Suck it and See, Arctic Monkeys' huge bang

It was exactly a month ago when my college friend told me that Arctic Monkeys new album came out. I was shocked; I had no time to make any expectation to them despite their disappointing Humburg (2009) album. I decided to download it instead of buying it (pirate scum!!). HAHAHA. 

I checked their website, I felt the "Dark" vibe right away from their new lay out;Arctic Monkeys in black and a broken white cream color on the background. It's dark and mature. There was some kind of media player in the middle, so I clicked it and the song starts. "She's Thunderstorms" was the song, I was completely stoned and then, "It's Radiohead!" . THAT was my first reaction. With all my respect, it really sounds similar. But anyway, funk it. Let's roll.

Monkeys' fourth album has a unique touch and quality. As promised before, they will appear with more vintage sounds. They do, and it really amazed me. The unique vibration from Alex Turner's voice makes the album grows stronger than before. Mature guitar sound from both guitarist gives another PLUS point. They made it very simple, light, yet it's stunning. We can hear the sound is similar to Radiohead's Creep era, revolting beats which similar to Beatles' Revolver, the lyrics were light and catchy as well. In fact, their new songs brought us a new scent to our modern music. ROCK is still alive and strong. 

The first song, She's Thunderstorm, gives us a dark point for the album. We can hear it since the beginning where the guitar sound came out with a minor and dark chorus compression, swinging vocal style from Alex gives this song a tearing story about a bad girl. Light and catchy guitar solo covered with heavy vibe at the end, gives this song a sublime thumbs up.

Black Treacle, strong guitar riff as an opener, hip drum beats, another swinging vocal, makes this song as my favorite from this album. We all can sing and jump together on the refrain part. Tearing guitar lick makes it better and better. This song is the answer for the fans about their new Vintage sound. Suh-weet.

Classic rock touch, hard and heavy vocal from Matt Helders (drum), psychedelic sensation also can be seen on this song, Brick by Brick. They brought us to the late 60's era where The Who bang our grand fathers head, and the brave Punk era of the late 70's, where The Clash came out with new wave of sound. This song gives us a major head banging session. I wanna rock n roll.

The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala, brings another new wave touch to their album. Low profile vocal, catchy “Shalalala” cue, what else? Unfortunately, this song is the weakest from the album. Sorry, guys.

Yeah, yeah, yeah! Don’t Sit Down Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair is another bang from the Monkeys. A classic blues touch on the intro, (another) heavy vocal, heavy distortion, and classy drum rumble, makes this song as their “darkest” from the album. The lyric is quite philosophical and has a lot of meaning. I’m gonna say this now; Alex Turner is one of our best song writers in this whole wide world. Period.

Library Pictures, the sixth song of the album. I’m just gonna say it once, just listen to it. Powerful, energetic, dynamic, all mixed up into one good-ground breaking song. At certain point, this song has something that makes me ring the bell. The drums were amazing, the sound mix was massive, and they got the guts to give this music to us. But how and why this band still left behind? Don’t stop banging your head!

Strikingly sexy vocal, classy guitar play and another sublime team work for the sound mix. All my own stunts brought us back to the early 80’s with more power and balls. Bravery is the key to succeed. They got the bravery. Just listen to the screaming outro, you will understand why.

Catchy and light bass line for the intro, slapping sexy vocal, all combined together with the recognizable guitar chorus and thunderous drum power. Yes, Reckless Serenade is too short, yet it’s very nice to hear in this summer day. The lyric is light, the whole music as well. This song gives us the new wave surf music sound to rise up. Ride on.

Piledriver Waltz brought me to a slow and relaxing mood. I don’t know what exactly why; the song energy brought me to it. Alex Turner voice was transformed into Cream’s Jack Bruce and Kink’s Ray Davies. Amazingly, although the music turned into some kind of slower, they still got the touch which makes me said, “Oh this is still Arctic”. Well done, lads.

Love is a laserquest, catchy intro with the unique drum pattern, classy heavy vocal and also with the trademark chorus guitar, gives this song another touch which similar to Sondre Lerche and other new wave pioneer. Soothing feeling rises up since the refrain part about to start J lovely.

The title of this album, Suck it and See. This song starts with Turner’s count and guitar+voice that were so deep. Another light song, catchy notes and cool vocal makes this song a very good song to relax. I was expecting a heavier sound or heavier touch, but the song was so soothing until the end which makes me feel, “hmm”. Hope y’all understand.

