The Boxer (album) - Misplaced Pages

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. 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. 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

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
The A.V. Club	(B+)
Clash	(8/10)
Drowned in Sound	(5/10)
The Guardian
Los Angeles Times
MusicOMH
NME	(7/10)
Pitchfork	(5.1/10)
Slant
Spin

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

No.	Title	Length
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
No.	Title	Length
11.	"Meet in the Middle"	5:25

Japanese bonus tracks
No.	Title	Length
11.	"Tenderoni" (Larry Tee and Beckwith remix)	6:38
12.	"Tenderoni" (XXXChange dub)	6:07
13.	"Tenderoni" (Kris Menace remix)	6:00

Personnel

Credits adapted from Discogs.

Kele Okereke – lead vocals, songwriting, art direction

Additional musicians

Jodie Scantlebury – backing vocals (tracks 2, 4, 6, 8 and 9)
Bobbie Gordon – backing vocals (tracks 2, 4, 8 and 9)

Production

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)

Design

Sarah Piantadosi – photography
Richard Robinson – design
Nova Dando – art direction

Publishing

Wichita Recordings – publishing
Shock Records – publishing (in Australia, with Wichita Recordings and Co-Op)
Glassnote Records – publishing (in the US and Canada)
Hostess Entertainment – publishing (in Japan, with Wichita Recordings)
Polydor Records – publishing (vinyl, with Wichita Recordings)

Release history

Region	Release date	Format	Label
Australia	18 June 2010	CD digital download	Wichita Shock
UK	21 June 2010	CD digital download	Wichita
UK	21 June 2010	Vinyl	Wichita Polydor
North America	22 June 2010	CD digital download	Glassnote
Japan	23 June 2010	CD digital download	Hostess Wichita

Charts

Album

Chart (2010)	Peak Position
Australian Albums Chart	35
Austrian Albums Chart	71
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)	41
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)	89
French Albums Chart	178
Swiss Albums Chart	98
Irish Albums Chart	41
UK Albums Chart	20
UK Dance Chart	2

Singles

Song	Chart positions
Song	UK	UK Dance	AUS	AUT	BEL (FLA)	BEL (WAL)
"Tenderoni"	31	6	63	58	4	14
"Everything You Wanted"	93	17	—	—	—	—
"On the Lam"	—	—	—	—	—	—

References

^ "Bloc Party's Kele Okereke announces solo album details". NME. London. 6 April 2010. Retrieved 24 May 2010.
Phares, Heather. "Review: The Boxer". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
Hawthorne, Marc (12 January 2012). "Kele: The Boxer". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
"Kele – The Boxer | Clash Music Latest Album Review". Clashmusic.com. 21 June 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
"Drowned in Sound review". Archived from the original on 17 June 2010. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
Dean, Will (17 June 2010). "The Guardian review". London.
"Pop & Hiss". Los Angeles Times. 22 June 2010.
"musicOMH review".
"NME Album Reviews – Album Review: Kele – 'The Boxer' (Wichita/Polydor)". NME. 20 June 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
"Kele: The Boxer Album Review". Pitchfork. 24 June 2010. Retrieved 5 April 2021.
"Kele: The Boxer | Music Review". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
"SPIN review". Retrieved 16 August 2012.
"Kele* – The Boxer (CD) at Discogs". Discogs. 23 June 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
"Kele* – The Boxer (Vinyl, LP, Album) at Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
"iTunes – Music – The Boxer by Kele". iTunes Store. 23 June 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
Steffen Hung. "Kele – The Boxer". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
Steffen Hung. "Kele – The Boxer". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
"Kele – The Boxer". ultratop.be. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
"Kele – The Boxer". ultratop.be. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
Steffen Hung. "Kele – The Boxer". lescharts.com. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
Steffen Hung. "Kele – The Boxer". hitparade.ch. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
Steffen Hung. "Discography Kele Okereke". irishcharts.com. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
"2010-07-03 Top 40 Official UK Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. 3 July 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
"2010-07-03 Top 40 Dance Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. 3 July 2010. Retrieved 17 January 2012.
"Kele". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
"2010 Top 40 Dance Singles Archive: 28 August 2010". Official Charts Company. 28 August 2010. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
"Kele – Tenderoni". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
"Kele – Tenderoni". ultratop.be. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
"Kele – Tenderoni". ultratop.be. Retrieved 7 November 2011.

Kele Okereke

Studio albums

EPs

The Hunter

Singles

The Boxer	"Tenderoni" "Everything You Wanted" "On the Lam"
The Hunter	"What Did I Do?"

Other songs

"Goodbye Horses"

Featured singles

"Believe" (with The Chemical Brothers)
"Ready 2 Go" (with Martin Solvieg)

Other collaborations

"It's Not The Things You Say" (with Tiësto)
"Step Up" (with Hercules & Love Affair)

v t e Bloc Party
Kele Okereke Russell Lissack Louise Bartle Harry Deacon Gordon Moakes Matt Tong Sarah Jones Justin Harris Daniel Pugsley
Studio albums	Silent Alarm A Weekend in the City Intimacy Four Hymns Alpha Games
Remix albums	Silent Alarm Remixed Intimacy Remixed
Extended plays	Bloc Party Little Thoughts The Nextwave Sessions The High Life
Singles	"She's Hearing Voices" "Banquet"/"Staying Fat" "Little Thoughts"/"Tulips" "Helicopter" "Tulips" ""So Here We Are"/"Positive Tension"" "Banquet" "Pioneers" "Two More Years" "The Prayer" "I Still Remember" "Hunting for Witches" "Flux" "Mercury" "Talons" "One Month Off" "Signs" "One More Chance" "Octopus" "Truth" "Ratchet"
Other songs	"Like Eating Glass"
Related articles	Discography Songs Pin Me Down Young Legionnaire
Category

Categories: