Is it just me who actually liked Ignore the Ignorant? I’m asking this as a serious question – I can think of nobody else I know who enjoyed that album. They give various reasons for their dislike of it: “It didn’t sound like The Cribs!”; “Johnny Marr ruined it!”;”It didn’t work as an album!” Personally, I think they’re wrong on all three counts, but then again, it did feature my absolute favourite song out of all their catalogue (City of Bugs) – well, at least it did until now. More on that later, though.
In terms of the sound of In the Belly of the Brazen Bull, The Cribs [Twitter/Facebook], once again a trio consisting of Gary, Ryan and Ross Jarman, have gone back to their roots; broadly speaking, at least. The two songs that have been released to promote the album, free download Chi-Town and lead single Come On, Be a No-One, definitely do sound like The Cribs pre-Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever. Those two songs are the closest they get to sounding like their older material, but the album’s production is raw and rough, decidedly unpolished; a world away from the slick-sounding Men’s Needs…, which was their breakout hit back in 2007.
…Brazen Bull is almost literally full of up-tempo songs. From the goosebump-inducing intro of Glitters Like Gold onwards, it barrels through proceedings, seeming to marry the brilliant melodies heard on their last two albums with the raw energy of The New Fellas. The album’s not afraid to throw a few curveballs into the mix, however; Anna marks a shift in direction after the relentlessly powerful opening trio of songs, before making way for Confident Men, which finds the band reining themselves in a bit.
The Cribs have always had good ideas about album structure, and their new record flows brilliantly, with Uptight placed slap-bang in the middle, sounding like a hybrid of I’m a Realist and The Wrong Way to Be, with a sparkling hook and muscular chorus; there’s a rather impressive guitar solo thrown in there as well, all given extra weight by Ross Jarman’s accomplished drumming. The feedback-drenched Pure O, meanwhile, features a nagging guitar riff that should mark it out for single status – that’s saying something, because half the album could work as singles.
Now, about earlier. I mentioned I had a new favourite Cribs song, right? I’ve always been a sucker for their epics; my favourite used to be Be Safe, before that was toppled by City of Bugs, but Back to the Bolthole trumps them both. It’s the sort of anthemic slow-burner that most bands of this ilk would spend entire albums building towards. The penultimate track is the sole acoustic moment on the album, and I Should Have Helped is a fine song in its own right, but, due to unfortunate placing, it’s overshadowed somewhat by the songs on either side of it.
Bolthole, depending on your standpoint, may not be the most musically impressive song on the album, because in terms of pure ambition, it is put in the ha’penny place by the album’s four-part closer. Yes, it’s a suite, and not the sort of song on which the band overreach themselves, either. Melodically speaking, it’s perfect, seeming to bring together all the different facets of The Cribs’s output until now. Stalagmites features rolling, militaristic drums and is the loudest song on the album, forming the basis for the entire suite.
It paves the way for the strings-drenched ballad Like a Gift Giver, which opens out into an up-tempo rock song before segueing into Butterflies, an uplifting song featuring one of the best melodies on the album, which progresses towards Arena Rock Encore with Full Cast with a re-appearance of the rolling drums from Stalagmites, before the album’s coda bursts into life. ‘Sorry that it’s taken years, we were victims of our own ideals,’ the band proclaim over thudding drums and some impressive riffing as the song builds to a climax and then fades out. One can only wonder what they’re apologising for. Some people, like those I mentioned at the start of this review, will no doubt take those lines as a reference to Ignore the Ignorant, but the band should know they can’t please everyone. In the Belly of the Brazen Bull is almost relentless, but its infectious energy and enthusiasm act as a nice counterbalance, and the result is something that marries old and new to produce the band’s most vital work in years.
Come On, Be a No-One video:
Chi-Town download:
In the Belly of the Brazen Bull is out next week on Wichita. [PRE-ORDER] Wichita / Amazon [CD/CD+DVD/Vinyl] / iTunes