Demo work before the release of their monumental debut, Arctic Monkeys are well ahead of the alternative rock they soon shifted into the mainstream. Hearing how complete the Alex Turner-fronted band is on Beneath the Boardwalk is no surprise. But shouldn’t it be? Sheffield springs on us another band of quality and where they headed from the likes of A Certain Romance to Sculptures of Anything Goes is outstanding. There will be those who use Beneath the Boardwalk as an example of the sound they lost. But did anyone else come close to this sharp command of the scene? Turner formed a confident punch at the town’s bang-average nights, starting with promise and ending with disappointment. Like most bands who never moved on from those heady days and late nights, the bubble burst.
But Arctic Monkeys had moved on long before this explosion and overindulgence. For those who need to hear it Beneath the Boardwalk offers an incredible collection of recordings before they were scrubbed up and slapped up better for the debut album. MySpace demos are collected for the endless creatures who roam the web in search of their glory days. Rugged edges are an appeal of the best bootlegs and Beneath the Boardwalk is no exception. Chugging along with guitar strokes replicating a train horn, Choo Choo lingers as a forgotten bit of thrashy, garage sound with the indie spirit flowing through it. Early flutters of their electric tempo can be heard on Cigarette Smoke but sounds partly unfinished given the Turner lyrics – or lack thereof with the “blah, blah, blah” additions.
Put it this way. The songs found here which never surfaced on official releases are left off with clear worries over repetition or quality. Little flickers of Knock a Door Run would make for better Settle for a Draw fodder than anything ready for the broader listeners. Beneath the Boardwalk holds a few surprises for the likes of Mardy Bum too – which sounds simpler, softer and a little unsure of itself. Ultimately it works. It is a necessary precursor to the horrid quality of this particular On the Run from the MI5 recording. Listenable. Like a throwback to those tinny office headsets or the music room headphones where the foam inside was seeping out the pulled-apart sides. Beneath the Boardwalk soon becomes an exercise in nostalgia.
Eighteen demo recordings to fill your boots with as the wait for another slice of Arctic Monkeys fury begins. Most of these efforts were released in one form or another. When the Sun Goes Down is more interested in its percussion and fuzz guitar than it is in sounding put together. But these are the early pieces of a band whose legacy would remould the terms of the genre. An at-the-time indie band who would drop themselves deep into art rock and build themselves back from the brink time after time. Beneath the Boardwalk contextualises a lot of the changes made by the band – and outlines how necessary these latest records, The Car in particular, are.
Take something like Take You Home, the funk and rhythm from a honed-in bit of guitar work is monumental. Steady pace from Matt Helders makes the most of this opportune, desperate experience hinted throughout by words from Turner which soon devolve into those “woah oh oh” interjections. They tend to do so when he has little more to say. But Arctic Monkeys knew it would fit the image of the time and challenge the fundamentals of a tired narrative while also sounding like what was out there at the time. Beneath the Boardwalk has a few tracks which can easily be left behind but hearing how close their best bits were to being ready for public consumption is a stunning exploration of their sincere quality.
