Only by the Night: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Mangle (talk | contribs)
528 edits
mNo edit summary
Line 171: Line 171:
|align="center" valign="top"|—
|align="center" valign="top"|—
|align="center" valign="top"|—
|align="center" valign="top"|—
|-
|}
|}


Revision as of 19:31, 12 October 2008

Untitled

Only by the Night is the fourth album by Kings of Leon. It was released on September 19, 2008 in the Republic of Ireland, Germany, Australia and Belgium, September 22 in the UK and September 23, 2008 in the U.S..

Production

Recording history

In September 2007, lead singer of the band, Caleb Followill confirmed to NME that tracks were already being worked on for a fourth album,[1] only a few days after the release of the band's third album, Because of the Times. Recording began in February 2008, and was finalized in Nashville's Blackbird Studios. On June 23, 2008, the release date of September 22, 2008 was set, and also the new title was announced.

Music and lyrical content

In interviews with the band, it has been said that the next album will "rock harder" and more tracks like "Charmer", "Black Thumbnail" and "Camaro" have been suggested. "We've broadened our musical tastes in the past couple of years and feel we're ready to tackle our southern roots... again" says Jared Followill, the band's bass guitarist.[citation needed]

Three tracks from the album have been debuted live, "Crawl", "Sex on Fire" and "Manhattan". Caleb Followill claims that pain relieving drugs, which he took following a fight with his brother Nathan (drummer of the band), greatly enhanced his lyrics. Caleb is quoted as saying the medication caused him to write "the best songs of his career". An example of experimentation is evident in the opening track "Closer", which contains lyrical content pertaining to the life of a vampire.

Release

To coincide with the release of the album the band have recorded several home movies which will be available on their website.

"Crawl" has been released via the band's website as a free download for a short time, although it is not the first proper single. The first single is "Sex on Fire" and was released on September 15, 2008. It was previewed on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show on August 4, 2008, and on Nicky Horne's Planet Rock show on August 6, 2008. On September 14, 2008 it entered the UK Singles Chart at #1.

On August 5, 2008, the band put the first single "Sex on Fire" on their MySpace page.[2] The music video of "Sex on Fire" is now available to stream on their website and YouTube channel, and is also airing on Kerrang!, NME TV and MTV TWO music channels in the UK.

On August 9, 2008, the band played "Sex on Fire" for the first time live at the All Points West Festival in Jersey City.

On September 15, 2008, music site Last.fm made it possible for users to exclusively stream Only By The Night before anyone else. [3]

On September 19, 2008, Australian national radio station Triple J, and UK's NME Radio played the entire album.

On September 28, 2008, the album entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1, with sales of over 220,000 copies. [4]

The single "Use Somebody" on the Australian Aria Singles Chart has so far peaked at number 24.

Reception

The album was met with mixed reviews. Metacritic's average rating settled on a 65/100, counting a drastic range of ratings between North America and UK press. Notables included Illinois' Pitchfork Media and PopMatters, who gave the album a 3.8/10 and a 2/10 respectively, and ratings of 5/5 and 4.5/5 from the England based The Observer and Virgin Media. This, among others, highlights a major gap between most mainstream sources, who largely praised the record, and the independent media that most often thought it was average or worse. Record sales showed it chasing Coldplay's Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends for the fastest selling album of the year in Ireland and the UK.[5][6] For the home country response, the album debuted at #5 in the Billboard 200, their highest ever ranking in the US, but it immediately dropped to #20 the next week.[7]

Track listing

  1. "Closer" – 3:57
  2. "Crawl" – 4:06
  3. "Sex on Fire" – 3:23
  4. "Use Somebody" – 3:50
  5. "Manhattan" – 3:24
  6. "Revelry" – 3:21
  7. "17" – 3:05
  8. "Notion" – 3:00
  9. "I Want You" – 5:07
  10. "Be Somebody" – 3:47
  11. "Cold Desert" – 5:34[8]
  12. "Frontier City" – 3:37 (Vinyl bonus track & iTunes Deluxe Version)
  13. "The Bucket (CSS Remix)" – 3:44 (iTunes pre-sale)

Live From The Hammersmith Apollo 2007 (Target Exclusive 2CD Package)

  1. "King of The Rodeo" – 2:48
  2. "Slow Night, So Long" – 3:09
  3. "Fans"– 4:02
  4. "Molly's Chambers" – 2:25
  5. "My Party" – 4:01
  6. "Arizona" – 4:49
  7. "Charmer" – 3:48

Chart positions

Album chart positions

Year Album U.S. UK IRL AUS NZ DE NOR BEL SWI NL AUT GER FIN FR SWE ITA CAN
2008 Only by the Night 5 1 1 1 1 5 20 6 10 10 21 28 31 38 56 75 4
Year Single IRL UK AUS[9] NZ US Mod.[10] NL
2008 "Sex on Fire" 1 1 4 2 17 32
2008 "Use Somebody" — 29 24 — — —

References

  1. ^ http://www.nme.com/news/kings-of-leon/30858 The Followill boys are ready to go on new record. NME, September 3, 2007
  2. ^ http://www.myspace.com/kingsofleon
  3. ^ http://www.columbia.co.uk/news/10385/0/
  4. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7640893.stm
  5. ^ http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/music/news/coldplay-in-album-battle-with-kings-of-leon-13982363.html
  6. ^ http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hUoPjBwYAaCGZZbUCghdJnglmwYA
  7. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/chart_display.jsp?JSESSIONID=B3n2Lw9SpshRBBzzMvkDJBzFmwTytKP9zthXhLhK7k17rsgJWlcg!2021848023&f=The+Billboard+200&pageNumber=Top+11-50&g=Albums
  8. ^ http://www.nme.com/news/kings-of-leon/38658
  9. ^ "Australian Singles: Kings of Leon". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved 2008-09-29.
  10. ^ "Artist Singles chart history: Kings of Leon". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2008-09-29.
Preceded by Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album
September 29, 2008 - present 		Succeeded by
incumbent
Preceded by New Zealand RIANZ Albums Chart number-one album
September 22, 2008 - present 		Succeeded by
incumbent
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Only_by_the_Night&oldid=244829556"