Arctic Monkeys - whatever you say i am
Where to start!?
Unless you've been hiding under a rock since last Summer, you'll know that this band are the most hyped new band this country has seen in years. In fact, not since Oasis burst onto the scene over a decade ago has the excitement around one band been this highly strung. They don't sound like Oasis, although there is definitely a raw passion and energy about this album in the same way as there was with 'Definitely Maybe'.
Ideally a review of an album should focus solely on the band and their music, and not be concerned with hype. However I think things are different here. The way this band has grown over the past year, generating their own hype with the music press running after to keep up has been nothing short of fascinating, from their roots on the Internet, to what may be viewed in later years as one of their landmark performances at the Carling weekend – the first festival where it was clear this lot were going places. Add to this reaching the summit of the singles chart with their second release and we're dealing with a group of kids who have exploded in quite spectacular fashion.
As one of the news writers for Room Thirteen, I for one have very much enjoyed covering this band and here's hoping it continues for many a year. The race for number one last October even had me glued to Radio 1 to find out if they'd pulled it off, I don't remember being that interested in a singles chart position since I was about fifteen.
So that's Arctic Monkeys the story, what about the record itself? By now those of you who want to hear it will have done, either via the internet, contributing to their place in history over the record shop counter in becoming one of the fastest selling debuts of all time, or through radio play, X FM and Radio 1 had both played virtually all of this album before it was available to buy. Equally those of you who have decided they hate them for the hype will also have formed your opinion, rather than giving the album a fair crack.
The reality is that this is a very good album, it isn't a life changingly stunning record although I don't doubt that for kids of a certain age the current Monkey mania that is sweeping the UK will leave them as rock fans for life, just as Oasis, Nirvana, Sex Pistols, Beatles and so on have done over the generations.
There are a number of fantastic tracks on this record. Album opener 'The View From The Afternoon' does everything that such a track should. It's fast, powerful, catchy, sets the tone for the rest of the record and quite frankly rocks to the point of giving a real sense of excitement the first time you play it. 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor' was one of my favourite singles of last year and I'm still not sick of it in the slightest. This record is on course for perfection with 'Fake Tales Of San Francisco', which is the track that really got the ball rolling for them early in 2005 as it featured on their first EP, however the standard doesn't stay at the very top throughout the thirteen songs.
Other classics in the making include 'You Probably Couldn't See For The Lights But You Were Looking Straight At Me', 'A Certain Romance' and future single 'Mardy Bum', which is one of the tracks where the libertines comparison have some justification, certainly from a vocal point of view. Equally there is a funk element about this track which the Red Hot Chilly Peppers would be proud of – an indie club anthem in the making!
I know that for the diehards this will seem like blasphemy, but there is what is known in the trade as "filler" on here. In between the many strong tracks are one or two that have yet to excite me and I wonder if this album would have been better if it was eleven tracks rather than thirteen?
I'm yet to even touch on another aspect of the Arctic Monkeys which has played a major part in cementing them into the hearts of thousands: the lyrics.
Maybe it's their age that has helped with this, but there is a real connection between band and fans as a result of the everyday issues they write about. In recent interviews they've acknowledged that the overwhelming success they're experiencing means they won't be able to write the same kind of stuff in the future, 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor' for example tells of the problems with pulling in clubs, something they're unlikely to experience ever again.
If you've only heard the current single 'Sun Goes Down', which incidentally is one of the weaker tracks, then if it isn't your bag don't be put off as this is a heavier record than you might expect and is one which everyone should hear at least once.
In my review of 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor' I closed with this:
"Let's reconvene in another twelve months and see just how big Arctic Monkeys have become."
Given that such a meeting now seems rather pointless a matter of weeks later, let me suggest this instead. In eighteen months, or even five years time, how will 'Whatever You Say I Am, That's What I'm Not' be viewed? Will it stand the test of time, or once the hype surrounding them has died down, how many people will be saying they got carried away and how many will be saying it's the classic they always told you it was?
It will be very interesting to see.