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Kings Of Leon - Only By The Night
The Followills are coming!! The Followills are coming!! Arriving hot on the heels of it’s predecessor, last years ‘Because of The Times’, the Kings of Leon have returned with ‘Only By The Night’. If ‘Because of The Times’ dropped subtle hints that touring with Dylan and U2 was a mistake however, this one confirms it.
‘Closer’ the splendidly atmospheric um, opener, contains lines like ‘She took my heart, I think she took my soul.’ You can almost picture Bob standing off mike, arms folded, looking suitably impressed.
‘Crawl’ is an odd one. The more I hear it, the less I like it. Great, Led Zeppelin like riff, although it seems they forgot to bring a song with it.
First single ‘Sex on Fire’, however is wonderful. It would have slotted on to ‘A Ha Shake Heartbreak’ easily, and it might have even jostled with ‘The Bucket’ for the most attention. Have to say the chat up lines have gone downhill, mind.
‘Use Somebody’. Well, it’s an anthem. The tours with U2 are really beginning to show now, as the riff is something The Edge could do in his sleep. Herein lies the problem. They’ve lost their best asset; their facial hair. Just kidding. They’ve lost their priceless individuality. I mean this was a band to treasure. ‘Use Somebody’ is a pretty good song by the way. It’s just not what you might envisage from them.
‘Revelry’ on the other hand is horrific. It finds the album stuck in a mid paced rut. ‘All the while I was dealing with Revelry’, squawks Caleb. Really? You wouldn’t bloody think it, listening to this one!
‘17’ is (intentionally) laugh out loud funny. The chorus of ‘Oh, she’s only 17’ a real treat, as on the last syllable, Caleb’s voice takes on a falsetto-her-dads-gonna-kill-me-2-in-the-morning-confessional vibe. It’s always a pleasure to see a band playing with their own dirty, grubby mythology.
‘Notion’ Ah, that’s better. Kings of Leon, old school. Glorious guitar riffs, herculean drumming, and a great chorus; ‘Don’t knock it! Don’t knock it anymore! Wooahhh!’ What’s he talking about? Who cares?
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- Kings Of Leon
- Only By The Night (2008)
- Category: Album
- Label: Columbia Records
- Reviewed by: bobbins
- Published on: 06 Oct 2008
- Comments: 0
- Beat Surrender Rating:
Weblinks
Add to favouritesOn ‘Be Somebody’ the drumming lifts them out of the doldrums again, before we get to the terrific closer; ‘Cold Desert’. And if that aint a Dylanesque title, what is? It’s an excellent ending, the band sound like they’re playing through thick fog. Brilliantly they end it…and then come back. (You want more? Ok then.)
Overall though, it’s a mixed bag, and sad to say the least good album of their careers (I hesitate to say worse). It’s still an album a lot of other bands would kill for mind
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