ONLY BY THE NIGHT - Kings Of Leon

LAST year, Entertainment Weekly called the Kings Of Leon's third album Because Of The Times its "crowning glory" while Rolling Stone wondered: "How good can the Kings Of Leon get? They've already gone further than anybody could have guessed".

But if critics thought that the album was the work of a band -
comprising the Followills, brothers Caleb (vocals and guitar), Nathan (drums) and Jared (bass), and their cousin Matthew (guitar) - at the peak of its powers, they might want to reconsider after listening to its latest release, Only By The Night, which picks up where Because Of The Times left off.

"To me, it sounds like the Kings Of Leon are back, not only as a band,
but as friends," said Caleb.

"It was really a big family vibe. That's where the title came from. It's also a reference to a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, and it has five syllables, like all of our album titles."

From the first bars of opener Closer, which Caleb says is about a lovesick vampire, with its gently weeping guitars and reverberating drums, you can hear the space that Nashville producers Angelo Petraglia and Jacquire King have opened up in the Followills' sound.

The fuzz-crunched, hip-grinding Crawl, about relationships of all kinds and taking them for granted, blasts in with metallic thrum, sweeping in its savage grace.

The album's single, Sex On Fire, returns the band to familiar thematic territory of unbridled lust.

Then, another quick shift of gears into Use Somebody, a rousing, full-throated indie anthem, with Caleb sing-shouts Otis Redding-style: "You know that I could use somebody".

The dopey Manhattan is partly about dancing and enjoying life and partly about the struggles of Native Americans.

"Manhattan is actually a native American word that means `island of many hills'," said Caleb, whose family has Native American blood.

Finally there's the driving, forceful Notion, where the singer pushes back against anyone who says anything against anyone in his band.

The album closes with dreamy Cold Desert, about a man at the end of his rope who picks himself back up. It's the perfect maudlin end to this short, sharp album.

Only By The Night is an album not to be missed by rock fans, if only because the band has made rock fashionable again. - NST 09/11/2008

CLOSER - The Best Of Sarah McLachlan

HERE'S another compilation album filled with the best of the greatest hits of Sarah Ann McLachlan, the Grammy-winning Canadian musician, singerand songwriter.

Closer - The Best Of Sarah McLachlan contains 14 classic tracks personally selected from her award-winning catalogue, as well as two previously unreleased songs, Don't Give Up On Us and U Want Me 2.

Playing music throughout her youth while rigorously studying classical guitar (12 years), piano (six years), voice (five years) and opera (threeyears) at the Nova Scotia Conservatory of Music, her teenage influences included Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Cat Stevens, Simon and Garfunkel and the British group Talk Talk.

And you can hear them all in most of her greatest hits.

In 1988, she recorded the first albums, Touch, which received both critical and commercial success and included her first hit song Vox.

The next two hit singles The Path of Thorns (Terms) and Into the Fire comes from her second album, Solace (1991).

Her 1994 Fumbling Towards Ecstasy album was an immediate smash hit in Canada and her piano version of the song Possession was included on the first Due South soundtrack in 1996.

Angel is another hit song that originally appeared in her 1997 album, Surfacing, about the Smashing Pumpkins touring keyboard player Jonathan Melvoin, who overdosed on heroin and died in 1996.

McLachlan explained that "there's nothing constant when you are on the road; everything becomes the same".

Another hit from that album is Adia, co-written with her longtime producer, Pierre Marchand. The song reflected an apology to her bestfriend for becoming involved with, and later marrying, her friend's ex-partner.

Building A Mystery also came out of Surfacing and was her biggest chart hit in Canada, spending eight weeks at No. 1 on the RPM charts and ranking as the No. 1 single of the year in the magazine's year end chart.

It won her the Juno Award for Single of the Year in 1998 and madeMcLachlan the recipient of the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the Grammy Awards of 1998.

I Will Remember You was co-written by McLachlan, Seamus Egan and DaveMerenda.

It first appeared on the soundtrack of the film The Brothers McMullen in 1995, and was featured on her remix album, Rarities, B-Sides And Other Stuff. It became a hit when McLachlan released a live version of the song from her 1999 live album Mirrorball.

Mirrorball also generated her three Grammy Award nominations in 2000,winning Female Pop Vocal Performance for I Will Remember You.

Fallen is the first single from her 2003 album, Afterglow. The song was nominated on the 2004 Grammy Awards on the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance field, losing to Beautiful by Christina Aguilera.