That’s Where You’re Wrong is the last song of this brave album. Still with new wave touch and sound, light lyric, epic drum play. This song is the anti-climax of the album. BUT, I can assure you that this song has the “stadium” power. Just check out when they are going to play live!

And in the end, my conclusion is final. The album has huge bravery; they got the talent and quality to play until now; huge balls to lift up a vintage touch again. They got the knowledge to play, they know where to go. But sadly, the anti-climax was the down point of it. At the end, it gets so boring and light. Should’ve done better.

My salute to the sound engineer from Dominos label and also from the Arctic Monkeys; huge team work brigs huge success. I also want to give a five star to Alex Turner song writing that makes him one of the best songwriter in the UK (or maybe this damn world!). Also, I’d like to give five stars for Matt Helders. inspiring drum play that gives the band huge power and impact to our music quality.

Last question; can Arctic Monkeys do better than this with THEIR OWN sound and quality? Keep it cool, Monkeys. Rock on.

Have a good summer!

Regards,

Timothy.

and yes.. We've only just begun

Good afternoon! Finally! It’s so nice to write again. Well, this might be my last review of the year. Christmas is a week away, and soon it’s 2011! Time is our biggest enemy. Feels like, We’ve Only Just Begun.

Yes, it’s The Carpenters. One of their greatest hits, We’ve Only Just Begun. Taken from album Close to You (1970). This album was ranked as Rolling Stone Magz 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. And for you, sweet-lovely-getting-married couple, this song is a perfect song for you guys J

The famous siblings, Karen and Richard Carpenter, made a wonderful harmonization on the vocal tracks. Karen made this song so light, so touching, so in love and so beautiful.  Her famous light and sweet as a honey voice made everything became so lovely. As you can hear, the background vocals are so amazing. They are the mix vocal tracking of Richard and Karen. Richard, plays the famous piano play for the whole song, simple but tearing my heart away.

This song was also used for film soundtrack, such as Starsky and Hutch and Happy Gilmore.

Believe it or not, this beautiful song wasn’t written by the Carpenters. This song was written by a song writer and lyricist, Paul Williams and Roger Nichols. This song was actually debuted in a commercial in California’s TV network.  Richard Carpenter was a famous music visionary in his time. He came up to meet the song writers and asking for the full version of the song, and suddenly BOOM! It’s a big hits. Ranked #1 in UK Top Chart, Ranked #2 in US Top Songs Billboard and Grammy Awards 1971. In 1998, this song was inducted to Grammy Hall of Fame because of the sensational and long lasting record. Don’t ignore your vision, guys!

This part is the key of the song,

“Sharing horizons that are new to us
Watching the signs along the way
Talking' it over, just the two of us
Working together day to day, together, together”

I don’t know this is the chorus or just a verse, but I can feel this part is the climax of the song.  I’m not trying to be so sensitive here (LOL), but seriously, this part is so touching. Hehe. Love is just above the horizon.

Want my advice? This song is a mood lifter. Try to play this lovely record with your beloved one. And of course, love is real when shared. Same like happiness. Nothing is real when it’s not shared.

And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. Love is real J

See you somewhere and somehow..

Abz.

you know she's so good!

well folks. I was on fire yesterday actually. I got my everything to write another review of an album, BUT sadly I fell asleep. Darn it, even a coffee couldn't stop me! Bah, anyway.. LET'S GO TO THE REHAB!

She is the one and only, undisputed, undoubted, gifted, and troubled. THE Amy Winehouse. North Londoners lady. My favourite crooner of the century. Came from nowhere and then BOOM! 6 Nominations in Grammy Awards 2008! Her maximum contribution on her 2nd album, Back to Black, brought us a huge encounter to our ears, which tells us, THIS IS WHAT WE CALLED REAL QUALITY MUSIC! 

As we all know, her first album Frank was released in UK at 2003. The album was quite a huge success (UK top chart 2004 and Platinum) and she was nominated for BRIT award for British Female Solo Artist. But, she mentioned that 80% of the album was "Not Her". hmmm.. Weird. 

After her disappointment, she stood up and hit the studio again. Back to Black was a true story behind her life. It tells us about Amy's drug addictions, her love life, and of course her dark life style. It sounded like glory days of Motown, R&B, and Soul in the 70s. Her unique voice that has a Jazzy accent, gives a powerful touch in every song she sings. The album contains 11 songs (10 tracks on US and Canada). 

