bonus tracks and remixes in addition to the standard 10 tracks.
Critical reception
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The Boxer received generally favourable reviews from critics, currently holding an aggregate score of 70 on Metacritic .
It received very positive reviews from Allmusic (4/5), Clash (8/10), MusicOMH (4.5/5) and The A.V. Club (B+).
Track listing
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Title 1. "Walk Tall" 3:45 2. "On the Lam " 3:33 3. "Tenderoni " 4:30 4. "The Other Side" 3:52 5. "Everything You Wanted " 3:49 6. "The New Rules" 3:55 7. "Unholy Thoughts" 2:55 8. "Rise" 5:11 9. "All the Things I Could Never Say" 5:32 10. "Yesterday's Gone" 4:07
Digital bonus track Title 11. "Meet in the Middle" 5:25
Japanese bonus tracks[13] Title 11. "Tenderoni" (Larry Tee and Beckwith remix) 6:38 12. "Tenderoni" (XXXChange dub) 6:07 13. "Tenderoni" (Kris Menace remix) 6:00
Personnel
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Credits adapted from Discogs .[14]
Additional musicians
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Jodie Scantlebury – backing vocals (tracks 2, 4, 6, 8 and 9)
Bobbie Gordon – backing vocals (tracks 2, 4, 8 and 9)
Production
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XXXChange – production, audio mixing (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 9 and 10), recording (at Royan Castle, New York)
Chris Coady – mixing (track 3)
Phillipe Zdar – mixing (tracks 5, 7 and 8)
Ben Jackson – recording (at EMI Studios , London)
Scott McCormick – recording (at EMI Studios, London)
Mike Marsh – mastering (at The Exchange, London)
Sarah Piantadosi – photography
Richard Robinson – design
Nova Dando – art direction
Publishing
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Release history
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Region
Release date
Format
Label
Australia
18 June 2010
UK
21 June 2010
Wichita
Vinyl
North America
22 June 2010
Glassnote
Japan[15]
23 June 2010
References
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