Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXLIX: The Kaiser Chiefs: You Can Have It All

We're returning to the British Isles again this week (so many cool kids in England!) for a band that has had great commercial and critical success there and even less commercial success in the states than recent Friday Night Jukebox inductee Keane (or The Jam or The Waterboys....).

The Kaiser Chiefs originally formed in 2000 as Parva, bounced around with one LP for the next three years, and after being dumped by their record label, reinvented themselves as the Kaiser Chiefs and rose to meteoric success in their native U.K.  They've released six albums, two of which went to #1, two of which went to #2, and one each that went to #4, and #10 on the UK Albums chart.  Here in the states they've only managed to put two albums on the Billboard 200 (and both peaked at middling spots--#45 and #55).  They've won three Brit Awards, had an album nominated for the Mercury Prize (a sort of British Pulitzer for English and Irish LPs), a #1 single ("Ruby"), and have toured extensively since their major label debut in 2005.  All told they've sold over ten million albums and carved out quite a niche for themselves in their homeland.

Released in 2005 on their first album as the Kaiser Chiefs, Employment, "You Can Have It All" was actually the fifth single released from the album in the U.K., and was never released as a single here in the good old U.S.A. (and we're all the poorer for it).  The U.K. single was actually a special limited edition Christmas release and was limited to 2000 records--needless to say, if you ever come across this baby in some used record shop, buy it!  Some Brit kid will probably give you good money for it...

While some say the band is influenced by the punk movement of the late 70's and the new wave movement of the late 80's, I've always thought they would sound right at home with any number of bands that came out of the alternative scene of the early 90's (and many of which were influence by the same).  And "You Can Have It All" would have made more than one playlist on the numerous Alternative radio stations that grew out of that scene.  It's a slow paced song, relying heavily on the band's harmonies (compared to the Beach Boys, though I don't quite hear it) which are out of this world, telling the tale of a man who sees a woman on the bus and is letting her know that she can have it all (hence the title) and what she is going to miss should she leave the bus without him.  It's either love at first sight or he's a stalker, but what the hell, it's catchy as all hell either way.  The song concludes with the "you can have it all" chorus which I have been singing over and over for the last four days--it's ear candy that will add an extra bounce to your step and leave you feeling lighter than air...or not.

Rap Sheet:  "I'll tell you what it's going to be like/I saw you on the bus and that was that/There's more to this than passing by/There's more to this than meets the eye..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee