Second time plucky

CD of the week:Arctic Monkeys,  Favourite Worst Nightmare,Domino ****

It's many a band's worst nightmare: proving that they can repeat the immediacy and invention of their debut album, without recourse to writing tunes about life on the road or the pressures of sudden fame. Their debut may have perfectly caught the mood of the times, but that doesn't mean its follow-up won't hopelessly shoot wide of the zeitgeist. And even if they do deliver a good follow-up, there's no guarantee it will live up to the legacy of the debut. You want a (What's the Story) Morning Glory, but may have to settle for a Room on Fire.

Happily, Arctic Monkeys fans (and there are a lot of 'em about) won't have to settle for second best. Favourite Worst Nightmare is a dream follow-up, lacking none of the punch and spunk of their debut, and filled with the kind of colourful characters and mardy bums that populate the world of Alex Turner and his Sheffield scene-stealers. Brianstorm introduces us to a spivvy git who dazzles with his "T-shirt and tie combination", while D Is for Dangerous deals with an incorrigible hedonist who's "desperately trying to simulate what was three-quarters of an hour ago".

Once again, through Turner's tunnel-vision lyrics, we see the wider social picture, and that's the trick of his urban tales of fakes and femmes fatales. The swagger, self-possession and sarky observation are all there, and - crucially - so are the tunes. Fluorescent Adolescent stutters along on a ska-punk jangle, while Only Ones Who Know is a downbeat doo-wop that creeps along on a slowly-scraping chord progression. Old Yellow Bricks is a Wizard of Oz-type odyssey, but the destination is anywhere but here. As Turner intones, "Who wants to sleep in a city that never wakes up?"

Having woken up the neighbourhood good and proper, the Monkeys are not about to let things settle yet, and their sophomore effort should put paid to all that "MySpace band" malarkey and consolidate their position as one of the finest British bands of the Naughties. www.arcticmonkeys.com

Download tracks: D Is for Dangerous, Fluorescent Adolescent, Old Yellow Bricks