Employment
- Kaiser Chiefs
- Band Name: Kaiser Chiefs
- Record Label: Universal
- Release Date: Mar 15, 2005
- Critic Score
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90That Employment is derivative is both undeniable and irrelevant. It is so confident, so smart, so full of life, that a more enjoyable 45 minutes is hard to imagine.
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Kaiser Chiefs flow so well that even given the nonstop electro-like riffs, hooks, and knowingly cornball solos played by guitarist Whitey, the songs as a group can over-egg the pudding as only powerpop can. But as a record-making matter, Employment is nearly without flaws.
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83Employment is thrilling from beginning to end, packing in 45-minutes of exuberant Britpop melodies, na-na-na choruses and buzzsaw guitars that make Franz Ferdinand look like a bunch of stiffs.
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83Frontman Ricky Wilson is an average singer but an extraordinary melodist. [May 2005, p.102]
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80They develop, mutate, and swell in confidence until you're faced with the last thing you expected - finally, a worthy successor to Blur.
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This is an not an album designed for navel gazing introspection, but rather one to be played at neighbor-annoying volumes before you hit the town on a Friday night.
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80Essentially, 'Employment' is a very British record; an entirely Britpop creation spawned ten years after the event.
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80Smelts the classic rock canon (Madness, Blur, Bowie, Small Faces) into an infectious, head-spinning punch. [May 2005, p.109]
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80A gem. [Apr 2005, p.105]
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80[Kaiser Chiefs] are smug, preening and shallow, and so eager to entertain that they nearly piss themselves with pizzazz and energy. [Apr 2005, p.119]
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80They have a clever way with words and pleasantly surprising musical depth. [May 2005, p.92]
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The Kaiser Chiefs make you want to sing along with practically every song by the second chorus.
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Kaiser Chiefs melt their influences into something entirely non-derivative--and thoroughly fun. [May 2005, p.172]
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Try not to worry too much about where it comes from, or who else it may or may not sound like. Instead, enjoy a record that is quintessentially British, without pretension and most importantly, a whole lot of fun.
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80At least until that new Coldplay record drops, the Kaiser Chiefs have positioned themselves to hold the title of Baddest Musicians in the World With a British Return Address.
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It's also a nice change of pace that the Chiefs avoid the '80s post-punk clichés so much in fashion with their peers, though you have to wonder about the instincts of a band that leads off with its most gimmicky and least involving songs and buries its best toward the end. [10 Apr 2005]
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Certainly makes for a fun time. [8 Apr 2005, p.64]
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Employment is an uneven but still very promising debut that suggests that one day the Kaiser Chiefs will pull off something even more ambitious.
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Employment feels more like a patchwork collage of past Brit-rock stardom... than a fully-formed statement of their own. But maybe that's missing the point. When a band has this much fun and crackles with this much energy, you don't ask questions.
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There are no bad songs on Employment. There are maybe a couple not-good ones toward the end, but even those are so tightly wound and polished they could end up lodged in your head for days.
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A mini-compendium of Britpop from the '60s to now.
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67It's deadly entertaining in bursts-- especially if you pick out the right bursts.
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65Kaiser Chiefs manage find their footing early on and this success forgives them their meanderings later on the disc.
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The rest of the album, however, never quite lives up to the manic energy of "Riot." [#9]
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60Employment is an album that demands furious scrawls of red pen in the margins. [Apr 2005, p.120]
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This is the kind of post punk that loves The Specials and XTC rather than Wire and Joy Division.
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50If Franz Ferdinand were Pearl Jam, these guys would be the Stone Temple Pilots.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 43 out of 51
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Mixed: 4 out of 51
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Negative: 4 out of 51
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10
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10Great album, a few listens and you will be singing the choruses for the rest of your life.