Kings of Leon - Youth andYoung Manhood

Tue 22nd Nov, 2005 in Music Reviews

The Kings of Leon’s debut record Youth and Young Manhood, was one of the most remarkable releases to be bestowed upon the music community in 2003 and even two years on it’s easy to see why.

It was 2003 and with the music industry in hibernation following the explosion of The Strokes two years ago, the Kings of Leon turned the amps up to 11 and woke the slumbering beast, Deep South style! They replaced the clinical cool and ‘slightly messy but still hot’ hair of The Strokes with genuine youth and enthusiasm and managed to trade in the emotionless ‘angular’ guitars for crazy hijinks and sweaty, chaotic rock ‘n’ roll.

The band also had a history which would give most rock feature writers a wet dream. Lost for an opening? Just recount the wacky tale of the Followill kids (three brothers and one cousin) who were dragged around the South by a preacher dad who loved the Lord’s word and kept the growing boys entertained with a constant stream of blues-rock records.  While this was a different upbringing from your standard ‘dropped outta art school and formed a band’ fare, it seemed to do the boys good with their heavily anticipated first album blowing the minds of music critics and fans alike and leaving a mess of brains and blood in bedrooms across the world. 

Youth and Young Manhood, shows a band who are not quite boys yet not quite men (Britney Spears style!), with the Kings themselves saying thirty percent of the record was autobiographical and the other seventy wishful thinking. You can hear this adolescent zeal through the album but particularly on upbeat tracks like Joe’s Head or in the innuendo of Molly’s Chambers, with the hot and heavy chorus of You want it/She’s got it/Molly’s Chambers gonna change your mind, one of the highlights of the album.

The band’s ability to immediately jump from stock standard indie rock to swaggering blues is the lynch-pin which separates them from the other bands who the British press’ have declared as ‘the next big thing’. The fast pace of the rhythm section with Jared’s bass cutting through the frenetic guitars makes every song a near riot and Caleb’s mumbling, slurring vocals are quite unique. He manages to go from raucous cries about cinnamon on Red Morning Light to a more pensive tone on Dusty where he sets the central theme of the album, Where thrills are cheap/and love’s divine. 

The Kings of Leon were sons of a preacher, but it doesn’t need much to convince the heathen disbeliever of their potential. With such sweet melodies and rocking guitar, Youth and Young Manhood is an impressive debut from the Kings of Leon.