"Try to make me go to rehab, I say 'no no no'!". You can feel the brawl in every note she sings. Rehab is the song. The funky feel and beat gives her an excuse to stay out from the house of torture. Amy wrote this song because of her Alcohol addiction and the record company wants her to go. But Hell no.. She won't go go go.

Next song is about her love life. "You Know that I'm No Good' was her 2nd single. In this song, she told us that she is a troublesome, she was trying to tell ther boy that she's no good. But God only knows. The infamous Arctic Monkeys covered this song in BBC Radio. 

Back to Black. This song was a huge success. This song was the 3rd single. On the pre-release, this song was already on the top of the UK singles Chart. One of the UK media said that, this song is a single of the year. No doubt about it, lads. This lady will tear you up if you say bad things on her! *damn right*

But on there is a unique story about this song. Everybody knows, Marvin Gaye right? His all time hit song-Ain't No Mountain High Enough was being covered by Amy Winehouse! NOT. Amy took the music sample of the song behind and mix it with her own song that she wrote. Tears Dry on Their Own is the song. Some US media criticize it unfairly and a bit too harsh. Although the outcome was not that nice at all, this song was a huge thing for her. This song climbed up to UK top chart right after the release. Both this song and "Rehab" sticked in the chart for 57 weeks. Crazy.

With all my respect, I like this woman. She's so unique and so....strange. She has a weird attitude though, but still, that's the way she interprets her music and her life. Which is so cool. I really do love this album because the uniqueness and the "True Story" thingy. My sister introduced me to this album back in Indonesia couple of years ago. Still remember my reaction when I saw her face for the first time. "Wtf?! SHE-MALE?!". Oh well, where ever she is now, I'm looking forward to see her weird hair with my own eyes :p

Well anyway. I'm not trying to seduce young generation to follow her life style. BUT what I'm trying to do is to make another music like this, which is so powerful and the richness of the uniqueness (wtf?!). Let's hope that in this free world we could find a better quality.

STAY OF THE DRUGS! I will see you again somewhere and somehow!

Abz.

That's the way

I was thinking about this album since I woke up this morning. My morning song was Led Zeppelin's That's the way. I stood up, smiled, and tweeting "Led Zeppelin III"on my twitter.

I'm telling you, lads. This album is so cool and mature. Music is free, music is like a young boy who's having a "spurt", music can change immediately without any notice. It's happening, guys. So don't be alarmed.

Well, some music criticizer told the media that Zepp is gone crazy because they are playing acoustic in their third album. Stupid. F.Y.I Led Zeppelin played 3 tracks acoustic in total (Black Mountain Side, Your Time is Gonna Come <Led Zeppelin I> and  Ramble On <Led Zeppelin II>). They are making a huge difference and impact for their career. Why? Because on this album, they became who they really were. A big hard rocking band from England. LED ZEPPELIN (huaaaaaa!!!!! sick emo scream-wtf?!)

The album was released in October 1970. It took 7 months of recording sessions to make this huge album. They took a small dirty cottage in Wales called Bron Yr Aur. They were just came back from the North America Tour and had a big celebration with the success of their 2nd album. They made a reflection after 24 hrs working, melting the stage, possessing youth souls with their hard rocking aura. Genius.

The singles were Immigrant Song and Hey, Hey What Can I do (unreleased in the LP but released in CODA album). Both singles was a big achievement. But sadly, the album wasn't that success.

Let's make an operation for this album!! SHAAALLL WEEE??!! *chop chop*

"AAAAAAAAA......AAA!!!", guess what is that song? Yep, it's immigrant song. Well known, legendary, BIG, powerful, it's so Led Zeppelin. The song tells us about Zeppelin's Ice land tour triumph and Scandinavian mythology. Vikings are searching for a new land, so they command the horde to fill the lands immediately. 

Next track is Friends. For me, this song is soooo unique! The first time I heard this song I said, "Skip it! It's a weird song". But now, we can feel that Page is making another tuning madness. It's a C6 chord open tuning. BAH! That's why. I tried to play this song, but hell. Still weird for me! But anyway, this song is very cool.

