The 2007-released album from the Kaiser Chiefs, follow-up album to the 2005 smash-hit Employment album? Is it worth getting? This is my track-by-track analysis of the album contents and my recommendation.

1. Ruby - 3 minutes 25 seconds
The group are apparently fed up of fans telling them that they have named a daughter 'Ruby' after this track, but this what happens when you have a successful single - so expect a whole crop of Ruby's to hit the school system in another couple of years and if half the girls at your kids parties are called Ruby, you know who to blame.

This is quite a 'pop' song by the standards of this somewhat 'anti-pop' group, although still with the hard-edged, almost atonal tinny guitar cutting through it.

The lyric is cogent and progressive and is more Blur-type irony that punk-era anger. "Due to lack of interest/Tomorrow is cancelled/Let the clocks be reset/And the pendulums held/Cause there's nothing at all/Except the space in-between/Finding out what you're called/And repeating your name"

This was a big hit and will be a sure fire crowd pleaser in stadiums. A great opener to the album and 8 out of 10 from me.

2. The Angry Mob 4 minutes 48 seconds
The Angry Mob of the album title, the track opens with the street noise of an inner city disturbance before the melody-proper kicks in. This sound is more 90's Brit Pop (well, Brit Rock, then) and could be Oasis except it's better than almost anything Oasis has ever done.

An amusing reference to 'Jim'll Fix It' resides in the lyric "So here we go with a letter/Can you fix it for me/Because we need entertainment/To keep us all off the streets/So tonight you'll sleep softly in your beds". This is the 'call to arms' with the suggestion surely that 'as ye sow, so shall ye reap!'

This track suddenly changes and you almost think another track has begun, but it's just the transition to a part of the track that was surely made to have a marching mob scene on the accompanying MTV pop video.

Good track, gets a 7 out of 10 from me.

3. Heat Dies Down 3 minutes 57 seconds
An almost 'Housemartins' lyric line here is mixed with a hard rock guitar line. It sounds like it should jar, but with a mix that could be by Blur from their 'In The Country' period and somehow it doesn't.

I don't know the back story but this does sound quite personal and seems to be reflecting on something that happened, and it is quite a wry look at it, too: 'So I tried that night/To do all the things I thought you'd like/But that just made it worse/And I impressed you not/Well, not a lot'.

Great song, 8/10

4. Highroyds 3 minutes 20 seconds
This track comes off the heavy rock and goes for the camper Glam Rock end of the spectrum - this one's in silver stack-heel boots. The thrusting guitar line in waved in your face but this feels almost parody like

Another 'rite of passage' song?

'Never has a fight we haven't lost/We're not very tough or athletic/Once I had a boxing champ in a head-lock/And when he gets out I'll regret it"

So so, not the strongest track on the album 6/10

5. Love's Not A Competition (But I'm Winning) 3 minutes 18 seconds
Change of pace and tone, a sweeter and more acoustic-sounding guitar line which drops below the vocal line. Now you can hear the clarity and purity of the lead singer's voice - it is like he has come to the front and centre of the stage instead of standing behind the lead guitarist. This shifts mood again. This could be a song by and almost a performance by the Pet Shop Boys, the sophisticated vocabulary, the 'warts-and-all' realism of the lyric. This is more downbeat, reflecting the slower speed and reflected in the use of minor keys.

'Loves not a competition but I'm winning/I'm not sure what's truly altruistic anymore/When every good thing I do is listed/And you're keeping score' Ouch.

Excellent song, 10/10

6. Thank You Very Much 2 minutes 38 seconds
And just in case you were getting comfortable or sleepy, this track will wake you up and set your head jangling like after two Starbucks double shots. Hard edge thrashing guitar again, almost a punk, Clash-like effect and the lead singer is no longer crooning to you - he's in your face. Very much in the flavour of the first album "Employment" this is the child of "Every Day I Like You Less And Less".

'Cos this should be a thrill/But it feels like a drill'

Not bad, not outstanding 7/10

7. I Can Do It Without You 3 minutes 24 seconds
Less punk, more lyrical and showcasing the musical harmonies these guys can pull off - less thrash. Strange, instrumental Hawaiian-guitar effect in the middle, like one of the Shadows crept in during the recording.
Somit and nowt, really.

'While we convince each other nothing has changed/Nobody else will ever act the same/The adaptation for the stage is now playing/For your protection all the names have been changed'

Inoffensive, if unremarkable, 6/10

8. My Kind Of Guy 4 minutes 7 seconds
This is like a song from a slightly 'avant garde' musical - could be Rent or Les Miserables (actually, it's too good (in my opinion) to be in Les Mis).

