(B-Unique Records / Liberator Music)

Still not great, but they’ve improved the wheat to chaff ratio

I’m gonna put it out there: Kaiser Chiefs’ first two forays into the longplayer world were fairly rubbish, once you wiped away the crap about ‘saviours of British guitar rock’ that was caked on pretty thick for their first album in 2005. That saviour tag gets less and less believable every time you read it, you’d think NME would learn to ration it out these days. And while Employment and Yours Truly, Angry Mob had a few amazing dancefloor shakers that combined popsmarts with a keen eye for social observation, there were still 10 or 12 songs that you would never put on a playlist and skip if you were close enough to the CD player. If I had to pinpoint anything in particular, it would be the infantile manner of their rhyme schemes (what happens when a drummer writes lyrics) and a chorus structure that amoebas could stumble upon. Perhaps these criticisms have finally been heard by the band, maybe it was the ‘shock’ decision to get Mark Ronson in to produce … but the rubbish is far less prominent on Off With Their Heads. Ronson resisted the urge to press that button on his mixing desk that is simply marked ‘horns’, while in general the band sounds more punchy and focussed. The oft-kitschy keyboards have been dialed down somewhat, allowing Andrew White’s jangly guitar to finally get some recognition. First single Never Miss A Beat is obnoxious enough to become a smash, but the bouncy fun of Good Days Bad Days (with bongos?) was an instant personal favourite. They’re finally beginning to make good on their promise.

****

MITCH ALEXANDER

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