King of the Sun is the fourteenth and final studio album released by Australian rock music group The Saints. Recorded in Sydney, Australia, the album is a concept album based on a journey home after a hundred-year war.[1]
King of the Sun | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 2012 | |||
Recorded | Trackdown Studios. Sydney, Australia. | |||
Genre | ||||
Label | Highway 125 (Australia) Fire (UK; released with King of the Midnight Sun) | |||
Producer | Fortunato Luchresi | |||
The Saints chronology | ||||
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Critical reception
editReview scores | |
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Source | Rating |
The Music | positive[2] |
Faster Louder | positive[3] |
100% Rock Magazine | [4] |
Beat Magazine | positive[5] |
The album was met with mostly positive reviews from the Australian music press. Patrick Emery from Beat Magazine noted: "With only minor exception, it’s Bailey in his finest whimsical folk-blues guise. The title track has a whiff of literary pretension, its lyrics a set of seemingly non-sequitur statements built around a simple melody and Bailey’s disaffected vocals. Sweet Chariot is arguably the classic contemporary Saints style – a lumbering blues-based pop lick and an aesthetic that sits perfectly with Bailey’s modern day Lord Byron persona. Million Miles Away (La De Bloody Da) would, if attended to in a brutal punk manner, be one of the great garage rock tracks; here, it’s an intriguing acoustic track of surprising depth. "[6]
Track listing
edit- "King of the Sun"
- "A Million Miles Away"
- "Sweet Chariot"
- "Turn"
- "Mystified"
- "Duty"
- "Road to Oblivion Part 2"
- "Craters on the Moon"
- "Mini Mantra Part 1"
- "Adventures in the Dark Arts of Watermelonery"
Bonus Disc "Songs from the Stash"
editAlso included in the 2012 CD release was a bonus disc called Songs from the Stash. These featured nine songs from the post Ed Kuepper period.
- "Just Like Fire Would" (from All Fools Day)
- "Last and Laughing Mile" (from Howling)
- "Massacre" (from Prodigal Son)
- "Photograph" (from A Little Madness to Be Free)
- "Ghost Ships" (from A Little Madness to Be Free and Prodigal Son)
- "Shipwreck" (from Prodigal Son)
- "Fall of an Empire" (from Everybody Knows the Monkey)
- "Something Wicked" (from Howling)
- "All Fools Day" (from All Fools Day)
King of the Midnight Sun
editIn 2014, the album was issued in some territories as a double; the second disc is the same track listing, but all songs have been re-recorded with guitarist Barrington Francis and drummer Peter Wilkinson, who did not appear on the original record.
Personnel
edit- Chris Bailey – vocals, guitar, bass
- Sean Carey – guitar, sound engineering
- Geoff Watson – drums
- Danny Carmichael – trombone
- Simon Ferenci – trumpet
- John Glase – harmonica
- Any Judd – keyboards, piano
- Amelia Rutherford – cello
- Fortunato Luchresi – producer
References
edit- ^ "King of the Sun page". Highway 125. Retrieved 20 October 2014.
- ^ Blake, Jason. "The Saints". The Music. Retrieved 2 October 2012.
- ^ Sharp-Paul, Edward (8 November 2012). "King of The Sun". Faster Louder. Australia. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
- ^ "THE SAINTS – King Of The Sun".
- ^ EMERY, PATRICK. "The Saints : King Of The Sun". The Daily Telegraph. London.
- ^ "Beat Magazine".