King – Soul On My Boots - The Collection 5CD Box Set

King – Soul On My Boots - The Collection

• Most comprehensive retrospective of King and Paul King's recording career.

• Includes the hit albums ‘Steps In Time’, ‘Bitter Sweet’ and ‘Joy’ in full plus numerous bonus tracks, 12" mixes, B-sides, unreleased demos, and live recordings.

• 35 previously unreleased tracks.

• With sleeve notes written by Paul King, all housed in a deluxe 5CD clamshell box with individual card wallets.

Step back into the electric colour and emotional pulse of the mid-80s with ‘Soul In My Boots – The Collection’, the definitive 5CD celebration of British pop-funk romantics King. This long-overdue anthology captures the band’s full recorded legacy across two hit-studded studio albums, a previously unreleased live set, a vault-clearing rarities collection, and Paul King’s solo album ‘Joy’ — complete with related 12" mixes and long-lost cuts.

Fronted by the charismatic, quiffed presence of Paul King, the Coventry quartet stormed the charts in 1985 with ‘Love & Pride’, followed by ‘Won’t You Hold My Hand Now’ and ‘Alone Without You’, before crafting a more complex and introspective follow-up album, ‘Bitter Sweet’. Both albums are presented here in full, bolstered by a generous run of extended mixes, alternative versions, and hard-to-find single remixes.

CD3 unveils for the first time King’s complete 1985 live performance at Strathclyde University—a thrilling reminder of the band's onstage energy, combining polished pop hooks with raw emotional charge. CD4 digs even deeper with 21 unreleased tracks, including demos, previously unheard songs, and an aborted single (‘Baby Raven Mane’), offering a rare insight into the evolution of a band poised between pop stardom and deeper creative experimentation.

The final disc gathers Paul King’s 1987 solo album ‘Joy', produced by Dan Hartman (James Brown, Tina Turner), now joined by a wealth of era-defining 12" mixes and B-sides. Tracks like ‘I Know’, ‘Follow My Heart’, and ‘Love – Pride And Brutality’ reflected a bold new sound, fusing late-80s dancefloor sensibilities with Paul’s singular vocal style.

This collection prioritises completeness and authenticity, with many tracks making their CD debut or emerging from the vaults for the very first time. The 5-disc set comes housed in an attractive clamshell box with individual wallets and features a booklet containing a newly penned memoir-style essay by Paul King himself—bringing personal context to this definitive document of King’s creative journey.

Tracklist:
DISC ONE
STEPS IN TIME + BONUS TRACKS
1.  FISH
2.  LOVE AND PRIDE
3.  AND AS FOR MYSELF
4.  TROUBLE
5.  WON’T YOU HOLD MY HAND NOW
6.  UNITY SONG
7.  CHERRY
8.  SOUL ON MY BOOTS
9.  I KISSED THE SPIKEY FRIDGE
10.  FISH (REPRISE)
11.  LOVE & PRIDE (EXTENDED MIX) (BONUS TRACK)
12.  WON’T YOU HOLD MY HAND NOW (ALTERNATIVE 7” VERSION) (BONUS TRACK) +*
13.  SOUL ON MY BOOTS (RUB A DUB MIX) (BONUS TRACK)
14.  WON’T YOU HOLD MY HAND NOW (THE MAGNIFICENT 12” MIX) (BONUS TRACK)
15.  LOVE & PRIDE (DUB MIX) (BONUS TRACK)
16.  WON’T YOU HOLD MY HAND NOW (85 REASONS TO HOLD HANDS MIX) (BONUS TRACK)
 
DISC TWO
BITTER SWEET + BONUS TRACKS
1.  ALONE WITHOUT YOU
2.  PLATFORM ONE
3.  I CRINGED I DIED I FELT HOT
4.  (KFAD) WAIT FOR NO-ONE
5.  2 M.B.
6.  THESE THINGS
7.  THE TASTE OF YOUR TEARS
8.  TORTURE
9.  SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN BUDDHAS
10.  MIND YER TOES
11.  TORTURE (SINGLE VERSION) (BONUS TRACK)
12. ALONE WITHOUT YOU (CLUB MIX) (BONUS TRACK)
13.  THE TASTE OF YOUR TEARS (BREAKER HEART MIX) (BONUS TRACK)
14.  TORTURE (P.F. EXTENDED MIX) (BONUS TRACK)
15. ALONE WITHOUT YOU (STREET MIX) (BONUS TRACK)
 
DISC THREE
LIVE AT STRATHCLYDE UNIVERSITY 1985
1.  ALONE WITHOUT YOU +*
2.  TROUBLE +*
3.  KINGS FOR A DAY +*
4.  TORTURE +*
5.  AND AS FOR MYSELF
6.  SOUL ON MY BOOTS +*
7.  WON’T YOU HOLD MY HAND NOW +*
8.  SUGAR CANDY MOUNTAIN BUDDHAS +*
9.  I KISSED THE SPIKEY FRIDGE +*
10.  UNITY SONG +*
11.  CRAZY PARTY +*
12.  LOVE & PRIDE +*
13.  FISH (REPRISE)
14.  DON’T STOP +*
15.  WON’T YOU HOLD MY HAND NOW (ENCORE)
16.  LOVE & PRIDE (ENCORE)+*
 
DISC FOUR
RARITIES & UNRELEASED DEMOS
1.  BABY RAVEN MANE (UNRELEASED SINGLE) +*
2.  SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN (UNRELEASED B- SIDE) +*
3.  BABY RAVEN MANE (DEMO) +*
4.  SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN (DEMO) +*
5.  IF I HAD YOU (DEMO) +*
6.  LOVE HAS LET YOU DOWN (DEMO) +*
7.  TEN (DEMO) +*
8.  MAN FOR ALL SEASONS (DEMO) +*
9.  CAN’T HELP MYSELF (DEMO) +*
10.  PLAY THAT SONG AGAIN (DEMO) +*
11.  HOLLOW TALK (DEMO) +*
12. AT THE END OF THE DAY (DEMO) +*
13.  LET’S FIND A HOME (DEMO) +*
14.  ROCK TRASH GO (DEMO) +*
15.  SOME RISKS ARE WORTH TAKING (DEMO) +*
16.  GLORY’S GOAL (DEMO) +*
17.  SOMEDAY (DEMO) +*
18.  BUILDING (DEMO) +*
19.  THE FIRST LOVES KISS (DEMO) (SHORT VERSION) +*
20.  TAKE A CHANCE ON ME (DEMO) +*
21.  IN THE HEAT OF THE MORNING (DEMO) +*
 
DISC FIVE
PAUL KING: JOY + BONUS TRACKS
1.  FOLLOW MY HEART
2.  WHEN YOU SMILE
3.  I KNOW
4.  PASS ON BY
5.  SO BRUTUAL
6.  STAR
7.  IT’S UP TO YOU
8.  ONE TOO MANY HEARTACHES
9.  SLOW MOTION
10.  SOME RISKS
11.  GLORY’S GOAL
12.  FOLLOW MY HEART (SINGLE VERSION) (BONUS TRACK)
13.  I KNOW (FRESH MIX) (BONUS TRACK) +
14.  I KNOW (INSTANT MAGIC MIX) (BONUS TRACK) +
15.  FOLLOW MY HEART (12” HEARTBEAT MIX) (BONUS TRACK) +
16.  LOVE – PRIDE AND BRUTALITY (12”) (BONUS TRACK)
17.  BRUTALITY (BONUS TRACK) +
 
+ denotes appearing on CD for the first time and * denotes previously unreleased

Label: Cherry Pop
Released: 2025