Track 3. My favourite. Celebration Day. Exploding and hypnotizing guitar intro for this song. Bonzo's drum pattern in Celebration was so brutal and jolly. Page keeps sliding his guitar with a marvelous tone control. JPJ is the one who creates this song with a little help from the golden duo Page/Plant. Marvelous. But the most important is Robert Plant. He sings the song like an angel that roars from Valhalla. Massive lyric, brilliant voice control, high pitch, energetic..ah! Beautiful.

BUT, on this song. I believe you will cry when you hear the true Zeppelin chemistry on blues. Since I've been loving you is the song that makes me fell in love with Jimmy Page. He played the song at his best. Tearing blues lick intro, heavenly combination between the drum and the Hammond. But the most important of all is, the chemistry. The lyric was so deep, it's about love that could stop you to live. Page's solo, is the best guitar solo I've ever heard in my life. Huge improvisation, simple scale but tearing harmonization. That's why Pagey is so special.

Out on the tiles, is another weird song for me. The intro was heavy (they used the intro for an opening for Black Dog in live performances), unstoppable guitar riffs and this track is Bonzo's masterpiece. Huge syncopation beat and massive cymbal play. Huge one for Bonzo. Megadeth and Blind Melon also make a cover of this song.

The key tracks of the album!! Gallows Pole, Tangerine, and That's the Way. We have no doubt for Page's acoustic play ability and Plant's roaring voice. Also for JPJ's mandolin play was also magnificent. Gallows Pole was a classic track from over centuries. Leadbelly was also made a cover of this song. We can hear that Page guitar play was magnificent triumph. But Tangerine was different. This song is a signal for us that a slow rock era has started from this song. The music was sweet, easy listening but it's a ROCK. This song is often used as a Soundtrack for a Movie, such as Almost Famous. That's the way it's gonna be.. yeah. My favourite song. Page and Plant was walking around the cottage. They sat down, Page starts strumming the guitar with another tuning fiesta (open G-chord tuning). The lyric was a sweet story, the dulcimer, guitar and mandolin was a perfect combination. This song is also used for Almost Famous. 

Bron Yr Aur Stomp and Hats off to Roy Harper was also another guitar madness by Page. Especially on Bron Yr Aur. It sounded like a folk Country rock song. Plant was singing like there was no more limits above. The beat was catchy and also the song. Hats off is a traditional song that being re-arranged by Zepp. Plant voice was plugged into tremolo effect that makes his voice like in the early blues songs. Massive!

I still can't believe why does everybody keeps saying this album was bad. This album was so magnificent. Pure genius and mature. Oh well, music is free, folks :) we can't judge!! BUT say no to cheap boyband who's trying to be famous. They are all scum of this planet! hehe. 

Oh well, I'll see you again somewhere and somehow :) Feel free to comment!

abz.

Won't you come out to play

"Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play.. Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day"

It's beautiful. The first thing came out from my mind is beautiful. The lyric was so simple and so was the music. John made it so beautiful and nobody can say a thing except the word beautiful.

They just came to India, had a spiritual isolation with Mahareshi Yogi. In the middle of the their meditation they made songs from their daily life. Conflicts showed up in India, Ringo quits The Beatles for a while, everything was so unpleasant for them. But the meditation goes on and on.

Dear Prudence showed up because one of the participants Prudence Farlow was so fanatic and so serious about the meditation. Lennon tried to help her to mingle and make a social interactions with others, she refuses it. She said, she wants to face God faster than others. So John came up, singing "Dear prudence, open up your eyes. Dear prudence, see the sunny skies".

It took three days to record this song (28-30th of April 1968), John took another multi tracked vocal for this song and lots of other people helping to make the vocal harmonization, including Jackie Lomax. The shocking part was the loss of Ringo. In this song, Paul was playing the drum AND the bass AND backing vocal AND piano AND other instruments. Still, he is THE BEATLES. John was playing the finger picking guitar and George was playing the lead guitar. This "little" album was an individual album. It's not the Beatles. But it's John, Paul, George and Ringo with some other lads playing with them. But still, this little album was so amazing.

The key of the song was this part, "The sun is up, the sky is blue, it's beautiful so are you, dear prudence. Won't you come out to play". Feels like, John was begging her to come out, to look around. We can feel the climax of the song by listen to the voices of the backing vocals shredding our mind. Try to close your eyes and take a deep breath when the song is on. Imagine, you are inside the song, see the skies, feel the wind and be a part of nature. This song is so hypnotizing.The guitar play starts from D chord and the changes is only on the bass pattern. As simple as that. 

