''EDUCATION, EDUCATION, EDUCATION & WAR''
APRIL 1 2014
45:59
01 - The Factory Gates/3:30
02 - Coming Home/4:48
03 - Misery Company/5:11
04 - Ruffians On Parade/3:34
05 - Meanwhile Up In Heaven/5:10
06 - One More Last Song/4:04
07 - My Life/5:05
08 - Bows & Arrows/3:40
09 - Cannons/6:02
10 - Roses/4:36
Ben. H. Allen III /Composer, Guitar (Acoustic), Organ, Percussion, Producer, Programming, Synthesizer, Vocals (Background)
Nick Baines /Composer, Group Member, Keyboards
Cally /Art Direction, Design, Producer
Fraser T. Smith /Composer
Marcus Killian /Composer
Vijay Mistry /Drums, Group Member
Bill Nighy /Narrator
Petraglia /Composer
Simon Rix /Composer, Group Member, Guitar (Bass)
Nik Rose /Unknown Contributor Role
Andrew White /Composer, Group Member, Guitar
Richard Wilkinson /Additional Production, Composer
Ricky Wilson /Composer, Group Member, Vocals, Writer
REVIEW
By James Christopher Monger
The fifth long-player from the Leeds-based festival rockers with a penchant for climbing lighting rigs and crafting innocuous, arm-waving anthems that fuse the anthemic scope of classic Brit-pop with the insular, somewhat opaque, progressive cynicism of early-2000s indie rock, begins with the rousing "Factory Gates," a distillation of all of those aforementioned attributes that sounds almost exactly like what is arguably their most well-known song, 2005's "I Predict a Riot." Written in multiple cities and countries and recorded in Atlanta, Georgia with Grizzly Bear, Deerhunter, and Animal Collective producer Michael Brauer, Education, Education, Education & War promises the golden vistas of a new frontier, yet delivers once again the quintessential Kaiser Chiefs album. Even its moniker, a quote from former prime minister Tony Blair, is stuck in the past, but if there's one thing that Ricky Wilson and company excel at, it's being themselves, and this ten-track collection of paeons to permeable dissatisfaction is as much a tribute album as it is a defiant gaze into the abyss. As arena anthems go, you could do a lot worse than the infectious, aforementioned earworm of an opener and the like-minded "Ruffians on Parade," or the propulsive and pugilistic "Misery Company," a wily and willfully melodic ode to self-deprecation that's built around a chorus of maniacal laughter, but they are ephemeral at best. There's a refreshing, devil-may-care cavalier attitude to Education, Education, Education & War that eradicates much of the desperation that was beginning to creep in after 2007's Yours Truly, Angry Mob, but it still doesn't change the fact that you've heard it all before.
BIOGRAPHY
By Michael Sutton
Specializing in a muscular and melodic blend of classic Brit-pop, post-punk, and new wave, the Kaiser Chiefs' blue-collar, pub-style take on indie rock managed to split the difference between timely and nostalgic. Comprised of vocalist Ricky Wilson, guitarist Andrew White, bassist Simon Rix, keyboardist Nick Baines, and drummer Nick Hodgson, Kaiser Chiefs resurrected the mod spirit of the Jam in "I Predict a Riot," a supercharged class-of-1977 power pop single that quickly electrified the British press when it was released in 2004. The song was inspired by Wilson's days as a club DJ in Leeds, England, where the group was formed. The single and Kaiser Chiefs' pogo-inducing, boot-stomping live performances had them pegged as rising stars in the neo-new wave revolution with Franz Ferdinand, Dogs Die in Hot Cars, and the Futureheads.
When Kaiser Chiefs' first 7", "Oh My God," reached number 66 on the U.K. charts -- a startling achievement for an unsigned band -- doors opened for the group to share the stage with larger acts, consequently grabbing the attention of A&R scouts who wanted to sign them. "I Predict a Riot," on the other hand, reeled in U.S. modern rock radio programmers caught in a blooming new wave revival. Without an American label deal, Kaiser Chiefs (named after the South African football team) crash-landed on some of the biggest U.S. alternative stations with the "I Predict a Riot" import single in late 2004. That same year they recorded their debut album, Employment, for the U.K. label B-Unique. The album was released domestically in the U.S. in spring 2005.
The group's follow-up, Yours Truly, Angry Mob, arrived in the spring of 2007, while Off with Their Heads arriving a year later. The band's fourth studio album, The Future is Medieval, arrived in the U.K. in 2011. Four of the tracks, "Out of Focus," "Long Way from Celebrating," "Dead or in Serious Trouble," and "Coming Up for Air" were swapped out for "On the Run," "Cousin in the Bronx," "Problem Solved," and "Can't Mind My Own Business" when it appeared the following year in the U.S. as Start the Revolution Without Me.
In the summer of 2012, following tours of the United Kingdom and North America, Kaiser Chiefs treated fans to Souvenir: The Singles 2004-2012, a definitive compilation of releases from a highly eventful eight-year period for the band. This was followed by the news that Ricky Wilson would be appearing in the touring stage show of Jeff Wayne's epic War of the Worlds in late 2012, playing the part of The Artillery Man, originally portrayed by David Essex. 2014 saw the release of Education, Education, Education & War, the band's sixth studio album and first to feature new drummer Vijay Mistry.
