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My profile picture is not random, I chose it not because it turned out particularly well (even though... it does its job...), but because the Arctic Monkeys are what most represents me in the world.
Generally, they are loved by my generation for a few simple and understandable reasons:
Alex Turner is cool, and this generally works (I don't feel like I fit into this category).
They are that blend between rock and indie, very evocative, direct, and at the same time powerful.
Then they somewhat represent the classic adolescent moment where melancholy and the (false) awareness of being able to conquer the world alternate... and maybe in this, I ultimately identify.
However, with me, the Arctics went beyond, they overdid it without being aware of it (and you'd say: "thanksars..." understandable!).
They arrived in the classic period of the first major heartbreak, which coincided with being eighteen, the most complex age by far.
In a few days, due to a series of events that all coincided on a single date, November 29 (unforgettable), I found myself going from being the social hub of the entire school to being alone, deliberately relegated to a corner.
You know... during those times, you can have all the friends in the world, but you'll always want to be alone with yourself and no one else, not even the most important people.
Only one person could access my heart and mind: my friend music.
Of course, I was already familiar with Alex and company, mainly due to AM... that album is iconic from its cover alone.
However, behind it lives a masterpiece, a marvel of the universe, or rather, a marvel of the heart: "Favourite Worst Nightmare".
The approach was brutal with "Only Ones Who Know".
Imagine a boy, freshly heartbroken, in the middle of an adolescent crisis, who hears a simple melancholic guitar chord and a sad voice saying "in a foreign land, what saved her was a feeling, that what he was stealing was her very heart"... I felt involved, there was Alex Turner talking about me, whispering it to my ear, to me...
Then it continues: "People make it too easy to believe that, This real romance can't exist anymore, these days".
It was a shock, it kidnapped me.
At that point, I decided to listen to the entire album, as it should be, and the first 4 tracks, from "Brianstorm" to "D is for dangerous" gave me an incredible boost... it's like they lifted me out of bed, raised me, and forced me to run, run and run, not knowing where to, but to run, even just to return to see the world, to tell me "Look, you can do it, you're just an eighteen-year-old who got dumped, life doesn't end here, get up and run".
Then comes "Fluorescent Adolescent"... it’s hard to explain what this track represented, you’d have to know the story behind this moment and it would take 15 reviews to explain... (anyway, it's a cheerful piece, in a certain carefree sense but, also straightforward like a sword)
The other tracks are still energetic, fast, lively, almost children of Garage Rock but with the Delicacy of indie. They all contribute to the idea I had of the world at that time: everything’s a bit yellow, muffled, like being in a 40’s English pub... but an unsaturated yellow, quite gray and sad, with, instead of the moon, a 50’s microphone (I think it was called Shure or something like that).
Among these, however, there is the track that more than any other tightened every part of my body:
"Do me a favour"... I would tell you the whole story, but you need to listen to it while reading the lyrics and let yourself be captivated by its images. It's angry, sad, bold, but also delicate... it's everything that song, it’s me at that time, a volcano of contrasting emotions... but the beautiful thing is always that damn veil of melancholy, that accompanies the whole album, but this track in particular... and then comes the line that more than any other changed my way of reading a text:
"She walked away, well, her shoes were untied
and her eyes were all red,
you could see that we had cried, and I watched and waited
Until she was inside
Forcing a smile and waving goodbye"
I get chills just imagining those brief but endless seconds in which it's whispered, with pain but also with a sort of compassion... I mean, it really tells you with red eyes and forcing a goodbye, almost not a look of love but also resignation.... and then It told of a goodbye, nothing better at that moment.
"505" I’m not even capable of recounting... even more than "Do me a favour" it's the exact combination of sadness and anger, like when kids cry because you take their toy away but meanwhile, they're looking at you with all the hate they have in their body, ready to scream at you tearing their vocal cords apart. In the end, they don’t do it, it stays inside, and this internal mix is precisely "505"... indeed Alex goes from the calm and velvety organ, to all the power of the guitar and his voice, in a few seconds, just like I did.
In short, "Favourite Worst Nightmare" is not just an album for me... it tells a period where emotions were very mixed together and I primarily needed to organize them, and also to have a friend nearby who wasn’t really my friend, but who physically let me, alone, take the space I needed.
For me, it will always remain this Favourite, it will forever be my personality translated into music, as well as my first adolescent rebirth.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Brianstorm (02:50)
Brian
Top marks for not tryin'
So kind of you to bless us
With your effortlessness
We're grateful and so strangely comforted
And I wonder
Are you puttin' us under?
