Over ten years ago, Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and electronic musician Jimmy Tamborello began working on a project themselves. It would become The Postal Service’s Give Up, one of the most acclaimed independent releases of the past decade. Their only album was released in April 2003 and exactly a decade later, they released a special deluxe edition of the album. When you get the 10th anniversary of Give Up, you get the group’s entire output - all the B-sides and loose ends, plus two new songs.
Give Up itself is really a great record. Gibbard and Tamborello, along with singer Jenny Lewis, mixed electronic music with pop in a way that many are still trying to copy. But they did it successfully, especially on the singles “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight,” “We Will Become Silhouettes” and “Such Great Heights.” There’s plenty of other gems on the ten-track record, like “Nothing Better” and “Clark Gable.”
The deluxe edition is set up with the album on its own disc and then all the bonus material on the second disc. It starts with the new tracks - “Turn Around” and “A Tattered Line of String.” Both were started in 2006, when Gibbard and Tamborello considered making a second album, and mixed in 2012. These are two great tracks, picking up right where Give Up left off.
While the rest of the tracks are B-sides and remixes, they provide the listener with an interesting look into their creative process. Give Up is perfect as is, but it’s nice to know that some of the tracks left off are just as good as those that made it. The collection also includes their covers of Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)” and John Lennon’s “Grow Old With Me.” The disc ends with Iron & Wine’s version of “Such Great Heights” and “We Will Become Silhouettes” by The Shins.
I also have to give a nod to the packaging design, which includes two books - one with the lyrics for the album and another for the credits for the bonus disc. It’s a well-constructed set and even the discs come in their own paper sleeves.
Give Up is one of the most sublime records of the past decade. If you’ve never heard it before or even if you bought it when it first came out, the deluxe edition is well worth it.