Personally, I don’t see the problem with starting an album with a 7min song.  That was apparently one of the ‘don’t’ the Kings of Leon had to fight against when making this album Because of the Times.  Ok so you’re standing in the CD shop… undecided you’ve got two excellent CD’s in your hand, only money for one. Oh I know… check the length of the first track!!  That will decide it for you… Oh! and in other news today; the Mars Volta sold a CD when someone inadvertently forgot to check the length of the first track.

Well anyway, it’s a song about a couple who’ve had to escape, she’s ‘knocked up’ and they’re “taking off in the Coupe Deville, she’s buckled up on navy”.  It opens the album and set you up for the new Kings of Leon as you shall now know them.  Not so much Kentucky you’re thinking.  Quiet and careful the music cuts in gently, Caleb’s voice is relaxed and missing some of the twang & shrill you might have been used to.  To be honest this is the first album of there’s I’ve listen to in full. But I’ve loved their music on the radio from day one.

click it to see it big!

As for the picture, ‘laboured’ might be one word.  It was one for me that always seemed better in the sketches I did.  I think I got it there in the end, but at times I was ready to start over.  (Even after writing this I went back and worked it some more!)  Obviously the lyric up there “on navy” just caught my attention and I couldn’t get this image out my head.  It’s really quite sad, leaving everything behind and not know what they’re going to do next, they’ve only got each other.  “I’m a ghost and I don’t think I quite know where we’re gonna go..”  There’s an amount of emotion in there which I wish I could get more of into the picture. Maybe after a sleep I’ll add a little something to kick it up a bit. I’m really thinking about washing the whole thing with water.

Well, that’s exactly what I did! umm almost…  I didn’t ‘wash’ it as such, just sprayed it with water mist then bushed a bit of black ink here and there.  I decided the harshness of the pastel was not in keeping with the song.  It had to be softer and denser at the same time, which the water has done to some extent.  I think I’m a bit happier with it now.

Now, more importantly, have a listen to the song here (it’s a live version, recorded at Reading) and tell me what you think?  I’ll probably put it up on eBay sometime soon, but if you want it before I get around to doing that…  just drop me $20 and you can have it now!  (who? The first person to make a comment to that effect, that’s who!)

Track 2 - Charmer coming soon!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 at 10:01 pm and is filed under Image gallery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.