| Suck It and See | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Arctic Monkeys | ||||
| Released | 6 June 2011 | |||
| Recorded | Winter 2010-11. Sound City Studios, Los Angeles, California | |||
| Genre | Indie rock[1], post-punk revival, psychedelic rock[2][3], garage rock | |||
| Length | 40:09 | |||
| Label | Domino | |||
| Producer | James Ford | |||
| Arctic Monkeys chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Suck it and See | ||||
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Suck It and See is the fourth studio album by English indie rock[1] band Arctic Monkeys, released 6 June 2011 in the UK and 7 June in the US, following their 2011 North American tour. The band worked with producer James Ford on this album and promised a more "vintage" style. The music video for "Brick by Brick" was released shortly before the album details were revealed on March 10. Drummer Matt Helders, however, confirmed that "Brick by Brick" will not be the lead single.[5] On 19 March 2011, in an interview with NME Helders revealed that Suck It and See will feature "some songs a bit more instant. A bit more poppy, certainly, than Humbug was."
It was revealed on 30 March that three thousand vinyl copies of "Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair" would be released worldwide by the band as part of Record Store Day on 16 April.[6] The following day it was confirmed on the band's official website that the track would be the album's lead single and that it would be available with B-sides "The Blond-O-Sonic Shimmer Trap" and "I.D.S.T." from 30 May.[7]
The band settled on "Suck It and See" as the title after debating between titles such as "The Rain-Shaped Shimmer Trap", "The Thunder-Suckle Fuzz Canyon", "The Blondo-Sonic Rape Alarm", and "Thriller", according to the NME. The title is a reference to graffiti seen in a scene from Stanley Kubrick's film A Clockwork Orange, as Alex DeLarge waits outside of a broken elevator inside of his decrepit apartment building.
The track "Piledriver Waltz" was first released on Alex Turner's debut EP, Submarine, where it was credited to Turner as a solo artist.[8] It has been confirmed that the Suck It and See version would be a re-recording with the whole band involved.
On 30 May, a week before official release Domino Records streamed the entire album on Soundcloud.[9] Within a few hours of being made public the first two tracks had reached over 10,000 listens each, and by the end of the week each had accrued over 100,000 plays.
On 25 August a teaser trailer for the Don Valley show DVD was released, it is unknown when it will be released.
With the song "Black Treacle" to be released in 2012 as a single, it will be the first Arctic Monkeys album to have 4 singles released from it.
Contents |
Arctic Monkeys wrote the album throughout 2010, with Alex Turner writing songs in New York and London. Rather than repeat the heavily produced sound of Humbug, the band's previous effort, much of the album was recorded in live takes with producer James Ford in Los Angeles, California, over five weeks in January/February 2011. Alex Turner has commented that rather than going into the studio with only rough sketches of songs, and making heavy use of overdubbing, the band focused much of their time on rehearsing together.
On May 13 Arctic Monkeys appeared on Later with Jools Holland and performed four tracks from the album: "Library Pictures", "Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair", "Reckless Serenade" and "The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala".
Suck It and See has received positive reviews from critics, with an average 74% rating at Metacritic[10], as well as being generally lauded as a "return to form", following the band's "more challenging" third album, Humbug. The album has also been successful commercially. In its first week of release the album debuted at number 1 in in the United Kingdom, selling over 82,000 units[11]and knocking Lady Gagas Born This Way off the top spot, this also made Arctic Monkeys only the second band to have four straight number 1 albums, after the Manchester band Oasis. In its second week the album sold a further 34,910 units in the UK. Overall the album sold 154,000 units in its first week worldwide. NME named the album cover as one of the worst in history.[12] In July, the album won Mojo award for the Best Album of 2011.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [13] |
| BLARE Magazine | [14] |
| The Guardian | [15] |
| NME | [16] |
| The Observer | [17] |
| Pitchfork Media | 7.5/10.0 |
| Q | |
| Slant Magazine | [18] |
| Spin | [19] |
| Sputnik Music | [20] |
| Ultimate Guitar | [21] |
In the United States the title on the cover sleeve was covered by sticker in certain supermarkets. In an interview with British radio station XFM, lead singer Alex Turner said, "They think it is rude, disrespectful and they're putting a sticker over it in America in certain stores, big ones."[22] The phrase 'suck it and see', in England, means to try something new. However, this is not a native phrase to the US, and it is construed sexually instead.
All songs written and composed by Alex Turner, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "She's Thunderstorms" | 3:55 |
| 2. | "Black Treacle" | 3:35 |
| 3. | "Brick by Brick" | 2:59 |
| 4. | "The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala" (Turner, Miles Kane) | 3:00 |
| 5. | "Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair" | 3:04 |
| 6. | "Library Pictures" | 2:22 |
| 7. | "All My Own Stunts" | 3:52 |
| 8. | "Reckless Serenade" | 2:43 |
| 9. | "Piledriver Waltz" | 3:24 |
| 10. | "Love Is a Laserquest" | 3:12 |
| 11. | "Suck It and See" | 3:46 |
| 12. | "That's Where You're Wrong" | 4:17 |
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Total length:
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40:09 | |
| Japanese edition bonus track | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 13. | "The Blond-O-Sonic Shimmer Trap" | 3:25 | |||||||
| Charts (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA) | 4 |
| Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) | 12 |
| Belgium (Ultratop) | 1 |
| Canada (Canadian Albums Chart) | 3 |
| Denmark (Hitlisten) | 2 |
| Finland (Finland's Official List) | 34[23] |
| Germany (Media Control Charts) | 4 |
| Ireland (IRMA) | 3 |
| Italy (FIMI) | 7 |
| Japan (Oricon) | 12[24] |
| Netherlands (MegaCharts) | 2 |
| New Zealand (RIANZ) | 1 |
| Portugal (AFP) | 7 |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE) | 3 |
| UK (The Official Charts Company) | 1[11] |
| US Billboard 200 | 14[25] |
On 5 May 2011, Arctic Monkeys began the Suck It and See Tour by playing their first live show for over a year in Stockholm.
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