Come Around Sundown

Kings of Leon | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 19, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B003YK42LQ
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (118 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #880 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

2010 release, the highly anticipated fifth album from the American Alt-Rock heroes. Come Around Sundown was recorded in New York at Avatar Studios and produced by Angelo Petraglia and Jacquire King. The album is the follow-up to the hugely successful Only By The Night, which sold over six million copies worldwide and garnered four Grammy Awards and two Brits, and is yet another bold and expansive statement by the Nashville, Tennessee-based quartet.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

111 of 120 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What I expected, October 20, 2010

By 

Dakota (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Come Around Sundown (Audio CD)

I've listened to it a couple of times, and Come Around Sundown is (unfortunately for some of us) what I expected from the Only By the Night follow-up. Don't get me wrong. It's a solid effort. It's well written. It's polished both in terms of vocals and instrumentals. It's easy to listen to. And it's got an expansive, big sound that will play well in any arena. If Use Somebody and Sex on Fire were my introduction to KOL, I'd probably really like it.

On the other hand, it's a bit dirgy, safe, and predictable compared to previous records. It doesn't have the youthful exuberance or rawness of Youth and Young Manhood, and it doesn't have the experimental, what-will-they-do-next feel of Because of the Times. The story lines are a bit more finessed (what, no stories about grabby preachers?); the imagery a bit more mainstream (there are bloody teeth, but I didn't hear anything about a trani on a ten); and the lyrics do a little more lamenting than previous efforts. For me, that takes away a lot of the fun that is Kings of Leon. And where is that driving bass line that roars through 7 full minutes of Knocked Up? I can't find it anywhere on here.

Regardless, I do believe it is a solid effort. Of course, I could listen to Caleb sing Celine Dion if I had to. That voice...

If you're favorite record is Only By the Night, then you'll probably love this. If you're stuck in the past (like me) and want less polish and more grit, you'll continue to be disappointed.

42 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Safe Followup... Stands up well on it's own., October 20, 2010

By 

C.W. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Come Around Sundown (Audio CD)

**REVIEW DISCLAIMER** This album has to be judged solely on it's OWN merits, not how it holds up to Youth and Aha Shake. There exists a sharp divide within the KOL fanbase, going all the way back to the third album. The purists maintaining they were there from the beginning and that the Followill boys sold out their southern rock roots for radio play and fortune. The newcomers seen as carpetbaggers jumping into a party they should've known about long before they arrived. I was on the bus from the first album, and yes, I prefer my KOL with long hair and flannels, banging out chord driven southern swagger, but that does not discount the quality of the SONGS in the three subsequent releases... I think this may have contributed to some of the more negative reviews I have read on this release.

Come Around Sundown... A platinum album well into the teeth of the download era, mainstream breakthrough finally after three critically acclaimed albums shot just under the radar, headlining outdoor arenas... The brothers Followill had the rock community guessing as to their ever varying direction for the followup to 2008's Only by the Night. Would we get another groove driven, jangly new wave effort, or would the boys pull the rug up from under us and revert to the raucous southern smash in the mouth they came in on... now that they got everybody aboard the train? What you get is the former, a safe play followup and a very logical successor to OBTN... we'll have to wait for the distorted power chords and anthems pertaining to cigarettes, shotguns and whiskey to return, if they ever do.

On the whole the album is solid front to back. Second or third listen hooks and sing along choruses are again the order of the day. As has been the case since since Because of the Times, Jared Followill's bass is out front of the guitars, creating most of the melodies for the songs. Very rarely do you hear discernible guitar riffs, the six stringers used more as accompanying instruments and to add mood and atmospheric effects. The transition to a band being fronted by their rhythm section has resulted in a definite "danceable" element to the sound. This has no doubt been a factor in the droves of young fans the band has won over. What sets this Tennessee outfit apart from the rest of the sheep polluting the rapidly decaying rock radio waves recently is simply this...songwriting.

Caleb's vocals are as versatile as ever and the lyrics are descriptive and abstract at times, rather than the cliched "you, me" verbiage we've endured these last dozen years or so. We still get a brief flicker of southern roots, more so than on the predecessor. Listen to Caleb channel Ronnie Van Zant on Mi Amigo as he calls out "you know son!" preceded by a short blast of falsetto on the last chorus... and who can resist the hook of Caleb boasting of his gal friend's admiration of his manhood on the same track...possibly the coolest KOL vocals since the sophomore effort. Indeed, there are no radio "monsters" in this collection, and sales will probably pale in comparison to OBTN. In 2010 we'll take fun, well written rock records wherever we can get them... that's what you get on the fifth release from the Kings... take it as it is.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a move into the big leagues, November 10, 2010

By 

T. P Roberts "Terry212am" (Tallahassee, FL, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Come Around Sundown (Audio CD)

The 3-star and lackluster reviews are all from people who love the old stuff and hate that their favorite band has become more mainstream with its last few albums. Most of them admit the songs are pretty catchy and well-produced, but they long for the days before band got discovered...when they were dangerous. I've got a response for that: this album is KOL's best. Face it--anyone who thinks it's easy to write a collection of songs that are melodic, memorable, and singable can tell you that it's not selling out...it's a SKILL. Sure, there are TERRIBLE, overly-simplistic disposable pop songs with nothing interesting to say. There are millions of them. And I am a fan of a number of bands with complicated and obscure albums. This KOL album, though, is accessible for a REASON--the SONGS are great. The vocals are STRONGER than they were, and the lead singer is COMMUNICATING better than ever before. Listen to their first album sometime. I imagine to 90% of the world, it's kind of unlistenable. You can barely understand a single word (and I live in the South). It sounds like Tom Petty drank three straight bottles of whiskey and then got hit over the head with a shovel until he started bleeding from his nose. Sure, Sex Pistols fans find that to be a great recommendation, but THIS album, Come Around Sundown, invokes all the lessons learned on the previous albums and then stretches out with real melodies and vocals that could, as some reviewers say, catapault the band into U2 territory with songs that make people FEEL something. I'll put "The End" from this album up against "Spiral Staircase" any time. Sometimes success is actually as sign that something GOOD is going on and that a band it getting better at what it does. Listen to the clips. You'll hear the rock, you'll hear that voice, and you'll hear something uplifting and earnest. You won't hear any processed, over-produced, pandering. This music is from the heart and the band now has the skills to tell the musical stories that they want to tell. Reviewers who say otherwise are probably just finding that music sounds different when you're 16 and it's hard to recreate that feeling in later years. Get over it. This album is great.