Idlewild – 100 Broken Windows: Special Edition

The release of second full-length album 100 Broken Windows caught Idlewild at the sweet spot of its career; in the scuzzy pop of Little Discourage, Roseability or Idea Track there was still the classic “a flight of stairs falling down a flight of stairs” sound, yet in softer moments like the excellent non-singles Let Me Sleep Next To The Mirror or The Bronze Medal there were all the melodic clues that would lead to the record’s chart-bothering successor The Remote Part.

This tenth anniversary reissue packages the album up with a bonus disc of extra material, a handful recorded by Shellac bassist and engineer Bob Weston. Ten years on, 100 Broken Windows is still a powerful record, but the extra material is an historic curio – save a spirited cover of Sandy Denny’s It’ll Take A Long Time, or those breezier, REM-like moments (see There’s Glory In Your Story and Broken Windows). The remainder either sees the band fine-tuning for the album proper or messing about with uncommercial sounds in the studio – as it would turn out, putting their ‘noisenik’ past to rest. [PJ Meiklem]