one of this years birthday presents was the new Kaiser Chiefs album "Yours Truly, Angry Mob".
It is growing on me and there is no doubt that the single "Ruby" is catchy, but it just isn't as edgy as their first album. I suppose I shouldn't really be surprise - in my opinion a band's first album is often one of their (if not THE) best, and this a subject that I have blogged about before. The Kaisers first album "Employment" had a raw, gritty feel to it. It was fresh and unusal, and came directly from their experiences of real life and the streets of Britain. With this new one they have attempted to recapture some of that, but of course it was never going to be as raw because for a start they have been exposed to the full force of the music industry/media circus and all that goes with it. They have had money, fame, accolade. It's enough to make anyone lose their edge and sure enough this album has very little of the gritty sound that characterised their first. Although it does shine through on a couple of tracks.
It's not that I want a band to stay the same, that would be incredibly boring. Everyone needs to be allowed to grow and change artistically and spiritually. I just worry that sometimes a band's second outing albumwise can lack the artistic integrity of the first. Probably due in part to external pressures from management, record companies etc. Roll on the third, when they are more relaxed with fame....
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