Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

Brilliant. Arctic Monkeys have taken me to all sorts of places over the years, fights with police to dingy pubs looking for a lost love. Always very British and more times than not completely relatable for me. Individual stories/poems that I can sing along to. This album is different. My first couple of listens it made me confused, now after a couple of weeks, I have been thousands of years into the future, sat with David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick, David Bowie, Prince and Alex and co playing this album for us in a dark, dingy bar that could of been in Blade Runner. THAT hasn't happened to me before (believe it or not). Just close your eyes, listen to it LOUD and get transported away somewhere. I can completely understand why someone would bounce off this, if all they liked before was AM. But, for me, this might be their best album yet. "Reminds you of a wrestler wearing tight, golden trunks" Alex's lyrics on this album are probably the best he has written and musically (for me) it is perfect. I hope when I die I can go to the Tranquillity Base Hotel & Casino. EDIT* After a couple of months now, this is constantly on. In the car, in the house, in the baking hot garden as we enjoy this glorious summer. I went to Portugal to see them last month and the sound that this album gives off, completely blows away their older stuff. This is from someone who adores the Arctic Monkeys. Alex is sooooooooooooo cool, so much swagger when he performs the new stuff. The only downside is that he looks a bit bored when performing anything pre this album.

I never used to be a fan of this band. But somehow, with the album AM, they seemed (to me) to have acquired a level of experience, sophistication, originality, creativity, and dead cool style, that brought them into another range. All three of their latest albums, as far as I'm concerned, rank up there with some of the great achievements of Roxy Music over forty years ago (and Alex Turner has surely inherited the Mr Articulate Disillusioned Cool mantle of Bryan Ferry. The songs are never derivative and remain interesting; they are certainly not just the four-chord depths which the bulk of modern music seems to think is all you need (despite the fact that the Beatles transcended that kind of limitation sixty years ago! Sixty years ago! Imagine if you were a kid in the sixties and you thought the best [most creative, original and interesting] music of all was written between 1900 and 1910 - when in fact ragtime was just feeding into the baby that was jazz and blues, exploding into the fantastic songs of the 1930s to the 1980s! I suppose booms are always followed by busts, but by the gods do we need a young band which wants to spruce things up and which sells happiness instead of suicidal dirges or barely-above-baby-level chord structures!) But apart from that general rant, sorry for the diversion - the 3 albums AM, Tranquility Base, and The Car, are clearly some of the best stuff you can listen to that isn't pre-1980! And if you don't buy the CDs via Amazon so you can own this stuff, how vulnerable is streaming? How many people have had legal rows about it (e.g. Taylor Swift) or have even withdrawn their catalogues from streaming platforms (e.g. Neil Young, Don Henley)? And incidentally, the artists get far better royalties if you buy CDs (or tapes or vinyl) than if you stream the tracks, until you have streamed them hundreds and hundreds of times. Your choice.

This album has truly divided fans. There are a generation of people who grew up with the Arctic Monkeys as a youthful, vigorous rock group producing dance floor bangers and sing along hits. The albums to date have served these needs, they have averaged 80% ‘thriller’ and 20% ‘filler’. However there is another large segment of Monkeys’ fans for whom the supposed ‘filler’ have been the best parts – case in point for me being No. 1 Party Anthem on AM, Jewellers Hands on Humbug or 505 on FWN. This group of people recognised in the Arctic Monkeys that perfect blend of song-writing genius, frontman swagger and vocal precision combined with skilful arrangement and instrumental prowess. For those people this album is the zenith – it’s an album written with the music at its core – there is no commercial angle, no market being played to, it is music made for the sake of music. For that reason it will never please everyone – but I truly believe it will stand the test of time as not only one of the best Arctic Monkey’s albums but also one of the best albums ever made. Listen to it without bias. Put it on a good quality stereo in a dimly lit room, close your eyes and just listen. There is so much to take in here.

I know a lot of AM fans don’t like this album but I think there are some great tracks on it.

Probablement le meilleur album des Arctic Monkeys à ce jour, son contenu sonore est tout aussi alléchant que l'esthétique de sa couverture, bien agréable à observer en format vinyle. Le tout est arrivé dans un état irréprochable. 23€, ce n'est pas donné, mais j'ai fait exception car il s'agit là d'un de mes albums préférés. Pas le meilleur néanmoins pour aborder la discographie des AM. Commencez plutôt par le 1er pour cerner l'évolution musicale d'Alex Turner.

