187 of 201 people found the following review helpful:
The Kings
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,...
17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
Great start but fades away
I have all three previous Kings Of Leon albums and feel the first two albums - Youth and Young Manhood and A-ha Shake Heartbreak had moments of genuine quality but were very much over hyped by the British Music Press and indeed by several KOL fans. Because of The Times though is a great record. Anyway, after hearing lead single from this album "Sex on Fire" and "Crawl" on...
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.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
I simply believe that this is their most musically accomplished album to date. I haven't been overly keen on their previous efforts, feeling that their sound was a little contrived.
I'm a fan of progressive rock and metal, Tool, The Mars Volta, Sigur Ros, Exlosions in the Sky etc...I am not a pop fan and thoroughly disagree that this is some sort of pop/rock 'sellout' album. It is beautifully written, expressive and emotional.
Well done KOL, this is the first one I've actually bought! The music also stands out live compared with their old music, this is a really positive progression for the band.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
This is probably my most anticipated album of 2008. 'Because of the Times' sent Kings of Leon deservedly into the big league and is one of my albums of the decade so far, and after seeing them storm through their Glastonbury set this year, they really were looking like a world beating band. I even got to hear Crawl and Manhatten during their set and knew that if the rest of the album lived up to these two songs it was going to be something very special indeed.
Unfortunately the rest of the album doesn't quite live up to this, but its still a corker. If you listen to 'Youth and Young Manhood' you would think that they had been written by two seperate bands. Gone is the Rolling Stone-esque grooves of their first two outings, and in comes the stadium filling epics.
They do rock out on a couple of songs, 'Crawl' and 'Sex is on Fire' have plenty of energy, however this is about as uptempo as the album gets, the rest is about atmosphere, big choruses and epic guitars. Unfortuntately it seems they might have forgotten how young they still are and are affraid to let it all hang out, because thats what Kings do best. They are a pure rock'n'roll band. No frills. If their next album returns to a more rockier feel then this album will be a gem amongst their back catalogue, however if they stick with this direction they will lose a lot of fans.
Basically, the songs are amazing, the production is sublime, the musicianship is awesome, the album is brilliantly crafted, but it ain't the Kings of Leon we all have come to know and love.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
I have all three previous Kings Of Leon albums and feel the first two albums - Youth and Young Manhood and A-ha Shake Heartbreak had moments of genuine quality but were very much over hyped by the British Music Press and indeed by several KOL fans. Because of The Times though is a great record. Anyway, after hearing lead single from this album "Sex on Fire" and "Crawl" on the KOL Myspace site before release, I was excited about this forthcoming release from the Kings.
Unfortunatley, having had a taster beforehand of these two tracks, I was disappointed as the rest of the album ultimatley does not then live up to the quality of these two tracks, although opener "Closer" is an excellent song as well. After the first three tracks I was thinking this is brilliant so far. "Use Somebody" comes up next and this is also a good song before the pace drops a little with "Manhattan." Without going through all the rest of the individual tracks, my overall feeling on this record is that it starts of brilliant but then dips badly through the middle without ever really recovering.
So, all in all, it's still a good record and most people will probably enjoy it but it certainly does not live up to the hype that surrounds it - in my opinion of course! If there was a half mark I'd give it 3.5 out of 5.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
I was a little disappointed by the last album from Kings Of Leon. Whilst Aha Shake Heartbreak had lived in my stereo for quite a while and provided an energised soundtrack to housework (yeah, I know, rock 'n' roll man) Because Of The Times never really grabbed me. Whilst Nathan Followill's drumming was showcased brilliantly his brother Caleb's distinctive voice, which has always been one thing to divide people, was beginning to grate slightly. Some high profile festival appearances have helped them to achieve number one with the first single from this new album and it's a fair indication of the way things have gone. As the crowds get bigger so have the songs and this album has big venues in mind. Whether that's a good thing or not will depend on how you feel about stadium rock.
