Review Summary: A major shock to the system of a Jarman sceptic which manages to lay firm foundations for a band destined for great things. Ignore The Ignorant is a great reward to any hardline fan and perhaps a more worthwhile listen for a hater. Ignore the comparisons
As of late it appears that many bands have been making significant attempts to open up their listenership, or at least this is how I have taken the numerous musical u-turns that have occured in my life over the last few months. Firstly there was Enter Shikari, a band whom I had passionately loathed for most of their existence yet when i first listened to Common Dreads my entire view of them flipped on it's sceptical and clearly uneducated head. Then occured a similar phenomenon when i decided that I might give Gallows a second chance. To cut a long story short after many, many plays of the track Orchestra Of Wolves off the album of the same name it turned out I actually quite like them too. Luckily my new found apparant maturity has not yet reached the stage of re-evaluating Frank Turner quite yet. The third of these unlikely infatuations has yet to be fully lived out but it has at least , amazingly, begun.
I was always a sucker for Britpop in pretty much whatever form it took, I even like the modern day 'Britpop' of the fur clad mental cases N-Dubz, yet for whatever reason I never warmed to the Jarman's distinctive up beat guitar and durgy vocal combination despite the very same formula being so appealing in other bands of the time. No doubt The Cribs had the look, attitude and talent but perhaps it was the overwhelming sense of boredom radiating from their straight faced guitar driven indie rock that turned me off. If you've taken that in you've probabaly guessed Ignore The Ignorant is the turning point.
The album is the first since the arrival of The Smiths' guitarist Johnny Marr and whether it is this, a change of approach or simply my own fickleness that makes it a genuinely great collection of anthemic Britpop is neither here nor there. All that matters is the reappearance of the parellels between The Cribs and The Libertines and it is no use denying any link between the two indie heavyweights, however does that even matter? The Cribs are still here and perhaps they don't have contenders to Don't Look Back Into The Sun or What a Waster in their arsenal but what they do have is the ability to couple song structure with lyrics with pin point accuracy an ability openly flaunted in City Of Bugs; which is actually a relative low when considering the entire album. The introductions to the majority of songs are what can only be described as epic, the only downside being that they occasionally flatter the main body of the track. It's a pattern that runs across all albums, a good example being Hey Scenesters! the opening track to 2005's The New Fellas which has a build up belonging to a band destined for something big. You see it is obvious now something was building in Wakefield and continues to do so, but perhaps not for much longer. Ignore The Ignorant is a step up for the Jarmans (and Marr) and one which could very well see them take the upper hand over Doherty's seemingly God-like status.
Cheat On Me is a personal highlight of the overall triumph, painting a far more vivid picture of mundane urban existence than Gallows achieved in the whole of Grey Britain. It may sound vague but as a track it just fits, it contains all the neccessary elements for a much anticipated break through yet it underperformed when actually entering the chart peaking at a underwhelming #80. It would however be jumping the gun to suggest that was the last we'll see of Ignore The Ignorant's first single, already a firm favourite across the fan base and likely to feature regularly during the current touring schedule. The album is not all about painting mundane pictures, the bright riffs of Hari Kari reminiscent of You Were Always The One add much needed pop to the album whilst still, lyrically speaking, continuing along the same lines. This tone is possibly milked slightly with the next track Last Year's Show which is...well, boring and maybe this is too harsh but sounds a bit too Magic Numbersesque. It's a low point however and soon we're back on track listening to Emasulate Me which, again pardon the comparison, starts as if it's straight out of the Humbug cutting room, soon though it becomes clear that this is very much a true Jarman work. A depressing love story and one which again is perfectly placed. Following on is title track Ignore The Ignorant which would of sounded far more at home as a closure but still sounds at home at the three quarter mark experimenting with playful hooks and sing song choruses, best described as cheerful which shockingly appears to be a running theme here. In fact Save Your Secrets is perhaps even more up beat even throwing in whistles and folky rhythms, it's odd not bad but certainly disconcerting. It's definately worth mentioning Victim Of Mass Production here, a return to the old and almost a homage to previous album Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever, and one pulled off with ease. It's worth mentioning because Ignore The Ignorant is very much a different album, it's still very much The Cribs but it is far less upbeat, far less poppy and far more impressive. That answers my question, I no longer think it was an irrelevant question and have concluded that it isn't Johnny Marr's presence or my fickleness that makes this a great album it's the slight change of approach and growing experience of the band that has such dramatic results. The only criticism here is that there almost appears to be a level of uncertainty, whilst we do see notable changes they aren't thorough enough, they almost seem slightly reserved. If only one or two old style Cribs tracks had appeared this would certainly have been a highlight of 2009 but theres just too much old and not enough new for my liking. With everything in mind though heres hoping, and maybe a bit knowing, that we do have a bigger and better Libertines on our hands.
