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| Only by the Night | 
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| Artist: Kings Of Leon
Label: Rca
Category: Music
List Price: $16.98
Buy New: $8.06
You Save: $8.92 (53%)
New (50) Used (9) from $8.06
Avg. Customer Rating:  75 reviews
Sales Rank: 54
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.5 x 4.9 x 0.4
MPN: 732712
UPC: 886973271223
EAN: 8869732712238
ASIN: B001C3KCSY
Release Date: September 23, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Closer | | • | Crawl | | • | Sex On Fire | | • | Use Somebody | | • | Manhattan | | • | Revelry | | • | 17 | | • | Notion | | • | I Want You | | • | Be Somebody | | • | Cold Desert |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Despite a wave of criticism asserting that Kings of Leon's fourth full-length is "too commercial," Only by the Night may be the closest thing to a pitch-perfect album to drop in 2008. Granted, Tennessee's band of brothers (and one first cousin) takes a turn for the heavily polished here, but what the album lacks in rough-edged raunch, it more than makes up for in earnestness and--yes--stunning beauty. From the opening notes of "Closer" to the listing balladry of "Cold Desert," Only by the Night hardly misses a beat. Highlights abound, particularly in the trading off of melodic lines between instruments, and in this regard, bassist Jared Followill is the album's quiet MVP. Above these gorgeous instrumentals, singer Caleb emotes with a dramatic grit that never loses its command. A model of melodic rock composition, arranged and produced with a warm, inviting veneer, and performed with aching sincerity, these 11 tracks coalesce into a sanguine whole that eclipses the band's much-discussed rock posturing and yields more with every play. A good band's great album, Only by the Night (finally) establishes Kings of Leon as a rock act that worthy of seriously sustained attention. --Jason Kirk
Album Description
Kings of Leon return with the release of their highly anticipated fourth album 'Only By The Night' on 22nd September through Columbia Records. 'Only By The Night' is a bold and expansive sonic statement that looks set to solidify Kings of Leon's position as one of the most important international acts of 2008 and beyond. It follows rapidly in the footsteps of the bands previous albums 'Youth And Young Manhood', 'Aha Shake Heartbreak' & 'Because Of The Times', which have quickly established them as one of the most prolific and acclaimed acts around.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 70 more reviews...
 4.5 Stars... Kings of Leon continue their trail-blazing ways September 23, 2008
19 out of 21 found this review helpful
It's only been a good year ago that Kings of Leon released their monster-sized album "Because of the Times", which ended up in my personal top 3 of the best albums of 2007. After releasing "Because of the Times", the band toured non-stop around the Americas and Europe, and so I was quite surprised to read a few months ago that a new album was already being finished for a Fall release. Here then comes the 4th studio album of Kings of Leon.
"Only By the Night" (11 tracks; 43 min.) continues the trail-blazing ways of "Because of the Times", if possible even more so. The radio singles "Crawl" and "Sex on Fire" are quite good but also a bit misleading, in the sense that there are a lot of epic "atmospheric" songs, with plenty of walls of (guitar) sounds. This band has become now more than ever an arena-sized band. The highlights for me include "Manhattan" (one of the tracks they played at their headlining show at Glastonbury earlier this summer in the UK), "17" (the days of the Beatles' innocent lines like "Well she was young and 17/Yeah you know what I mean" are long gone....), and the album closer "Cold Desert", but honestly I didn't hear any 'weak' tracks on here. The CD I bought came with a bonus live CD (7 tracks, 25 min.) from a performance of the band in April, 2007 at the Hammersmith Appolo in London, bringing 4 tracks from the then-new "Because of the Times" album, including a terrific "Fans" (a salute to the band's huge UK fan base), "My Party", and "Arizona", along with a couple of "Aha Shake Heartbreak" album tracks, just terrific. Seek it out if you can.
In all, "Only By the Night" is a great album. Is it as good as "Because of the Times"? Only time will tell: if I find myself playing this CD as much a year from now as I am still playing "Because of the Times", I will know the answer. Meanwhile, King of Leon's musical growth in just a matter of 4-5 years is simply amazing. "Youth and Young Manhood" and "Aha Shake Heartbreak" almost sound like they were made by a different band (don't ever call them the "Southern Strokes" again!). Last but not least, KoL are HUGE in Europe, particularly in the UK. I don't know whether they'll ever break as big here in the US, but certainly this album is better than 99% of the stuff released these days.
