Artist: The Cribs
Album: Ignore The Ignorant
Year: 2009
Grade: 2.5 pretzels
Ignore The Ignorant is never going to be given a fair chance. No critic is going to approach this album from a rational perspective, carefully looking at how it fits into the Cribs’ body of work. Instead, every person listening will immediately address the elephant in the room: this is guitarist Johnny Marr’s first album as an official band member. Maybe you’ve heard of Johnny’s first band. They were called the Smiths.
Mind you, music listeners have already dealt with this situation once before, back in 2007 when Marr hooked up with Modest Mouse for their We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. Yet, after the initial flurry of incredulous stares and jaw-gapping wonderment had faded away, most people realized that Johnny’s actual musical contributions to that album were very subtle and not attention grabbing in any way. In Modest Mouse, Marr became just another guitarist, adding some nuances and texture to the band’s sound, but certainly not stealing the show the way he used to in the Smiths. Ignore The Ignorant is no different. While Marr’s name will bring this album a lot of press, his actual guitar playing remains somewhat in the background.
As for the Cribs’ themselves, the group of three English brothers at the core the band, they play the same, strident Brindie rock they’ve been playing for years. Unfortunately, their songwriting chops seem to have stumbled mightily on this new album. Until now, the Cribs could be relied on to deliver catchy songs at the very least, bursting at the seams with charming little guitar hooks that wormed their way into your ears. With Ignore The Ignorant, they seem to have aimed for “mature” songwriting, focusing more on their weighty lyrics and sonic adventurousness than catchy pop. However, most of what made them lovable gets thrown out in the process. Let’s compare this album’s lead single, “Cheat On Me”, with “Men’s Needs”, the lead single from 2007’s Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever. Give ‘em a good listen. Which one do you really think you’re going to want to listen to more than twice?
Ignore The Ignorant just doesn’t seem comfortable with itself, as an entire album. The songs wander through semi-aimless chord progressions, while the dual vocals from Gary and Ryan Jarman rarely go beyond heavily accented barking and warbling. The rockers have an awkward desperateness to them, best heard on “We Were Aborted”, which can’t seem to decide which it wants to be: an angsty rock song or an anthemic pop single. Even the Smiths-aping “We Share The Same Skies”, which finally lets Marr do what he does best, falls a bit flat. Aside from the Sonic-Youth-lite guitar weirdness of “City Of Bugs”, the songs on Ignore The Ignorant are sadly forgettable. They don’t grab your attention, making the album’s title a bit of an ironic joke. The Cribs may have become the latest vehicle for Johnny Marr’s midlife crisis, but their lackluster songwriting lets everybody down.
Mind you, music listeners have already dealt with this situation once before, back in 2007 when Marr hooked up with Modest Mouse for their We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank. Yet, after the initial flurry of incredulous stares and jaw-gapping wonderment had faded away, most people realized that Johnny’s actual musical contributions to that album were very subtle and not attention grabbing in any way. In Modest Mouse, Marr became just another guitarist, adding some nuances and texture to the band’s sound, but certainly not stealing the show the way he used to in the Smiths. Ignore The Ignorant is no different. While Marr’s name will bring this album a lot of press, his actual guitar playing remains somewhat in the background.
As for the Cribs’ themselves, the group of three English brothers at the core the band, they play the same, strident Brindie rock they’ve been playing for years. Unfortunately, their songwriting chops seem to have stumbled mightily on this new album. Until now, the Cribs could be relied on to deliver catchy songs at the very least, bursting at the seams with charming little guitar hooks that wormed their way into your ears. With Ignore The Ignorant, they seem to have aimed for “mature” songwriting, focusing more on their weighty lyrics and sonic adventurousness than catchy pop. However, most of what made them lovable gets thrown out in the process. Let’s compare this album’s lead single, “Cheat On Me”, with “Men’s Needs”, the lead single from 2007’s Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever. Give ‘em a good listen. Which one do you really think you’re going to want to listen to more than twice?
Ignore The Ignorant just doesn’t seem comfortable with itself, as an entire album. The songs wander through semi-aimless chord progressions, while the dual vocals from Gary and Ryan Jarman rarely go beyond heavily accented barking and warbling. The rockers have an awkward desperateness to them, best heard on “We Were Aborted”, which can’t seem to decide which it wants to be: an angsty rock song or an anthemic pop single. Even the Smiths-aping “We Share The Same Skies”, which finally lets Marr do what he does best, falls a bit flat. Aside from the Sonic-Youth-lite guitar weirdness of “City Of Bugs”, the songs on Ignore The Ignorant are sadly forgettable. They don’t grab your attention, making the album’s title a bit of an ironic joke. The Cribs may have become the latest vehicle for Johnny Marr’s midlife crisis, but their lackluster songwriting lets everybody down.
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