My own reviews

I have decided to review albums myself that Christgau has, for whatever reason, not reviewed. The albums I'm going to focus on are those that you'd think he'd have reviewed given how successful and well-known they are, but that he hasn't (and probably never will). To avoid albums he might review in the future I'm limiting myself to ones released at least five years ago (i.e. 2012 or earlier), but still recently enough that I am familiar with them already. In many cases these albums are those I have been at least a little familiar with for many years, e.g. because I heard one song from it on the radio many times growing up, or remember seeing it when it was just released on iTunes.

I'll start with this review I've been sitting on for a while already:

Arctic Monkeys: Suck it and See (Domino, 2011) On the heels of Humbug comes another album that is clearly less upbeat and fun than the Monkeys' early albums. But that's not to say it's no different from the notoriously dark Humbug--this one gets off to a noticeably more positive start. Importantly, this demonstrates that Alex Turner is now better at breaking out of his funk than he was an album ago. Why is this important? Because his addition of a dash of positivity and high speed to the pensive and bizarre lyrics of Humbug helps cancel out the major problem with the latter--namely, that it wallowed too much in its own slow-burning depression to go anywhere. Take "Library Pictures", which, though it is in a minor key, is clearly faster, louder, and more upbeat than anything on Humbug--except in the (relatively) slow bridge. The fun the band has from singing about specific subjects is clearly here when it was lacking in Humbug, and this translates into more fun for the listener as well, rendering each track significantly more engaging and interesting listening. This is never more apparent than on the title track, with its upbeat chorus and clear human object of affection who nevertheless appears, by her face, to have been "made to break your heart". In short, if Humbug was the valley, this one is the plateau at which you arrive after making it out of the valley. B+