 Excellent September 23, 2008
19 out of 22 found this review helpful
Many bands that stick around for more than 1 or 2 albums seem (IMHO) to follow a trend with two identifiable characteristics: (1) change, and (2) increasing commercial appeal. I think the complaints that "these guys aren't the Kings of Leon they used to be" are tedious and based on a ridiculous expectation. It's going to happen (if the band is any good and not Pearl Jam), so get over it. I don't really care whether 10 or 1,000,000 other people want to listen to the album, or even whether a band was explicit in attempting to target a larger audience. The proper questions, it seems to me, are: Is is it good? Do I like listening to it? Is it going to stay in my car stereo for more than a few days? My answers to the first two are: Yes! and Yes! I can't answer the third yet, but if their last album is any indication... probably so.
Getting Closer October 9, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
In several recent reviews, I've read Only By the Night decried as being "too commercial" or "too polished" and "straying too far from the Kings' signature sound". After a few listens, I've got to disagree with all of the above. As for the popular commercial appeal of this record, there is perhaps only one rock radio friendly single on this album and it's already peaked. "Sex on Fire" has been the Kings' most successful single to date. It has also been their most controversial, as far as their "old" fans are concerned.
"Sex of Fire" may not be the most sophisticated song, lyrically or musically, but neither were the Stones' "Satisfaction" or Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire". It's just a darn good, darn catchy straight up rock 'n' roll song. Furthermore, it's no more commercial than their last album's first single, "On Call"- arguably more of a departure from the Kings' established, musically raw style. Why folks get upset when a nominal indie band has a successful single that gets significant airplay on corporate rock radio is something that I can't quite understand. This is not arena rock, in a pejorative sense, at least. The Kings have not become the American Coldplay.
Yes, Only By the Night is slightly more polished and perhaps more melodic, in a conventional sense, than the King's earlier albums, but it still features the King's musical trademarks: alternating rambling and cyclical song structures, non-virtuoso guitar solos (not necessarily a bad thing), and a truly unique and unaffected vocal style. The album isn't more commercial, it's more accessible. Yes, they've attempted to add a few sonic layers to several of the songs, Closer first and foremost among them. For the most part, this experiment has paid off. Closer, in particular, achieves a "spooky" atmospheric quality unprecedented in the Kings' back catalogue.
I've read Crawl described as "Zepplinesque" but it sounds nothing like a Page/Plant creation. Instead, it calls to mind the Secret Machines' debut's throbbing synth/base loops. It is a propulsive song, chugging along like a runaway freight train rolling down the tracks at a leisurely 30mph- it doesn't move too fast, but you still can't stop it.
"Use Somebody" is perhaps the most poppy tune on the album. Once again, this is not necessarily a bad thing. "Revelry" is perhaps the most melodic song on the album, if not the band's entire catalog. "Manhattan" too, is quite tuneful, if a bit more uptempo. "17" is probably the least sophisticated song on the record, lyrically at least, but it isn't unbearably so. Like most of the songs on this record, there is something strangely catchy about it. That, however, does not mean that the record is poppy. Its not.
My least favorite song on Only By The Night is "Be Somebody" which tends to ramble in a bad way. It is a Frankenstein's monster of several disparate hooks, the sum being less than its parts. However, this song is the only one of the album's 11 tracks that I'm ever tempted to skip. The last song on the album is the bleak but pretty "Cold Desert", a strong down-tempo finisher.
Adding a few keyboards and studio effects to the holy rock trinity of guitar, drums, and base is not a cardinal sin but the Kings are taking a licking from many critics and hipsterm fans for attempting to, rather modestly, broaden their sound. These attacks are unfair. I'm not comparing Only By the Night to either of these two albums but I wonder if the critics and fans complained that Sgt. Peppers or Pet Sounds were over produced or strayed too far from their respective creators' earlier works. More recently, even the rock minimalist Jack White has been experimenting with different arrangements, instruments, and overdubs on the last two White Stripes albums and, for the most part, received nothing but critical praise for it (if perhaps less commercial success than his previous releases).