'Cause we can't take our eyes
Off the T-shirts and ties combination
Well, see you later, innovator
Some want to kiss, some want to kick you
There's not a net you couldn't slip through
Or at least that's the impression I get
'Cause you're smooth and you're wet
And she's not aware yet but she's yours
She'll be sayin' "Use me"
"Show me the jacuzzi"
I imagine that it's there on a plate
Your whole rendezvous rate means that
You'll never be frightened to make them wait for a while
I doubt it's your style
Not to get what you set out to acquire
The eyes are on fire
You are the unforecasted storm
(Brian)
Calm, collected and commanding
(Top marks for not tryin')
You leave the other stories standin'
With your renditions and jokes
Bet there's hundreds of blokes
That have wept 'cause you've stolen their...
Thunder
Are you puttin' us under?
'Cause we can't take our eyes
Off the T-shirts and ties combination
Well, see you later, innovator.
02 Teddy Picker (02:43)
It's sped up to the point where they provoke
The punchline before they have told the joke
Can see a desperation to be seen
Staring at the television screen
It's sped up to the point where they provoke
You to tell the fucking punchline before you have told the joke
Sorry sunshine it doesn't exist
It wasn't in the top 100 list
And it's the thousandth time that it's even bolder
Don't be surprised when you get bent over
He told ya, that you were dyin' for it
Saw it and she grabbed it
And it wasn't what it seemed
The kids all dream of making it
Whatever that means
Another variation on a theme
A tangle on the television and the magazine
D'you reckon that they do it for a joke?
D'you reckon that they make 'em take an oath?
That says that "We are defenders
Of any poseur or professional pretender around"
And when did your list
Replace the twist and turn like a fist?
Replace the kiss
Don't concern us with your bollocks
I don't want your prayer
Save it for the morning after
And it's the thousandth time that it's even bolder
Don't be surprised when you get bent over
He told ya, that you were gaggin' for it
Lets have a game on the Teddy Picker
Not quick enough, can I have it quicker?
Already thick, can you get in thicker?
Lets have a game on the Teddy Picker
Not quick enough, can I have it quicker?
Already thick, can you get in thicker?
Presuming that all things are equal
Who'd want to be men of the people
When there's people like you?
04 Balaclava (02:49)
Running off over next door's garden
Before the hour is done
It's more a question of feeling
Than it is a question of fun
The confidence is the balaclava
I'm sure you'll baffle 'em good
Will the ending reek of salty cheeks
And runny makeup alone?
Oh will blood run down the face
Of a boy bewildered and scorned?
Will you find yourself in a scurmage?
Will you wish you'd never been born?
You tie yourself to the tracks
And there isn't no going back
And it's wrong, wrong, wrong
But we'll do it anyway, 'cause we love that song.
Are you pulling her from a burning building
Or throwing her to the sharks?
Can only hope that the ending
Is as pleasurable as the start
The confidence is the balaclava
I'm sure you baffle 'em straight
And it's wrong, wrong, wrong
She can hardly wait
That's right, he won't let her out his sight
Now the shaggers perform
And the daggers are drawn
Who's the crooks in this crime?
That's right, he won't let her out his sight
Now the shaggers perform
And the daggers are drawn
Who's the crooks in this crime?
That's right, he won't let her out his sight
That's right, he won't let her out his sight
That's right, he won't let her out his sight
You'd be able to post
Any day of the most
For the sights of all time
You knew that it would be trouble
Right before the very first kiss
Quiet and assuming
But you heard that they were the naughtiest
She pleaded with you to take it off
But you resisted and fought
"I'm sorry sweetheart, I'd much rather
Keep on the balaclava".
05 Fluorescent Adolescent (02:57)
You used to get it in your fishnets
Now you only get it in your night dress
Discarded all the naughty nights for niceness
Landed in a very common crisis
Everything's in order in a black hole
Nothing seems as pretty as the past, though
That Bloody Mary's lacking in Tabasco
Remember when he used to be a rascal?
Oh, the boy's a slag
The best you ever had
The best you ever had
Is just a memory and those dreams
Weren't as daft as they seem
Not as daft as they seem, my love
When you dream them up
Flicking through a little book of sex tips
Remember when the boys were all electric?
Now when she tells she's gonna get it
I'm guessing that she'd rather just forget it
Clinging to not getting sentimental
Said she wasn't going, but she went still
Likes her gentlemen not to be gentle
Was it a meccadobber or a betting pencil?
