About this item

In celebration of the ten-year anniversary of this iconic album, Jagjaguwar are proud to present the ‘Black Sheep Boy: Anniversary Edition’, a 3CD / 3LP set combining Okkervil River’s classic ‘Black Sheep Boy’ album and its counterpart the ‘Black Sheep Boy Appendix’ with an all new unreleased album entitled ‘There Swims a Swan’: fullband recordings made six months prior to the release of ‘Black Sheep Boy’ which illuminate the album’s roots in the traditional American songbook. Featuring beautiful, emotional readings of songs popularized by such artists as Washington Phillips, Lead Belly, the Louvin Brothers and Roscoe Holcomb, ‘There Swims A Swan’ takes the listener on a trip through the songs that inspired the band’s Will Sheff while composing ‘Black Sheep Boy’ and reads like a run-through of that album’s themes.

‘Black Sheep Boy’ is celebrated for its album artwork as well as its music, and the Anniversary Edition collects that artwork in a meticulously reworked package, combining every previous element of William Schaff ’s imagery with a large new piece by Schaff depicting an updated ‘Black Sheep Boy’. The release also includes lengthy liner notes by Sheff walking the listener through the circumstances surrounding the album.

For Okkervil River fans (the most high-profile of whom was recently revealed to be President Barack Obama, who included ‘Down Down The Deep River’ on his 2015 summer playlist), the Anniversary Edition is a loving, comprehensive, richly expanded presentation of a record many consider to be one of the band’s best. For those new to the band, this might be the best place to start, the first step on a long road, the opening to a forest you can get lost in.