Kings of Leon: 'Notion'

Released on Monday, Jun 29 2009

Published Saturday, Jun 27 2009, 09:12 BST | By Mayer Nissim | 6 comments

When Kings of Leon were announced as headliners for last year's Glastonbury, a few eyebrows were raised. "You don't mean the main stage?!" people asked. However, by the time the festival came around, the momentum of 2007's Because Of The Times album had built to the point where the slot seemed entirely appropriate. The subsequent success of number one single 'Sex On Fire' then cemented the band's status as one of the world's premiere rock bands, commercially at least.

The problem is - and there's no better example than 'Notion' - that in their transition from shaggy-haired redneck thrashers to a slick arena operation, the group have lost much of the edge and charm that made them so attractive in the first place. Their lyrics here are laughably banal and, though Caleb Followill's voice is as gruff and gorgeous as ever, it's completely wasted on such plodding, painfully dull fare as this.

> Click here for our review of Only By The Night

More: Kings of Leon, Caleb Followill, Music

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Chloe, Oxford, on July 6th, 2009
I agree with all the opinions below. Compared to the other albums OBTN was a let-down, personally, although i don't think they have lost all their edge (Closer etc...) as DS says. Such songs would have been a better single than Notion.

B, on July 5th, 2009
'Crawl' would have made a much better single!

Jo Glos, on June 30th, 2009
I love 'Notion' but do believe this isn't the best song to release as a single. 'Only by the night' is one of my favourite albums,and they deserve all the success. But i do love the song, it's just not right for a single

Steve, London, on June 29th, 2009
Only By The Night was a big disapointment for me. It's brought them messaive success, which they deserve, but it's painfully obvious they have entered more commercial/radio-friendly territory. I stress again that there's nothing wrong with them doing this, but it's not as good as the earlier stuff for me.

Andrew, Northern Ireland, on June 27th, 2009
There are definitely better songs on "Only By the Night" that they could have released as a single

Jane, London, on June 27th, 2009
Listen up you don;t know anything about this band. They have only got better at their music and you should remove that stick from your a** cuz you have no taste. Their music hasn;t become banal, and they are still edgy. What you should do is take a good listen at today's bulls**t which for some reason still plays on the Radio and compare it to these guys. Kings of Leon are the only decent rock'n'roll band today!