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Rating:
"Aha Shake Heartbreak" by Kings Of Leon is the follow-up to the good debut "Youth And Young Manhood", acclaimed by critics and objectively featuring excellent tracks like "Trani", "California Waiting" and especially "Red Morning Light".
To maintain continuity with the work done in the first LP, the Followills opted not to overturn the "magic formula" that brought so much success the first time around, and they return to the market with a single like "The Bucket", perfect in duration (two minutes and fifty-nine flat) and sound, indeed owing to the Strokes and the like but also splendidly catchy and nevertheless "suspiciously trendy".
Thankfully, K.O.L. aren't just about vintage guitars, and in the previous full length, they had already shown their capability by alternating upbeat drums and sharp guitars with beautiful, slow tracks steeped in the dirtiest seventies, where Caleb's voice could finally unleash its claws and scratch.
Here, they do it frankly in a less convincing manner, but that doesn't mean they are unsuccessful; "Milk", for instance, or the more straightforward "Day Old Blues", are good examples in this sense. Elsewhere, the "under three-minute rock 'n roll lesson" is well executed, especially in the amusing "Four Kicks" (a clear legacy from years of listening to Stones records in dad's car) and in the clearly Strokes-like "Velvet Snow" (the track that most recalls the modus operandi of the debut) and "King Of The Rodeo" (more deliberate and less instinctive, perhaps even more polished). The opener "Slow Night, So Long" is good but doesn’t reach the level of "Red Morning Light" (impossible) as it starts decisively but becomes too "messed up" towards the end, while the closing is entrusted to the dirty guitars of "Where Nobody Knows".
This "Aha..." is thus a good album, which confirms both the qualities and shortcomings expressed in the yet enjoyable debut and, by golly, it’s perfectly fine that way.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
05 Milk (04:00)
salty leave, salty leave
tell me the one about the friend you knew,
and the last good night that we toasted too.
salty leave,
stay for me, stay for me
we drank wine in the matinee
and the spotlight showed what i chased away
stay for me
she saw my comb over, her hourglass body
she had problems with drinking milk
and being school tardy
she'll loan you her toothbrush
she'll bartend you party
kill me, kill me
i called i called, but i cant get through
said he's on his own, but his own is you
kill me
she saw my comb over, her hourglass body
she had problems with drinking milk
and being school tardy
she'll loan you her toothbrush
she'll bartend you party
she saw my comb over, her hourglass body
she had problems with drinking milk
and being school tardy
she'll loan you her toothbrush
she'll bartend you party
06 The Bucket (02:55)
Wooooo!
I'll be the one to show you the way
You'll be the one to always complain
Three in the morning come-a bang bang bang
All out of fags and I just can't wait
Cancel the thing that I said I'd do
I don't feel comfortable talkin' to you
'Less you got the zipper fixed on my shoe
Then I'll be in the lobby drinking for two
Eighteen
Balding
Star
Golden
Falling
Hard
Look at the shakies
What's with the blush?
Fresh off the plane in my fuzzy rush
Everyone's gathered to idolize me
I hate the way you talk your Japanese scream
It's been too long since I left the shed
You kick the bucket and I'll swing my legs
Always remember the pact that we made
Too young to die but old isn't great
Eighteen
Balding
Star
Golden
Falling
Hard
I'm-a gonna show the way
I'm-a gonna show the way
I'm-a gonna show the way
Eighteen
Balding
Star
07 Soft (02:59)
I used to see you every day
used to see you every day
I danced around your folk and soul
i danced to all your fucking soul
i left you with your nose a bleedin'
and your toes a creepin' around
ahhh so mundane and incomplete
hand my down my pants and get me off this street
I'm passed out in your garden
i'm in I can't get off so soft
I'd pop myself in your body
I'd come into your party, but i'm soft
Behind the fringe of a whiskey high
mutiliating cat like eyes
and in your nose blood decadence
you try to drag me into your bohemian dancing
you paint my fingers and you paint my toes
you let your perfect nipple show
08 Razz (02:15)
Just like the girlies back at corner stone,
wash my bugle boy a watching my throne
sweet mutilations of a sold to nothing man,
lord have mercy shake is falling through your hand
razz the kid
because you love me im the chosen one,
these are the days to not be having no fun
i listen back to what you told me before,
just tell me where to come, ill knock down the door.
razz the kid
12 Rememo (03:22)
On the plane
On the plane
Off to see the city girls again
Only bringing what to carry on
So that you know I won't be long
Drippin beards as cold as hell
And the motherfuckers gonna go to jail
Honestly I can see
the giggling virgin overlookin me
Time to put together what they say
although it wouldn't matter anyway
drippin beards as cold as hell
and the motherfuckers gonna go to jail
This rememo is set for home
its personal but they need to know
I'm overdue another round
To gain control and take me down
You're all tied up as you should be
And I'll be cutting out naturally
Drippin beards as cold as jail
And the motherfuckers gonna go to hell
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