Suck It and See

Oh, an abundance of lewd puns won't stop spinning around in my head on this one. But all I can say is that I don't have to think of any clever ways to expend the english language because we have Alex Turner to do that for us and that, my dears, is one of the grandest things about this, the Arctic Monkey's 4th album. Released six months ago, I hurry to write the review so it can be at least current to the year and I wish I had listened to the album earlier quite frankly. I have always enjoyed the Arctic Monkeys (particularly fond of Flourescent Adolescent and Whatever People Say I am, That's What I'm Not)but it is this latest album that truly sent me under the spell of the Sheffield gents once and for all.

Black Treacle is simply perfection and is smartly the second song on the album just after She's Thunderstorms. One of the reasons why it took me so long to fall under the hypnotic voice of Alex and the magnetic pull of the Arctic Monkey's music is because the lyrics are so male-centric. You know, men waxing on about their frustration, obsession and tribulation surrounding the female sex. It was Man's Music.[insert beer propelled burp here] I admit that John Mayer's "Your Body is a Wonderland" is a good song, for example, but I don't want to listen to it. I know my body is a wonderland and I'm glad you find it mesmerizing, as it should be. A song about it is nice but really, not necessary. Mayer's "Daughters" is a thoughtful and poetic description of a certain woman's state and it goes even further by declaring a deep truth about women in general that is rarely seen in a pop song. It's beautifully done but really, I don't need to peer into the sometimes perplexing window of a womans' psyche because, well, I am a perplexing window, I mean (cough, cough)...a woman myself. Again, this is for others not me. I bring that up because She's Thunderstorms, although very different in an Arctic Monkeys kind of way, is similarly a poetic metaphor waxing on about the female psyche, something that other men,confirmed bisexuals or frustrated lesbians could certainly form entire Psychological Associations on trying to understand. And considering John Mayer's track record with women, he doesn't understand very much at all. But my disinterest in the entire subject is perhaps point proof that I am inherently heterosexual.


Having said all that, Black Treacle's lyrics are the best lyrics I have heard in a single song in years. It's an art putting together good lyrics and Turner may hitherto be called the Master of Metaphor as far as I am concerned. The listener is simultaneously baffled by and yet completely understands his metaphors, case in point being the first three described in just the first stanza.("Lately I've been seeing things...bellybutton piercings, in the sky at night when we're side by side.And I dont mean to rain on anybody's cabaret, one of those games your gonna lose but you wanna play it just in case.") And that's just the first stanza, people! Even the title of the song is genius. The word 'treacle' immediately summons up the conversation between the dormouse and Alice in Lewis Carroll's masterpiece, one of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite books of all time. Whenever else do you hear the word 'treacle' used in everyday language?

I have understood over the years that there are great melody makers (Paul McCartney, for example, is certainly this) and there are great lyricists. The two gifts aren't usually manifested in the same person or, unfortunately, even in the same band. "It is now to time to make it unclear" Cobain confessed in his song 'On a Plain' because sometimes the unclarity of it is what makes the lyric mysterious and compelling. Fortunately, Cobain never muddled the meanings enough for it to get annoying and I consider him one of those rare artists who was both a great lyricist and melody maker, a rare combination of gifts shared by only an exclusive few musical geniuses the world has had the pleasure to serve up, such as Lou Reed, John Lennon [all bow] and now Alex Turner. On the other hand, if you're really lacking, and you can't at all wow them with beautiful and compelling lyrics , you can always confuse the listener with sheer indecipherability. This is lame, of course, something Brad Pitt would do in Guy Ritchie movies to make up for the fact he can't do a British accent worth donkeyshit. I am laughing right now and if you have seen 'Lock, Stock and Two Barrels,' then I am sure you are laughing too. All I can do is echo the famous line, "You can fool some of them some of the time, but you can't fool all of them all of the time!"

Another beloved lyric on the Arctic Monkey album that I just have to mention because it is a favorite is "I heard the news that you're plannin', to shoot me out of a cannon" from Piledriver Waltz, track 9. This is an overall great song with unforgettable imagery and metaphor. I have to laugh with glee every time Turner sings it. I think I'm in love.

Another track which finds a special place in my heart is "That's Where You're Wrong" because it could have been made in the 1980's during the New Wave era and no one would be the wiser. It's a fantastic and perfect New Wave tune that brings me straight back to art student collegiate days where despite looking like the missing fifth member of Bauhaus, I was actually a very happy goth once I was with my friends and properly medicated. My friends and I would listen to The Church, Echo and the Bunnymen, New Order and Modern English...bands that this song reminds me of immediately. All of a sudden I'm 20 again...and that's a wonderful thing in small bytes.

In short, ladies and gentlemen, the LP is a true classic despite having the built-in anti-promotion feature of a seriously unspeakable title. I can't exactly run around town yelling "Suck It and See!" now can I? Despite this, it is indeed one of those albums where every damn song on the entire disk is a winner. Like the first time I heard The Strokes 'Is This It', The Libertines 'Up the Bracket'or every Beatles album that ever existed. If you don't own this CD, you should.

The band has matured and it's a beautiful thing. What other gems are forthcoming from these epic troubadours, pray tell? I bask in the possibilities. But meanwhile, I am quite happy to gaze up at the black treacle...as long as the Arctic Monkeys are playing in the background. [end]