FUSE TV - First Listen: One Direction's New Album, 'Take Me Home'

Have you been going crazy, crazy, crazy waiting for One Direction’s sophomore album Take Me Home, set to arrive on November 13? Well, today you get a slice of sanity with Fuse's first listen of the much-anticipated album! Here's our track-by-back preview of Harry, Zayn, Liam, Niall and Louis' latest. Reminder: You can stream the entire album on iTunes starting... right now! Listen while you read along. 

"Live While We're Young"
The first single from Take Me Home also happens to be the first track. Yeah, the boys have acknowledged that they bit the riff from the Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go," but would Joe Strummer write a lyric like, "And if we get together / Yeah, get together / Don't let the pictures leave your phone"? Nope, not in 1982. 

"Kiss You"
The hand-clapping, head-bobbing good times continue. Through falsetto highs and a yeah, yeah, yeah chorus, the lads remind their future girlfriends that they’re cool with taking it slow. Start with some kissing and, you know, maybe later move on to having your parents meet theirs.

"Little Things"
"Little Things" has all the characteristics of an Ed Sheeran track -- what with the wistful guitar strumming and note-passing-junior-high-romance lyrics. And let's get a few things straight: Your crow's feet. Your thighs. The way you have to squeeze into your jeans. They're cool with all of it … but they will never tell you about your flaws. Because you would slap the crap out of them.

"C’mon C’mon"
1D steps on the rhythmic gas again with this club-ready track. The beat thumps, but the "come hither" lyrics feel better suited for someone a little more suave. Like Enrique Iglesias. Also, maybe it's just us, but let us know if this track reminds you of Michael Sembello's "Maniac." Y'know, this song...

"Last First Kiss"
We return to acoustic strumming with a bit of a backbeat. "Last First Kiss" is a sweet sentiment, but it's also a paradox. 1D wants a last first kiss. How is that possible? By definition a first kiss can only happen once. It’s like the word "reinvented." You can't invent something twice! Also: We've never been kissed, ever, and we're very lonely. 

"Heart Attack"
Have you ever been dumped? Has the emotional pain ever been bad that it hurts, physically? Like, somewhere in the chest region? And then your left arm gets tingly? "Heart Attack" is all about that relationship that takes forever to get over. But the best way to get over someone is obviously with help from an upbeat One Direction song. The Michael Jackson-esque YOWWW's that highlight this track are certainly helping. BIG TIME.

"Rock Me"
We will, we will … "Rock Me"! This song's stomp-stomp-clap is a blatant homage to Queen's "We Will Rock You." In this mid-tempo song, 1D pleads with you to "Hit the pedal, heavy metal, show me you care." And they're right. Caring for someone is pretty metal.

"Change My Mind"
Back to acoustic jams. The refrain for "Change My Mind" is just a plaintive confession: "Baby if you say you want me to stay, I’ll change my mind." Yes ladies, it’s really that easy.

"I Would"
Do One Direction really have to spell it out for you? It's L-O-V-E, people. The lads also attempt to one up Flo Rida's whistling chops with some snappy whistling all their own in the song's verse. 1D are also pretty explicit about what they would do that your current boyfriend isn't doing. So let them count the ways.

"Over Again"
Another Ed Sheeran special, this time ushering in dramatic piano chords. On most of the tracks the lads harmonize in unison. This is a rare time we hear most of them take a solo on a verse. Like bacon and chocolate they're good separate, but better together.

"Back for You"
The album's almost over ... time to pick up the tempo and put a little more drum and chugging guitar in the chorus. Voila! That's how you make an 11th track!

"They Don’t Know About Us"
More piano is ushered in, along with a little heart-melting crooning. This is where 1D remind prospective lovers that "they would just be jealous of us." "They" being everyone from your classmates to your folks. We've seen this type of forbidden-love song in everything from the Shangri-La's "Leader of the Pack" to Tommy James & the Shondells' "I Think We're Alone Now." Remember, it's not that your parents hate your boyfriend … it's that he's not good enough for you!

"Summer Love"
The soaring vocals at the outset suggest this version of "Summer Love" has nothing to do with your high school production of Grease. The track's nostalgic lyrics also have us thinking about that hottie we once left when we headed back to college in the autumn. But, hey, we rekindled our romance with Mom when we returned for Thanksgiving break!

So, there you have it. Thirteen pieces of near pop perfection. Take Me Home is certainly an album that captures the fun, heartache and hormonal surges of young adult life. Even if you're not a hardcore Directioner, you can appreciate some oh-oh-oh and ah-ah-ah singalongs. No? Then why are you humming "Live While We're Young" right now?