Customer Reviews

Castles

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The Philosopher Kings have always had a very powerful effect on me, one I can't begin to describe or give a reason why. I'll admit, upon hearing this album the first time I too felt there was something a little lackluster. It was not quite as funky and upbeat as their previous albums. I quite literally have worn my "Famous, Rich and Beautiful" album out. I have carried it with me for years - when all other discs seemed to have succumbed too scratches, loss or a general indifference - I have faithfully kept this disc in a very safe space and only rendered it incapable of further playback from overplay alone. (of course I have backup but I am proud of this one disc).

"Castles in the Sand" honestly seemed so cliche I wondered what they were even thinking when they wrote it - but - I quite literally found myself sobbing when I listened to it the third time. Really listened to it. I feel silly admitting that, but it's the truth.

This is what I have concluded.

This album is possibly more lyrically focused (in a very simplistic way) than previous albums. It may seem a strange statement as The Philosopher Kings have ALWAYS been lyrically focused and that is one of the things that makes them a truly incredible band.

Did I mention I am horrible at writing album reviews??

Here's how I see it? They have always had great things to say - and have always found clever ways to say it - and have then played it in an amazing way. This album to me is toned down - for a reason. It's more simplistic, with a more simplistic message. I don't think it was by accident at all, or because it's been ten years and they couldn't do it any better. I just saw them live and believe me - they can play the entire "Castles" album completely different than it's been recorded. In fact, they can play EVERYTHING different than it's been recorded. They played "I Am the Man" and threw in a heavy metal guitar solo that blew my mind. I have never witnessed anything like it in my life. Not the guitar solo - the BAND. They are spectacular.

If I didn't believe "Castles" was written and produced exactly as it is intentionally BEFORE I saw them preform live - I would have come up with that belief after. I believe they tossed out a little of the clever word play they have previously used in their lyric writing and used a more simplistic, straight forward approach.

"Castles in the Sand" seemed plain dumb to me at first - until I listened to it - and thought about it and realized what they were saying and it struck me very hard. It isn't some cliche "let's go build a castle in the sand and live happily ever after" story. They are saying "we build a life together, we believe it is wonderful and good and great and it seems to perfect - and along comes a great big wave and tears it all down - destroys everything we worked for and believed was perfect - but if you tell me we are happy it will be okay because, we'll just do it again and it will hurt - again, but we'll be together HAPPY and that's what matters. We'll get stronger together - and our little fantasy world of perfection will be torn out from under us - again - but, we'll get up and do it again - together."

It's about true and real love. You build and grow and love and lose and learn and hurt and all that crap - together - and that's what it's really all about right - the fact that you're together - no matter where you end up.

I know I sound rambly and dumb right now - but I don't care. Music is heart and soul right. It's why we care about it right. Those lyrics hit me because this is what I live everyday - I think we all do. I've been married for eight years - to my best friend who has loved me for 17 years (chased me for seven years before we got together) we have six children - I am 32 year old - I feel way too young to have SIX children. We face challenges everyday and sometimes I feel like I can't get up again from that wave that knocks our little castle out from under us, until my husband looks at me and tells me he loves me and that it's okay because we are happy - we have US - and we have our little kids. And then I get up - and we do it all over again - together.

Incidentally - Gerald Eaton says this "It comes pretty naturally, I'm a very in-love guy," Eaton explains with a chuckle. "I've been in love since I was a kid. My wife and I have been together since I was 16. I just find the topic infinite. I love getting into small details and aspects of relationships - just the ups and downs of it."

My husband has been my best friend since I was 16. He's loved me since I was 16. I'm a very in-love woman.

I just stumbled across this interview tonight, and again it reiterated my believe that THIS album - CASTLES - was suppose to be all about love. Hence, the release date February 14. The topic - love. The toned down feeling.

"I Want You" is a good strong desperate song - very intense. It hit me full force from the second I heard it. It did NOT take me several listens to "get it." Again, the sappy dumb side of me . . . it's pure emotion for me . . . I heard it and phoned my husband and his cell phone to have him listen. This was before the CD was released - just their sample track their website.

"To Be Loved" pulls at my heart just as hard as the others.

I could go on, but like I said, I know I'm terrible at album reviews . . . as someone else told me once I'm really good at convincing someone "I" like their music but not so good at giving reasons why someone else should. I'm not even going to lay claim to thinking I could give someone a good reason. I know I'm bad at it. Music comes too much from my heart to give any technical reasons why anyone should like or try it out. All I can say is how it makes me feel and this album just gets in my heart and gets me all so emotional I can hardly breathe.

"Famous, Rich and Beautiful" ROCKS! I LOVE it - it pumps me up and mellows me out all at the same time. I adore that album. I bought myself a new one when I saw them LIVE - and it's all autographed now and I will treasure it forever. It's certainly got qualities "Castles" doesn't - but it does NOT evoke the emotion "Castles" does. It does NOT put me in tears and remind me of how much I cherish my husband - my life with my husband - my family - my LIFE with my family - no matter how hard it gets at times. It doesn't cause me to reflect on the love in my marriage, it doesn't make me want my husband to hurry and get home from work so I can hug him and tell him how much I love him.