The album actually gets off to a great start. Closer sounds more like a track to end an album, spooky sounding guitars build a middle-of-the-night atmosphere which suits this tale of a vampire in love. Crawl is a track which has plenty of religious or political imagery -'The reds and the whites and abused/The crucified USA/I said the prophecy unfolds/All hell is surely on its way' -and a sound reminiscent of Radiohead (except with a big bluesy guitar solo). Then we have Sex On Fire which is a tight little number. Enough said. Then it all starts to go a bit Coldplay on Use Somebody which has the chanted 'woah-oh' backing vocals which have blighted Coldplay's recent stadium orientated rock. It all becomes a little less interesting from then on. Not bad, just not great. There's the worrying appearance of tubular bells on 17 which makes it sound like a christmas single or something by The Darkness, and a similarly portentous piano line on Notion. I'm sure these play great to a big live crowd but it's not exactly moving things forward. To be fair, Caleb's vocals are spot on, sounding far more heartfelt, and keeping your interest when the actual playing doesn't. Whilst creating an album of crowd pleasing tunes might have been the idea I'm not sure that comparisons to U2 or Coldplay will be what they were hoping for. It certainly wasn't what I was hoping for.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
First things first, I'm a huge KOL fan and rate all of their first 3 albums 10/10. That said, I was very unsure about their last album Because Of The Times when it came out, but it proved to be a grower and produced some of my favourite Kings songs with Charmer, On Call, Black Thumbnail, Fans, Camaro & Arizona.
Because Of The Times was a bigger more intelligent sound than their first 2 albums, but at it's heart the KOL rock sound remained, in some places like Charmer stronger than ever.
Some time ago I heard someone mention that their new album Only By The Night was going to be a development of that epic hard rock sound, and upon hearing Sex On Fire I was reasonably satisfied that that was the way this new album would go. Further still, Crawl was exactly the sort of thing I wanted to hear, a superbly gritty chugging track with an awesome rasping lyric from Caleb.
HOWEVER....(cue sound of stylus being forcefully removed from vinyl)
this is the gem on an otherwise uninspiring album, and that's incredibly hard for me to say!
Having bought my copy this morning, and given it 2 dedicated listens, I can't help feeling like the brothers Followill have gone a bit soft in their "old" age.
The flavour of Use Somebody sums up the album's feel pretty well. Reflective, soulful, meandering, dare I say it..... cheesy. The majority of tracks on this album sound like some incidental tune you might hear as the credits roll at the end of some American rom-com.
It's not bad music by any stretch, everything is still very well put together and engineered. It will go to number one in the album chart, as has Sex On Fire in the singles chart, and that is down to the more generic commercial sound. For me though, the beauty of KOL has always been their brilliance through originality and lack of compromise.
But this is not the KOL of old, and if like me you love the frantic sound of previous albums and were blown away by their legendary appearance at Glasto in the summer, expect Only By The Night to be something of a comedown.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Bought the new album yesterday, and although there are a few good songs, I'm very disappointed with it. I became a huge fan of KOL when my friend lent me Youth AYM, and I bought it immediately after listening to it. I hate the way they have been changed into a band I don't even recognise anymore, there clean cut image and slow bland songs DO NOT do them any justice. Yes, they might be pulling in new fans who will like this album, but for the fans who have been there since the beginning then they must feel let down by this album. I'm loosing my faith in them, but at least I have the first 2 albums to reminisce on the good old days!!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Kings of Leon, no words can describe their greatness so I wont bore everyone with how much I love them, and up until the moment I bought 'Only By the Night' I had nothing negative to say about them...
This album is undoubtebly a let down...
The first half is full of Aha Shake floor filling classics, Sex on fire, Crawl and tracks that could chill a snow cone. However, the second half is although beautifull and atmospheric, a dull let down. All the raw dirty up-beat sole, got lost amongst a tsunami of reverb....
I hold out hope for Kings, they have been and always will be my favourite band but the next album is crucial....go back to your roots my friends!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
My musical tastes have always been eclectic, hence I tend to buy on a whim, or because of a sound, like the Kings of Leon's current NO 1 single. This album's a bit of a gem. It starts off well and then just gets better, and the single is, in my opinion, nowhere near the best track on the CD. Indeed, my two favourites are the last two, Be Somebody, and Cold Desert, followed, a close third, by Use Somebody.
So Kings Of Leon fans, should I look at the back catalogue if I love this one?
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
As a KOL fan I didn't want to listen to the reviews until I heard this album for myself but I hate to say the critics are right! All for bands re-inventing their sound but this for me was too far.
The first 3 tracks are promising but already you'll realise this is not the Kings Of Leon you've grown to love through their first 3 albums. Then the 4th track "Use Somebody" really hammers the fact home with over produced almost soft rock/pop vocals that wouldn't be out of place in the closing credits of your favourite 80's movie. And after that, it's slow, generic, and just washes over you with no hooks or melodies that really make any lasting impression.
Great lounge music but if you've ever seen them live you'll wonder how they'll squeeze any of the latter part of this album into one of their sets sandwiched rather uncomfortably between "Slow Night, So Long" and "Fans"!
Like I say, still a massive fan and I think others likeminded will feel the same. Just not what I expected
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Amazon Home
