Kaiser Chiefs - Education, Education, Education & War (Album Review)
Thursday, 03 April 2014
Written by Huw Baines
As a band with a new-found wedge of reality TV capital to trade, Kaiser Chiefs are an easy target. Give them a kicking and, to many, all you’re doing is reinforcing the belief that their appeal never really stretched beyond lager-toting students and Soccer AM devotees.
‘Employment’, their debut and most successful album, arrived almost a decade ago, and seven years have elapsed since Ruby climbed to the summit of the UK singles chart. Their reputation, and sales, have dropped several rungs since then, notably with ‘The Future Is Medieval’, an ambitious jigsaw puzzle of a record that failed to make any significant waves beyond their core fanbase.
With Ricky Wilson now a fixture of Saturday night TV as a judge on BBC talent show The Voice, though, Kaiser Chiefs once again have some expectations to live up to. Album five is only capable of doing so fleetingly, but it does do enough to ensure that Wilson will have some protection if the brickbats start flying.
‘Education, Education, Education & War’ is the band’s first release without Nick Hodgson, their former drummer and songwriter, and therefore has a make-or-break air about it. It’s a neat guidebook to Kaiser Chiefs’ strengths, but also to their inability to nail a consistent tone.
The Factory Gates, Ruffians On Parade and One More Last Song display their knack for rabble-rousing shout-alongs, propelled on this occasion by Wilson’s desire to inject some social awareness into the equation. Duly, workers are “contractually tied to death’s door” on the album’s standout track, while wistful daydreaming is undercut by sardonic fact on Meanwhile, Up In Heaven.
Less successful are the album’s more theatrical moments - among them the overblown Misery Company and Cannons - while a tendency towards slick rock balladry rings hollow, regardless of the fact that Coming Home does, beneath a veneer of arena guitars, in fact have plenty to say about coping with slings and arrows.
To his credit, Wilson’s words do not come off as a vain attempt to be taken seriously - he is earnest and up front throughout. It’s just a shame that ‘Education, Education, Education & War’ isn’t really a suitable vehicle to deliver such sentiments.
Sat June 28 2014 - DONCASTER Doncaster Racecourse
Thu July 03 2014 - SILVERSTONE Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit
Sat July 05 2014 - CARLISLE Carlisle Racecourse
Sat August 09 2014 - BELFAST Falls Park
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