For me, this song is my #1 Beatles song. I can't really say why but since the first time I heard this song, I was thrilled. I'm pretty sure that I was 13 years old when I heard this song for the first time. I found White Album in my mom's shelf easily because it's a double album. One of the greatest album of all time that changed my life forever. 

Some media said that, in the future, Lennon/McCartney will have the same spot as Mozart or Schubert. Their music change people's mind forever. Their stories sweep the dusty road into a better one. They are genius. We'll see about that in another 3 or 5 century :)

and in the end (again), you must tell the world that peace is the only key to live. God is everywhere, God is inside you. Amen.. 

Abz.

Tomorrow Never Knows

As I promised you guys on my Twitter account, and thank God the internet is working SLOWLY but so insecure, well at least it's working. Thank you, Lord Jesus!

This is The Beatles 7th album if I'm not mistaken. Released in the middle of glorious year 1966. As George Harrison said before, REVOLVER is a sequel to the Rubber Soul album. The fab four is an adult now. They are playing a different kind of music, musical aura and of course their appearance. As we all know, George Harrison is so addicted and devoted to traditional Indian music. His contribution in this album was so BIG. No doubt, the dynamic duo Lennon/McCartney was still handling the steer of the Beatles ship.

Their last last UK concert was right after the Rubber Soul promo and the straight back to Abbey Road Studio, London. We all remember the single Pepperback Writer. Such an obvious changes in sound appearance. The legendary Geoff Emerick was the sound engineer for that song. Since that song came to Beatle' Mania's head, we all knew what will be the sound like. HUMONGOUS.

This album was the first Beatles album I've ever heard. I found the CD on the CD shelf inside my mom's bedroom. My fragile egg-shelled mind was possessed by the greatness of them.

Believe it or not to make this great album, they took ONLY 2 (two) funking months!! Unbelievable! The producer was the one and only George Martin. But can you believe this? Make a comparison now now now! Pick 1 band the 21st Century era and compare to Revolver. In my head, I found a large sum of similarities. Pick the track And your Bird Can Sing and compare it to Coldplay for example. It's the same! Crazy!

The other amazement of this album was the track called Yellow Submarine. The song was pure unconscious imagination. It was Paul McCartney who made this song. He took a nap on his sofa and he had a dream about a life in a yellow submarine. There you have it, He wrote it and make it catchy, let Ringo sing the song, and TARAAAAAA!! WE ALL LIVE IN YELLOW SUBMARINE!

They were on drugs in this album. The truth is, Got to get you into my life was a story about Paul's addiction to uncertain drugs. Paul was the key of this album (certainly HE IS THE BEATLES!). Here there and everywhere, Elanor Rigby and the humongous bass pattern in Harrison's Taxman, was an absolute key that He is the key of this album.

BUT, the one and only thing that make this album was so special was Lennon's Tomorrow Never Knows. The song was so psychedelic. This song was the big bang of the psychedelic era for The Beatles. I remember what Paul said on Anthology III. John came to the studio, picked up his guitar and start to sing. The lyric was straight to the point, the chord is only C major all the way, Ringo's drum pattern was malapropism (brutal), and the ambiance of the song was so thrilling. We can hear John's voice was like singing in the top of the mountain. He took a multi track recording and combine it into one track and make a chorus effect to the song. Another brilliant vision of George Martin and Geoff Emerick.

And of course, the most important of all about this song is the tape loop effect by George Martin. Tape Loop was a recording tape that being played backwardly. This was a big experiment by Lennon/McCartney and Martin. It sounded like a slow-motion guitar play but has a big meaning, tearing and swearing somehow.

This album was one of the greatest album of all time. The album was ranked number 3 in Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Album of all time. Which, for me is so relevance and acceptable (#1 is Sgt. Peppers and #2 is Beach boys : Pet Sounds). Totally acceptable :)

And in the end, we all must know that tomorrow is still unknown and God is here, there and everywhere. Taxman is a pure bullshit and and your bird can sing well. In the morning we say Good day sunshine and some of us saying, I'm only sleeping! Hehe. click here for another info about this amazing album!

We'll see each other again somewhere and somehow :)

Abz.

you

please read this if you THINK you know me

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