Kings of Leon - "Can We Please Have Fun"
WEE-WOO! WEE-WOO! Here come the Fun Police!
Kings of Leon, and really the whole of the Alt Rock scene, had their heyday back in the mid- to late-aughts, and maybe a bit into the twenty-teens. Even Blue October has had a few misses over the last decade. That isn’t to say that Kings of Leon are totally washed up — they’re still skilled, with some solid songs in their last few outings; 2021’s When You See Yourself rated a Green from me. Not a real standout, but also not horrible.
And now they’re back with Can We Please Have Fun, their ninth full-length album since the band formed in 1999 (the debut album dropped in 2003). And I find myself, unfortunately, playing additional roles here as both Grammar Nazi1 and Fun Police.2
Can We Please Have Fun is full of easy grooves and melodies. The album is generally very light, but occasionally waxes tense, as in “Nothing to Do” — while I don’t like the song, overall, I do like the way that it effortlessly switches modes. It’s a neat trick. There are flashes of brilliance in several songs.
But then there are songs that really just sound basic. Easy. Repetitive. “Nowhere to Run” and “Mustang” are two of the most egregious here. Both singles. In fact, of the four singles from this album, the only one I’ve really enjoyed is “Split Screen”, which is truly one of the best tracks to be found here.
Among the others, I also enjoyed “Actual Daydream” and “M Television”. Several others had good elements, but were still overall just…mediocre at best.
The central genre at play on this album is still Alt Rock, but there are a lot of Poppy elements at play, as well, and the band pays homage to their Southern Rock roots in a few places, including the Country-tinged “Ease Me On”.
I was not able to really get into the album enough to spot any potential throughline. I was really hoping to find something interesting, given the title, but the music, itself, failed to hook me.
This one really didn’t resonate with me, but it has its redeeming qualities. It’s still worth a try if you like Kings of Leon or Alt/Pop Rock.
Rating: Orange.
Come on, guys! A question without a question mark?
To be fair, I think that this, tonally, is meant to take on a note of exasperation. The sociopolitical atmosphere in America lately has noticeably reeked of tense desperation, and I think everybody would really just love to get back to ‘carefree’.
At the same time, ‘carefree’ bred the situation we find ourselves in.
I hate to spoil my overall opinion early, but this title asked for it.