Arctic Monkeys - Humbug
By Nick Manteris · 0 Comments · Leave a Comment
The Arctic Monkeys are kind of a big deal. Their first two albums have sold over a million copies each…and that’s only counting the sales in Canada (Gold/Gold), Australia (Platinum/Gold) and the UK (4X Platinum/2X Platinum). They have – thus far – failed to break any sales records in the United States, but Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not charted in the top 25 and Favourite Worst Nightmare was in the top 10. The jump from 23 to 7 is more in line with the quality of music found on each album, but it’s probably more likely related to exposure and marketing.
Humbug starts out strong with “My Propeller,” a song that exhibits a darker, more moody sound than the Arctic Monkeys have shown on previous albums. The popular explanation for this sonic shift seems to be a combination of Josh Homme’s influence as co-producer and the music that the band were reportedly listening to before they went in to the studio. (For the record, Jimi Hendrix, Cream and Black Sabbath were all specifically referenced from different sources.) It is followed by “Crying Lightning,” one of the three great songs on Humbug and an excellent choice for a first single. The next section of songs contains “Cornerstone,” the second single, and “Secret Door,” which are the only two average tracks to be found here. “Dance Little Liar” is the next excellent song, followed by the almost-as-good “Pretty Visitors.” Also…one of the Japanese bonus tracks (which, incidentally, did not factor into the rating of Humbug) is a great version of the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song, “Red Right Hand,” that is definitely worth seeking out.
My introduction to The Arctic Monkeys was a little embarrassing: In the past – in order to find out about new bands – I would download random mixtapes from wherever I could find them online. Around this time (which was before I made the switch to a dedicated mp3 device) I used to make CDs full of mp3s to play on my portable mp3-reading CD player. The ID3 information on the mp3s that I downloaded was either not always present or my CD player had problems reading it, so most times I would hear something that I liked and then look to see that it was song number 12 in folder number 8 – and then I would have to write down that information and look it up later. In 2006 I listened to all of the mixtapes by Shankly and all of the mixtapes by JMFH and one of the artists that kept grabbing my attention was The Arctic Monkeys. I remember casually mentioning to a friend – as if they were my very own musical secret – that I was really digging the stuff from this new band I found. At the time, I had absolutely no idea that they had been seriously kicking ass on both the UK and US sales charts for months and months before I “discovered” them. I eventually found out that they were popular shortly before they released their second album.
- Score
- 96%
As if there were any doubt, Humbug proves that the Arctic Monkeys aren’t another over-hyped band from across the pond…these guys continue to grow as artists and each new record surpasses the one before it. Here’s to hoping that their momentum continues for at least several more albums.
(Concerning online mixtapes: I think Shankly stopped putting together mixes, but JMFH could probably still be an invaluable music resource for some people…though I haven’t listened to any online mixes to discover new stuff since 2008.)
