Music
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best of 2009
Best of 2008
Best of 2007
Best of 2006
Best of 2005
Best of 2004
Best of 2003
Best of 2002
Best of 2001
Best of 2000
Best of the Decade
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
75
Alberta Cross
70
The Album Leaf
69
Alkaline Trio
66
Animal Collective
84
Animal Collective
50
Athlete
82
Beach House
81
The Besnard Lakes
75
Kasper Bjorke
65
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
64
Dan Black
75
Mary J. Blige
75
Blockhead
79
Blood Red Shoes
70
David Bowie
64
The Brian Jonestown Massacre
70
Broken Bells
65
V.V. Brown
72
The Brunettes
71
Basia Bulat
78
Carolina Chocolate Drops
79
Johnny Cash
79
Chew Lips
82
Chicago Underground Duo
79
The Chieftains Featuring Ry Cooder
76
Citay
66
Clem Snide
77
Clipd Beaks
78
Clogs
66
Cold War Kids
75
Easton Corbin
80
Crazy Heart
90
Crime In Stereo
70
Jamie Cullum
63
Fyfe Dangerfield
72
Delphic
89
The Dillinger Escape Plan
64
Dinowalrus
77
Drive-By Truckers
59
Editors
71
Eels
74
Efterklang
83
Eluvium
82
Erland And The Carnival
57
Everybody Was In The French Resistance...Now
63
Excepter
78
Field Music
76
First Aid Kit
68
Josephine Foster
82
Four Tet
71
Nils Frahm
77
Freeway & Jake One
75
Frightened Rabbit
82
Fucked Up
64
Peter Gabriel
79
Charlotte Gainsbourg
80
Galactic
67
The Gilded Palace Of Sin
73
Ernest Gonzales
59
Good Shoes
79
Gorillaz
70
Adam Green
79
Patty Griffin
76
Groove Armada
67
H.I.M.
43
Hadouken!
73
Harvey Milk
68
Juliana Hatfield
67
Jimi Hendrix
88
High On Fire
80
Hot Chip
66
The Hot Rats
88
Ray Wylie Hubbard
54
Hurricane Chris
76
Jaga Jazzist
76
Jaheim
68
jj
79
Freedy Johnston
54
Nick Jonas And The Administration
57
Ke$ha
66
Alicia Keys
74
The Knife In Collaboration With Mt. Sims And Planningtorock
63
Lady Antebellum
65
Dawn Landes
82
Lawrence Arabia
74
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
82
Liars
72
Lightspeed Champion
37
Lil Wayne
82
Lindstrom & Christabelle
68
Little Boots
78
Local Natives
75
Los Campesinos!
67
Lostprophets
65
Ludacris
72
Magnetic Fields
74
Massive Attack
58
Katherine McPhee
60
Tom McRae
66
Daniel Merriweather
76
Pat Metheny
72
Midlake
64
Holly Miranda
79
Allison Moorer
83
Motion City Soundtrack
53
Mudvayne
65
Mumford & Sons
55
Never Shout Never
85
Joanna Newsom
81
Scout Niblett
76
Nneka
75
Oh No Ono
70
OK Go
71
Omarion
77
Owen Pallett
84
Pantha du Prince
77
Past Lives
84
Pavement
77
Phantogram
65
Pit Er Pat
86
Polar Bear
64
Priestess
69
Quasi
77
Corinne Bailey Rae
71
The Red Krayola With Art & Language
81
Fionn Regan
77
Retribution Gospel Choir
57
Martin Rev
64
Rjd2
63
Rogue Wave
82
Jack Rose
77
The Ruby Suns
78
Sade
77
Gil Scott-Heron
80
She & Him
77
Shearwater
69
Blake Shelton
84
Shining
68
Shout Out Louds
80
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band
75
The Soft Pack
80
Spoon
63
Ringo Starr
68
Story Of The Year
71
The Strange Boys
74
Strong Arm Steady
78
Surfer Blood
60
Tape Deck Mountain
82
These New Puritans
71
Robin Thicke
76
Tindersticks
82
Titus Andronicus
72
Toro Y Moi
63
Josh Turner
81
Vampire Weekend
79
Laura Veirs
69
Via Audio
79
Butch Walker And The Black Widows
59
The Watson Twins
69
We Are Wolves
66
Kanye West
64
Wetdog
51
The Whigs
67
White Hills
79
The White Stripes
72
The Whitefield Brothers
68
Wu-Tang Clan
75
Xiu Xiu
78
Yeasayer
77
You Say Party! We Say Die!
63
Young Money
61
Rob Zombie
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Aha Shake Heartbreak
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 84 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Handmedown / RCA
Release Date: 22 February 2005
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Summary
Ethan Johns produced this sophomore album for southern rockers and brothers Caleb, Nathan, Jared and Matthew Followill. (OK, so Matthew is only a cousin, but he was still allowed to join the band.)
Also By This Artist: Because Of The Times Only By The Night Youth & Young Manhood
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
E! Online
Now the melodies are sharper, the scissor kicks are higher and the grooves are, er, groovier.
Read Full Review >Delusions of Adequacy
Wrongly cast as a chicken-fried version The Strokes after 2003’s stellar Youth & Young Manhood, on their latest, Aha Shake Heartbreak, The Kings prove that they’re a band of significant depth and originality.
Read Full Review >Village Voice (Consumer Guide)
There's an early-Stones feel here it would be perverse to deny: 12 songs in 36 minutes, each with an indelible identiriff and its own seductive rhythmic shape.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine
While Aha Shake Heartbreak showcases four feckless stoners speaking in their own shop-class patois, it also captures them playing alarmingly sophisticated pop.
Read Full Review >Under The Radar
In taking back the rawness of [their] first e.p., the band have simultaneously acquired the courage to experiment with a surprising number of styles. [#9]
Billboard
A more focused effort that never sacrifices the band's manic intensity.
