You like Kings Of Leon and you didn't hear about this "aha shake Heartbreak" released when the band was still in its infancy? It's not surprising. Second production of the Followill brothers after a "Youth And Young Manhood" not particularly successful but which allowed to envisage good things, "aha shake Heartbreak" will still not be the album of the revelation for the Kings Of Leon.
Still looking for a personality in a crowded southern rock landscape, the band gives us 13 direct tracks going to the essential... Rarely exceeding 3 minutes, with not really subtle lyrics, between misogyny and low-level introspection, to say that Kings Of Leon did not force their talent is an understatement. Almost every song suffers from one or more flaws that turn their listening into a pain. Let's start with a teenager's vocals, taking accents from a region of the South of the United States that never existed, sometimes ping ridiculous little cries ('Soft', 'Velvet Snow') and so mannered that it quickly becomes annoying (also laughable). Musically, it's not much better. If the technique was clearly not an objective, a little more work on the guitars would not have been useless. Finally, the melodies and vocal lines are not very original and very often seem a bit silly.
However, it is this insouciance and these juvenile aspects which save the album from the shipwreck. One finds oneself singing certain choruses with the same intonations and finding there almost a shameful pleasure. Some titles even manage to provoke a little enthusiasm like 'Pistol Of Fire', a really Rock composition with its small accelerations on the end of the chorus and its final solo, unfortunately much too short, 'Taper Jean Girl' and its bouncing rhythmic or 'Razz' with its final instrumental part quite dynamic.
All this obviously does not make 'aha shake Heartbreak' an album to recommend. In live in a bar, maybe we could find pleasure to listen to this bunch of tracks that sometimes make us smile but in studio and despite a rather clean production, which is surprising with regard to the content, it is not the case. "aha shake Heartbreak" is therefore rather a curiosity from this band which is still searching for itself but which will soon find its style... And finally meet the success.