Heroes to Zeros

Heroes to Zeros is the third and final studio album by The Beta Band, released in 2004. It was produced by The Beta Band and mixed by Nigel Godrich.

The cover illustration was created by comic book writer and artist Kaare Andrews. The Beta Band logo for the album was created by comic book artist Dave McCaig, later to be reused on The Best of the Beta Band.

The song "Liquid Bird" features a sample of "Painted Bird" by Siouxsie and the Banshees.

Mason later said, "We shouldn't have produced it ourselves, and if you think we did a bad job of producing it, we made an even worse job mixing it. We presented it to the label, and they immediately handed the whole thing over to Nigel Godrich to mix."

Reception
The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing
All tracks written by Steve Mason, John Maclean, Richard Greentree, and Robin Jones.
 * 1) "Assessment" – 4:34
 * 2) "Space" – 4:00
 * 3) "Lion Thief" – 3:27
 * 4) "Easy" – 2:32
 * 5) "Wonderful" – 4:39
 * 6) "Troubles" – 2:34
 * 7) "Out-Side" – 4:06
 * 8) "Space Beatle" – 3:40
 * 9) "Rhododendron" – 1:36
 * 10) "Liquid Bird" – 3:23
 * 11) "Simple" – 3:47
 * 12) "Pure For" – 3:55

Additional musicians

 * "Assessment" brass section
 * Pete Fry – trombone
 * Neil Martin – trumpet
 * Pete Gainey – saxophone


 * "Simple" and "Troubles" strings section
 * Dominic Pecher – cello
 * Alex Lyon – viola
 * Ben Lee – violin
 * Ruston Pomeroy – violin

United Kingdom

 * released 12 April 2004
 * CD 1 REG102CD : "Assessment" / "Shrek"
 * CD 2 REG102CDS : "Assessment" / "Shrek" / "Assessment" (C Swing's bootleg mix) / "Assessment" (video)
 * 12" CHEMST21 : "Assessment" / "Shrek" / "Assessment" (C Swing's bootleg mix)

United States

 * released 18 May 2004
 * CD ASW 49063 : "Assessment" / "Shrek" / "Assessment" (C Swing's bootleg mix) / "Assessment" (video)
 * 12" ASW 48755 : "Assessment" / "Shrek" / "Assessment" (C Swing's bootleg mix)

United Kingdom

 * released 12 July 2004
 * CD 1 REG110CD : "Out-Side" (radio edit) / "Out-Side" (Roman Nose remix)
 * CD 2 REG110CDS : "Out-Side" (radio edit) / "Out-Side" (Roman Nose remix) / "Out-Side" (Depth Charge remix) / "Out-Side" (video)
 * 12" REG110 : "Out-Side" (radio edit) / "Out-Side" (Roman Nose remix)