Kaiser Chiefs - Education, Education, Education & War

Kaiser Chiefs
Education, Education, Education & War
31 March 2014
Fiction

3 stars out of 5

 

As derivative records go, Education, Education, Education & War at least keeps its “influences” (read: “people it rips off”) on the cool(-ish) side. Kaiser Chiefs were one of the less interesting or original higher-profile bands to come out of the UK indie rock explosion of the mid-oughts, and while they’ve put together a group of catchy tunes here, they’re still not terribly interesting or original. Therefore, in order to give credit where credit is due, I will give a brief sketch of the “influences” rather than worry about the present record as an entity in and of itself (which it isn’t, really).

“Factory Gates” could be from an early-‘90s Inspiral Carpets record, Moog-laden as it is, while “Coming Home” could be a mid-‘90s b-side by The Cure. “Misery Company” is straight outta Country Life-era Roxy Music. “Ruffians on Parade” is a ‘70s rocker by Heart (okay, maybe not so cool), while “One More Last Song” is early-‘80s Platinum Blonde (therefore, by extension, slightly earlier-‘80s Duran Duran). “My Life” and “Bows & Arrows” are two more lost Inspiral Carpets tracks, while “Roses” is basically every Britpop band that ever was.

Oddly enough, through all of this runs the narrative of a concept album about the nature of the modern military industrial state. From the opening “Factory Gates” to the closing “Roses,” we follow a British everyman from the depressed post-industrial ruinscapes that dot the English map to the economic hope offered them by the war machinery that is far more likely to turn them into decapitated bodies than into decorated heroes. It’s an ambitious if somewhat derivative idea (see The Final Cut or The Monitor) that the band doesn’t quite have the skills to pull off. It’s certainly a catchy attempt, though.

reviewed by Richard Krueger