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Robbers and Cowards is an excellent album, full of energy and emotion. The album starts strong with six unique songs, all different but with an energy running throughout, Something is Not Right With Me is poppy, but is not your typical teeny-pop sound or lyrics. Loyalty has a different approach, yet maintains what made Robbers so strong. The lack of a single rhythm guitar through every song and their use of different instruments to drive songs forward is a nice change from the present mainstream song formula. I can't get into Avalanche in B or Every Man, but there are amazing counters like Dreams Old Men Dream and Golden Gate Jumpers that are easy to relate to with reflective lyrics. It is not Robbers and it shouldn't be, but after a few listens through it is just as strong overall.These guys are an incredible live show, most energetic live show I've seen in years-it is easy to see they love what they are doing.
This CD is amazing. I definately reccommend checking it out. Awesome lyrics and awesome guitar.
"Every Man I Fall For" is as bluesy as the album gets, and it sounds great. The album crashes in with a heavy "Against Privacy", setting the tome for the album. After relentless touring, the band finally came around with this, their second album. I'm not.
is somewhat of a departure of the sound of the first album, with a much more bluesier sound. Cold War Kids released an excellent debut album in 2006 "Robbers & Cowards", which was greeted with great critical acclaim. "Relief" is about as mainstream rocking as anything on the album. But I saw the band again just recently (opening for Death Cab), and they put on a truly mesmerizing 45 min. The songs are generally less-rocking than on the first album, but for some reason it doesn't bother me at all, as the album has a great overall groove to it.
In all, I really like the album, although I can easily see why fans from the first album might be disappointed with this. set, bringing a lot of the songs from this album, while throwing in a few nuggets from the first album. "Loyalty to Loyalty" (13 tracks; 46 min). The band is evolving, you know. "Everyone Is Not Right With Me" reminds me of early White Stripes.
"Golden Gate Jumpers" is as eerie as the title of the track suggests. I saw the band when they toured in 2007 with the first album, and the show was nice. Truth be told, the songs from this album in concert rocked harder than anything you'll hear on the album Great, great show.
Having said that I think Loyalty to Loyalty is a solid cd. I loved Robbers & Cowards and thought it was some of the best new music to come out in the past couple of years. I put this in my cd player with some trepidation after reading Amazon reviews and some of the national music mags which gave a luke warm reception to the new Cold War Kids cd. I am surprised by some of the reviews that took umbridge with Jonnie Russel's voice saying it got annoying after a while. Original, yet accessible and packing an emotional punch. I did not expect Loyalty to Loyalty to compare to Robbers & Cowards which I believe is a modern classic. Well I believe that a big part of the Cold War Kids' sound is the voice of the lead singer. Lyrically, I have no problem with the songwriting and musically the band and the songs are still quite amazing.Loyalty to Loyalty does not depart from or exceed the musical and emotional feel of the excellent Robbers & Cowards, but neither does it disappoint.
"I've seen Enough" is a good song because it finally gives the rhythm and beat the listener is yearning for. In my less than professional opinion, this album has no groove. It's slow where the listener wants to be fast, it's fast where the listener is accustomed to slow. No doubt Nathan Willett has patented a singing style like none other, but he is stretching the tolerance of improv whinyness. Perhaps the band was trying hard to be creative, or perhaps this musical voice is their true voice, which then demands their audience's patience and acceptance.
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