Editors have announced their upcoming best of album ‘Black Gold,’ which will be out October 25th via Play It Again Sam. ‘Black Gold’ will include 13 tracks from their 6 studio albums, alongside 3 brand new offerings: Upside Down, festival anthem Frankenstein (check out the supernatural video here) and the gothically dramatic title track Black Gold (you can grab this track now).
The band will also be hitting the road on a 27-date European and UK Greatest Hits tour in early 2020, which will see them play shows in Birmingham, Manchester, Dublin and Glasgow, with a landmark performance at London’s SSE Arena Wembley set for Friday 28th February. Full tour schedule below.
The cover photograph for ‘Black Gold’ was shot by award winning photographer Nadav Kander and the album artwork was designed by celebrated graphic designer Tom Hingston (Massive Attack, Chemical Brothers, The Rolling Stones). The album also comes in a deluxe 2CD version, which includes a second disc of 8 stripped back recordings of tracks from the band’s catalogue titled ‘Distance: The Acoustic Recordings’.
“Conversations about a Best Of… had been going on for the past three or four years, but it never felt like the right moment,” says frontman Tom Smith. “We were always cracking on with a new album.” But singer/guitarist/pianist Smith, Russell Leetch (bass, synths) and Ed Lay (drums, percussion) had made three albums with original guitarist Chris Urbanowicz, and three with newer members Justin Lockey (guitar) and Elliott Williams (guitars, keyboards), “so it felt like a good time to do it.”
And so they reached out again to Garrett “Jacknife” Lee (U2, Snow Patrol, REM, The Killers), the Grammy-winning producer who worked with Editors on their #1 sophomore album ‘An End Has a Start,’ to produce the three songs that would go alongside a collection of tracks spanning 15 years, 6 studio albums and over 2.5 million album sales.
Amongst the tracklist is the adrenalized, shivery blast that is Munich, top 10 indie rock anthem Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors, and the pulsing, synth-driven Papillon. The full track listing is below.
From their Mercury Prize shortlisted debut ‘The Back Room,’ to #1 debuting ‘An End Has A Start,’ platinum selling ‘In This Light and On This Evening,’ sprawling, transitional ‘The Weight of Your Love,’ moody, self-produced ‘In Dream‘ and their 6th top 10 album in a row, 2018’s ‘Violence,’ Editors have refused to either stay still or compromise. This is perhaps the key to their longevity. It also no doubt also owes something to a hugely dedicated fanbase, both home and abroad, which sees them regularly performing sold out tours across the UK, Europe and further afield, as well as headlining festivals ahead of many more household names, such as 2018’s Werchter Classic Festival in Belgium, which they headlined and curated with Kraftwerk and The National supporting.
“To still be doing this is something I’m very proud of,” says Smith. “These days longevity might not be seen as cool, but I think it is. We’ve solidified what this new version of the band is, and I think the new songs show that the band are hungry. We’ve always felt like outsiders, but wanted to write songs that connect with people emotionally, and resonate in a deeper way. That can sound pretentious and contrived, but there are people out there that our band mean a lot to. That’s what I always wanted.”
‘Black Gold’ is a chance to reflect on the past 15 years, but it also offers a glimpse into a very exciting future for one of the UK’s most enduring and perhaps unexpected musical success stories of this century.
Track listing:
Disc 1
1. Frankenstein
2. Papillon
3. Munich
4. Sugar
5. Hallelujah (So low)
6. An End Has A Start
7. Upside Down
8.Bullets
9. Ocean Of Night
10. No Harm
11. Smokers Outside Hospital Doors
12. A Ton Of Love
13. Magazine
14. The Racing Rats
15. Black Gold
16. No Sound But The Wind
Disc 2 (Deluxe Version only)
1. Violence (Distance: The Acoustic Recordings)
2. Walk The Fleet Road (Distance: The Acoustic Recordings)
3. Blood (Distance: The Acoustic Recordings)
4. Let Your Good Heart Lead You Home (Distance: The Acoustic Recordings)
5. Smokers Outside The Hospital Door (Distance: The Acoustic Recordings)
6. Fall (Distance: The Acoustic Recordings)
7. Two Hearted Spider (Distance: The Acoustic Recordings)
8. Distance (Distance: The Acoustic Recordings)
Greatest Hits tour dates
Thu 30 Jan France, Paris – Salle Pleyel
Fri 31 Jan Germany, Dusseldorf – Mitsubishi Electric Halle
Sat 1 Feb Belgium, Antwerp – Sportpaleis
Mon 3 Feb Germany, Berlin – Velodrom
Tue 4 Feb Poland, Krakow -Studio
Wed 5 Feb Poland, Warsaw -Torwar
Fri 7 Feb Austria, Vienna -Gasometer
Sat 8 Feb Croatia, Zagreb – Dom Sportova Zagreb
Mon 10 Feb Italy, Rome – Atlantico
Tue 11 Feb Italy, Milan – Alcatraz
Wed 12 FebItaly, Milan – Alcatraz
Fri 14 Feb Switzerland, Zurich – Komplex 457
Sat 15 Feb Switzerland, Fribourg – Fri-Son
Mon 17 Feb Spain, Madrid – The Box (Wizink Center)
Tue 18 Feb Spain, Barcelona – Razzmatazz
Thu 27 Feb UK, Birmingham – Arena Birmingham
Fri 28 Feb UK, London – The SSE Arena Wembley
Sat 29 Feb UK, Manchester – O2 Apollo
Mon 2 Mar Ireland, Dublin – Vicar Street
Tue 3 Mar UK, Glasgow – Barrowland
Fri 27 Mar Greece, Thessaloniki – Principal Theatre
Sat 28 Mar Greece, Athens – Tae Kwan Do Arena
Wed 1 Apr Ukraine, Kiev – StereoPlaza
Fri 3 Apr Russia, Moscow – GlavClub
Sat 4 Apr Russia, St. Petersburg – Morze
Mon 22 June Germany, Hamburg – Stadtpark
Sat 27 June Netherlands, The Hague – Zuiderpark
Ticket details for all shows here: www.editors-official.com/tour/
