Concrete Love

Concrete Love
Studio album by The Courteeners
Released	18 August 2014
Genre	Indie rock Post-punk revival Synthpop
Length	47:00
Label	PIAS Cooperative
Producer	Joseph Cross
The Courteeners chronology
ANNA (2013) Concrete Love (2014)

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	61/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
NME	[3]
The Line Of Best Fit	[4]

Concrete Love is the fourth studio album from British indie rock band The Courteeners, released on 18 August 2014 via PIAS Cooperative label.^[5]

Overview

The band's follow up to Anna was again produced by Joe Cross, and recorded and released within a year from the previous release. Most of the album was written by Fray in the latter part of 2013 during a stay in Montmartre. He described the material as: "There are stories, they come from somewhere. They're a little bit less literal, a bit more abstract, which is something that I thought I'd give a go. I've always been a fan of that kind of kitchen sink style of writing. I suppose because it's real, it's what people know. There are little pockets of abstract dotted around. So there's a bit more, 'Let people make their mind up', I guess, than the last record".^[5]

The band embarked on a UK/European tour in support for the album, which included headlining slots at the Radio One/NME Stage at the Reading and Leeds Festival.^[6] The album debuted at number 3 in the UK Album chart, marking the band's highest chart entry to date.^[7]

The track "Summer' was offered as an immediate download when the album was pre ordered.^[8] The first official release from the album was the 'How Good It Was' E.P released on 21 July 2014.^[9] It featured the title track and the songs 'Hometown One', 'Sunflower', and 'Why Are You Still With Him?' and reached number 2 on the official UK iTunes chart. Of the title track Fray explained that "it almost felt like a kind of Beach Boy Motown, as a kind of homage to Danny Zuko and it happened".^[5]

A deluxe version of the album was released containing a CD and DVD of the bands Castlefield Bowl shows on 5 and 6 July 2013.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Liam Fray. 

No.	Title	Length
1.	"White Horses"	3:58
2.	"How Good It Was"	4:05
3.	"Small Bones"	4:14
4.	"Has He Told You That He Loves You Yet"	4:11
5.	"Black & Blue"	3:51
6.	"International"	4:43
7.	"Next Time You Call"	3:33
8.	"Summer"	3:35
9.	"Saboteur"	3:36
10.	"Dreamers"	5:14
11.	"Beautiful Head"	5:18

Deluxe Version – Live at Castlefield Bowl
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Are You in Love With a Notion?"	–
2.	"Lose Control"	–
3.	"Cavorting"	–
4.	"Acrylic"	–
5.	"Van Der Graaff"	–
6.	"Please Don't"	–
7.	"Bide Your Time"	–
8.	"Scratch Your Name Upon My Lips"	–
9.	"That Kiss"	–
10.	"When You Want Something You Can't Have"	–
11.	"Take Over The World"	–
12.	"You Overdid It Doll"	–
13.	"The Opener"	–
14.	"Welcome to the Rave"	–
15.	"Sycophant"	–
16.	"Marquee"	–
17.	"Smiths Disco"	–
18.	"The Rest of the World Has Gone Home"	–
19.	"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out"	–
20.	"Fallowfield Hillbilly"	–
21.	"Here Come the Young Men"	–
22.	"Not Nineteen Forever"	–
23.	"What Took You So Long?"	–

Credits

The Courteeners

• Liam Fray – vocals, guitars,
• Daniel Moores – guitars
• Mark Cuppello – bass guitars
• Michael Campbell – drums

• Adam Payne – Keyboards
• Continuous

Charts

Chart (2014)	Peak position
UK Albums Chart	3

References

1. "Album Review". Metacritic.com. Retrieved 2014-11-29.
2. "Allmusic Review".
3. "NME Review".
4. "The Line Of Best Fit Review".
5. XFM Announcement Tim Cocker, Courteeners announce new album Concrete Love, XFM, 18 August 2014.
6. "Courteeners warm up for Reading and Leeds with Liverpool show". Gigwise. 19 August 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
7. "Liam Fray interviewed, by Fergal Kinney". Louder Than War. 22 October 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
8. "Courteeners Announce New Album 'Concrete Love'". MTV. 20 June 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
9. "The Courteeners to release new EP 'How Good It Was' – listen". NME. 21 July 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.