Arctic Monkeys "AM"

Though the album is no longer new, it remains the newest album to be released by the Arctic Monkeys. I would like to give you all my personal review on the album and opinions on individual tracks taken from the album.

Style

"AM" saw a change of style for the Monkeys, particularly for the vocals of Alex Turner. It is particularly evident in certain tracks such as "No.1 Party Anthem" and "Vacuum cleaner" that Alex Turner wants his Indie-rock trademark style to be replaced with the crooning tenor style most commonly found in soft jazz. However, Turner's distinctive Northern accent remains and is a big part of what gives the Arctic Monkeys their signature sound. Furthermore, Matt Helders, the drummer, became a key part of each track of said album; providing falsetto harmonised vocals with those of Turner's new tenor crooner style. In addition, in my opinion, many of the songs on the new album sound very alike. As a guitarist myself, I can tell that this is because they are based around the same chords and notes. For example, "R U Mine?" and "Why'd you only call me when you're high?" are almost identical in their chord progression. Though much of a review is an opinion, that is a fact that cannot be denied.


Success

Despite my own and many other old fans slight disappointment in the album after all the hype, I believe It was one of the Monkeys' most popular and well-received albums. This is because there were a few high chart numbers from the album including "One for the Road" and "Do I wanna know?". In my opinion, the reason for the album being a top seller was that many new people were being introduced to the slightly softer on the ear and, though I loathe the word, "mainstream" tracks. So even if they hadn't previously listened to the Arctic Monkeys, they could still enjoy this new album which barely represents the Arctic Monkeys of old.

To summarise, "AM" was an incredibly successful and chart topping album but personally I don't think it really reflects the usual sound of the Arctic Monkeys. My personal favourite era of the Monkeys was the "Favourite worst nightmare" days and my favourite song was possible "Fluorescent adolescent"...or maybe "Teddy Picker". I did like a few of the songs on the album but I expected more on hearing the album for the first time.

*All images sourced from google images, I do not claim to own any rights