By Brian Kelly

Whatever People Say I am, Thats What Im Not, Arctic Monkeys
So what have we got here then? Four scallywags from Sheffield create the biggest selling debut album of all time in the UK and they are barely out of short trousers.

This album is the musical phenomenon of the decade and the little Monkeys have achieved it all through word of mouth on a small independent record label. Incredible.

The good news is last year’s I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor was no fluke. Whatever People Say is a first-class effort from a band with the music world at their mercy.

It’s life in a northern town on every track as we follow the progress of lads and ladettes doing their thing on the streets of Sheffield every weekend. All human life is here with nothing escaping the sardonic pen of singer/songwriter Alex Turner.

Imagine Mike Skinner of The Streets with a combination of The Fall and early Oasis as his backing band and you get some idea of what this monkey juice sounds like. Up the north!

First Impressions of Earth, The Strokes
At 52 minutes long, The Strokes new long player feels like a double album especially after the short, sharp shock of Room on Fire. First Impressions of Earth retains the trademark riff-laden, tightly packed Strokes sound, while also attempting to move their songwriting into pastures new. To this end they employed David Kahne, a man previously responsible for producing 80s hardcore act, The Bangles.

FIOE feels like a struggle between the natural instincts of the band and the producer trying to re-locate their noise to somewhere close to the middle of the road.

Thankfully, Julian and the boys win out over most of the album with the first six songs in particular sounding like The Strokes at their riveting, unrivalled best. Things turn a little lite and radio-friendly halfway through before the band rip through the overproduction on tracks like Fear of Sleep and Izle of the World. Some nip ‘n’ tucks here and there and this could have been a stonking Strokes album. As it is, it is merely extremely good.

Morrissey comes home for Easter
Stephen Morrissey has confirmed three Irish concerts at Easter.

The INEC in Killarney (April 13) will have the privilege of hosting the opening night of his UK and Ireland Spring tour. This will be followed by shows in the Olympia, Dublin on the15 & 16th. Tickets for these gigs have already sold out.

The dates mark the release of his new Tony Visconti-produced Ringleader Of Tormentors album.

New Dylan album on the way
Continuing the old masters theme, Bob Dylan is recording his first album of new songs in five years.
The album will be the long-awaited follow-up to 2001’s Love & Theft, and follows the success of the soundtrack to Martin Scorcese’s 2005 biopic, No Direction Home.

Snowed under with demand
Snow Patrol who play Dublin Castle on April 29 as part of the Heineken Green Energy Festival will release their new album Eyes Open in late April. It will be the band’s first release since 2003’s enormously successful The Final Straw. Tickets for their first UK gig this spring sold out in half an hour so if you haven’t got a ticket for Dublin Castle, make haste.
Kooks are coming

The Kooks are another young band from England set to make an impact this year.
They pay their first headlining visit to Ireland in May. The Village on Wexford Street is the venue.
You can judge from their soon-to-be-released debut album Inside In/Inside Out if there is any substance to the music industry hype.

The Who go around the world
The Who have announced details of a new global tour.

Guitarist Pete Townshend said that the group will be hitting the road this year for an extensive worldwide trek.

“There will be a tour,” he said. “We already have European festival dates slotted in June and July.”
In a posting on his official website www.petetownshend.co.uk, he said The Who would then head Stateside for a North American tour which will feature “three– or even four– legs” and will run from September and December.

He added: “We go on to the rest of the world in 2007.”

Townshend also revealed that fans could expect a new album from The Who in the near future.

Forthcoming Attractions
March
The Waterboys Olympia March 3,4
Tony Christie Olympia March 5
Human League Vicar Street March 14
Buzzcocks Village March 24
The Australian Pink Floyd Point Theatre March 25
Henry Rollins Vicar Street March 28

April
The Saw Doctors Olympia April 1
Mary Black Olympia April 5,6,7 8
Sharon Shannon Olympia April 13
Westlife Point April 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19.
Don Williams Olympia April 21, 22
Chris Rea Olympia April 28
Snow Patrol Dublin Castle April 29
Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds Point April 30

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