Released 23rd Jan 2006- Virgin Records



So it’s pretty fashionable to hate The Kooks right? Take one look at the Gobshout forums or talk to any ‘real’ music fan and its clear that they, along with Razorlight, Snow Patrol and James Morrison, are very much in the ranks of the uncool and unloved.  The question is why? Their last album Konk might not have been too hot, but 2006’s Inside In/Inside Out was an album of classic catchy, sing-a-long indie songs that we’ve all danced to somewhere, whether the street cred we aspire to allows us to admit it or not.


Opener ‘Seaside’ is a lovely little ditty, and a low-key introduction to what is to come.  Lead singer Luke Pritchard sings 'd’you want to go to the seaside?' The answer is YES PLEASE LUKE! If you’re going. Anywhere if you're going.... They also opened with this song when I saw them live and it was perfect- dark stage, spotlight on Luke.  Great mood setter.


‘Sofa Song’ was The Kooks' first single, and you can see why.  It’s a bit less poppy than the rest of the album, and succeeded in getting the indie kids onside before they realised their little sisters liked ‘She Moves In Her Own Way.’  Incidentally, ‘She Moves...’ is probably the worst song on the album, a shame considering for about 6 months it was a ubiquitous presence on commercial and shopping centre radio alike, and the song most responsible for getting them their bad name.


‘You Don’t Love Me’ following ‘Ooh La’ is one of the best bits of the album,with the heavy guitars of ‘You Don’t..’ juxtaposing nicely with the gentle strumming on ‘Ooh La’.  Luke also gets an opportunity to show off his adaptable voice here, and proves that he can do shouty as well as the romantic stuff.  It’s  probably the best song on the album.


Then there’s ‘Naive’ of course, the one that broke them originally. With its catchy little riff its immediately recognisable, and its chorus of ‘I know that she knows/that I’m not fond of asking’ begging to be sang along with.


‘Jackie Big Tits’ is the number one single that never was.  Pure pop, it also has one of my favourite ever lines of ‘Jackie Big Tits/ Is hiding in the corner’; odd perhaps for such a lady (ha!) but it’s just a wicked little phrase.  ‘Time Awaits’ follows this and is vastly different, with a much darker edge and an almost country feel at the start before sliding back into slashing guitars and an echoed oppressive vocal of ‘I heard you knocking at my door.’   Its less accessible than a lot of the album, and displays a different direction.


At the end of the day, The Kooks are never going to be The Manic Street Preachers or Radiohead, but what they proved with this album is that they can follow the rich vein of English guitar bands (and no, Busted aren’t included in
this).  Yes it’s pop, but from start to finish this album is very listenable, and has no tracks that you don’t remember, as proved by the fact that upon playing this back every track had a vocal accompaniment from yours truly.  Considering it’s fourteen tracks long, that’s pretty good going.  They are also great live and, even if they decided to make their third effort an Aphex Twin inspired concept album, they will always have the songs from this to please the crowd.  So lets try and be a bit nicer to them eh?







What do you think of The Kooks? Classic indie-pop, acceptable fun or turd of the earth? There's a forum, it's HERE, and you should go there!

Posted In Classic Albums, Nov 24 2009. Words - Laura