Humbug by Arctic Monkeys

Two Great Debuts... Two Highly Critically & Commercially Successful Albums Each…  Two Awesome Bands of this decade and what do they do next??  Release Another Fantastic Album, of course.

The bands being talked about in this blog are “Arctic Monkeys” and “Arcade Fire”. For Today Arctic Monkey’s “Humbug” would be taken in review and “The Suburbs” of Arcade Fire would be reviewed soon.

Humbug (Arctic Monkeys)

Arctic Monkeys finally become heroes after attaining stardom... 

Album Rating:  **** (4/5)

Alex Turner (vocalist) was declared by NME as the “Coolest Man On Planet” in 2005 and often when people get these kind of tags along with them, they disappoint.  Mr. Turner had different plans. After the success of “Favourite Worst Nightmare”, Arctic Monkeys returned to studio and started recording what was to become their best album till date. 

Let’s first state some facts.  “Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not” is the fastest selling debut album in UK till date. All this was a result of internet hype created by fans and they certainly lived up to the expectations. It’s safe to say that Arctic Monkeys got carried away with initial success and released several ep’s just to cash into their new found glory. But what came after was another punk classic in form of “Favourite Worst Nightmare”.  Enough, Bah Humbug.

Their next release (although it’s been more than a year now) is their best offering which showcases their maturity and inclination towards mainstream alternative rock. Man, Have they grown up or what?? Alex Turner as a composer shows immense potential and Jamie Cook (guitarist) has hooked every song in this album with catchy and wicked leads.  Despite such impeccable guitar playing, I think that Alex might well be one of the best rock vocalist in Britain right now, if not the world. It’s not only Turner but Matt (the drummer) is continuing his great work from previous albums as well.     

The opening track “My Propeller”, followed by “Crying Lighting” is a superb start to an excellent record.  In “Dangerous Animal”, Alex literally goes back to previous album concept, spelling out ‘A-N-I-M-A-L’ and ‘D-A-N-G-E-R-O-U-S’. What comes afterward is perhaps the best moment of the record with Alex announcing ‘Fools on Parade’ in “Secret Door”,  a song that clearly indicates the lean towards mainstream alt. rock and for the good ‘cos Matt along with Cook turn the song into a ‘must-hear track’.  Another notable moment of this record is “Cornerstone” which features Alex’s vocal at it’s all time best.

Yes, The Distortion is ‘relatively’ (notice I use the word “relatively”) low as compared to previous records but it’s still a treat to watch this band evolve and grow.  They have already proved themselves better than Oasis in many people’s eyes (read ‘mine’) and they just have one task in hand right now, Conquer US Market and Dethrone Green Day (that day might not be far).            

Key Songs:  Secret Door, Crying Lightning, My Propeller, Cornerstone.

Track Listing:

				Title	Composer	Time
		1		My Propeller	Arctic Monkeys, Turner	3:27
		2		Crying Lightning	Arctic Monkeys, Turner	3:43
		3		Dangerous Animals	Arctic Monkeys, Turner	3:30
		4		Secret Door	Arctic Monkeys, Turner	3:43
		5		Potion Approaching	Arctic Monkeys, Turner	3:32
		6		Fire and the Thud	Arctic Monkeys, Turner	3:57
		7		Cornerstone	Arctic Monkeys, Turner	3:17
		8		Dance Little Liar	Arctic Monkeys, Turner	4:43
		9		Pretty Visitors	Arctic Monkeys, Turner	3:40
		10		The Jeweller's Hands	Arctic Monkeys, Turner	5:42