Stupid is also from Afterglow. The music video features McLachlan in different time periods.

Another masterpiece from Afterglow is World On Fire and is one ofMcLachlan's most political songs, intended to graphically illustrate theimpact that even relatively small individual donations might have on third-world poverty.

The video for World On Fire opens with the claim of having costUS$150,000 (RM530,000), despite the ensuing low-quality footage ofMcLachlan in a plain room playing her guitar. The video continues toreveal it actually cost US$15, then tracking how the remainder went to enriching lives all around the globe through charity donations.

Other songs included in the album are Hold On, and Good Enough.

Closer - The Best Of Sarah Mclachlan is the album for fans of her powerful soprano voice, which is frequently compared to Tori Amos andSinead O'Connor, and her music often described as "ethereal". – NST 02/11/2008

DIG YOUR SOUL OUT - Oasis

THE band is a landmark.... A paradox....

And no matter how much controversy it seems to stir up, within as well as outside the group, success seems to follow it wherever it goes - from the first live gig in August 1991 at the boardwalk club in Manchester to the back-to-back success with from Definitely Maybe (1994), (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (1995), Be Here Now (1997), to Don't Believe The Truth (2005).

And now, the Manchunian rock band phenomenon Oasis is back once again zooming to the top of the charts with its seventh studio album, Dig OutYour Soul.

With Liam Gallagher on vocals, brother Noel on vocals, electric guitar, drums, keyboards and electronics, Gem Archer (formerly of HeavyStereo) on bass and keyboards, Andy Bell on bass, keyboards and tambora, and Zack Starkey on drums, Dig Out Your Soul is sure to bring back its glory days.

The band was named Britain's most successful act of the 1990s by the Guinness Book of World Records, with eight No 1 pop hit singles including Some Might Say (1995), All Around The World (1998), The Hindu Times(2002), Lyla and The Importance Of Being Idle (2005) - that seems to have eluded them these past few years with the emergence of younger blood.

This time around, Noel set out to write music that had more of a groove. Archer and Bell contributed a song each - the hypnotic To BeWhere There's Life and the rockier The Nature Of Reality - but they do nothing to challenge Noel's title of the chief when it comes to songwriting.

The album starts off with Bag It Up, a ramshackle speedfreak racket with Liam taking refuge from "the freaks coming up through the floor" with his "heebeegeebies in a little bag".

Oddly enough, it contains areference to pouring yourself a cup of twinning's Lady Grey, and not about any weed of any kind.

Blasts of chest-out noise, the brothers Gallagher on vocals, and ringing guitar lines that end in a suitably bombastic crescendo make Bag It Up a great opening number.

Waiting For Rapture is another pugnacious stomper, with a cracking chorus to boot, this time with Noel at the vocal helm. It's both dirty and spacey at the same time. It's a great mix.

Falling Down has chillier tones and a catchy chorus, unlike anything Oasis has recorded before.

As with other albums, the Beatles influences are ever-present - from the Dear Prudence guitar at the end of The Turning to the Give Peace A Chance clap and stomp of (Get off Your) High Horse Lady.

Not surprisingly, (Get off Your) High Horse Lady is easily one of the album's favourite. Noel's voice and the guitar sounds like they wererecorded through an old radio, giving the song a spooky sound when combined with the big drums, hand claps, and guitar riffs.

I'm Outta Time, a ballad by Liam and dedicated to John Lennon, seems tobe about the disenchantments of growing old. It also includes Lennon'svoice sample. It's likely to be the favourite track of many who hear this album as it features one of Oasis' best melodies ever and Liam sings itbeautifully.

The sitarish psychedelic To Be Where There's Life is a slow burner, while The Nature Of Reality has an incredible Led Zeppelin-esque stomp which mixes in perfectly with a terrific guitar riff.

The album closes with the haunting Soldier On, with Liam's vocals echoeing at the end. It offers a sense of the close of a really beautiful tripped-out dream.

Oasis have long been remarkable for the catchy tunes and riffs itwrites and now it is just as remarkable for the creative arrangements,songwriting and production the band brings to the table.

The cover art promises psychedelia... And Dig Out Your Soul delivers. - NST 19/10/2008

ESSENTIAL REGGAE (Universal)

Ever wanted an album filled with classic reggae hits?

Well this is your chance to get your hands on two of them in Essential Reggae - 40 ClassicReggae Hits.

