- Artist
- Arctic Monkeys
- Label
- Domino
- Release date
- 23rd April 2007
- Genre
- Indie
Feverishly anticipated sophomore effort from Sheffield upstarts disappoints and excites in equal measure
A year on from releasing the biggest-selling debut album in British history, expectations surrounding this second album weigh heavily on the Arctic Monkeys’ young shoulders. Whether rush-job, label pressure or creative tenacity, at least they’ve enough Yorkshire grit to lay their music on the line. Their Nineties equivalents, The Stone Roses, took five years to deliver the ultimately disappointing Second Coming.
Those underwhelmed by the lumpen heavy rock of recent single and album opener Brianstorm will be even more deflated by some of Favourite Worst Nightmare. Around half sounds like off-cuts from their debut, even down to the stop-start drum licks, cheeky riffs and sneering sarcasm of Alex Turner’s delivery.
Thankfully, at least four tracks here display a staggering maturity of lyric-writing (Turner is still only 21), and glimpses of a band moving in intriguing directions. Sure-fire hit Fluorescent Adolescent is a post-Mardy Bum bouncy romp with an almost endearingly amateurish picked guitar riff, as Turner sings of a middle-aged woman rueing her lost sex appeal with an appealing lack of condescension: "You used to get it in your fishnets, now you only get it in your nightdress".
Elsewhere, the epic Do Me A Favour startles with its Texmex chords while Only Ones Who Know, the Monkeys’ first ballad, is a gorgeously shimmering, Fifties style slowdance with a Morrissey-esque tale of a Freshers Week romance. Album closer 505 is the standout with its moody organ riff and spooky guitar effects supporting a heartfelt lament to a lovelife ravaged by touring.
So, a bit like their first, Favourite Worst Nightmare is ultimately a patchy album. By their own grounded admission, they’re not the saviours of rock and roll, but at 21-years old and with a somewhat better work ethic than The Stone Roses, the Arctic Monkeys now promise listening pleasures galore in the very near-future.
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