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Amazon.co.uk Review
Already on course to be one of the year's biggest sellers, Only By the Night has sealed Kings of Leon's unlikely position as Britain's favourite American rock band. The Followill brothers (and cousin) have always been tagged as part of a southern rock tradition of family bands such as the Allmans and Lynyrd Skynyrd, a label they vehemently refuted. But the skinny lads certainly looked like a classic rock act, even as they took musical inspiration from indie contemporaries The Strokes and eighties new wave acts such as The Cure and New Order. Only By the Night is effectively a sequel to 2006's terrific Because of the Times, their third record and the first where they nailed their own sound, a striking amalgam of bluesy vocals and post-punk primitivism. In comparison Only By the Night consolidates rather than advances their style. The appropriately incoherent "Sex on Fire", already a chart topping single, is catchy but sounds lightweight next to songs like the fierce "Crawl" and the stadia-ready "Cold Desert" and "Manhattan". The dissonant, almost amateurish "17" is most out of place, though Caleb Followill still bawls it with the same passion he brings to even the clumsiest couplet. More notable are several sparse romantic pleas that often borrow licks from classic Southern soul. The yearning "I Want You" is little more than its title, but it certainly convinces, while "Revelry" and the vulnerable "Use Somebody" show signs of impending maturity. Only By the Night's simplicity certainly has a wide appeal. --Steve Jelbert
Review
As if their towering headlining performance at Glastonbury wasn't enough, here comes the Southern-fried quartet's fourth album to prove once and for all that Kings Of Leon are now bona fide world-beaters.
In the context of a career arc this level of creativity makes perfect sense. Their sound has had a good five years to grow from post-adolescent indie to full-blown, manly stadium glory. All those U2 support slots have now been fed back into the machine. And, like U2, a timely change of production team (losing Ethan Johns but retaining Angelo Petraglia) brings a new focus. Nathan Followill's drums have to be one of the most perfect rock engines around at the moment. They never swamp a ticking grower like I Want You but still throw enough flourishes to push the songs into the red. Meanwhile cousin Matthew's guitar scorches the mix like a flamethrower. Filled with string-bending clichés; but cliches of the most enjoyable sort.
The one thing that really shows the band's confidence is their willingness to slow down and really attack these songs. Caleb claims that medication's effects influenced the writing and indeed, the droning insistence can be almost hallucinatory. Interestingly the first single, Sex On Fire - returning them to the fire and brimstone, gothic territory of their peripatetic father's preacher roots - is the one track that comes closest to the Strokes-aping sound that held them back in the past. But Caleb's muzzy, straining voice pushes them beyond arch post-modern irony from the big city. In interviews Caleb's talked about the boys tackling their ''roots'' again, and this album wears its colours proudly.
The U2 analogies don't stop there. Manhattan, another medium-paced stormer has the Edge's echo-fed lines running through it, albeit with more of the Kings' blues rock swagger. Obviously, the advantage of being American is that you can still believe that rock will save the world.
A minor mid-album lull, caused by perhaps too many slower numbers is broken by Be Somebody: a new wave-ish beauty that ends with a maelstrom borne on the back of Jared's rubbery bass. It only remains for Cold Desert to usher us out of the emotional devastation of this very secular three-chord church, swelling and returning at its end with optimistic verve.
Never overstaying its welcome, Only By The Night is the album that the world's been waiting for the Kings Of Leon to make. --Chris Jones
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
238 of 256 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Kings,
By
This review is from: Only by the Night (Audio CD)
Firstly, I feel I should say that after years of buying from Amazon, and hundreds of purchases later, I have never felt compelled to leave a review. With this album, that changes. It irritates me slightly that many of the previous reviews seem to be negative, mostly written by the 'die hard fans' that believe their opinion rocks, and seemingly that the KOL should in fact, produce albums to simply suit them, and them alone. I've got all the KOL albums, yes, they are all very different in style but so they should be - i wouldn't be too happy if a group released album after album of the same old. In fact, if the albums were all along the same lines, I would imagine people will be moaning about that too. Perhaps, the critics should open their minds to the fact that the KOL have evolved. They've grown up, had a change of style, produced something different, and also probably gained a whole new set of fans in the long run. That's what a successful band does. So, to all the die hard fans who believe they've been personally ripped off and done over - the world doesn't revolve around you.
Rant over. This album is possibly the most influencial, easy on the ears, moving, inspiring, and just genuinely awesome piece of work i have ever c ome across. It's been playing in every single aspect of my life since the day it arrived. Caleb's vocals are unbelieveable. There isn't a remotely bad track on the album, although some are by far stand out winners. My personal faves are Manhattan, I Want You, and above all, Sex on Fire. It's an amazing track - sometimes you just find a song that does funny things to you...If you've read any of the reviews, and you're in any doubt at all as to if to buy this album or not, just buy it.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's not old kings of leon.... maybe that's why it is great!,
By Thackers (London, England) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Only by the Night (Audio CD)
I've the earlier two albums.... no doubt they contain moments of genius but they also have some weak and weird moments and some 'skippers', so I guess guys i'm not one of the faithful. But 1st listen of Only by the Night.... fantastic. Yes it is different, a bit more consistent in its accessibility, maybe mainstream.... whatever. Sometimes its wonderful when stuff takes it's time to grow on you and it becomes a bigger masterpiece because of it (I remember that with Faith no More and king for a day etc etc), but sometimes you are also happy to say "wow" on the 1st listen. I'm pretty happy today.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stunning,
By
This review is from: Only by the Night (Audio CD)
Its been a while since I've been able to put on an album from this genre and enjoy it as much as I enjoyed this one. I can honestly say every single song on the album is excellent and stands on its own, and thats rare to say especially at this time when there is so much rubbish coming out onto the scene, all of which sounds the same and is completely uninspiring. If you're going to buy just one album this year, this should definitely be it. Brilliant.
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