Favourite Worst Nightmare [Explicit Lyrics]

( 12 )

Editorial Reviews

All Music Guide - Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Breathless praise is a time-honored tradition in British pop music, but even so, the whole brouhaha surrounding the 2006 debut of the Arctic Monkeys bordered on the absurd. It wasn't enough for the Arctic Monkeys to be the best new band of 2006; they had to be the saviors of rock & roll. Lead singer/songwriter Alex Turner had to be the best songwriter since Noel Gallagher or perhaps even Paul Weller, and their debut, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, at first was hailed as one of the most important albums of the decade, and then, just months after its release, NME called it one of the Top Five British albums ever. Heady stuff for a group just ...
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Editorial Reviews

All Music Guide - Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Breathless praise is a time-honored tradition in British pop music, but even so, the whole brouhaha surrounding the 2006 debut of the Arctic Monkeys bordered on the absurd. It wasn't enough for the Arctic Monkeys to be the best new band of 2006; they had to be the saviors of rock & roll. Lead singer/songwriter Alex Turner had to be the best songwriter since Noel Gallagher or perhaps even Paul Weller, and their debut, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, at first was hailed as one of the most important albums of the decade, and then, just months after its release, NME called it one of the Top Five British albums ever. Heady stuff for a group just out of their teens, and they weathered the storm with minimal damage, losing their bassist but not their sense of purpose as they coped in the time-honored method for young bands riding the wave of enormous success: they kept on working. All year long they toured, rapidly writing and recording their second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, getting it out just a little over a year after their debut, a speedy turnaround by any measure. Some may call it striking when the iron is hot, cashing in while there's still interest, but Favourite Worst Nightmare is the opposite of opportunism: it's the vibrant, thrilling sound of a band coming into its own. The Arctic Monkeys surely showed potential on Whatever People Say I Am, but their youthful vigor often camouflaged their debt to other bands. Here, they're absorbing their influences, turning their liberal borrowings from the Libertines, the Strokes, and the Jam into something that's their own distinct identity. Unlike any of those three bands, however, the Arctic Monkeys haven't stumbled on their second album; they haven't choked on hubris, they haven't overthought their sophomore salvo, nor have they cranked it out too quickly. That constant year of work resulted in startling growth as the band is testing the limits of what they can do and where they can go. Favourite Worst Nightmare hardly abandons the pleasures of their debut but instead frantically expands upon them. They still have a kinetic nervous energy, but this isn't a quartet that bashes out simply three-chord rock & roll. The Monkeys may start with an infectious riff, but then they'll violently burst into jagged yet tightly controlled blasts of post-punk squalls, or they'll dress a verse with circular harmonies as they do at the end of "Fluorescent Adolescent." Their signature is precision, evident in their concise songs, deftly executed instrumental interplay, and the details within Turner's wry wordplay, which is clever but never condescending. Indeed, the remarkable thing about the Arctic Monkeys -- which Favourite Worst Nightmare brings into sharp relief -- is their genuine guilelessness, how they restructure classic rock clichés in a way that pays little mind to how things were done in the past, and that all goes back to their youth. Born in the '80s and raised on the Strokes and the Libertines, they treat all rock as a level playing field, loving its traditions but not seeing musical barriers between generations, since the band learned all of rock history at once and now spit it all out in a giddy, cacophonous blend of post-punk and classic rock that sounds fresh, partially because they jam each of their very songs with a surplus of ideas. Some of this was true on their debut album, but it's the restlessness of Favourite Worst Nightmare that impresses -- they're discovering themselves as they go and, unlike so many modern bands, they're interested in the discovery and not appearances. They'll venture into darker territory, they'll slow things down on "Only Ones Who Know," they'll play art punk riffs without pretension. Here, they sound like they'll try anything, which makes this a rougher album in some ways than their debut, which indeed was more cohesive. All the songs on Whatever shared a similar viewpoint, whereas the excitement here is that there's a multitude of viewpoints, all suggesting different tantalizing directions they could go. On that debut, it was possible hear all the ways they were similar to their predecessors, but here it's possible to hear all the ways the Arctic Monkeys are a unique, vibrant band and that's why Favourite Worst Nightmare is in its own way more exciting than the debut: it reveals the depth and ambition of the band and, in doing so, it will turn skeptics into believers.
New York Times - Jon Pareles
The new songs are more melodic and even more meticulous than before.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 4/24/2007
  • Label: Warner Bros / Ada
  • UPC: 801390013621
  • Catalog Number: 165436
  • Sales rank: 23,555

