Last Shadow Puppets - Cringe Fest?

[kingcrawler]

23 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

Whatever... is decent enough but it's mostly nostalgia innit? It's iconic in terms of how a band launched overnight on the net but as an actual album from its time, there were plenty better debuts from their British indie rock counterparts of that era.

I'm glad someone else agrees on this, I think it's a good album but still their weakest, although am I right in thinking you don't like Favourite Worst Nightmare? I was only 9 when the album came out and didn't listen to it until a couple of years later so I don't really have the nostalgia thing in the same way others do so I think that's another reason I don't love it in the same way as Humbug or Suck It and See.

[Mezhyp1]

52 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

I did think that Humbug was the top one, but then I revisited it last year and it just didn't seem as good as I remembered. The last two albums sound the best to me nowadays but if Turner keeps going from strength to strength, the next one will probably top the pile. As much as he's maligned nowadays, he's gonna have a hell of a career under his belt when he packs it in.

Whatever... is decent enough but it's mostly nostalgia innit? It's iconic in terms of how a band launched overnight on the net but as an actual album from its time, there were plenty better debuts from their British indie rock counterparts of that era.

I appreciate Whatever because it gave us the Arctic Monkeys, it really launched them into stardom because it was what people wanted to hear at the time. I haven't listened to it in years, I definitely rank it bottom of their albums, but that's not to say I don't appreciate what it done for the band 

I think the latest TLSP record definitely gives Humbug/AM (my two favourite) a run for their money, I expect AM6 to be a crowning jewel on the Arctic Monkeys career before a prolonged absence, hopefully I'm wrong and they keep bringing out records after it, but it's just a hunch I have it'll be their last for some years 

[majormajormajor]

1 hour ago, rumpola said:

Helders>Turner

Sure, as a drummer. 

[dentalplan]

23 minutes ago, kingcrawler said:

I'm glad someone else agrees on this, I think it's a good album but still their weakest, although am I right in thinking you don't like Favourite Worst Nightmare? I was only 9 when the album came out and didn't listen to it until a couple of years later so I don't really have the nostalgia thing in the same way others do so I think that's another reason I don't love it in the same way as Humbug or Suck It and See.

Even so I think a lot of people your age might have listened to it as one of their first, formative albums so it wouldn't surprise me if young kids now even get into that one first and hold it high off nostalgia down the line. 

Yeah FWN is a proper dud from my point of view. It's just like the sound of Whatever but with less ideas, and it is a bit of a headscratcher that anyone would just willingly choose to listen to things like The Bad Thing and Teddy Picker with all their other stuff they have now. But it's one of those things where a band is expected to capitalise on a debut with a raft of new songs immediately so it's understandable.

2 minutes ago, Mezhyp1 said:

I appreciate Whatever because it gave us the Arctic Monkeys, it really launched them into stardom because it was what people wanted to hear at the time. I haven't listened to it in years, I definitely rank it bottom of their albums, but that's not to say I don't appreciate what it done for the band 

I think the latest TLSP record definitely gives Humbug/AM (my two favourite) a run for their money, I expect AM6 to be a crowning jewel on the Arctic Monkeys career before a prolonged absence, hopefully I'm wrong and they keep bringing out records after it, but it's just a hunch I have it'll be their last for some years 

Yeah - even if it is lacking in quality now we look back on it, they've definitely made up for the hype throughout the years.

I don't see Arctics going away too soon. They're about to be at the peak of their popularity when they release the next one and imaginably move onto proper worldwide stadium tours so it'd be a weird place to draw a line from a commercial point of view. There is some romance about finishing things at the top but very few actually go through with it.

[EighteenSixty7]

I'd be surprised if Turner didn't do something musically in 2017/2018. The bloke hasn't really stopped since Whatever...

