Credit where it's due for Arctic Monkeys - they're certainly willing to go beyond simply just rehashing I Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor 12 times album-in-album-out.
Some people seem to think AM should've stuck with the sound and lyrical style they presented on their first two albums. But they deserve some credit for the bold abandon they embraced the sleazy desert riffery and country-rock love songs that make up their last two records.
Even then, Humbug and Suck It And See still had some moods and scopes reminiscent of albums one and two. By contrast, the teasers for this one indicate the band is moving further into darker, different sonic territory.
The fifth Arctic Monkeys album may have its laziest title - Alex Turner says they ripped it from the Velvet Underground's VU compilation, rather than Beady Eye's recent BE album - but certainly has been previewed with some gems.
The adventures of their new California-based world have been teased by Turner as "a Dr. Dre beat given an Ike Turner bowl cut and sent galloping across the desert on a Stratocaster". Whatever that means.
Question is - are they adventures we want to be taken on?
1. Do I Wanna Know?
Chances are you'll have heard this beast already, not least given it opened AM's recent Glastonbury setlist. It's a slower beast but full of buzzing 12-string guitars, slinky bass and wonderfully crafted lyrical riffs on "how we both know the nights were mainly made for saying things that you can't say tomorrow day". It's a stomping opener.
2. R U Mine?
Given this one came out in February 2012 you'll almost certainly have heard this one too. There is little to say about this song that hasn't been said, other than that it appears to be a little crunchier than the original single and remains a fine tune. Certainly, it's a guaranteed knockout punch for the album and it ensures its got 2/2 killer hooks.
3. One for the Road
Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme emerges for the first time on the album with a few "whoop whoops". After two big-rockers, this tune introduces more of the hip-hop inspired subtleties, as well as a return to Turner's burgeoning mental thesaurus and some of the shimmery guitar work more present in the latter half of Suck It And See. It is reminiscent of those latter SIAS tunes and is a pleasant listen which improve with further ones, but feels oddly weak in the wake of the huge opening hitters.
4. Arabella
This is probably one of the tunes Turner had in mind with his earlier description. It starts with a teasingly misleading hip-hop subtlety of a girl in "a Barbarella silver swimsuit" before it really finds the high gears with a swinging glam-rock riff that blinks its way in and out of the tune. The outro is particularly good, with the guitar's momentum increasing and sweeping the song over the line.
5. I Want It All
As AM progresses you find a few ticks - a certain chord here, a drum beat there, a falsetto atop it - repeat themselves. They're out in force here, on a tune sounding somewhere between Slade and Scissor Sisters with a foot in each camp. It's a nice fuzzy riff but its a weird sound for AM that takes adjusting too, and one that's harder to like. The delightful B-side Stop The World I Wanna Get Off With You would be better for the album.
6. No. 1 Party Anthem
Time for a sweeping direction change. After 5 tunes trying to marry heavy rock and hip-hop, this song is a wistful ballad. Led by piano, lower chords and subtle percussion, its talk of a dancefloor fling gone awry is rather relatable, with a sound to match the post-euphoric heartbreak it talks about. Its a nice and pleasant ditty and is actually pretty good.
7. Mad Sounds
Played at Glastonbury - for the audience only - was this fairly chill number. Its a sparse and subtle tune and quite a nice vibe too it. Its a pleasant tune alright, and certainly shows off Turner's skills as a vocalist - and probably Matt Helders and Nick O'Malley on the falsetto - but that one-two is certainly a momentum killer.
8. Fireside
After two chill songs the bass guitar riff is certainly something to perk up momentum. It's a slick smooth wiffle underpinning chimy acoustic guitar and keyboard that builds into a big chorus. There's something oddly epic about it, but its also a pretty good tune and certainly more of the dancy feel than the previous pairing.
9. Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?
It's custom for an Arctic Monkeys album to include at least one long song title that makes you scratch your head in confusion. Just like on their debut album, the longest song title is also the shortest of the whole record. The song is a fairly brisk strut built on a beat supplemented by fiddly guitars and falsetto backing that could be from a Destiny's Child album. Its AM the song. Its also a decent poppy tune about late night antics - again, like the debut in its own way. The video is quite something.
10. Snap Out Of It
A bit of a faster tempo than the vast majority of the record, if not quite the breakneck pace of the old songs. This one shares a few notes and moods with I Want It All, albeit with some added piano, but seems to click a lot easier than the first one did. Its not hard to imagine this one gelling quite well live.
11. Knee Socks
Advance buzz has this one lined up as "the main one with Josh Homme", which Turner described as a "return of a back scratch" after he did a tune with Queens of the Stone Age on Like Clockwork. The song is a more defined version of the album's hip-hop-rock strut until the 2:30 mark, when the falsetto takes on a mind of its own and additional vocal tracks from Homme buzz over, before reverting for the last dash. Its pretty good, albeit not the knockout touted.
12. I Wanna Be Yours
This one is different lyrically as its adapted from a John Cooper Clarke poem. The lyrics to the poem are strange one - attempting to create romance out of things like cars, electric meters, coffee pots and vacuum cleaners, with some success and some... less so. There's musical echoes of 505 from Favourite Worst Nightmare and its certainly a great arrangement that compliments the lyrics well.
There's been a fair old bit of hyperbole surrounding AM, with many fans proclaiming it as the best effort the band have created so far.
Its a pleasant listen and there's a number of songs that stand tall as truly great tunes. But its hard not to feel something's missing.
The weirdest feeling about AM is how slow it feels. Its certainly an intriguing idea to see the same band swapping their headlong punk squawks for a more subtle hip-hop-tinged rock album but it takes a fair bit to make the leap. On some tunes the leap is a success whereas on others, not so much.
Some tunes also lack the sticking power that even album songs on previous disks. Repeat listenings certainly help improve the quality of the songs - except for I Want It All - and a lot of them sound like they could be some good tunes live, but something doesn't click as easily as other albums do.
3.5/5
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