Anyway, twangy guitar lines and in-yer-face but very clear lyrics which are beautifully crafted - it's a good'un.

It's not Andrew Lloyd Webber, but, you can imagine someone doing something stupid on in-line skates or dressed in a cat outfit behind the lead singer...

'As the bicycle race/Gathers speed, gather pace/And you feel that you're going too fast/There's a word to the wise/You should take some advice/Cos the nice guys always finish last'.

Fun, vamping song, I like it 8/10

9. Everything Is Average Nowadays 2 minutes 43 seconds
This is another return to the full-on sound familiar to those who know the 'Employment' album. An almost Ska/Madness silliness moves into the mid-section with the lyric gradually coming through (with a short guitar solo too - these guys love their little instrumental sections). Good, happy tune, somewhat in contrast to the theme - that everything is average - but the lyric seems tongue-in-cheek, as so many of their lyrics do.

"When everyone would do it if they can/And everything is going down the pan/And everyone is following the craze/Oh everything is average now/You said it's getting better/But I don't really see the signs/You say that it's too different/You thought it would suicide"

A happy little tune, actually one of the better hooks, too - 7/10

10. Boxing Champ 1 minute 31 seconds
Out of the blue a melodic piano introduction to a song that seems half modern hymn and half Hue and Cry from the mid 80's.

A pleasant and short song, it feels a little out of place here like a small tin of beans that someone in the supermarket has left on the Tennants Super aisle, but it is not unwelcome.

More 'rites of passage' stuff with the lyric 'And I was a weakling/You didn't give me a chance/You gave me a beating/And I thank you very that you did' etc. 6/10

11. Learnt My Lesson Well 3 minutes 54 seconds
Another change of pace with the drummed introduction and then strident guitar sounds into a pop, bouncy 'cheeky-chappy' track. This is Housemartins/Madness style again, a fast lyric floated over a heavier guitar line - actually, the thrumming of a 70's glam rock track, but rather wittier lyrics!

'What are you waiting for?/Get up off your seat/It feels like a week/What are you moaning for?/You've got all you want/Life could be worse/You could leave in a Hearse.' 7/10

12. Try Your Best 3 minutes 41 seconds
Track opens with the slow-suicide-slightly-stoned-sensation of Tears for Fears in 'The Hurting' period. I have no idea what this is all about - it seems like one of those conversations most of us have had, at one time or another, usually when inebriated. It's got another heavy guitar riff, it is probably amazing 'wall of sound' stuff through headphones and it builds multiple polyphonic layers one upon another with multi-level harmonised cords, but the singer is singing nonsense, really.

'So try your best/And think about it later/Or you will never know/ So try your best/And think about it later/ Or you will never know/Which way your life could go/And you'll know when you know' etc etc

I have had this sort of conversation (pointless) but this track might seem quite insightful to teenagers who are searching for simplistic homilies. 4/10, that high because I quite like the harmonic which is a bit 'Pink Floyd/Dark Side Of The Moon'ish.

13. Retirement 3 minutes 52 seconds
A workmanlike rock-and-roll track, but again quite theatrical - at the Sgt Pepper end of the spectrum, certainly, northern accented English lyrics and a desire to retire job-done (which is actually not very rock'n'roll - whatever happened to live fast, die young and leave a beautiful corpse? These guys are saying that they want to retire and be remembered for something like a perfect tone or for the washing machine!).

'I want to retire/No longer required/I want to get by without the man on my back/A tear in my eye/With a heart full of pride/I must go out on a high/And not to answer to why/I want to retire/Inform the suppliers/I'll leave the party in style and not to be carried out/Without a cloud in the sky/I got my fingers in pies/A golden watch at my side/Will measure my free time'

A golden watch? Pur-lease? What happened to driving white Rolls-Royce motor cars into swimming pools and trashing hotel rooms? Oh well, even post-punk rock stars can have an ISA and a SIPP I suppose.

Not a bad track, bouncy enough, but the first half of this album is the stronger part, certainly lyrically. 6/10
Summary
It's not a bad album and well worth the £5.27 I paid for it at Tesco Direct (free delivery). You could do a good section of the M5 with this playing or use it to tune out the chattering idiots on a one-hour or so section of a train journey. I recommend it, if not with massive enthusiasm then at least if you haven't got anything in particular on.

***
This review was originally published by me on DooYou under the same user name