Fingers crossed for AM6. Helders, Cook and O'Malley have had their honeymoon/paternity leave from AM duties for long enough

 

 

Edited July 18, 2016 by EighteenSixty7

[Madyaker]

Humbug is definitely they're best album. It might not be your favourite @thewayiam, but it is they're best in terms of song writing complexity and production. In that album they kind of came out of their shell creatively. After that it felt like they could really go anywhere with their next album as opposed to just being another run of the mill indie rock band from the noughties, this is why they're still relevant while other the others who came up at the same time are forgotten about, Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, Franz Ferdiniand etc.

[Gucci Piggy]

Humbug defo their best for me. Dance Little Liar their best song, too.

I'd probably rank them as:

1. Humbug

2. AM

3. Suck it and See

4. WPSIATWIN

5. Favourite Worst Nightmare

WPSIATWIN used to be higher but it doesn't do much for me anymore. I'd never think to stick that album on.

[nikkic]

Re-visited Humbug yesterday after reading the chat on here. Gotta say I love it. Has aged really well unlike the first two offerings, which I loved at the time, especially Whatever.... Was a big big album for me personally. Think the first two sound dated and almost don't fit well with the Monkeys sound from Humbug onwards. Don't get me wrong I love the first two as well, just more from a nostalgia point of view. 

 

I still think AM is their best album yet though. Humbug is probably their most important in terms of changing styles, but AM pips it. The writing and melodies in AM are genius in places. 

 

Given how good EYCTE is, I think the next AM is going to sound huge. 

[thewayiam]

20 minutes ago, nikkic said:

Re-visited Humbug yesterday after reading the chat on here. Gotta say I love it. Has aged really well unlike the first two offerings, which I loved at the time, especially Whatever.... Was a big big album for me personally. Think the first two sound dated and almost don't fit well with the Monkeys sound from Humbug onwards. Don't get me wrong I love the first two as well, just more from a nostalgia point of view. 

 

I still think AM is their best album yet though. Humbug is probably their most important in terms of changing styles, but AM pips it. The writing and melodies in AM are genius in places. 

 

Given how good EYCTE is, I think the next AM is going to sound huge. 

It is their album where they changed writing style I agree....but not in a good way for me. I understand that whatever was a massive album to the point that sales for that are the raritoes and what makes it up their with top selling etc but a massive amount of their fans must not have thought so as sales plumeted by 1.1million for Humgbug, that's a hell of a lot. 

3/4 stand out tracks on AM, in fact if you wacked Cornerstone onto AM it's even stronger. 

[Gucci Piggy]

46 minutes ago, thewayiam said:

in fact if you wacked Cornerstone onto AM it's even stronger. 

So much why

[majormajormajor]

FWN has Do Me a Favour on it, so it's not a complete dud.

[EighteenSixty7]

I always thought this would be a cracking closing track to a set but they've never really bothered with it.

It closes out SIAS perfectly.

 

[Gucci Piggy]

39 minutes ago, majormajormajor said:

FWN has Do Me a Favour on it, so it's not a complete dud.

Yeah that's a big banger; my second favourite Arctic Monkeys song. It has some good tunes on it - If You Were There, Beware and Brianstorm, too - but half the album is complete filler by their standards.

14 minutes ago, EighteenSixty7 said:

I always thought this would be a cracking closing track to a set but they've never really bothered with it.

It closes out SIAS perfectly.

 

Also a big banger. Favourite on the album.

After reading/having this discussion I've just been on a nice sunny drive playing Suck it and See and remembered how much I like it.

[reflekting]

50 minutes ago, Will-2609 said:

Yeah that's a big banger; my second favourite Arctic Monkeys song. It has some good tunes on it - If You Were There, Beware and Brianstorm, too - but half the album is complete filler by their standards.

Also a big banger. Favourite on the album.

After reading/having this discussion I've just been on a nice sunny drive playing Suck it and See and remembered how much I like it.

