Youth and Young Manhood

Kings of Leon, up to and including their haircuts and moustaches, are steeped in the rock & roll of the American south: Youth & Young Manhood is largely four-square boogie whose ideal setting would be a bar with sawdust on the floor and chicken wire protecting the stage. The Kings of Leon do not have a single formative influence drawn from within their own lifetimes--they clearly whiled away their father's long road trips listening to radio stations that broadcast an unleavened diet of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Allman Brothers and a pre-sequencers ZZ Top (although vocalist Caleb Followill sounds more than anything else like AC/DC's Bon Scott). Perhaps Youth & Young Manhood manages to be significantly more than an exercise in pastiche because the Followills are still too young to be jaded by these old noises. Whatever the reason, this is a fine start. --Andrew Mueller