Deluxe Edition of Milestone 2004 Debut Remastered from the Original Tapes with 5 Bonus Tracks included on Accompanying Download!

Frenchkiss Records and The Hold Steady present the long awaited release of Deluxe Editions of the New York-based rock 'n' roll band's milestone first two LPs, Almost Killed Me (2004) and Separation Sunday (2005). Both records have been remastered from the original tapes, with each now appended by an array of bonus material (available via a download for the vinyl releases not on the actual LP).

Almost Killed Me: Deluxe Edition comes joined with five rare tracks, including the very first Hold Steady 7" single, "Milkcrate Mosh," and songs previously only available on the album's original Australian CD release. Separation Sunday: Deluxe Edition features six additional tracks, including the never before available "212-Margarita" and "The Most Important Thing" along with previously unreleased demos of "Cattle and the Creeping Things," "Charlemagne in Sweatpants," and "Crucifixion Cruise." As if all that were not enough, Almost Killed Me will be offered on bright blue vinyl, with Separation Sunday pressed on pristine white vinyl. The Deluxe Edition LPs mark the first time both albums have been available on vinyl in more than a decade.

Released by Frenchkiss in March 2004, Almost Killed Me instantly marked The Hold Steady as one of the most vital and original rock 'n' roll bands of the new millennium, blazing with the raw riffs and conceptual songcraft that continue to define their extraordinary canon. Kicking off with the classic "Positive Jam," the album introduces singer/guitarist Craig Finn's utterly unique lyricism and intensely detailed storytelling, a world of tough love, hard drugs, and barstool blues unlike any other before or since.

Almost Killed Me received unanimous praise upon its arrival and was ultimately ranked at #2 on Rolling Stone's "100 Best Albums of the 2000s" tally, who praised its "Springsteen-size cast of characters, lost kids staggering through America in search of sex, drugs and salvation. The band sounded so real and raw, so loaded with compassion and wit and raunch, they became a word-of-mouth sensation. Suddenly the 2000s didn't look so hopeless after all."