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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Think of an accessible mix of The Strokes, The White Stripes and Tapes & Tapes, with a bit of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Neutral Milk Hotel thrown in for good measure, and you'll more or less have the sound of Cali indie rockers Cold War Kids nailed. One of the latest blog-hyped bands to have made their reputation via word of mouth and a series of ebullient live shows, the quartet finally present a debut album, Robbers & Cowards. Melding subtle blues motifs, indie rock and Southern soul with a range of ambitious lyrical themes (religion, death, alcoholism, delivered by vocalist Nathan Willett, who sounds like Jack White, Alex Ounsworth and Julian Casablancas rolled into one), the band do a good job early on with infectious, intelligent tracks like "We Used To Vacation," "Hang Me Up To Dry" and "Tell Me In The Morning." As the album wears on however, Willett's warbles sound increasingly unconvincing and the band seem to run out of ideas. A great live experience they may be, but the disproportionate number of fillers here makes for a disappointing studio profile. --Paul Sullivan
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
this album is, in a word, fantastic. there is something of a touch of genius here....it's ever so different from all the current bands out there who are trying to sound new whilst just sounding the same as everyone else. I would perhaps say that this band are the artists that the likes of Kasabian, Razorlight, Editors, etc wished they could be.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
`Robbers & Cowards', Cold War Kids' debut album is a heady mix of angular indie rock, stomping piano blues, deep-South drawl and Strokes-style New York attitude. Sounds like a mess, but the sheer enthusiasm here carries it through.
Lyrically, the album deals with alcoholism, street fights and life in hospitals and prisons, giving it a Southern USA feeling. The band plays with great energy and are not afraid to use sudden lurches in tempo and pace which work well.
Particular stand-out tracks are the opening two, especially `Hang Me Out to Dry' with its echoing guitar motif and strident vocals, but the record is strong throughout.
On the downside, Nathan Williett's vocals, whilst full of passion and power, do grate occasionally as they are high-pitched and a little atonal, but don't let this put you off as `Robbers & Cowards' is a very impressive debut..
Lyrically, the album deals with alcoholism, street fights and life in hospitals and prisons, giving it a Southern USA feeling. The band plays with great energy and are not afraid to use sudden lurches in tempo and pace which work well.
Particular stand-out tracks are the opening two, especially `Hang Me Out to Dry' with its echoing guitar motif and strident vocals, but the record is strong throughout.
On the downside, Nathan Williett's vocals, whilst full of passion and power, do grate occasionally as they are high-pitched and a little atonal, but don't let this put you off as `Robbers & Cowards' is a very impressive debut..
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I'd heard the single Hang Me Up To Dry (hauntingly beautiful!) and immediately pounced and bought the album the day it came out and I've not been able to stop listening to it!!!It really,really draws me in to listen to it! What with a few disappointing follow-up albums in the last few months with my fave bands(you know who you are-shame!) it's good to hear a debut album where I honestly don't feel like skipping forward track after track to get to the very few 'good ones'!
The startling thing about the album is that each song appears to grab and throw you into a story set in (?rural) america with v basic,evocative thundering drums, pianos, loud bass and the fragile and sometimes unreachable high notes reached by the lead singer, Nathan Willett: you can imagine yourself there!!From the all-too-true view of the patient in Hospital Beds to the recovering alcoholic on the opener We Used To Vacation-this is powerful stuff...
Theres a bit of americana/Jack White/stripped down but powerful- even film noir-about the whole album. Apart from the above mentioned standout (and classic) tracks, highlights must include Saint John with its stop-start brilliance and raw drums:the jangliness of Rubidoux: the ride through a rockabilly start to not so rockabilly end of Hair Down.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was a sleeper hit of the year.....it really deserves to be!
The startling thing about the album is that each song appears to grab and throw you into a story set in (?rural) america with v basic,evocative thundering drums, pianos, loud bass and the fragile and sometimes unreachable high notes reached by the lead singer, Nathan Willett: you can imagine yourself there!!From the all-too-true view of the patient in Hospital Beds to the recovering alcoholic on the opener We Used To Vacation-this is powerful stuff...
Theres a bit of americana/Jack White/stripped down but powerful- even film noir-about the whole album. Apart from the above mentioned standout (and classic) tracks, highlights must include Saint John with its stop-start brilliance and raw drums:the jangliness of Rubidoux: the ride through a rockabilly start to not so rockabilly end of Hair Down.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was a sleeper hit of the year.....it really deserves to be!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Robbers and Cowards
`Robbers and Cowards' is a good rock n roll album from Cold War Kids and from the album opener `We Used To Vacation' you get a good feel of what is on offer here. Read more
Published on 30 Mar 2010 by Spider Monkey
Great debut
I first started to know about Cold War Kids after hearing Hang Me Up To Dry which I thought was superb, and then I heard Hospital Beds which I assumed was off a later album,... Read more
Published on 7 Dec 2009 by M. P. Wainika
Listen Hard
A struggle. To sum it up. Likened to bands such as The French Kicks, Jeff Buckley and The White Stripes this album should have been a sure fire winner. Read more
Published on 1 Oct 2007 by M. Speller
Stunning
I decided to buy this album after hearing the excllent Hang Me Up To Dry and the rest of the album is just as brilliant. Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2007 by G. L. Williams
V. Good.
I agree with Amazons view. A great start with four or five great songs. Most notably the current single. After that it fades.
Published on 7 July 2007 by sknarfr
wow!!
jeff buckley is alive and well and living in this album!!!
buy, listen and enjoy. by far the best debut release in a long, long time.
buy, listen and enjoy. by far the best debut release in a long, long time.
Published on 30 Jun 2007 by Squadron Leader Gibbon
angular banjos
these days everybody gets hyped beyond belief and when you listen to the next great thing, you usually find they are all the same, average, weak, with a... Read more
Published on 28 Jun 2007 by Andrew Ferguson
Do yourselves a favour, and get some ears !
What strikes me about below reviews is how (too) much it relates to supposed recent influences (I mean, The 'Stripes or 'Say Yeah ? Come On !!!). Read more
Published on 1 April 2007 by DIOONER
Okay for a debut, but in strong company
I agree with the main review that as a studio album it has a tendency to grate (mainly vocals) after a while. Read more
Published on 16 Mar 2007 by Kevo
Quality album from the US Indie band
Is it me or does anyone else think that on some of the tracks the lead singer sounds like the bloke from Turin Breaks?
Published on 15 Mar 2007 by K. P. Abbott
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