Never mind the Internet, Arctic Monkeys first made their name the old-fashioned way-- by playing live. It just happened that the demo CDs they gave out for free at early shows eventually made their way onto the Web, via fans, some of whom then established the group's original MySpace page. The band's members have gradually moved away from a basic live-band setup on their recordings-- never further than on The Age of the Understatement, Arctics singer/guitarist Alex Turner's impressive debut with Miles Kane (of fellow British band the Rascals) and Simian Mobile Disco's James Ford as the Last Shadow Puppets.
Produced by Ford and arranged by Owen Pallett (aka Final Fantasy), the Last Shadow Puppets' album blows up its creators' musical and lyrical vision to late-1960s cinematic proportions. The My Mistakes Were Made for You EP is more like your average set of special-edition DVD extras. This U.S.-only release compiles the various UK B-sides to The Age of the Understatement single "My Mistakes Were Made for You"-- two live covers and a live version of a song from the album-- plus four stripped-down renditions of other album tracks. No new original material, no radical departures, just an unnecessary glimpse behind the curtain.
It helps that "My Mistakes Were Made for You" is a sumptuous, groove-driven ballad about the time-tested topic of "innocence and arrogance entwined/ In the filthiest of minds." Although not quite as memorable or communicative as the The Age of the Understatement's first two singles-- the galloping title track and lovesick last thrust "Standing Next to Me"-- the song still manages to evoke late-60s Scott Walker or David Axelrod with its queasy strings and spaghetti-western horns. Lyrically, Turner and Kane construct the cryptic tale of a woman who might be a groupie ("It's the fame that put words in her mouth"..."a face in the crowd she's not"); their deft wordplay is clear enough taken one line at a time, but becomes intimidatingly difficult to parse over the course of the entire song.
Arriving alongside the new Arctic Monkeys at the Apollo concert DVD, the EP's three live tracks confirm an impression of Turner and his colleagues as precociously seasoned stage performers. Live in Oxford, "Separate and Ever Deadly" retains its organ stabs and lush orchestration. As one of the few Last Shadow Puppets songs that might as well be in Greek for those of us who don't speak British English ("secateurs" are "pruning shears"...I guess?), it's urgent and vaguely menacing, but still a weird choice for a U.S.-only EP.
As with the well-selected David Bowie and Billy Fury B-sides from the album's first single, the covers here are notable mostly for what they can tell us about the project's likely inspirations. Certainly, Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra were inhabiting similar cowboy-psych badlands on "Paris Summer"; the Last Shadow Puppets perform the string-soaked adultery ballad faithfully (heh) if predictably in this live recording, with Alison Mosshart of the Kills belting out the Sinatra part like a shaky Neko Case understudy. Turner and company also do Bacharach/David composition "My Little Red Book" the Love way, bringing to mind another common reference point for The Age of the Understatement's sound. I guess they had one too many bass players to do it the White Stripes' way.
The four "acoustic" tracks simply underscore the EP's proficient pointlessness. Unadorned versions of "The Age of the Understatement", "Standing Next to Me", "The Meeting Place", and "My Mistakes Were Made for You" showcase the well-crafted melodies and close harmonies beneath the orchestra-buttressed album tracks. Still, when so much of the project's appeal lies in its widescreen production, it's hard to understand who other than the most diehard fans really needs to hear these not-even-really-acoustic versions.
