Then, another album: not quite as enjoyable as the first, but it's difficult to follow up a beloved debut, so this not-quite-as-great sophomore effort isn't a big deal.

So, why not a third album? But this time, the band decides to aim much bigger, and to be more polished, thus hiring a producer to oversee recordings that were previously guided by the band's own inspired aesthetic.

This is the story of the Long Beach-based Cold War Kids. For a good, timely, comparative example think: Kings of Leon.

Not at all coincidentally, the Cold War Kids' latest album, "Mine is Yours‚" was produced by Jacquire King, the long-time Kings of Leon producer. King seems to have a knack for polishing an album so much as to rub off any defining musical personality that might have been previously present.

That diminishment of edge can change perception. For example, I used to want to shoot whiskey when I listened to Kings of Leon. Now I want to sip a cocktail. It was once ideal to hear the Cold War Kids in a dingy, crowded bar, but this album seems better suited for the tidiness of a chain restaurant.

All of this is not to say that the album is a complete throwaway. It is what it is (average to good alternative rock with catchy pop hooks). But it's obvious what it isn't (the original Cold War Kids' beloved mix of rock, soul and punk).

As it appears, the band is not under any false pretenses. By starting the album with the title track, "Mine is Yours," which opens dramatically with a distant, echoing chorale of "whoa-oh's," lead-singer Nathan Willett and his band mates acknowledge and establish the different, larger sound within seconds.

Willett still manages spurts of his signature, expressive vibrato throughout the album. And on tracks like "Royal Blue" and "Cold Toes on the Cold Floor" it comes across as most definitive of the familiar sound fans might once again long for after hearing "Mine is Yours" in full.

As a more radio-friendly alternative pop-rock album, this one is catchy albeit somewhat generic in approach and tone. But as the third full-length installment in the Cold War Kids' musical catalogue, it's a disappointment and an attempt at polished perfection that it's hard to imagine anyone wanted from them in the first place.

Reach Emily here.
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