The brothers Jarman find themselves back to a trio, minus ex-The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, for their fifth studio album. The experience gained with Marr was time well spent as the guitars flicker and glisten with reckless abandon on an album that is a fantastic blend of the pop-influenced hooks and post-punk snarl of Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever and the more progressive rock of their last, Marr-included, effort. The harmonized bliss of opening "Glitters Like Gold" is accented with guitar contorting wildly through the backdrop as nimbly and twisted as a Cirque du Soleil show. The trio's fantastic pop sensibilities come through well on shout-along anthem "Come On Be A No One", sacrificing none of their ragged, guitar fuelled goodness, while the closing eleven minute suite is a compact rock opera shifting and evolving beautifully over the last four tracks, leaving you salivating for more.
We really should like the punchy pop-punk of "Chi-Town" more, but the slamming beat and power chord chug feels out of place in the company of so many better written tracks; sounding more like an unfinished demo than the tight set of tunes otherwise comprising the album. Their insistence to pronounce it as 'chai', like the tea, rather than 'shy' does the song no favors. The vibrant guitar work shimmering on top of a thumping blend of drums and bass sends "Pure O" thrusting out of the speakers, while the stabbing sway of "Jaded Youth" and guitar grumbling over a steady beat and lovely longing hook of "Uptight" showcase the band's ability to write fantastic pop tunes and rough them up into rich guitar driven rockers. Ignore The Ignorant remains the high point in The Cribs' career, but this excellent album indicates that they may not be far from eclipsing it.
Seek - "Come On Be A No One", "Pure O", "Uptight"
For fans of - Arctic Monkeys
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