As I said with the previous song, I am normally not fond of bands that become popular. Kings Of Leon were one of those bands. They had released 2 very good albums before becoming somewhat mainstream, and then 1 album that brought them to the eye of the general public. But TJ, if you don’t like bands like that, why did you pick Kings Of Leon? Well, I’m getting to that. Kings Of Leon deserve to get the popularity they are getting now, and despite my previous statements of disliking bands such as Kings Of Leon, I believe they deserve acknowledgement. This is why I have chosen On Call. QUite possibly the best song from their 2007 album Because Of The Times. The song opens with an eerie ambient effect that quickly turns into vocals. These vocals carry an almost lazy drawl that perfectly matches the tone of the song. Then the bassline kicks in, and my, what a bassline it is. The bass carries the entire song from that point on. Even as Caleb Followill’s voice almost screams the words “be there“, the bass line does not let up, carrying the same beat the whole way, only stopping for the slight pause prior to the chorus. The actual meaning of the song is paper thin; it’s about a relationship and the need to be ‘on call’ and ever ready for the other. But despite the originality of the song’s lyrics, this is one strange song in which, if the guitar and drums were taken out and left only the bass and vocals, an amazing song would still exist in full.
Milk
When Kings Of Leon released their second album Aha Shake Heartbreak in 2004, there was an amazingly sweet song named Milk present. The song is driven by the sparse acoustic guitar and drawn out vocals (and the bass, later on), but it’s such a sweet song that at no point do you actually realise what is going on. I’ve never been able to listen to the song and actually focus on what is being said or done in the song. I am sucked into the song’s beauty every time, and resultantly I have no idea what ever goes on. Regardless, while it is a beautiful song, On Call wins out because it is not only the first Kings Of Leon song that I heard and liked, but it’s because it epitomises the indie rock that seems to be becoming less and less common.
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