Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum

Kasabian's third studio album is a bit of a landmark... okay, it's not 'Nevermind' but for Kasabian this is certainly a grown up album considering their previous effort 'Empire' was more appealing to Britain's very horrible scene of scenesters and it's very nice to see at least one of the early 'NME Bands' to have shone through the mud. Kasabian also go for a very unusual album title 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum'. You can either call it wonderfully funny or one of the worst album titles ever... either way, the album title doesn't matter.

So 'West Ryder...' has it's high energy start with 'Underdog', as Sergio Pizzorno's eye fluttering-like guitar sound plucks away in distorted flashes and when Tom Meighan's vocals kick in, you fall straight in love with Kasabian just like how you did when their debut was released. After 'Underdog' in comes 'Where Did All The Love Go?' which sounds very Oasis-like, but even at that, it parts itself from Oasis with it's middle eastern influence on the solo, which would go down well in a concert in India. Kasabian also dabble in electronic art, which is their primary field, but in 'Swarfiga, which is simply two minutes and eighteen seconds of synthesizers, bass and the odd percussion, but the previous track 'Where Did All The Love Go?' sets into 'Swarfiga' so well that you would think it was just an extended jam. With the slightly slow tempo 'Swarfiga' complete, which perhaps slows the albums mode down by a considerable amount, but then 'Fast Fuse' is thrown at us, and this song is driven by a bass line, in the same form as Muse did in their album 'Origin of Symmetry' which the bass was a main power throughout the album. 'Fast Fuse' doesn't stop there however, it also proves Kasabian are attempting to bring this album out in a higher tempo compared to their self titled and 'Empire' where both those albums varied in pace and melody but never sustained any specific speed of energy.

What is also striking about Kasabian's third album, is that they continue to show different styles within their music, even their vocalist Tom Meighan shows different vocal styles in this album, again, in 'Underdog' he sounds more 'English' and expresses his Leicestershire accent perfectly. Sergio Pizzorno is a bit of a wizard with the guitar, as he's proved in many departments... need I suggest you to listen to 'Shoot the Runner', 'Reason Is Treason' and 'Stuntman' from their previous two albums, but in 'West Ryder...' he shows you how to play the acoustic guitar in 'Ladies and Gentlemen (Roll The Dice)'. His playing is some simply yet fantastic, while he just plucks away as if it all comes to him on the spot and again... Tom Meighan doesn't fail either as his baritone vocals smother the guitar flicks around him as he sings along almost drunk-like along to the beautiful melody.

The main highlight of the album would come in the form of 'Secret Alphabets' and this song suggests what Kasabian do best and that's in their primary field of 'Electronica'. This song also points out the development Kasabian have made in their song writing and development as musicians. Their bassist Christopher Edwards shows his progression as a bassist, this song is primarily fuelled by his mono bass lines and Ian Matthews simple, yet artistic drumming is key in this song, because that's all the song is... drum and bass with the in and out use of synthesizers. Tom Meighan's vocals just add to the haunting and fearsome chill of this song by groaning and crooning the lyrics out as he wanders around in his own mental asylum.

After the brilliant nightmare of 'Secret Alphabets' we are introduced to the lead single of the album, 'Fire'. Now, it's probably one of the most commercially acceptable songs of the album, but it's certainly not the most worthy one, reasons for being so, it's simply not as hard hitting as 'Underdog' and not as jingly and catchy as 'Where Did All The Love Go?' which doesn't make it a bad song, it just makes it the wrong choice of a lead single. The album closes with something less Kasabian like which is 'Happiness' a nice ballad of simple love and joy in life, which is what we all like to hear in some form or another. This song also feels like it might have appeared from the Rolling Stones 'Let It Bleed' and it's main comparison would be in the form of the Stones cover of 'Love In Vain' from the great Robert Johnson. The song expresses use of piano techniques that the Stones frequently used in 'Let It Bleed' and gospel choirs, even the vocals from Tom Meighan could be compared to early Mick Jagger when they were full of sole and heartlessness feelings.

Kasabian's third studio effort is close to fulfilling their potential, if not completely fulfilling it. 'West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum' is masked in the usual Kasabian forms of Rock and Electronica. But what makes it more original is that they have experimented more mentally and instrumentally, they are more open to different forms of music and made it their own which is what most artists in music in Britain are lacking at the moment, which will make the 'Lunatic Asylum' something they should be VERY proud of and work very hard to follow up.

4/5


Linus Broadbent.