Kings of Leon: Because of the Times

CML call number: CD ROCK Kings
Rob Sheffield wrote in Rolling Stone: "They don't make seven-minute doomed-teen-lover melodramas like the Kings of Leon's 'Knocked Up' anymore. This is the Tennessee band's big album-opening saga, building from quiet to loud with guitar licks that sound like the Edge fried in okra, with ominous thunderclap drumrolls. Caleb Followill chokes on his story: He and his cowgirl are gonna have a baby, her mama don't like it, they don't care, they're hitting the road in a Coupe de Ville, no doubt just one step ahead of The Man. 'I've taken all I've had to take/This takin's gonna shake me,' Caleb declares with his usual throaty passion, gunning for the border as the guitars weave between U2 and Uriah Heep. Car + girl + lots and lots of guitar = 'Knocked Up.' Kings of Leon make it sound so simple — and so funny — they make you forget how many other bands go soft trying to run this same road. It's an excellent opener to an excellent third album from the Kings. Because of the Times … is a whole album full of songs inspired by the only topic the Kings seem to care about: no-good women, the kind who turn nice country boys into thieves."