Some Nights

Rating

Album: Some Nights
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Some Nights (Intro)	More Info...
2)	Some Nights	More Info...
3)	We Are Young (feat. Janelle Monáe)	More Info...
4)	Carry On	More Info...
5)	It Gets Better	More Info...
6)	Why Am I the One	More Info...
7)	All Alone	More Info...
8)	All Alright	More Info...
9)	One Foot	More Info...
10)	Stars	More Info...
11)	Out On The Town (Bonus Track)	More Info...
2)	Some Nights	More Info...	0:04
3)	We Are Young (Feat. Janelle Monáe)	More Info...	0:04
4)	Carry On	More Info...	0:04
5)	It Gets Better	More Info...	0:03
6)	Why Am I the One	More Info...	0:04
7)	All Alone	More Info...	0:03
8)	All Alright	More Info...	0:04
9)	One Foot	More Info...	0:03
10)	Stars	More Info...	0:07
11)	Out On the Town	More Info...	0:04

Album: Some Nights
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Some Nights (Intro)	More Info...
2)	Some Nights	More Info...
3)	We Are Young (feat. Janelle Monáe)	More Info...
4)	Carry On	More Info...
5)	It Gets Better	More Info...
6)	Why Am I the One	More Info...
7)	All Alone	More Info...
8)	All Alright	More Info...
9)	One Foot	More Info...
10)	Stars	More Info...
11)	Out On The Town (Bonus Track)	More Info...
2)	Some Nights	More Info...	0:04
3)	We Are Young (Feat. Janelle Monáe)	More Info...	0:04
4)	Carry On	More Info...	0:04
5)	It Gets Better	More Info...	0:03
6)	Why Am I the One	More Info...	0:04
7)	All Alone	More Info...	0:03
8)	All Alright	More Info...	0:04
9)	One Foot	More Info...	0:03
10)	Stars	More Info...	0:07
11)	Out On the Town	More Info...	0:04

Performer Notes

Audio Mixer: Rich Costey.
Recording information: Dawson's Studio; Electric Lady Studios; Emile's Studio; Enormous Studios; Jungle City; Livingston Studios, London.
Photographer: Lindsey Byrnes.
Fun.'s debut album Aim and Ignite was an interesting blend of seemingly divergent styles topped by a healthy dose of grandiose ambition and performed with a precise abandon. The trio made an album that was truly progressive and also super catchy and fun. The follow-up, Some Nights, ramps up the ambition and sonic bombast, but also manages to be even more powerful and impressive. While writing and planning the album, singer Nate Ruess, guitarist Jack Antonoff, and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Dost were heavily influenced by both the sound and scope of Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and made every attempt to achieve something similar, even to the point of hiring that album's co-producer Jeff Bhasker to produce and craft beats for them. (Also Emile Haynie, who has worked with Eminem among others) Though the album has more of a hip-hop influence than Aim and Ignite did, there are still large doses of Queen and ELO coursing through the band's blood, both in the machine-crafted vocal harmonies and the ornate bigness of the sound. The album is overloaded with strings and horns, backing vocals, keyboards, and programmed drums surrounding Ruess like a clamoring crowd, but never drowning out his innately sincere vocals and painfully honest lyrics. He has the kind of voice that could cut through any amount of noise, not by using volume but honesty. Even when he's fed through Auto-Tune, you know he's telling you the truth all the time. On songs like the lead single "We Are Young" or the rollicking "All Alone," he provides a very human core that grounds things even as the music builds to ornate crescendos. Indeed, the album is really, really big sounding and could easily have ended up collapsing under its own weight and pretension, but the opposite happens and Some Nights takes flight instead. The songs are both anthemic and human-sized, the heartfelt words and naked emotions are never buried, and the music is uplifting, not overpowering. The trio has crafted a record that measures up to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy musically and delivers enough emotional charge to power a small town for a month. It's an impressive achievement and Fun. deserves every bit of acclaim that comes its way because of it. ~ Tim Sendra

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (p.66) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[The] music bends classic bubble-pop tunefulness with rococo rock & roll -- close harmony chorales, showy key changes, a dash of Queen here, a dollop of LES MIZ there."

Entertainment Weekly (p.79) - "[The first half] doubles down on the Queen-esque indie pomp the band toyed with on their 2009 debut."

Alternative Press (p.91) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "SOME NIGHTS feels like it was built inside a computer, from the massive hip-hop beats which back much of the album to the at-times unbearable vocoder effect on Ruess' vocals."

Kerrang (Magazine) (p.53) - "'We Are Young' is a compellingly complex quirk-rock anthem that sounds quite unlike anything else in the charts in 2012..."