Tracks

Disc 1
  1. 1 Brianstorm (2:50)
  2. 2 Teddy Picker (2:43)
  3. 3 D Is for Dangerous (2:16)
  4. 4 Balaclava (2:49)
  5. 5 Fluorescent Adolescent (2:57)
  6. 6 Only Ones Who Know (3:02)
  7. 7 Do Me a Favour (3:27)
  8. 8 This House Is a Circus (3:09)
  9. 9 If You Were There, Beware (4:34)
  10. 10 The Bad Thing (2:23)
  11. 11 Old Yellow Bricks (3:11)
  12. 12 505 (4:13)
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Album Credits

Performance Credits
Arctic Monkeys Primary Artist
James Ford Guitar
Miles Kane Guitar
Technical Credits
Geoff Barradale Management
George Marino Mastering
Juno Art Direction, Illustrations
Mike Crossey Producer, Audio Production
Arctic Monkeys Composer
Alex Turner Composer
James Ford Producer, Audio Production
Joseph Bramhall Illustrations
Al Heighton Illustrations
Ian McAndrew Management
Drew Millward Illustrations
Anne Marie Moore Illustrations
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 12 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(8)

4 Star

(2)

3 Star

(1)

2 Star

(1)

1 Star

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Sort by: Showing all of 12 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    The Monkeys Are Cuming

    The Arctic Monkeys are the hottest band on the planet and if they can continue to write clever pop tunes like Fluorescent Adolescent, Riot Van, and When The Sun Goes Down they will be as popular in the US as they are in the UK. Not since the Kinks and the Beatles has a rock band written as many great songs so early in their career, making one believe that they will continue to put out brilliant albums that will hit the top of the charts and earn them the fame and fortune that they so rightly deserve. I play their albums when I'm depressed because it's the kind of music that makes you happy, unlike much of the dark and dreary stuff that many bands put out. I can't wait for their next album and US tour which will no doubt be a huge success. When I listed the top 1,000 songs of the last 25 years in my book "The Bachelors Bible", Dream Theater and the Arctic Monkeys were at the top of the list.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Great Sophomore Album

    The Arctic Monkeys is my favorite band and I have most of their music including singles, EPs, and CDs. I absolutley loved their first album, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" and listened to it about fifty times. When I heard about the next CD, I was instantly counting down the days. When I finally received it, I was so proud of them for doing an amazing job. Clever lyrics, great guitar riffs, awesome rhythms, and superb vocals fill "Favourite Worst Nightmare" to the brim. You will be hooked on the catchy rhymes and find yourself dancing along with many of the tracks!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    More thrilling than penguins

    When rock music was created, it was meant to sound like this

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Music At It's Best

    As in their last and first complete album (whatever people say I am, thats what I'm not), the Artic Monkeys show you how music is truly supposed to sound. I can't tell you how much you should buy this album, you must buy this album and their previous album. This is music. In my opinion the Arctic Monkeys can be considered the greatest thing to happen to music in the past 10-15 years. Completely worth the money. and the time.

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    Posted November 5, 2011

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    Posted October 29, 2008

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    Posted October 28, 2008

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    Posted January 29, 2009

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    Posted April 2, 2009

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    Posted October 5, 2009

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Sort by: Showing all of 12 Customer Reviews