Okay - I'm done making myself look like a total idiot now.

Having looked forward to Castles since hearing about it's release this past summer, I was initially disappointed by what others have already noted - the lack of jazzier touches, and the lessening of the funk influences, in favor of a poppier sound.

But I'd recommend giving the album a second listen, starting with the simply-unbelievable "Out of the Blue." If there's any justice, that'll be a Wedding Day song for many couples in the future. Follow up that song with "Beautiful Creature, and then "Castles in the Sand." What I think you'll find is that the songwriting and musicianship on the album are as strong and rich as ever. Dramatic shifts in sound are not foreign to the Kings, who funked up their sound to noticable effect on Famous, Rich and Beautiful. They're shooting for a full-on, swooning romance album here, and they succeed brilliantly.

I take great pleasure in being an American who's also a fan of this band. There's no chance of them becoming overplayed, and there albums are endlessly relistenable because of it.

Having been a fan of the might PK, and patiently hoping that they'd get back together for the 6 or so years they were on hiatus, I couldn't wait for this album. I can break a review for this album in to 2 lines: The good and the bad.

The Bad: This CD pales in comparison to either of their older works. They seem to have lost the R&Bish/soul/jazz/etc. edge they had on the last album, and they've gone to a CD that's much closer to a straight pop album.

The Good: It's better than 90% of the pop albums released these days, and it proves that they've still got talent, even if I still think they've misplaced their musical priorities a bit.

Buy the album if you like pop, or if you're a PK fan, it'll be worth it. Otherwise, I'd wait and hope they give it another try and go to something a little closer to their older material.

Curiously, the old Philosopher Kings lyric "dressed up for San Francisco, but held up in Mason City for a while" could easily encompass the Kings' comeback album, "Castles." The band's first studio album in nearly a decade seems like it should sophisticated, heady and full of surprises, yet instead it sometimes comes across as flat as the Great Plains.

It's not a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, but it doesn't seem to be in the same league with their self-titled debut (1994) or "Famous, Rich and Beautiful" (1997). The backstory is simple: The six members of the Kings went their separate ways to other projects and noteworthy production work (most notably Gerald Eaton and Brian West's wonderful collaborations with Nelly Furtado). But they missed the old times and working together and, in one of those grand show business cliches, decided to put the band back together.

Alas, parts of the album is as cliché as the reunion concept. The songwriting, the arranging and the instrumentation make their ways down Main Street in safe, predictable fashion, eschewing the exciting back roads and hairpin turns that made the band's past work so compelling. Perhaps it's possible that after all their toil to create hits for other people and seeing other bands (Maroon 5) succeed with a watered-down version of their style, the Kings decided to make a middle-of-the-road commercial record. Which is, unfortunately, the last kind of record a band with this kind of musical diversity, pizzazz and vision should make. It lacks those unexpected moments in previous efforts when a backbeat ballad swerved into a powerful production number, where the jazz-type piano or bass solos of the Levine brothers made the songs a cut above almost anything else coming out of the musical factories.

While the album still retains plenty of soul, the exciting elements of jazz, funk and be-bop are conspicuous by their relative absence. Perhaps this owes in no small part to bassist Jay Levine's music business duties reportedly keeping him from participating in the record. While the two previous records saw Jay receive less songwriting credit than his masterful keyboardist/arranger brother Jon, Jay's funk-filled bass work provided a key element of such outstanding tracks as "Turn My Head Around," "Hurts To Love You" and "Cry." His snap, crackle and pop is one of many elements lacking.

And if there are no songs as good as "Charms" on this disc, at least it does have its occasional charms. "Castles in the Sand" is a pretty lead track and single with an instantly memorable groove, "I Want You" offers some dark and delicious desperation, and "Out of the Blue" effuses a shimmering sensuality. Especially good is the gorgeous set-closer "To Be Loved (To Love Back)" ... yet even as it reminds us how talented this band is, it also makes us realize how much better this album could have been.

In sum, "Castles" would be a good album for just about any other group, but for The Philosopher Kings it's comes across as more a lukewarm imitation of their better material. Ultimately their first album in nearly ten years sounds like, well, their first album in ten years. Maybe they'll remember what made them special and do better next time, if there is a next time. I just would hope they don't wait a decade before trying again.

So the boys are back, thank goodness for that! I am and have been a huge fan of the pk's for as long as I can remember. They were my first cd purchase as a youth and I've seen them live many times. I awaited this cd anxiously. I am very happy with it, the songs are fun, creative and have great beats like most of their stuff. The lyrics are phenomenal and it seems to be a very personal album. The only thing missing are the classic, slow, ballads that Gerald and the crew do so well. I was left waiting after all the songs for that one ballad, and it was not to be found. So don't go looking for a mellow pk's cd, this is an up beat, great for driving album.

I think THE PHILOSOPHER KINGS are a great band, and I love the song CASTLES. Please let us sample the song CASTLES. It would be great!