Only By the Night is an attempt at musical growth. Maybe commercial success in America was a major motivator, but so what? The end result certainly justifies the means. And you've got to give these guys credit. Five strong albums in almost as many years is a rare achievement in this musical day and age. The fact that all of the Kings are under 30 years of old promises great things. Expect their next to be a musical masterpiece. In the meantime, enjoy Only By The Night for what it is- a pretty darn good album.
 Kings of Leon - Only By The Night 4/10 September 24, 2008
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
The members of the Followill family (specifically, three brothers and a cousin) that make up southern-rock outfit Kings of Leon have always tended to stay close to their musical roots, pumping out some very well-received country-fried rock `n roll during the past eight years. Only By The Night is still very like the Kings of Leon, particularly when it comes to singer Caleb Followill, who still over-emotes like the god of Rock he thinks he is and still comes up with high-school lyrics about things like jailbait ("17") and the self-explanatory "Sex on Fire." But the band has taken a detour from their traditional sound, trading "southern" for "arena" and cranking up the reverb and effects to remodel themselves into a true stadium band.
Now while some songs benefit from the epic treatment, such as "Manhattan," with its dizzying guitar lines and rollicking drums, and the buzz-sawing bass of "Crawl," for much of the album it feels like Caleb and family are pretending at something they're not. Not that they don't want to be massive southern rock stars a'la Almost Famous; Caleb definitely has the swagger and the ego to pull it off, although his lyrics are unintentionally humorous in their shallowness (just check out this gem from "I Want You:" "it's heavy I know, the black guy with the gift down below / a choke and a gag, she spit up and came back for more"). Subtlety is not Kings of Leon's selling point.
Guitars chime where they should, solo where it seems right for a little jam, and cymbals crash in all the right places. But it's precisely these kind of calculated hits that take away the originality and charm of their earlier albums and reduces them to rock `n roll caricatures. But hey, as I'm sure all of the Followill's heroes might tell them, sometimes you have to lose yourself to find yourself, and while Only By The Night might obscure their old talent at times, it's a minor mark against a band that has generally proved they know how to rock.
Out of the frying pan and into the night October 2, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
The Kings of Leon sound like they're going for broke here. While the previous album, Because of the Times, the slickness was creeping in but the wild hairs still had not been completely plucked (Example: the wild screeches on "Charmer"). However, for album four, the grease and the grit is all but vanished. The Followills still sound distinctly southern and still are a singular voice in the current pop population, but the songs here all sound like the edges have been sanded down.
That's not to say "Only By The Night" is a an album to avoid, far from it. On a level of consistency, it's easily better than "Because" and maybe better song for song than Aha Shake Heartbreak (my personal favorite KoL CD). The spacey groove of the opener "Closer" gets things off to a promising start and "Crawl" has a fuzzy crunch that is prime Followill. And while it is the catchiest thing on the disc, "Sex On Fire" is a bit pat.
Then comes the oddest moment, as the Kings go into full-on anthem mode for the single "Use Somebody." All those comments about the effects of touring with U2 all come to roost here, as the song aims Matthew Followill's guitar into the reverberated heavens and the vocals pile on like so many layers of home fries. It's the most obvious single the band has ever done, and then "I Want You" slinks along with another KoL song about dopey sex (think of "I'd come all over your party but I'm soft" on ASH or "you caught me with my pants down" from BotT) and swagger. And I love the picked solo here.
Along the lines of swagger, Caleb Followill has the cock of the walk rock singer style down on this CD. From the eerie wails of "Cold Desert" to the strutting confidence of "Be Somebody" and "Sex on Fire," he's becoming more and more assured a vocalist with each passing CD. Much like the gradual maturation of Chris Robinson's style as The Black Crowes kept on plugging, Caleb's voice just keeps growing richer without losing his southern roots. You can even understand most of the singing on "Only By The Night," and that's a good thing. Despite what some of the naysayers may have posted on the reviews, The Kings of Leon have gone four for four when it comes to making solid albums. This may be the Kings' smoothest album yet, but that does not make it a bad one. In fact, this may be one of 2008's best.
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