46.
ARCTIC MONKEYSAMIndie Rockreleased September 9th, 2013
via Domino
1. Do I Wanna Know? [4:32]
2. R U Mine? [3:20]
3. One for the Road [3:26]
4. Arabella [3:27]
5. I Want It All [3:04]
6. No. 1 Party Anthem [4:03]
7. Mad Sounds [3:35]
8. Fireside [3:01]
9. Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High? [2:42]
10. Snap Out of It [3:12]
11. Knee Socks [4:17]
12. I Wanna Be Yours
(John Cooper Clarke cover) [3:04]
AM is
Alex Turner (Lead vocals / Lead guitars)
Matt Helders (Drums / Backing vocals)
Jamie Cook (Rhythm guitars)
Nick O’Malley (Bass / Backing vocals)
WITHJames Ford (Keyboards, except 1, 2, 4, 5)
Josh Homme (Backing vocals on 3 and 11)
Pete Thomas (Percussion on 7)
Bill Ryder-Jones (Additional guitar on 8)
This album is just plain cool. It's indie rock, but it's got brilliant riffs. Confident singing backed by poetic lyrics and a heaping dose of swagger. Songwriting and instrumental parts that complement the songs themselves, no indulgent soloing or overblown artistry. Just catchy hooks, catchy rhythms, and killer guitars. I don't think much of Arctic Monkeys prior to this album, and the 2018 follow-up to this record is good but not nearly as good as this, but AM is one of my favorite rock records ever made.
I love everything about this album but the guitar riffs are something special. There are so many great riffs here that this album made me buy my first electric guitar. Not only that, but I learned almost every song on the album, I just never learned the solos. I can't say that about any other album, not one. The bass also has plenty of great lines, and even when the rhythm guitar is doing the most simple stuff, it’s still good music. Tiny, soft licks, a couple staccato notes here and there, just adding to the songs. The drums don’t particularly stand out, but they sound great and have this meaty chunk to them like the guitars do and since they play with the bass a lot, the rhythm section is nice and thick and gives just enough weight to the songs without hogging all the room in the mix.
Alex Turner's voice is another star. He's got such a slick confidence to his voice that adds a dollop of sexiness to each song here. There are some moments that sound inspired by 50s or 60s rock, like “No. 1 Party Anthem” or “Mad Sounds.” Some modern rockers like “R U Mine?” which has one of the coolest vocal melody-lyrics pairings on the record (and took me a long time to figure out how to sing and play at the same time). Calm, more contemplative songs like “Fireside” and the cover of “I Wanna Be Yours.” I’m a big fan of how much his voice adds to the various moods on this album.
And the lyrics. Man. So many I love. Alex Turner’s rhyme schemes and the way he works them into the melodies (or vice versa, whichever his method was) is brilliant. The words come out sounding poetic yet natural, the way they flow seamlessly into each other is so cool to me, sometimes he puts a rhyme in the middle of another rhyme. And really, the record just sounds good. Crank it up, you can hear every instrument clear as a bell. I love the warmth of the highs and the oomph in the low end, without sacrificing the middle. The band has a great sound, AM does an extraordinary job of capturing it. I'll end with one of my favorite lyrics, a verse from the first song:
“So have you got the guts? / Been wondering if your heart’s still open and if so I wanna know what time it shuts / Simmer down and pucker up / I’m sorry to interrupt / It’s just I’m constantly on the cusp of trying to kiss you / I don’t know if you feel the same as I do / But we could be together if you wanted to”
In Summary: Most people have heard a song or two from this album, I almost guarantee it. “Do I Wanna Know?” has more than 650 million plays on Spotify, so everyone has an opinion on that one. I think this is a damn good record and it's served as the soundtrack for most of my 20s. I'm not as angry as I used to be when I was a teenager, and this kind of rock resonates deeply with me. This record is both dark and light, but it's sexy, it's confident, it's got reverb and warm beautiful layers of vocals, poetic lyrics, chill atmosphere, and it's gotten me through some bad times. I like working out to this album, driving to this album, cooking to this album, getting high to this album, it fits every occasion for me. Love every second of it.
Katt's Favorites: Do I Wanna Know?,
R U Mine?,
Fireside,
Snap Out Of It,
Knee Socks,
I Wanna Be Yours