Kaiser Chiefs: Your's Truly, Angry Mob - by Claire The Karma Whore
There is definitely something wrong with me. I invent stuff in my head all the time, take the Kaiser Chiefs and The Killers for example. In my head they are fighting for top position, bestest band if you will. Is it wrong that I make little men figures of both bands and stage a small, but bloody war on my dining room table??
After they both released their debut albums, it was neck and neck. "Employment" and "Hot Fuss" both equally superb and scrummy. So The Killers laid their cards on the table first and released their second album "Sam's Town". They went all in, and lost everything, I found "Sam’s Town" an average album at best.
So up step The Kaiser Chiefs, I have been given a copy of their new offering "Yours Truly, Angry Mob" by a panda I know and who stalks me via the internet.
Let the battle commence............
Brandon was ready...
Well it starts well, first track is the first single to be released from the album "Ruby". Classic Kaiser Chiefs, exactly the sort of wonderfully melodic, catchy tune we come to expect from the Leodensian geniuses. I swear it's almost magical, great video too.
Why do I only fancy Ricky when he wears eyeliner?..........
Anyway, I digress, The angry mob is up next. I love this track, it's a piece of lyrical gorgeousness, and it stomps along nicely then builds to an angry finale. This is one of my favourite tracks, and a possible single methinks. Not least because of the line "And get a shopping basket wrapped round your head".
Why is Peanut called Peanut??
The Kaisers were ready...
We haven't been short changed either, there are thirteen tracks for me to sink my teeth into. I always think if you get an album these days with more than ten or eleven tracks it's a bonus. My boys certainly have been busy, and I’ve got something to say about all of them..........
I want to lick Ricky’s face............
"Heat dies down" No fucking idea what Ricky is singing about, no matter. Ricky could sing my local bus time table and it would still sound better than anything on "Sam’s Town". "Highroyds", not to be confused with pile cream, though that’s what it sounds like. Very much in the same vein as "Saturday Night" on Employment. It's a singing, dancing, fighting song, lots of "Woooo Wooo's" from Ricky. This is Kaiser Chief perfection.
Why do Ricky’s clothes look like they have been shrunk??
Ricky moved in with his sword of truth...
"Love’s not a competition (But I’m winning)" Slowing down the tempo a notch or two here, this, I guess is as close to a ballad as The Kaisers will get, no fucking argument from me, cant fault it. "Thank you very much" and it never fails to amaze me how these guys can take a page of fairly basic lyrics, and transform it into a decent track. Talented fucking sods.
"I can do it without you" is my favourite track on the album, maybe because it strikes a chord personally with me at the moment. It has the sort of lyrics that can be applied to a thousand different situations, and still fit perfectly. Pure gold. "My kind of guy" reminds me of "I predict a riot". Does not sound like it, but has the same underlying feeling of some darker meaning to the lyrics. Quite sinister, oh to be able to get inside their minds when they create this stuff, I’m so not fucking worthy.
Ricky, Ricky, Ricky, do you, do you, do you?
Victory for the Kaisers! Hurrah! Though Nick was upset he didn't use his traffic cone of pain...
"Everything is average nowadays". Sounds way too much like "Everyday I love you.." when it starts, and doesn't stop sounding like it. This I believe is the next single, released May 21st. "Boxing Champ" is the only track on the album I could live without, doesn’t quite fit. And I think it may be Nick’s vocals, either that or Ricky has turned into Mark Owen overnight.............
"Learnt my lesson well" wicked intro, bloody good song. "Try your best" is not a song to listen to when you have been dumped/drinking/or had very, very bad sex, this track will not benefit you at all in these situations. Apart from that, it's not half bad. "Retirement" is what The Killers should now consider, cracking track, a suitable ending to a fantastic album.
Brandon’s Playmobil figure is now lying bleeding on my dining room table, the rest of the band are nuked to smithereens. The Kaiser Chiefs are now running a victory lap around my fruit bowl. Never has the world of popular music seen such a bloody, torrid battle (OK, the gherkin vs. atomic bomb one was equally torrid) But they have managed the impossible, a second album that is better than the first, People, I believe it may be the year of the Kaiser.
Yours truly, not very angry, but slightly mental, Karma Whore.