So, the way this is gonna work is, I’ll give my general impressions of an album, along with a few highlights/lowlights. Barn burners are, just that: songs that make you want to sing along at the top of your lungs with a beer in each hand. Piss-break songs, on the other hand, are the ones that you hear the band start up at a concert and you use as an opportune moment to hit the bathroom and release some beer back into the wild.
Since this is my first go at this, I’m going to go through a few albums that have already been out a few months, but that have been in regular rotation on my iPod recently. Bear with me. We’ll start with the Kings of Leon’s latest release, Only By the Night.
Previous albums you have to own: Youth and Young Manhood, Aha Shake Heartbreak, Because of the Times
I have a soft spot in my heart for the Kings of Leon. They’re one of the bands that I discovered early on in their careers and have been following ever since. Bands like that tend to give me a feeling of ownership, so when they do blow up, it’s like watching a kid grow. I’ve been on the bandwagon since their first major album, when practically nobody knew who they were in the States, but they were huge in Europe. I’ve seen them live at least 6 times, including recently back in November, and every time they kick my ass. They play the kind of dirty, rollicking, garage-rock songs that make me want to get drunk and howl at the moon.
The new album, Only By the Night, is generally good. KoL have evolved a bit since their first album, but the most recent change in the new album is a bit of a more radio-friendly sound. The songs on this album and its predecessor, Because of the Times, are more polished than their earlier work. This comes partly from the fact that some of the songs are a bit slower paced compared to some of their frantic earlier albums, and partly because the lyrics are actually intelligible this time around. KoL’s lead singer, Caleb Followill, is a student of Eddie Vedder’s Yellow Ledbetter school of singing, so it’s tough to decipher what’s he singing on a lot of their previous work. That being said, the bits and pieces that you catch and can figure out are usually clever, insightful, and unapologetically sexual, so I kind of like the mystery.
Even with the slightly different sound, KoL is better at writing and playing a rock song than most bands out right now. At their cleanest, KoL are still far dirtier than any of the mainstream acts. They can rock a grungy southern-rock tune or a sweeping arena sing-along as well as anyone. This album features a bit of both, which is a pretty nice balance. If you like that sort of thing, you’ll like this album. In my opinion, there isn’t a truly bad song on it.
Barn Burners(s): Closer, Sex on Fire, Use Somebody
Piss-break Song(s): Revelry
Best lyric(s): “A choke and a gag, she spit up and come back for more” – I Want You
Rating: 4 1/2 peppers
