An interesting album title for a band who have, at least from the outside, always taken themselves so seriously. One feels as if Kings of Leon should have been a world beating rock band since they broke through to the mainstream in the late noughties with Sex On Fire et al. But instead they used that template to produce further albums before slowing down completely with an album every three or four years or so. Yet after 2016’s WALLS and 2021’s ‘When You See Yourself…’it was obvious they hadn’t lost their touch for catchy compositions and winning melodies.
This correspondent’s main criticism of previous Kings of Leon albums is that they often fall short because they lack that extra finesse to drag them over the line. There’s a reluctance to push the envelope or embrace what they’re good at; catchy melodies with succinct guitar riffs and Caleb’s rasping and heart rending vocals.
Early single release ‘Mustang’ didn’t inspire much enthusiasm because it was the kind of fayre they could have produced in their sleep around the Aha Shake Heartbreak era. Twangy and raw. Yet the album opens up with the moody Ballerina Radio . There’s a touching quality to the harmonies and production which feels almost like it should feature in a 1980’s Brat pack movie.
Second song Rainbow Ball jerks from the anthemic organ of previous album’s 100,000 People into a Beach Boys on strong brew rush along affair.
Similar attention is paid in the production as to 2016’s Walls with eerie effects lurking on the cusp and that is demonstrated rather expertly on the ear worm that is Nowhere To Run. Already one gets the impression that while they’ve lacked impetus on recent albums, it’s back here and they’re revelling in it. The rhyming couplets of the first two verses might be better yet it is knowing enough not to outstay its welcome.
Mustang begins with some tourism into the RnB genre but that fades at the chorus where Caleb treads more familiar ground with a 40 a day vocal performance.
Actual Daydream’s jaunty verses cut away smoothly to a darker chorus with some fine work on bass by Jared Followill. At the half way point of proceedings, it is easier to feel that there is a place for the band and their unique style in 2025. It is also rather refreshing that they don’t fall back onto their stock trade riffs and chord progressions which can be traced all the way back to ‘Sex on Fire’ or ‘Use Somebody’.
The foreboding atmosphere is back with a broken sounding chord on synthesizer giving way to a plodding piece of rock/pop where Caleb’s voice is regal. Yes, one could argue ‘Seen’ is very much like the noughties Kings of Leon but they’ve been to the mines and back with Caleb hitting the sweet spots in the chorus and interval. Cinematic and poignant, a real high point, the wind chimes at the end go to show they’re having fun.
The standard remains high on ‘Don’t Stop The Bleeding’ and Caleb once again shows us the lead singer he can be, not the less ambitious version he’s been playing since 2013’s Mechanical Bull. The harmonies are immaculate.
M Television is punkier and rockier than most of the material on ‘Can We Please Have Fun’ and might be more than a shade reminiscent of their work on ‘WALLS’ but the band really come together here with energy and panache.
On ‘Hesitation Gen’ one might accuse them of going back to the old formula with jingly jangly guitars, a punch the air chorus and a retro noughties vibe. ‘Split Screen’ is like being stuck in a haunting warehouse but they break away from the industrial rock with call backs to The Police’s Invisible Sun to one of the weaker plodders on the album.
The almost obligatory salsa meets country and Western music itch is scratched on the chilled out ‘Ease Me On’ yet the best is arguably left to come.
‘Seen’ brings a soulful and indignant vocal performance from Caleb who prevails over the snapping of the percussion and his own guitar. The refrain is a splendid march out.
So how does Can We Please Have Fun sit in the pantheon? Well, to be frank, it doesn’t push the envelope but it does tug on it on a regular basis. It seems unlikely that they’ll enjoy a great commercial hit here to join albums number 4 or 5. But tracks like ‘Actual Daydream’, ‘Seen’ or ‘Don’t Stop the Bleeding’ deserve to find a favourable audience and receive plenty of airplay.
They said during their junket in the United Kingdom for this album that it came from feeling almost tired with themselves. They are not beyond self parody or tongue in cheek songs like ‘Family Tree’ or ‘Mi Amigo’. But here they are seemingly having fun. On their own terms and hearing that is worth it.
Athon 