Arctic Monkeys touring Australia/NZ - May 2014

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james Dean said:
I think QOTSA have them covered there, but they are definitely in the top few
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Definitely.

As people know, I don't really subscribe to the AM hype and found it particularly boring and I've kind of lost touch with the band a bit. The last songs I really enjoyed were off Humbug and I can't really see them making exciting music again.

But I totally get why people like the newer stuff and it's not terrible by any stretch of the imagination but it just doesn't really grip me in the way their earlier stuff did. I also think Alex Turner's become impossibly overrated as a lyricist by the music press and the broader slipstream of alt-rock fans and I just find his lines too self conscious and laboured.

A Certain Romance is probably my favourite tune by them though. I think there observations of the UK scene are incredibly accurate and funnily enough, mirror a lot of the characteristics of the overwrought, uptight and inclusive Melbourne indie rock scene.
 
For me, AM was disappointing as I thought they were heading in the heavier-rock style like R U Mine and Evil Twin.
To hear songs like Knee Socks and Snap Out of It was a let down.
One for the Road and Why'd You Only Call Me don't stack up to their previous efforts on Suck It and See and Humbug.
Some great songs on it though, like Fireside, No. 1 Party Anthem, I Want It All and Arabella.

I rank their albums as FWN > Humbug > Suck It and See > WPSIA > AM
 
That's a good point about how different some songs really are. Knee Socks, High, and Snap Out of It are really some of the less rock-inclined stuff they've ever done. It sways way more toward pop considering the instrumentation. And then things like R U Mine and Arabella are just going straight for the rock sound. It says something about the production and mixing, how cohesive they made it all, but it raises a good point – is this next album going to be full of Evil Twins or Stop The World 'cos I Wanna? They both show the two sides, so it seems they're indecisive.

I don't care, I'm just interested.
 

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Silent Alarm said:
That's a good point about how different some songs really are. Knee Socks, High, and Snap Out of It are really some of the less rock-inclined stuff they've ever done. It sways way more toward pop considering the instrumentation. And then things like R U Mine and Arabella are just going straight for the rock sound. It says something about the production and mixing, how cohesive they made it all, but it raises a good point – is this next album going to be full of Evil Twins or Stop The World 'cos I Wanna? They both show the two sides, so it seems they're indecisive.

I don't care, I'm just interested.
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It's hard to tell because it seems both styles have been well received. My preference would be full of Evil Twins
 
That's what I love about the band – their versatility. Two albums full of punky, hard and fast rock, and then desert-style stuff with Homme on Humbug, pop-infused sweetness on Suck It and See, then a whole mixed bag of late night sex rock (is that a descriptor?) on AM.

Arctics are my favourite band of the current day and I cannot wait to see them in May.

For what it's worth, I rate the albums: FWN > WPSIA > AM > Humbug > SIAS, but they're all bloody superb
 
Personally would go
1. WPSIATWIN
2. SIAS
= 2 FWN
4. AM
5. Humbug

Standout tracks
WPSIATWIN: From the Ritz to the Rubble, A Certain Romance, When the Sun Goes Down
FWN: Do Me a Favour , 505, Fluorescent Adolescent
Humbug: Crying Lightning, Cornerstone, Pretty Visitors
Suck it and See: All My Own Stunts (amazing chorus), Hellcat Spangled Shalala, That's Where You're Wrong (Perfect closer for SIAS, just sounds reflective)
AM: Do I Wanna Know?, Fireside, Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?


Top 5 overall
5. Fluorescent Adolescent
4. Bigger Boys and Stolen Sweethearts
3. 505
2. A Certain Romance
1. Do Me A Favour
 
Exactly they're innovators rather than falling into the trap of The Strokes who keep dishing out albums of the same until it becomes boring.

Five top notch albums all in different styles shows they're talent and quality.

WPSIA>FWN>AM>Humbug>SIAS

Top 10 songs is harder but if I had to choose:
1. From the ritz to the rubble
2. Do me a favour
3. The view from the afternoon
4. Fire and the thud
5. When the sun goes down
6. Do I wanna know
7. If you were there beware
8. Dance little liar
9. Don't sit down cause I've moved your chair
10. Da frame 2R
 
class78 said:
Suck it and See: All My Own Stunts (amazing chorus)
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Oddly enough this is generally a song that's not really well-received around Monkeys fan groups. Just seems to drag on.

Top 10 songs is ludicrously hard, this would change in a month but the top two generally stay the same
  1. 505
  2. Crying Lightning
  3. Do Me a Favour
  4. From the Ritz to the Rubble
  5. The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala
  6. The View from the Afternoon
  7. You Probably Couldn't See for the Lights...
  8. Do I Wanna Know?
  9. Cornerstone
  10. R U Mine?
 
