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Product Description
Review
These days Arctic Monkeys are not a band singing songs about "f***ing taxi ranks", as frontman Alex Turner quipped recently. They made their last record, 2009’s bizarre Britpop/stoner hybrid Humbug, in a desert. One member, the drummer no less, has the mobile telephone number of one P Diddy. And the singer – a young man who, on arrival, did so much to quench British pop’s obsession with the empty idea that is ‘the working-class hero’ – now writes lyrics like, "Library pictures, of the quickening canoe / The first of its kind to get to the moon": a couplet more befitting Gandalf the Grey than it is Liam Gallagher.
Of course, this sort of buffoonery is to be encouraged. Still, it’s hard not to want the band’s fourth record to embrace the unconventional more than it actually does. Initial signs are promising. Many of the song titles sound like they were conceived by a drunk Butlins Redcoat. One is called Love Is a Lazerquest; another, Don’t Sit Down ‘Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair (one can only hope its sister song, I’ve Got a Whoopee Cushion and I’m Not Afraid to Use It, turns up as a B side). But for the largest part, Suck It and See isn’t the stubborn, radio unfriendly career swerve that Humbug proved to be.
If anything, it’s a halfway house between where many expected them to be going, and where they were. On one hand, it marks the return of actual tunes (Reckless Serenade, the hard-edged title-track) – stuff that you can hum – as well as, not taxi ranks per se, but kitchen sink musing about "chin-chewing" cokeheads (Black Treacle) and "damsel-patterned alleys, where you go for a smoke" (All My Own Stunts), two songs that will be embraced by anyone fannish about their early work. On the other, there’s now an oblique Dylan-esque romanticism to many of Turner’s lyrics and tunes (the title and contents of opener She’s Thunderstorms is lovely), few of which suggest their future as karaoke staples and some of which prefer groove, not just over melody but all other constructs of song. They fit a mould, but it’s an askew, mismade one.
If you were enjoying the band’s joyride into the weird, Suck It and See is a record that may disappoint in its convention. Personally it makes me wish they’d just given a chorus or two to Diddy and be done with it. But while the reins of pomp have certainly been reined in somewhat, it’s hard to shake the suspicion that Suck It and See is further evidence that Arctic Monkeys are still Britain’s best guitar band – albeit one that’d be even better if they ever decide to truly lunge into the unknown.
--James McMahon
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Product Description
- She's Thunderstorms
- Black Treacle
- Brick By Brick
- The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala
- Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair
- Library Pictures
- All My Own Stunts
- Reckless Serenade
- Piledriver Waltz
- Love Is A Laserquest
- Suck It And See
- That's Where You're Wrong
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great album but not hardcore Arctic Monkeys,
This review is from: Suck It And See (Audio CD)
I really liked the first two albums by this band. Crazy guitar riffs, deranged drum solos, witty lyrics that you could relate to, even though they were by a 19 year old guy from Sheffield (I live in East London and am twice his age). In the saturated music market, they were original.The third album split opinion big time, and this album, to me anyway, appears to be a continuation of what began on Humbug. A lot of journalists etc state that a band needs to 'grow' and 'mature'. Why? Isn't it enough that a band makes fantastic music that makes you enjoy your life more? Do I care that they aren't seen to be 'evolving'? I don't care at all. Good music is good music. By changing their original formula, this band aren't as good as they used to be. They used to have an original sound, now they sound like a lot of other bands. Don't get me wrong, this offering qualifies as a very very good indie album. It's just that it doesn't make your hairs stand on end like some of their early tracks used to do. Songs like Library Pictures and All My Own Stunts will no doubt remind people of the type of music that they used to do. I'd be happy with an album full of songs like that. Overall a great album, but what's wrong with a band having it's own sound? It never did Status Quo any harm, and look at their longevity.
27 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not For Everyone - But Good Nonetheless,
By
This review is from: Suck It And See (Audio CD)
The Arctic Monkeys rose to prominence with a style of music that was fairly upbeat, lively and more rock orientated and with each new album they move further away from their early template, shedding fans with each new release along the way.With the band's previous album, Humbug, the music became more difficult and experimental, with production duties being handled in part by legendary QOTSA/Kyuss musician Josh Homme. For fans who were very turned off by Humbug, this latest album, Suck It And See is not the glorious return to the style of their debut album that you may be hoping for. The musical direction suggested by excellent single `Don't Sit Down `Cause I Moved Your Chair,' and the drummer-singing pre-release track `Brick By Brick,' may have been misleading as the overall tone is less rock orientated than previous Arctic Monkeys material. The album rather, is a mixture of the slower, more ballad style material such as Alex's solo work and Arctic Monkeys works like the B Side `The Bakery,' or `505,' from Favourite Worst Nightmare, with the experimental style found on Humbug (here especially on tracks such as the weird `Library Pictures,' and on `All My Own Stunts' where Josh Homme makes his fifth guest vocal appearance with the band) Cleaner, more acoustic or quiet tracks such as `Reckless Serenade,' and `The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala,' form the majority of the album and there is even a reworking of Alex's solo ballad from the Submarine EP `Piledriver Waltz.' Ignoring musical direction however, the album is very strong, with a diverse and musically interesting set of songs with the same vocal and lyrical style and quality you can always find in Arctic Monkeys music. Overall, this album is worth checking out if you are a fan of everything the band do, and are happy with their progression and shifts in direction over the years, but I would not recommend it to fans who vastly prefer the style found on Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not because this album is perhaps the polar opposite of that album, where a consistent set of sharp and direct songs are replaced with either subtle and ponderous or just downright weird ones.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
great progression from first 3 albums,
By
This review is from: Suck It And See (Audio CD)
Strange to think this is their fourth album. It's very much a progression from their first 3 albums and has a deeper feel to it. It won't be a moshpit record but having listened to this for a few weeks, it is a real grower
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