I was once in the same boat as many of the reviewers here - I truly expected to hate this album. But to my surprise, what was once an unbearable, nerve-wracking wait til the finish line has quickly dissolved into one of the most pleasant stand-out albums of the year. If prior AM albums could be personified as an overly aggressive and excitable cheetah, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino might best be described as a sleek and sophisticated panther that's biding its time in the shadows, stalking its prey. It's not so much that TBH&C is “better” or “worse” than the prior albums. What I'm saying here is - they're different animals entirely. And that's not a bad thing. In all honesty (for those folks out there shouting about how “out of left field” TBH&C is after the previous AM installation), I still maintain that this album is not so far off the mark from AM's track “I Wanna Be Yours.” If you enjoyed that song, and wanted to hear more like it - here it is. Improved upon and expanded upon, as only Alex Turner can do. If you hated that song and can't handle an album full of mostly down-tempo tunes, no matter how good they sound - this album may not be for you. Lyrically, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is on par with everything else Alex Turner has ever done. It's witty. It's imaginative. It's metaphorical. It's borderline spiritual. But what's really different about this album is the atmosphere that surrounds it from front to back. Almost rock-opera-esque (at least in spirit), TBH&C takes you on an adventure through this three dimensional world Turner created in his mind - a world that creates an unforgettable backdrop of swirling emotion and ambition lost in space. From start to finish, this album feels like a cohesive story... and that in and of itself is very refreshing. Musically, I think it's hard to ignore the Bowie-esque crooning that really shines in the midway point of the story. The bass lines are slick and winding, and oftentimes exactly what you'd expect from an AM album. Anyone who says otherwise didn't give TBH&C a chance. For anyone interested in recommendations - tracks 6 and 7 (“Four Out Of Five” and “The World's First Ever Monster Truck Front Flip” respectively) are stand-out tracks for me, and probably my favorites off the album. A bit more up-tempo than the rest of the album, “Four Out Of Five” has a lot of that Bowie-esque influence I mentioned front and center vocally as Turner urges you to “take it easy for a little while” and join him on this journey into outer space. The bass line winds and snakes its way around, almost lurking in the background like an animal stalking its prey. On the flip side (ha!), “The World's First Ever Monster Truck Front Flip” sounds almost theatrical in comparison, despite the Bowie-esque crooning that still remains. A bit more down-tempo than the previous track, this one almost has a spooky ambiance to it. “You push the button, and we'll do the rest...” Turner beckons over and over again in a haunting sort of melody that (thankfully) has nothing to do with monster trucks. If the “button” in question is the repeat button, I'm afraid I'm guilty as charged. Lock me up and throw away the key, Mr. Turner. Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino has another permanent resident. I'm almost disappointed I can't bear to give this album a “four stars out of five” review just for the humor of it, but I can't. It's too good. In a world full of artists who continue to create albums I'll never want to play straight-through on my record player, AM continue to be the kings of creativity that I've known and loved for years... they've simply evolved and grown over time, and in this case - that's a wonderful thing. I understand that this style of music isn't for everyone, but I feel like the vast majority of the negative reviews are coming from folks who're too resistant to change for their own good. Give this album a chance. At least stream it once before judging it. You may be as pleasantly surprised as I was in the end. 𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲: It’s 2025 and I’m still listening to and loving this fantastically underrated album! If you haven’t given it a listen by now, what is wrong with you? Go treat your ears and stream it now!

Definitely one of the most unique and mesmerizing albums of 2018. Such a different direction for Arctic Monkeys. The album plays through the tunes so smoothly, like it was made for a vinyl release. The old-school synths and vocal effects really match the warmness of a spinning record.

El sexto álbum de la banda, está compuesto íntegramente por Alex Turner. Una pena que no sigan haciendo música

C'est un album particulier car il sort des habitudes d'Arctic Monkeys. Primo, il est beaucoup plus doux et calme que ce que le groupe a pu faire auparavant. Secundo, niveau composition, de ce que j'ai lu sur le sujet, Alex Turner compose pour la première fois au piano. Donc, on perd un peu les riffles de guitare propres au groupe, on passe à quelque chose de plus calme et beaucoup plus basé sur la voix de Turner. Certains ne vont pas apprécier le changement de style, d'autres vont apprécier qu'un groupe ose évoluer et proposer autre chose.