The Car (studio album) by Arctic Monkeys

Underrated gem in their discography.

Album Rating: 82.10
(821/10)

21.10.2022

Arctic Monkeys (UK): The Car

1.There’d Better Be A Mirrorball. 76
2.I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am. 76
3.Sculptures Of Anything Goes. 96
4.Jet Skis On The Moat. 84
5.Body Paint. 99
6.The Car. 71
7.Big Ideas. 83
8.Hello You. 84
9.Mr. Schwartz. 69
10.Perfect Sense. 83

It's grown on me in the past 12 months. A lot.

I absolutely adore the first track, There'd Better Be A Mirrorball, it's in my opinion the best song they've written for a decade and is probably in my top 5 Arctic Monkeys tracks. But the rest of the album falls flat for me I'm afraid. Slow, boring, pretentious. Clearly they're not the same cheeky teenagers they were in the mid-noughties so a change of style was needed, but I'm not a fan of the direction they've gone - wasn't too hot on their last album either.

From sszwalbenest 11/20/2023 13:47

I was a pretty strong hater of Arctic Monkeys before THBC but I loved this record. My new favorite by this group so far, and I’m looking forward to what’s next.

From serpico 07/08/2023 22:37

Después de AM y el riesgo que tomaron con TBH&C, The Car es un disco donde Artic Monkeys ha refinado su nueva faceta musical, tiene algunas de las mejores canciones de su ultima etapa y varias de ellas me recordaron a otros grupos y artistas, aquí va mi apreciación, There'd Better Be A Mirrorball me recordó a Roxy Music y la manera de cantar de Bryan Ferry, I Ain't Quite Where I Think I Am está inspirada en Sly & The Family Stone, Sculptures Of Anything Goes tiene unos sintetizadores parecidos al penúltimo disco de Depeche Mode , Spirit, Jet Skis On The Moat es como esas baladas de Prince, Body Paint es como una canción de los Beatles compuesta por Paul McCartney y The Car sin duda es un obvio homenaje a Ennio Morricone. En mi opinión un gran disco con algunas canciones sublimes como Big Ideas.

From Brad1770 01/13/2023 04:10

I read one of those “Every Arctic Monkeys’s Album Ranked” lists recently and this particular list rated this album at numbero uno which is the kind of knee jerk hyperbole that grinds my gears. Folks this isn’t AM’s finest album, however it is better than good and far more interesting than the rock star sitting in his own filth vibes of Tranquility Base. ‘The Car’ has this intangible wonky charm about it that I cant quite put my finger on and is destined to only get better over time

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as someone who appreciated the experimental qualities of TBHAC i find this album disappointing. The majority of songs don't have a satisfying conclusion building only to fizzle out, and holding back the standout tracks like "body paint", "big ideas "and "sculptures of anything goes".

From Arthurknight 11/03/2022 03:19

The Car blows. There is almost nothing redeemable about this vapid waste of time despite all the instrumental
(and specifically not vocal or production) competency that went into it. It's like an efficient and well administrated waste water treatment site: you'd applaud it if you weren't held up with pinching your nose.

First listen was quite underwhelming, it took me a week to appreciate it as a whole by paying closer attention to the small details of each song. Production is amazing and aesthetic is very strong. Weirdly enough, to me it sounds like a combination of TBHC and AM. Not a bad album, it impressed me less than TBHC: I expected more highs but there is no genuinely bad song on it.