When there's no one left to fight, boys like him don't shine so bright
Continuing my trip up #album-of-the-day...
21.01.05 : Humbug - Arctic Monkeys (2009)
I admire an awful lot about Arctic Monkeys - their witty, wry and intelligent lyrics, their evident skills and their continuing and varied musical journey, which they have successfully encouraged their fans to travel along with them. However, the problem that I have is that, for all their musical evolution, I still like their debut album best. And yes, I realise if they'd just remade their debut album six times then I'd have totally complained about that as well - life's just not fair. So, this is a fine album but for me, whatever you say it is, it's not as good as Whatever You Say I Am...
The channel gave this eight thumbs and a comment from the nominator about this being one of their less popular albums which was immediately greeted with "well, it's MY favourite" as required. Wikipedia has more on the album that I was expecting (155 milliPeppers) - with it being reasonably informative. I didn't know Josh Homme was involved and I also didn't realise the album "is a departure from his kitchen-sink realism poetry, instead being replaced by analogies" - but then again I don't know what the really mean by that either. It was well received both commercially and critically - #1 in the UK (as all their studio albums have managed) and #15 in the US.
"Customers also listened to" The Last Shadow Puppets and Alex Turner - nobody expected that eh? A fine album, but not one I'll be rushing back to.
21.01.06 : Kings And Queens - Jamie T (2009)
I thought I was aware of Jamie T as one of them shouty types that I'd just never bothered to spend any time with. And I wasn't far off, but I enjoyed this more than I was expecting to - it's really very close to the Arctic Monkeys both musically and lyrically. I liked it more and the lyrics were cleverer than I was expecting, but it did get a bit tiresome - it felt considerably longer than 42 minutes. One to pick a track or two for my general playlist methinks - probably just "Sticks'N'Stones", but "Earth, Wind & Fire" is also well done.
The channel gave this one heart, a couple of positive comments and our first new joiner in a while. Wikipedia has very little on the album other than noting it was well received critically - but doesn't mention commercial reception, which is odd because it got to #2 in the UK (kept off the top by Vera Lynn and I struggle to imagine he was too happy about that).
"Customers also listened to" The Libertines, Kaiser Chiefs, The Pigeon Detectives and The Futureheads - all names that very much evoke a certain era. Jamie T somewhat passed me by at the time and I'm not entirely sure why - I liked this more than I was expecting, but again won't be rushing back to it.
21.01.07 : Almost Killed Me - The Hold Steady (2004)
And I thought we were in similar territory again, but more US based shoutiness this time. And it's not a million miles off certainly in terms of the wry lyrics, but it's more geetar-based - you can imagine them going down a storm in a sweaty US bar. It's not entirely my kind of thing, but I certainly didn't hate it and some of the lyrics certainly grabbed me - "everyone's a critic - and most people are DJs" certainly rang true to me.
The channel gave this a lot of positive comments, mostly from positions of not knowing the band before. They are also apparently great live - although it wasn't clear if a sweaty US bar was the required location. Wikipedia has surprisingly little on the album but it does tell me the album has "several recurring themes such as near-death experiences, parties and the fictional character Charlemagne". Obviously.
"Customers also listened to" a load of people I've never heard of - which didn't overly surprise me. Not really my thing, but I can see there would be times it would hit the spot.
An interesting round with three reasonably similar examples of testosterone driven music from the 00s. Arctic Monkeys probably had the "best" album but it was a bit of a disappointment, whereas I enjoyed the other two more than I was expecting. So randomly, I'm given it to Jamie T - I think "Sticks'N'Stones" swung it for me.
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