Heaven is Whenever Tenth Anniversary Release

The Hold Steady's fifth studio Heaven is Whenever is turning ten years old this year and the band is celebrating with an enhanced release including B-sides.

Craig Finn, the bands lead singer wrote a bit about the recording of this album in an Instagram post about the release:

View this post on Instagram

Heaven is Whenever 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition! 2-LP with Embossed Album Cover Original Album + 9 Bonus Tracks New Liner Notes by Patterson Hood Pre-Order begins Monday, October 19 / Available November 27, 2020 Everyone seems to have an opinion about our fifth album, Heaven is Whenever. Ten years later, going over these songs for this reissue, we’ve taken on a great new appreciation for this collection. With some distance, it seems we were trying to get somewhere else, and this was a necessary transition record. The songs are weary, but with a dark humor. It might even be the funniest Hold Steady LP, although it’s sometimes hard to tell because it doesn’t convey the same ecstatic joy as some of the earlier records. For the 10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, Heaven is Whenever includes nine bonus tracks that tell the story of the time it was made. We were chasing something that was mostly undefined, and we kept making more and more music. We recorded stuff we forgot about like “Wonderful Struggle”, stuff we’ve played live but never released, like “Separate Vacations”, and even an alternate version of “We Can Get Together”. There’s even more to the story - the Super Deluxe version of the album available on streaming platforms will include tracks from the 2009 Avatar Sessions in New York City, versions of Heaven is Whenever songs that Franz was working on with the band prior to his departure. In 2020, we’re very proud of Heaven is Whenever. It’s the sound of a band pushing through difficult times by making music about that very struggle. It acknowledges suffering as part of human life. And with all the extra songs that we recorded beyond the album tracks, it’s a testament to the band’s willingness to show up and try to work through uncertainty. Our amazing friend @dbtph from Drive-By Truckers has a lot more to say about that in the LP liner notes. Happy 10 years to Heaven is Whenever! ***Our Heaven is Whenever store opens Monday, featuring exclusive versions of the album and merch you won't be able to get anywhere else! You'll receive an email with all of the details on Monday.*** Read more at the link in our bio!

A post shared by The Hold Steady (@theholdsteady) on Oct 16, 2020 at 8:45am PDT

RtBE has always really enjoyed HiW and feel that it was a big record from the band, transitional, but a transition that never really went anywhere with Teeth Dreams...but that is another post. HiW really struck a nerve personally living in NYC and seeing Finn deal with things lyrically around music and relationships. While not the bands best album, (that would be Boys and Girls in America) it still has a lot of great songs in the bands classic style. 

Here is a track from the album, buy the anniversary collection here.