Suck it and See absolutely kicks the other albums out of the park for me. The production is excellent, the lyrics are as clever as anything Alex has done and as a piece of work there isn't a bad song on there. Library Pictures until the end of the album is majestic. I found AM a little wanting after the piece of pop perfection that was SIAS. 

[Mash011]

1 minute ago, reflekting said:

 there isn't a bad song on there

But Brick by Brick is on that album.

(do like the album a lot tho)

[EighteenSixty7]

55 minutes ago, Will-2609 said:

Yeah that's a big banger; my second favourite Arctic Monkeys song. It has some good tunes on it - If You Were There, Beware and Brianstorm, too - but half the album is complete filler by their standards.

Also a big banger. Favourite on the album.

After reading/having this discussion I've just been on a nice sunny drive playing Suck it and See and remembered how much I like it.

Its easily in my Top 10 AM tracks, they just know how to do a closer although I've never been a big fan of The Jeweller's Hands. 

Going to stick SIAS on in the garden tomorrow, off to work v soon. 

[reflekting]

Just now, Mash011 said:

But Brick by Brick is on that album.

(do like the album a lot tho)

I like Brick by Brick, I love it live. Probably one of the better moments of their slightly disappointing headline set. 

 

[Alan_C]

Suck It And See is probably my 2nd favourite AM album after their debut. Love it 

[majormajormajor]

List time. Underrated AM tunes:

All my own stunts

Do me a favour 

If you were there, beware

That's where you're wrong

The blond-o-sonic shimmer trap

The jeweller's hands

Knee socks

 

Overrated AM songs:

505

[dentalplan]

3 hours ago, majormajormajor said:

FWN has Do Me a Favour on it, so it's not a complete dud.

Not completely. I think Only Ones Who Know might be the only take away track I have from that album - it's stunning - but the rest I could never hear again and perhaps that would have been better suited to Age of the Understatement or something.

Could proper do with an Alex solo theatre tour where he plays mainly the Arctics and TLSP ballads and Submarine tracks and covers like that lovely Dion one. Though I imagine that's the sort of thing he'll be looking into whenever Arctics winds down so yeah, someday.

Edited July 19, 2016 by dentalplan

[Mash011]

3 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

Not completely. I think Only Ones Who Know might be the only take away track I have from that album - it's stunning - but the rest I could never hear again and perhaps that would have been better suited to Age of the Understatement or something.

Could proper do with an Alex solo theatre tour where he plays mainly the Arctics and TLSP ballads and Submarine tracks and covers like that lovely Dion one. Though I imagine that's the sort of thing he'll be looking into whenever Arctics winds down so yeah, someday.

I'll be in the field with you all for the Alex Turner legends slot. 

[Lubic]

Wow not a lot of love for FWN. Ignoring the pure nostalgia of the debut being released when I was a fresher at Sheffield Uni, its my favourite Arctic Monkeys album. Helped that those songs made up the bulk of their setlists for years until AM came out. Balaclava and The Bad Thing are pure filler, mind.

Humbug has a few great songs but never really did much for me as a whole. Never really warmed to AM either - coupled with Turner's new stage persona, it seems like a different band. Suck it and See is a really great summer record.

[Vango]

Interesting discussion. I only really got into Arctic Monkeys about a year and a half ago-I kind of just ignored them up until then, apart from the odd track. I think all their albums are pretty strong (even FWM, which is the one I bought most recently), but they really stepped it up a gear with Suck It And See and then hit their peak so far with AM. I love every single track on that album.

I really enjoyed TLSP's set at Glastonbury, though Turner is a bit of a wally. 

[EighteenSixty7]

A special mention for The Afternoon's Hat, probably Turner's best vocal performance on an AM track.

 

[Mash011]

6 minutes ago, EighteenSixty7 said:

A special mention for The Afternoon's Hat, probably Turner's best vocal performance on an AM track.

 

Yep, having that along with Joining the Dots and Don't Forget Whose Legs You're On the My Propellor EP is probably the most concentrated brilliance in the Arctic Monkeys discography.