The album starts off with everyone's favourite reggae tune, Sun Is Shining by legendary Bob Marley, first appearing on the LeePerry-produced album Soul Revolution in 1971.

Don't Turn Around, written by Diane Warren and Albert Hammond, was originally recorded by tina turner as the b-side on the 45rpm record of the single Typical Male in 1986. In 1988, Aswad made a cover of it,taking the song to No1 on the UK singles chart in March 1988.

Chaka Demus and Pliers' first hit, Tease Me, stayed in the top five ofthe UK Singles chart, for three months in 1993.

Also on the album is their No 1 hit Twist And Shout.

Most of you are familiar with the 1971 song Killing Me Softly With His Song. This album carries an earlier John Holt's cover, whose style is more romantic than most of his contemporaries. It is a recognisable forerunner of a style of reggae known as "Lovers rock", which developed in Britain during the 1970s.

Holt appears again on CD2 with Help Me Get Through The Night.

Welcome To Jamrock is the single from the album with the same name byDamian Robert Nesta "Junior Gong" Marley, Bob's youngest son. Damian is the first and only Jamaican reggae artiste in history to win two Grammy Awards on the same night for best reggae Album and best Urban/Alternative Performance for Welcome To Jamrock in 2006.

In 1967, Dawn Penn recorded the rocksteady single You Don't Love Me(No, No, No), which is in fact a remake of a 1961 blues tune called You Don't Love Me by Willie cobbs, which itself was a remake of bo Diddley's1955 song She's Fine, She's Mine a.k.a. You Don't Love Me.

Toots and the Maytals are one of the best known ska and reggae vocalgroups, with their music combining gospel, ska, soul, reggae and rockelements. But the group's musical career was interrupted in late 1966when their leader, Frederick "Toots" Hibbert, was jailed for marijuana charges.

It is during this time that toots wrote one of the greatest andwell-known song in reggaedome, 54-46 That's My Number, about his time in jail (54-46 was Toots' prison number). They appear again on CD2 with Funky Kingston.

Godfather of ska, Jimmy Cliff, is best known among mainstream audiences for The Harder They Come from the groundbreaking Jamaican film of the same name, which helped popularise reggae across the world. He also appears again with Wonderful World, Beautiful People on CD2.

Before the ascent of Bob Marley, Desmond Dekker was one of the mostpopular musician within Jamaica, and one of the best-known Jamaican musician outside it. Among his best known releases of this period was YouCan Get It If You Really Want.

He appears again together with his backinggroup, the Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Howard), with one of the first international Jamaican hits, Israelites.

Red Red Wine, originally written and recorded by Neil Diamond, is covered here by Tony Tribe and given a rocksteady feel.

Jamaican reggae vocal trio The Pioneers also appears with their 1969 hit Long Shot Kick De Bucket, which was later taken to No1 in 1980 by TheSpecials.

Ska, rocksteady, and reggae vocal group The Ethiopians, founded byLeonard Dillon, also appears with their 1999 hit Train To Skaville, as well as another ska legend, Dandy Livingstone, with his 1972 hit Rudy,Message To You.

To complete the album are black Uhuru, formed by Derrick "Duckie"Simpson, with Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and Janet Kay with her SillyGames.

As the title suggest, Essential Reggae - 40 Classic Reggae Hits is amust-have for all reggae cult classic connoisseurs. – NST 19/10/2008

YEAR OF THE GENTLEMAN - Ne-Yo

SHAFFER Chimere Smith, a.k.a. Ne-Yo, the record producer, dancer, actor, occasional rapper and songwriter sensation, is out with his third album, Year Of The Gentleman, described by Ne-Yo himself as "an insidelook at the emotional vulnerability of men and without emasculating us".

But don't be fooled by the title, this album is all about the ladies.

Ne-Yo seeks to praise the wonder and beauty that is woman, through genuine respect and love from the perspective of the sensitive and understanding man.

The album is full of mid-tempo tracks, sprinkled with a couple of dance tracks and ballads.

The first two singles - Closer, the catchy, driven by a metallic disco thump courtesy of the Norwegian production team StarGate, and MissIndependent, the go-girl anthem of the year that sparks ahead with asolid beat and piano foundation - are rocketing up the charts.

Ne-Yo then plays the understanding guy who is trying to help a woman forget her underachieving boyfriend in Single.

The sure fire single is Mad, backed by an easy beat and gorgeous,affectionate piano.

