Amazon.co.uk Review: Famous for demonstrating how less is more when it comes to publicity, it comes as no surprise that The Age of the Understatement, the first side project from Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys, should appear to no great fanfare. The Last Shadow Puppets are Turner and Miles Kane, formerly of Monkeys tourmates The Little Flames and now in the Rascals, aided by producer (and here, drummer) James Ford, also of Simian Mobile Disco. Inspired by the widescreen orchestral Sixties pop of Scott Walker and legendary arranger David Axelrod, they enlisted the London Metropolitan Orchestra under the aegis of Canadian Owen Pallett (aka Final Fantasy and an erstwhile member of the Arcade Fire's string section). The result is entirely successful, owing as much to the romanticism of Richard Hawley and the eclectic approach of the Coral as any sixties precursors. The thundering title track is pure Scott though, "I Don't Like You Anymore" is twisted pop in the best Cosmic Scouse tradition and the beautiful "Meeting Place", brilliantly enhanced by Pallett's orchestration, already sounds like an old classic. "Standing Next to Me" is genuinely exciting, "Calm Like You" is a new take on Turner's familiar style while "The Chamber" even sees him crooning. The Age of the Understatement is a fine, convincing album that proves Turner's talent is truly adaptable and marks Kane out as a talented songwriter too. --Steve Jelbert
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - A shadow of greater bands
The Last Shadow Puppets enlisted the help of Scott Walker for this Love/Misunderstood/Coral inspired release. It isn't the most accessible of albums, filled with tracks that follow the same west coast usa 1970 formula. Apart from the obvious singles I feel the rest of the tracks are not diverse enough or contain enough ... Read More
Rating: - To say this is a good album would be an understatement.
Like others here, I am not so keen on the Arctic Monkeys but this album is much more my scene. It's a much more mature sound but the vocals are your typical Alex Turner.
This sounds like a pared down, unplugged, grown-up Arctic Monkeys record. It's not especially ground-breaking; it doesn't sound especially ... Read More
Rating: - Beat that idea to death
If The Teardrop Explodes had covered the theme from 60's kids TV series 'The Flashing Blade' during their early gigs, some of their first album might have ended up sounding like this.
The kitchen sink has been thrown at the production so its a shame that so many of the tracks are much of a muchness. Less could ... Read More
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