Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

If you try and write an album full of ‘witty’ or otherwise funny lyrics, it’s a good idea to have the music to back it up, just in case the humor falls flat on its face. In the case of No More Kings and their self-titled debut disc, they almost manage to pull it off.   

Anyone of a certain age probably already did the instant association thing and thought, “Karate Kid” upon seeing the album’s cover. If that’s the case, do yourself a favor and look up the extended video for the track, Sweep the Leg on their amazon.com page or on YouTube. Probably the best track on the disc, Sweep the Leg is a propulsive pop track giving poor old Johnny Lawrence from “The Karate Kid” a chance to vent some of the frustration he’s felt ever since he “caught a crane kick to the face.”  

If you’re amused by that song’s lyrical content, you’ll probably dig the heavily 80s pop-cultural bent of Pete Mitchell’s words, which touch on everything from zombie movies, the Karate Kid and Knight Rider. And that’s just in the first three tracks. Later on, there are references to Sally Brown and her crush on an oblivious Schroeder, and a song that manages to touch on MC Hammer and the Beastie Boys AND Darth Vader, all in the course of one chorus. One of the better tracks Leaving Lilliput, lyrically marries the 80s with the 18th Century, and sets the scene to a light funk soundtrack. In the track, Mitchell offers the perspective of Gulliver, tied down by the Lilliputians, comparing his own predicament to that of Gargamel dealing with the “three apples high” Smurfs.  

Even if you’re not a child of the 80s, you’ve probably seen enough of the shows/movies cited on the disc to be able to catch and enjoy the references. The problem with No More Kings is that the music doesn’t consistently live up to the cleverness of the words.  It’s not a fault of the musicianship, Mitchell and bandmates Jeramy Burchett (drums) and Neil Robins (just about everything else) play well enough, but they fall into a “jack of all trades, master of none” trap. There’s everything on No More Kings, from the synthpop New Wave heaven of “Umbrella,” to a couple of unfortunate turns into boy band blah-ness, with a few hints of, say, Jason Mraz here balancing out the light funk of Leaving Lilliput over there.  Not enough of the songs, however, are musically memorable. While there’s something to be said for trying out different styles, there isn’t enough consistency to the album. No More Kings is definitely worth a listen, and Mitchell’s lyrics alone will be enough for plenty of people to enjoy the disc, but ultimately, Sweep the Leg won’t resonate nearly as much as the pop culture icons they reference.

 

 

PS: I had to give No More Kings extra credit for their liner notes, with amusing illustrations and hand written lyrics by Mitchell,    especially for the scan of a high school (?) creative writing assignment that earned a C-. That assignment was turned into the lyrics for the gentle album closer, This. Revenge just doesn’t get much sweeter.