Word: leon
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...anyone end the dispute between the nation's intelligence chiefs? The National Security Council tried and failed; National Security Adviser Jim Jones tried and failed. Now it looks as if Vice President Joe Biden's effort to referee the dispute between CIA Director Leon Panetta and his boss, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, has not completely resolved the differences either...
...Followill brothers--Caleb (vocals, rhythm guitar), Nathan (drums) and Jared (bass)--were raised in a purple Oldsmobile driven by their father Leon, a traveling Pentecostal minister. Apparently they were good and pure Southern boys who abstained from all the fun stuff until 1997, when their parents divorced, Leon left the church, and the mostly homeschooled, God-fearing sons went tumbling into the temptations of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. The group's first release, the EP Holy Roller Novocaine, came out in 2003, shortly after the brothers grabbed cousin Matthew (guitar) from Mississippi and everyone learned how to play...
...preposterously good bio--so good that a European journalist took cotton swabs to an interview in an attempt to verify that the brothers actually share DNA. But as awful as it must have been to live through, it's the family schism that allows Kings of Leon to get away with lyrical murder. Plenty of bands sing about sex, but Kings of Leon use their history to suggest that sex eases the burden of their shattered innocence, and they make music about it to reinforce their fraternal connection. They're aching emotional savants with deep wounds that require constant...
...significant part of Kings of Leon's appeal is that the band never lets on whether it's working a con. The Kings' story is true, but with their curious facial hair, dolorous gazes and tattered designer clothes, the Followills look like Confederate soldiers under the command of General Calvin Klein. This would suggest a con. At the same time, they're capable of songs that really do make them sound like savants. The best of these is "Taper Jean Girl," from 2005's Aha Shake Heartbreak. Caleb is mostly mumbling Dixie, but with a live-wire sexuality and unpredictability...
Only by the Night is more polished than Kings of Leon's previous work; it sounds like a band trying to fill stadiums, which happens to a lot of groups after stints opening for U2. But the Kings' mix of silly sex and deathly seriousness remains front and center, offering itself up to be mocked and--just often enough to make them interesting--believed...