Read Full Review >Lost At Sea
Aha Shake Heartbreak surpasses the previous record by leaps and bounds; it is a triumph over the dreaded sophomore slump as much as it is a worthy feat in and of itself.
Read Full Review >Drawer B
The lyrical terrain is insultingly common (girls, life on the road, girls), yet the band has such an idiosyncratic method of expression that makes these everyday themes sound – at least over the course of each song – radically inspired.
Read Full Review >Stylus Magazine
Apart from Caleb Followill’s distinctive, growly vocals--half-man half-grizzly--this could be a completely different band. A much better band. It’s quite an incredible transformation--and I’ll say this upfront: it doesn’t matter what you thought of their debut, you should listen to this album.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
It would seem from the evidence presented here that [King Of Leon] are intent on rebuilding themselves from scratch, drawing on whatever wild and wonderful influences they've tripped over in their race to live five lifetimes in every day. [30 Oct 2004, p.63]
cokemachineglow
With shorter, tighter songs far more reminiscent of 80’s post-punk than Southern AOR, Aha Shake Heartbreak can only be considered a pleasant surprise.
Read Full Review >The Guardian
Ignore the lyric booklet and you have one of the more impressive albums of 2004.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
Perseverance with the rougher sound and jerky arrangements will be rewarded. [Dec 2004, p.129]
Mojo
An unexpectedly weird bolt from the blue, an ultimately outstanding crack at brokering an accord between spiky noo wave and fuzzy '70s stoner rock. [Nov 2004, p.116]
Blender
If their debut was a night of chasing skirts and drinking Jim Beam from the bottle, Heartbreak is the bitter, worn-out morning after. [Mar 2005, p.138]
Austin Chronicle
Unlike the Strokes, and say, Interpol, no sophomore face-plant here.
Read Full Review >ShakingThrough.net
If Youth and Young Manhood was Kings of Leon tentatively using well-tested implements, Aha Shake Heartbreak is the sound of a group boldly forging a unique identity from common tools that have been stripped of all pretense and decoration.
Read Full Review >Filter
Yet another collection of crafty, drunken stories of manhood devouring youth. [#14, p.101]
Entertainment Weekly
The tunes amount to sharply played but disjointed riffs. [25 Feb 2005, p.102]
Spin
Though they fit snugly inside their vintage genes, the Kings manage to make room for a surprising amount of heart. [Mar 2005, p.85]
All Music Guide
It's their seamless and agreeable blend of rock & roll, country, and Roky Erickson-style psychedelia, matched with a keen lyrical wit, that makes them fascinating to both sides of the pond.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
Heartbreak is an instance when that hoary music-biz cliche -- "They're better onstage" -- rings true; ironically so, since the Kings and producer Ethan Johns recorded Aha Shake Heartbreak live in the studio, with no overdubs.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
There's plenty to enjoy on the new album and Kings of Leon seem willing to play it slow and become a career act.
Read Full Review >Drowned In Sound
Musically, at least, Kings of Leon have matured during their two years on the road and, if you ignore some of the less than elegant lyrics, they have produced an acceptable second album.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
What remains... is a jerky, cocksure indie group striving to be accepted as a proper grown-up Southern Rock band, without the guts, depth or tunes to carry it off.
Read Full Review >Paste Magazine
In song after song there are moments where it sounds like the band is weaving its way into a fantastic instrumental jam section, only to have the new idea abruptly cut short by the track’s end or an obligatory return to the next verse.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
The album's one redeeming element is the band itself, who-- over the course of one EP and two albums-- have improved tenfold.
Read Full Review >Uncut
Nothing more than the uncomfortable sound of a band escaping their svengali. [Dec 2004, p.142]
Village Voice
Only once do the Kings offer an identity worth bugging out in a club over, on the reckless and fantastic "Taper Jean Girl." The rest of the time, it all seems more confused and cynically gimmicked than inspired.
Read Full Review >Tiny Mix Tapes
While this is drastically experimental by their standards, there is nothing here you haven't heard done infinitely better many times before.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.2 (out of 10) based on 84 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Will L. gave it a9:
This album has a very live feel, in terms of little overdubs, tracks don't hang around long with the album just about 35 mins. 'The Bucket' and 'King of the Rodeo' are my favourites, it's only flaw is it fizzles out a little near the end.
Kit T gave it a10:
One of my favourite albums of all time, 'nuff said...
Kon K gave it a9:
Fantastic album. The band has developed a lot since their debut. It actually sounds like a new band. I liked their debut album, and din't buy this second one for a while, unsure whether it would match the quality of the first. But now, I look back at the first and think, wow- that's nothing compared to this. One of the best contemporary rock albums I have by a band that is talented, can actually play their instruments, and play really well.
Robert P gave it a10:
I love this album. It's fresh and fun.
jay k gave it a4:
i really wanted to like this band, and i did, until i found out they just copy off of zeppelin in their pics and logos. they even try to look like led zeppelin, just go to www.led-zeppelin.com, look at some pics, and then google image search "kings of leon" and you will eventually see what i am talking about i like their songs though, i fell in love with red morning light and the bucket(the only ones worth listening to)
Sid Vicious gave it a10:
Hype can be an artists best friend or worst enemy. Kings of Leon recieved a hell of alot of hype. Hype usually deters me - if only becuase I've been burnt in the past by the hype machine. But I was crazy for the song 'Red Morning Light' off Youth and Young Manhood - So there you go, huh? And guess what fellows? Aha Shake Heartbreak is fecking fantastic! Buy it. Listen to it. Make sweet love to it. You'll thank me later.
[Anonymous] gave it a10:
This album is great to listen to, even years later. Can't wait for their next stuff.