Oh, the boy's a slag
The best you ever had
The best you ever had
Is just a memory and those dreams
Weren't as daft as they seem
Not as daft as they seem, my love
When you dream them up, oh...
Where did you go?
Where did you go?
Where did you go?
Ohh oh...
Falling about
You took a left off Last Laugh Lane
You just sounded it out
You're not coming back again
Falling about
You took a left off Last Laugh Lane
You just sounded it out
You're not coming back again
You used to get it in your fishnets (Falling about)
Now you only get it in your night dress
Discarded all the naughty nights for niceness (You took a left off Last Laugh Lane)
Landed in a very common crisis
Everything's in order in a black hole (You just sounded it out)
Nothing seems as pretty as the past, though
That Bloody Mary's lacking in Tabasco (And you're not coming back again)
Remember when he used to be a rascal?
06 Only Ones Who Know (03:02)
Dancing in my underpants
I'm gonna run for government
I'm gonna form a covers band and all
And back there by the baby grand
Did Mr. Winter Wonderland say
"Come here, kid, we really need to talk"?
Bear with me, man, I lost my train of thought
I fantasize, I call it quits
I swim with the economists
And I get to the bottom of it for good
By the time reality hits
The chimes of freedom fell to bits
The shining city on the fritz
They come out of the cracks
Thirsty for blood
Just as the apocalypse finally gets prioritized
And you cried some of the hottest tears you ever cried
Multiplied by five
I suppose the singer must die
Singsong 'round the money tree
This stunning documentary
That no one else unfortunately saw
Such beautiful photography
It's worth it for the opening scene
I've been driving 'round listening to the score
Or maybe, I just imagined it all
I've played to quiet rooms like this before
Bear with me, man, I lost my train of thought
07 Do Me a Favour (03:27)
Well the morning was complete
There was tears on the steering wheel dripping on the seat
Several hours or several weeks
I'd have the cheek to say they're equally as bleak
It's the beginning of the end
The car went up the hill and disappeared around the bend
Ask anyone they'll tell you that it's these times that it tends
To start to break in half
To start to fall apart
Hold on to your heart
Do me a favour and break my nose
Do me a favour and tell me to go away
Oh do me a favour and stop asking questions
She walked away
Well her shoes were untied
And the eyes were all red
You could see that we'd cried
And I watched and I waited 'til she was inside
Forcing a smile and waving goodbye
Curiosity becomes a heavy load
Too heavy to hold
Too heavy to hold
Curiosity becomes a heavy load
Too heavy to hold
Will force you to be cold
Do me a favour and ask if you need some help
She said "do me a favour and stop flattering yourself"
How to tear apart the ties that bind
Perhaps "fuck off" might be too kind
Perhaps "fuck off" might be too kind
08 This House Is a Circus (03:09)
This house is a circus, berserk as fuck
We tend to see that as a perk, though
Look what it's done to your friends
Their memories are pretend
And the last thing that they want is for the feeling to end
This house is a circus, berserk as fuck
We tend to see that as a perk, though
Look what it's done to your friends
Their memories are pretend
And the last thing that they want is for the feeling to end
There's a room full of trouble and there's lovers to be had
Those ones who make sinners out of such lovely lads
Scaling the corridors for maidens in the maze
And the anomaly is slipping into familiar ways
And we're forever unfulfilled and can't think why
Like a search for murder clues in dead man's eyes
Forever unfulfilled and can't think why
Like a search for murder clues in dead man's eyes
The more you open your mouth, the more you're forcing performance
And all the attention is leading me to feel important
(Maybe I'm not just completely obnoxious)
Now that we're here, we may as well go too far
Wriggling around in it so that you won't forget
There's certainly some venom in the looks that you collect
Aimlessly gazing at the faces in the queue
And we're struggling with the notion that it's life, not film
This house is a circus, berserk as fuck (We're forever unfulfilled)
We tend to see that as a perk, though (Can't think why)
Look what it's done to your friends
Their memories are pretend (Like a search for murder clues)
And the last thing that they want is for the feeling to end
09 If You Were There, Beware (04:34)
If you were there, beware, the serpent soul pinches
Three hundred and fifty no-thank-you's and nobody flinches
Go on, girl, go on, give us something gruesome
We require your grief for thugs and the thiefs
As they're trying to rob the words from her gob
And take the source of the innocence
And if you were there, beware, the serpent soul pinches
You can't, you said she was never meant to fill column inches
And you had enough, what you're trying to dig up
Isn't there to be dug, the thiefs and the thugs
As they're trying to be digger graves of her sweetheart
And to the point, she'll comply
And why leave her on her own?
