text: 3 more albums to go after this one! Here we go with #4:
  Nights out on the town and the comings and goings of love. This album is about that and only that. I mean...what else does a 20-something single male rock star have going on? Make no mistake about it, Alex Turner is a global rock star, with a rabid fan base on both sides of the pond. Now me? Im no rockstar, but the way i live my life isnt much different from Alex This album speaks to me. Its the story of the last 4 years of my life. The minute it dropped, i was hooked. It has SO MANY bangers and theyre all pretty much A-ha! moments when you break them down. I wrote a piece for Huffington post on AM in September and rather than regurgitating the same ideas in different words, i figured we could try something different for the #4 album post. The Huffington Post article is below and lets examine the words and see if things still ring true. Did emotions change from album release to year end? What else has been uncovered in these last 3 months, besides the fact that the Arctic Monkeys mightve been the biggest band on Rock Genius this year? The annotations are the meat and bones of this post. If youre a Monkeys fan, this post will be a fine ride for you. Enough babble, heres the track by track review:
  ___________________________________________________________________________________________Every now and then, a rock band takes the next step in their careers, going from a cult indie rock band into a massive global force. These types of moments stand out and when you take the time to examine the lyrical make-up of AM along with the music, its clear that THIS is the moment in the sun for Arctic Monkeys. The band has quickly established themselves as one of the biggest acts in the world, collaborating with Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme and mastering the pop song structure. But in AM, its THIS collection of love songs, laments and tales of a night out that will be remembered as the point where 27-year-old Alex Turner and the Arctic Monkeys ceased becoming just another band and became one of the biggest bands on the planet; with mass appeal that didnt come at the expense of the quality of their music. Au contraire
  Do I Wanna Know? - Frontman Alex Turner shows us his vulnerable side on the albums opening track. Well see throughout the album, how hes become quite the ladies man, but here he tries to win a girl over with a genuine love cry of Maybe Im too busy being yours to fall for somebody new Regardless of whether this works on her, it surely endears the listener to him as a lyricist right off the bat and were pulling for him in all of his ensuing escapades from here on out
  R U Mine? - It doesnt take long for you to come to the realization that this album is crazy good. In fact, on AMs 2nd track , Turner lets it all out with the quick lipped I go crazyyyy....cause here isnt where i wanna be! Its that genuine outpour of emotion and storytelling that weve seen before from the Arctic Monkeys...but this has a different energy behind it thats bigger and more emphatic than before
  One For The Road - The first voice we hear is Queens of the Stone Age frontman, Josh Hommes high pitched chorus One for the road...Ooh ooh! settling into the atmosphere of the track. Homme is a longtime supporter and collaborator of the Monkeys and his confident croons leave a lasting impression on the way the listener experiences AMArabella - Is there a better way to assert your badassedness than to sing a song about a Bondgirl-esque lover who wears a barbarella silver swimsuit? I cant get the image of Jane Fonda out of my head and Turners Arabella is as exotic as she is fierce
  I Want it All - Lets not lose site of the fact that this is an English band. After all, would an American long for his sweet rigmarole? I didnt think so. Turner does his best Josh Homme impression with a higher pitched voice than usual over a sick lead guitar
  No. 1 Party Anthem - The melancholy middle of the album shows Turners soft side. How despite his womanizing ways, he still needs to hear that one song, or the No. 1 Party Anthem to give him the confidence to seal the deal
  Mad Sounds - A tribute to the very songs that speak to us and help us get through the days and nights. If you read into it carefully, Mad Sounds is an intro to the very personal 2nd half of the album
  Fireside - No track on the record spoke to me quite like this one. Turner so accurately describes the feeling of uncertainty in a fleeting relationship....Perhaps one that just ended and youre nearing that point where youre ready to move on; everythings ALMOST behind you, or as Turner describes it: when your fuse is fireside. Then right at that moment, you second guess one last time and you realize how hard it is to come to terms with moving onWhyd You Only Call Me When Youe High? - The whimsical nature of hook-ups. Perfectly depicted in the video that starts in a smoky club with Do I Wanna Know? fading away in the background as the story begins to unfold:
  Snap Out of It - The confidence of an alpha male is his most distinguishing characteristic. The soul vibes that permeate throughout the album rear their head again with the zany bridge to the final chorus Under a spell youre hypnotized / Darling how could you be so blind 
  Knee Socks - Perhaps the albums best song is tucked away just before it ends. Everything about this track is sexy...from the bass drum and simple guitar riff as it opens, to the imagery conjured up by a line like When you walked around your house wearing my sky blue Lacoste... And your knee socks. And were bouncing as the images in Alex and Josh Hommes head come together in a parting crescendo
  I Wanna Be Yours - A simple outro filled with clever references like Let me be your Ford Cortina, I will never rust And before you go googling, all the Ford Cortina ever did was rust, showing that Turner maintains his wit and sarcasm despite the emotional roller coasters he sings about on AM
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  A post script on this piece and this album: I was proud to work on this record this year on our site. I was proud of all the work and time the Rock Genius users, editors and moderators put in collectively. We had soooo many conversations debating lyrics, layouts, tech issues with pages , but THIS to me was the essence of how Rock Genius brings more depth to music. There was one other album that truly fit this mold for me this year, which ill tell you about later this week, but AM was such an awesome experience. This is a killer band
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  To listen to any of the albums on our countdown, check out our Spotify playlist here
  Peep the archives of all of the albums reviewed up to this point
  #3 is due up tomorrow!