Here in the new millennium, band longevity and consistency are getting increasingly harder to come by. Groups like the Killers, the Strokes and Kaiser Chiefs each came out with impressive first albums only to go quickly downhill with their second and third. So far, there hasn\u2019t been a music act that has been able to maintain a level of success worth noting. It has been a spotty decade for music at best and there are no signs that it will get better any time soon. <\/p>\n
In the case of the Kaiser Chiefs, things couldn\u2019t have looked more promising than they did on their priceless debut album, Employment<\/i>. Produced by a pair of Stephens (Street and Harris), it is only a handful of truly remarkable albums to come out in the last 10 years. The Kaiser Chiefs\u2019 grasp of the pop formula and songcraft is what make them seem like music industry veterans rather than the newcomers they are. <\/p>\n
The first half of Employment <\/i>is especially strong. All the singles are right in line, from the static electricity shock of \u201cEveryday I Love You Less And Less\u201d to the full-on buzzsaw cut \u201cI Predict A Riot,\u201d both of which have hooks aplenty and a healthy dose of drunken English swagger. Not since the Sex Pistols has British punk sounded so fresh and exciting (with tremendous promise, I might add). It is so refreshing to hear an album where the musicians actually sound like they are actually having some fun in the studio. I mean, really, what is the point of getting into music if you don\u2019t enjoy it? <\/p>\n
Passion, energy and enthusiasm bleeds from every single corner of this debut album. The boys even strut their stuff on slower songs like \u201cModern Way,\u201d putting great emphasis on their British accents just for show. Actually, a ballad like \u201cYou Can Have It All\u201d would be a perfect fit for any pub in the UK.\u00a0 The same also can be said for \u201cTime Honoured Tradition,\u201d one of the rare drinking tunes where it\u2019s okay to be a little over the top. <\/p>\n
An interesting side note is the fact that Madonna\u2019s husband, film director Guy Ritchie, is a huge Kaiser Chiefs fan. At least he was until they turned down his offer to direct one of their music videos. Still, you can just picture him singing along to \u201cOh My God\u201d in his car or when he\u2019s out drinking with his pals. Another track sure to get the party going is the frenetic \u201cSaturday Night,\u201d although the Chiefs do more yelling than actual singing on that one. <\/p>\n
If you hear some Beach Boys-style harmonies thrown in for good measure, you would be right. There is even an homage to that group on \u201cCaroline, Yes,\u201d which is, of course, their own take on the Pet Sounds <\/i>classic \u201cCaroline No.\u201d <\/p>\n
Though the last song \u201cTeam Mate\u201d is a little weak, practically every song that comes before it is a winner. I particularly love \u201cNa Na Na Na Naa,\u201d a song where the Chiefs throw all caution to the wind and just go for it. The fact that they all sing in falsetto only adds to the track\u2019s campy flair. It has to be one of the most fun songs to come out this decade so far. Then there\u2019s \u201cWhat Did I Ever Give You,\u201d a melodic and memorable number mostly for its simplicity and straightforward presentation. Female listeners will probably like \u201cBorn To Be A Dancer\u201d best, despite the fact that the chorus is too bombastic than is perhaps necessary at that point of the record. <\/p>\n
So there you have it, a party album to rival Licensed To Ill <\/i>by the Beastie Boys and Dookie <\/i>by Green Day. Isn\u2019t it interesting that we can \u201cpredict a riot\u201d at least once every decade with an album that we can thrash, mosh and slam dance to? Contrary to popular belief, rock and roll is not dead, though we could certainly use more albums like Employment <\/i>to help in bolstering that assertion. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":28194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7674],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-40563","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kaiser-chiefs","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40563"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40563"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}