I cant even imagine doing a top 10 songs, sounds maddening. But my favourite songs on each album can tend to go against the grain. Love is a Laserquest was my favourite on SIAS.
 
class78 said:
Standout tracks
WPSIATWIN: From the Ritz to the Rubble, A Certain Romance, When the Sun Goes Down
FWN: Do Me a Favour , 505, Fluorescent Adolescent
Humbug: Crying Lightning, Cornerstone, Pretty Visitors
Suck it and See: All My Own Stunts (amazing chorus), Hellcat Spangled Shalala, That's Where You're Wrong (Perfect closer for SIAS, just sounds reflective)
AM: Do I Wanna Know?, Fireside, Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?
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WPSIAM: The View From the Afternoon, Dancing Shoes, Still Take You Home, A Certain Romance
FWN: Teddy Picker, Fluorescent Adolescent, This House is a Circus, Old Yellow Bricks, Do Me a Favour
Humbug: Cornerstone, Crying Lightning
Suck It And See: Hellcat (sing another fooookin), Library Pictures, Suck it and See, That's Where You're Wrong
AM: Do I Wanna Know?, R U Mine?, Arabella, Mad Sounds, Knee Socks

Love your inclusion of Bigger Boys, too. Probably my favourite b-side aside from The Bakery. Another example of him singing like he's gotten the inspiration from you. That line about "but I'm sure they still carry on in similar ways..." is so spot-on. Girls in primary school still have those same attributes that made you hate them: a nice observation, shows him to be the thinker he is and not just fawn over the regulars. Ol' Al wouldn't have given a girl on 300 likes a 'like' just because he thought so. Onya. Shout out to "there's always somebody taller, with more of a wit." Such a contrast to the total swagger in these new songs. That's what makes me like 'em, and the fact they never shied away from being laddish and not total art fiends (which I'm all for, still).

I don't know how many people have heard this, but I really like it. I would love to hear more prose and short stories from him:
 

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james Dean said:
I don't know if this has been mentioned in this thread, but AM are surely the best band as far as unreleased/b side songs go
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Yep, so much gold. Tracks like "Too Much to Ask", "Fright Lined Dining Room", "No Buses"... they all could have replaced songs on the album of those eras I reckon
 
james Dean said:
I don't know if this has been mentioned in this thread, but AM are surely the best band as far as unreleased/b side songs go
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Radiohead would trump them in my humble. Bloc Party too I'd say, but they're notoriously bad at knowing what they're good at. Their single and album cut selection is pretty suss. Lots of solid songs but some forgettable ones like Blond-O-Sonic, and then the genuinely bad: I.D.S.T., Sketchead.
 
My favourite 3 tracks from each album:

WPSIAM: A Certain Romance, Ritz to the Rubble, Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But..
FWN: Do Me A Favour, If You Were There, Beware, 505
Humbug: Pretty Visitors, Dangerous Animals, Fire and the Thud (could list every song from this album as I think it's amazing)
Suck It And See: All My Own Stunts, Piledriver Waltz, That's Where You're Wrong
AM: Fireside, Do I Wanna Know, No.1 Party Anthem
 
 
Silent Alarm said:
Radiohead would trump them in my humble. Bloc Party too I'd say, but they're notoriously bad at knowing what they're good at. Their single and album cut selection is pretty suss. Lots of solid songs but some forgettable ones like Blond-O-Sonic, and then the genuinely bad: I.D.S.T., Sketchead.
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Oasis had some pretty good ones too, how The Masterplan or Acquiesce didn't make it onto an album I'll never figure out.
 
hawker92 said:
Seeing them at the start of 2012 was epic. They dished this out as a setlist. Pretty good IMO

  1. Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair
  2. Teddy Picker
  3. Crying Lightning
  4. The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala
  5. Library Pictures
  6. Brianstorm
  7. The View from the Afternoon
  8. I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor
  9. Evil Twin
  10. Brick by Brick
  11. Little Illusion Machine (Wirral Riddler) with Miles Kane
  12. This House Is a Circus
  13. Still Take You Home
  14. Pretty Visitors (this was insane)
  15. Do Me a Favour
  16. Black Treacle
  17. When the Sun Goes Down
  18. Suck It and See
  19. Fluorescent Adolescent
  20. 505
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Ahhhh this incredible! Two b-sides! Sun Goes Down, Still Take You Home, The View... I would be over the moon to hear one of those. I would give a lot for them to spin Hellcat when I see 'em too. What a setlist. Though I still maintain they should play 22 songs. Was this at the Palace?
 
Silent Alarm said:
Ahhhh this incredible! Two b-sides! Sun Goes Down, Still Take You Home, The View... I would be over the moon to hear one of those. I would give a lot for them to spin Hellcat when I see 'em too. What a setlist. Though I still maintain they should play 22 songs. Was this at the Palace?
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Yep at the Palace. Great venue IMO. I think they also played at Festival Hall the day after. Was part of their Falls sideshows
 
yeah i should prob make a good effort to attend the perth show
always good to see a band at their commercial peak. vibes always nice

hows the setlists looking these days?
always a great band for deeper album cuts, b-sides and tasty covers..
and my gf likes them, always a bonus:p

very shocked they have not actually released an official b-sides comp yet.
they fuller deserve that treatment
 
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