If I'd have known, then I wouldn't have said it
I wouldn't have said it if I would have known
Why leave her on her own?
If I predicted tears, then I wouldn't have said it
I wouldn't have said it if I would had known
Ahh ahh ahh...
There's a circle of witches, ambitiously vicious they are
And our attempts to remind them of reason won't get us that far
And I don't know what it is that they want
I don't know what it is that they want
But I haven't got it to give
She hasn't got it to give.
10 The Bad Thing (02:23)
Do the bad thing
Take off your wedding ring
But it won't make it that much easier
It might make it worse
The night's like a whirlwind
Somebody's girlfriend is talking to me
But it's alright, she's saying
That he's not gonna slap me
Or try to attack me
He's not the jealous type
And I only need to get half an excuse and I'm away
But when there's no excuses that's much easier to say
I've been before
And all these capers makers to the floor
Then to ignore
She's talking but I'm not entirely sure
Do the bad thing
Take off your wedding ring
But it won't make it that much easier
It might make it worse
I suddenly saw that
Somebody's partner is talking to me
But I don't know that's what she isn't
She murmurs things to confirm that the tragedy is true
And I knew how could she not she could have anyone she wants
And I'm struggling to think of an immediate response
Like I don't mind
Be a big mistake for you to wait
And help me waste your time
Really, love, it's fine
Said "Really, love, it's fine"
And then the first time, it occurred that there was something to destroy
I knew before the invitation that there was this ploy
Oh, but she carried on suggesting, I struggled to refuse
She said "It's the red wine this time", but that is no excuse.
11 Old Yellow Bricks (03:11)
Old yellow bricks
Love's a risk
Quite the little escapoligist
Looked so miffed
When you wished
For a thousand places better than this
You are the fugitive
But you don't know what you're running from
You can't kid us
And you couldn't trick anyone
Houdini, love, you don't know what you're running away from
Who wants to sleep in a city
That never wakes up
Blinded by nostalgia?
Who wants to sleep in a city
That never wakes up?
She was enranged
By the way
That the emperor put traps in the cage
And the days
She being dull
Lead to nights reading beer bottles
You're such a fugitive
But you don't know what you're running from
You can't kid us
And you couldn't trick anyone
Houdini, love, you don't know what you're running away from
Who wants to sleep in a city
That never wakes up
Blinded by nostalgia?
Who wants to sleep in a city
That never wakes up
You're at a loss
Just because
It wasn't all that you thought it was
You are the fugitive
But you don't know what you're running away from
She said "I want to sleep in a city that never wakes up
and revel in nostalgia"
I know I said he wants to sleep in the city that never wakes up but,
Dorothy was right though
12 505 (04:13)
I'm going back to 505
If it's a 7-hour flight or a 45-minute drive
In my imagination, you're waiting, lying on your side
With your hands between your thighs
Stop and wait a sec
Oh, when you look at me like that, my darling, what did you expect?
I'd probably still adore you with your hands around my neck
Or I did last time I checked
Not shy of a spark
A knife twists at the thought that I should fall short of the mark
Frightened by the bite, no, it's no harsher than the bark
The middle of adventure, such a perfect place to start
I'm going back to 505
If it's a 7-hour flight or a 45-minute drive
In my imagination, you're waiting, lying on your side
With your hands between your thighs
But I crumble completely when you cry
It seems like once again you've had to greet me with goodbye
I'm always just about to go and spoil the surprise
Take my hands off of your eyes too soon
Well, I'm going back to 505
If it's a 7-hour flight or a 45-minute drive
In my imagination, you're waiting, lying on your side
With your hands between your thighs
And a smile.
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Other reviews
By Pi.Per.
The formula is always the same, just a bit more refined in the production phase.
An album not exceptional, but in my view, fun and well crafted (to make money).
By GrantNicholas
"'This House Is A Circus' is the best track of the new work, very energetic and frantic."
"No miracles, mind you, but a handful of fresh and fun songs that neither add nor take away from the current rock panorama."
By frogproduction
The single Brianstorm pleasantly surprised me: great, brisk, with finally decent guitar sounds.
While listening to the album, do something else that keeps 20% of your attention free (’505’ excluded, that one can be just listened to).