Drippy, slightly maudlin cuts such as Fade Into TheBackground, So You Can Cry and Part Of The List keep the album from being as strong as Ne-Yo's previous two.

Be that as it may, Year Of The Gentleman proves that Ne-Yo's been paying attention and taking abundant notes on what women really want. - NST 12/10/2008

PARTIE TRAUMATIC - Black Kids

FORMED in early 2006, Florida five-piece Black Kids is an indie rock band fronted by singer-songwriter Reggie Youngblood (vocals and guitar),Owen Holmes (bass guitar), Kevin Snow (drums), Dawn Watley (keyboards andbacking vocals), and Reggie's twin sister Ali (keyboards and backingvocals).

The band members are not entirely American-African. Nor are they literally kids anymore.

With coed harmonies and snatches of R&B, Black Kids has a more classic pop sound than your typical indie-rock band.

They created a huge buzz on the Internet by posting its music on its MySpace page. And soon, everyone wanted a piece of the band.

Black Kids toured Britain early this year and while there, the band recorded its debut album, Partie Traumatic, with producer Bernard Butler, former guitarist of Suede.

Mixing racy lyrics with bouncy beats and gender blurring points of view, Black Kids borrows from seemingly every genre intended to get the soundtrack for a good time, from disco to new wave to electropop.

The record starts positively enough with the catchy chorus of Hit The Heartbreaks, with Youngblood's vocals eerily similar to Robert Smith of The Cure.

Next comes the title song, Partie Traumatic, complete with spooky electronic tone mixed with a party hook - and yet it's one of the album's better songs.

Easily one of the most fun tracks on the album, I'm Not Gonna TeachYour Boyfriend How To Dance has an infectious quality that rattles around your head for hours after, as does most of this solid debut album.

Cue the memories of a bad 80s film depicting the dance floor as a lovers'battleground.

"He's got two left feet and he bites my moves".

Our hero doesn't get the girl, but his consolation is style. Lyrically, Reggie often refers to himself in song as a girl, writing terse, bittersweet lyrics that recall Morrissey and the Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt.

Some couplets stands out as carefully crafted pop poetry, including "This jungle is massive. So please don't be so passive. Be aggressive. Impress us. And they will get the message", from Partie Traumatic.

In Nov 14 last year, Rolling Stone magazine called them one of 10Artists to Watch in 2008. The band was also included in the BBC Sound of2008 poll.

Add to that the fact that only two members are black, the girls sport`dos that rival the B-52's and their music sounds like a record cut in1983, there's enough fun 80s style synth-pop and ragged guitar,modernised with will la mode chant-style vocals plus a pinch of 60s girlband harmonies, to make this record perfectly acceptable pre-night-on-the-townlistening.

Partie Traumatic is this year's best dance/pop album.

One of the best 80's British New Wave albums not to come out ofEngland... or the 80s. – NST 05/10/2008

LIGHT FROM ABOVE - Black Tide

THIS heavy metal band from Miami, Florida, comprises Gabriel Garcia (vocals/guitar), Alex Nunez (guitar), Zachary Sandler (bass), and Steven Spence (drums).

Each member of Black Tide was under 20 years of age (some say Garciawas only 15 at that time) during the recording of this debut album, making it very recognisable in the music industry.

The second head-turner is their label: Interscope.

That's the home of 50 Cent, Gwen Stefani, and Jimmy Eat World. On this first record, these teenagers are labelmates with Dr Dre. Areyou jealous, or are you jealous?

And Black Tide might rightly deserve its good fortune.

Most metal bands will never reach the maturity of Light From Above. It's true-blue metal lifted straight from the 80s - think Dio, IronMaiden, Armored Saint.

Thrash beats drop in at times, but otherwise it's melodies for miles.

The opener, Shockwave, shows us right away that these kids can play. It's immediately clear lead guitarist Nunez is a star in the making GiveMe A Chance is an Ozzyesque anthem, complete with power ballad cleantones.

Light From Above revives Iron Maiden harmonies and retro bass work.

Even a filler track like Show Me The Way uncorks tasty Van Halen lickswhile its cover of Metallica's Hit The Lights is amazingly spot-on.

The problem with the album is the lyrics - so cheesy.

Warriors Of Time could have been an amazing anthem if not for Garcia's "Whoooooooooaooooh" right from the start of the track till the end.

Nevertheless, the album is as solid as they come and should earn Black Tide loads of fans.

Not bad for a bunch of kids with long hair. – NST 14/09/2008