Yours Truly, Angry Mob

Yours Truly, Angry Mob
Regular edition cover (CD and LP)
Studio album by Kaiser Chiefs
Released	26 February 2007
Recorded	Hook End Studio, Berkshire: September - October, 2006
Genre	Indie rock
Length	44:44
Label	B-Unique
Producer	Stephen Street
Professional reviews
Allmusic Link BBC (Positive) link Drowned In Sound Link The Guardian link Robert Christgau link NME link OMM link Pitchfork Media (5.0/10) link Rolling Stone link
Kaiser Chiefs chronology
Employment (2005) Yours Truly, Angry Mob (2007) Off with Their Heads (2008)

Yours Truly, Angry Mob is the second album by English rock band Kaiser Chiefs. It was released on 23 February 2007 in Belgium and the Netherlands, on 26 February 2007 in the rest of the world and in late March in North America.

Once again produced by Stephen Street, producer of the band's debut album Employment, Yours Truly, Angry Mob is lyrically darker and more socially aware than its predecessor, with tracks dealing with street crime, violence, fame, and the inaccuracy of tabloid articles.

Album information

The band had earlier revealed to NME in October 2006 that they had recorded 22 songs and hoped to whittle that number down to 13 or 14 for the final album.^[1] Additionally, in July 2006 the band revealed to Gigwise that they'd hoped to have the album released by Valentine's Day 2007.^[2] The album was leaked in its entirety on February 21, 2007.

The album was preceded by the release of lead single "Ruby" on 19 February (see 2007 in British music).^[3][4][5] It became the band's first (and to date, only) number one album in the British album charts.

The album reached #1 in the United Kingdom and the band released singles "Everything is Average Nowadays" on May 21st 2007 and "The Angry Mob",on August 20th 2007. The final single "Love's Not a Competition (But I'm Winning)" was released as a collectors edition 7" only single on November 12, 2007, with The Little Ones' cover of "Everything Is Average Nowadays" as a B-side.

"Thank You Very Much" is played during the introduction of Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, and the song "Ruby" is a playable bonus track in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

Reception

Initial critical response to Yours Truly, Angry Mob was generally positive. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 61, based on 29 reviews.^[6]

Spin (p.92) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[The album] marches through its baker's dozen of punk-tinged pop songs with a prickly sense of purpose."

Q magazine (p.106) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he eccentric twists bolster Yours Truly's main thrust....The chorus among choruses belongs to the decidedly unaverage 'Everything Is Average Nowadays'..."

Uncut (p.80) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]heir second album manages to be full of surprises, while never straying too far from what you'd expect."

CMJ (p.39) - "The band, in love as ever with the Britpop tradition that spawned them, offers another collection of swaggering uptempo guitar tracks that are full of big, singalong choruses..."

Q magazine (p.84) - Ranked #13 in Q's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2007" -- "'The Angry Mob' was the definitive illustration of their maturing lyrical wit and musical brawn."

Mojo (p.98) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Opener 'Ruby' is a foot-to-the-floor, festival monster-in-waiting, while 'Highroyds' recalls Blur's effervescent, buzzsaw pop."

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Ricky Wilson, Andrew White, Simon Rix, Nick Baines, and Nick Hodgson. 

Sales

• United Kingdom: #1 (UK Albums Chart, 547,000 copies sold to date)
• Greece #1
• The Netherlands: #1
• Ireland: #2
• Belgium: #2
• Austria: #4
• Germany: #6
• Norway: #13
• Australia: #9 (Aria Chart)

• US: #45 (17,000 units in its debut week)^[7]
• Worldwide: 1,300,000

Release details

References

External links

• Yours Truly, Angry Mob - official album website
• Album e-card