Off with Their Heads (album)


Off with Their Heads is the third studio album by English rock band Kaiser Chiefs, and was released on 20 October 2008 in the UK, and on 25 August 2009 in the United States. The lead single from the album was "Never Miss a Beat", released two months before the album. The album charted at number two on the UK Albums Chart during the week of 26 October 2008 and at number 16 in the Irish Albums Chart of the week of 24 October.

Background

The album features guest appearances from several artists, including Lily Allen who provides backing vocals on "Always Happens Like That" and "Never Miss a Beat". She previously covered "Oh My God" on her second mixtape and later with Mark Ronson on his album Version. Three members of the English indie band New Young Pony Club also feature on backing vocals on "Never Miss a Beat", Sway DaSafo raps one verse of "Half the Truth", and James Bond composer David Arnold, who performed with the band at 2007's BBC Electric Proms, also appears on the album.
"Never Miss a Beat" and "You Want History" premiered on the band's UK Arena Tour in the Winter of 2007. The lyric "Off with their heads" appears in the first verse of "Like It Too Much". The album was uploaded with 30 second previews of each song, apart from "Never Miss a Beat" which included a full recording, on the music social networking site Last.fm on 9 October 2008. "Never Miss A Beat" appeared on Pro Evolution 2010, as did previous single Ruby, from Yours Truly, Angry Mob.

Reception

  • Allmusic – 4 stars out of 5 – "The band rails against stupidity and conformity like they did on Yours Truly, Angry Mob, but this time they know that while it's smart to be witty, it's even smarter to be insidiously catchy."
  • Rolling Stone – 4 stars out of 5 – "Off With Their Heads is great British pop in the dynamic lethal-irony tradition of the mid-Sixties Kinks, the early Jam and, with that vintage-New Wave tone of Nick Baines' keyboards, XTC's 1979 album, Drums and Wires."
  • Rolling Stone – Ranked #21 in Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums of 2008.
  • Alternative Press – 4 stars out of 5 – "'Addicted to Drugs' is brilliant, from its cheeky quotes of Robert Palmer's 'Addicted to Love' to Wilson's darkly comic portrayal of junkies in love."
  • Mojo – 3 stars out of 5 – "heir third album is again packed with the sort of boisterous melodies and niggling synth-hooks that can top charts and fill stadiums."
  • Clash – "'Half the Truth' somehow pulls off a charming Blackpool pier sound and even concludes with a little unexpected grime."

Track listing

All tracks written by Kaiser Chiefs.

Personnel