This auction is for a The Kills 2 CD Lot: Keep On Your Mean Side and No Wow

Keep On Your Mean Side: The CD is in very good condition. The jewel case and inserts are complete and in ok condition.

Keep on Your Mean Side includes re-recorded versions of three of the best songs from Black Rooster: the "f*ck and fight" duet of the title track; "Cat Claw," which boasts snarly VV vocals and even snarlier guitar licks from Hotel; and "Wait," a countrified, acoustic number that demonstrates the band's range. These new versions -- recorded along with the rest of the album at London's Toerag Studios -- are far from hi-fi, but miss the recorded-in-the-basement quality that gave the originals more of an underground feel. Though the album could use a bit more grit and grime, it's still remarkably solid, with songs like the driven "Hitched" and the surprisingly sweet "Gypsy Death & You" spanning the extremes of the Kills' sound and proving that Black Rooster was just a taste of what the band had to offer. Likewise, Keep on Your Mean Side hints at greater heights (or scuzzier, more elegantly wasted depths) that the Kills will hopefully scale on later albums.

No Wow:  The CD is in very good condition. There is no artwork or jewel case. It comes in a plastic slipcover.

"No Wow" itself is a fantastic opener, a powerful statement of curdled but still compelling love (or lust), the likes of which haven't been heard since Rid of Me. From there, the album doesn't let up until the sweetly narcotized "I Hate the Way You Love, Pt. 2." No Wow's variations on its sounds and themes may be monochromatic, but they're never monotonous. Wisely, the Kills have chosen to let their drum machine sound like a drum machine, giving songs like "Love Is a Deserter" a skeletal clatter for a backbone, and others, such as "The Good Ones" and "Sweet Cloud," a piston-like thrust. The magnificently taut "Dead Road 7" adds shades of menacing, mysterious country/blues storytelling to the band's songwriting, a direction they should pursue more. Though the album downplays the poppier moments that balanced Keep on Your Mean Side's onslaughts, No Wow's soft, slow songs are thrown into even sharper relief. "Rodeo Town" is one of the loveliest, and grittiest, ballads that the band has written, and "Ticket Man" ends the album on a hypnotic, reflective note. While Jamie Hince's vocals are also downplayed (and missed), it has to be said that Alison Mosshart does a compelling job of handling the lioness' share of the singing. No Wow is a tight, mean set of songs -- there's no room for punches to swing, but all of the shoving and grappling makes just as big an impact.

Shipping will be $4.50.