The Cribs
Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever

THE REVIEW

It's needless to highlight the main reason for interest in this new work by The Cribs from Wakefield (West Yorkshire): in the producer's chair, for the occasion, none other than Mr. Alex Kapranos, frontman and voice of the noted Franz Ferdinand, has taken a seat.
 The three Jarman brothers  (two twins, Gary and Ryan, and a younger brother, Ross) are not exactly novices: this "Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever" is their third full-length after their self-titled debut and the second album "The New Fellas," one from 2004 and the other from the following year.
Discovered by Wichita Records, they participated in the Rock'N'Roll Riot Tour (together with Maximo Park and Kaiser Chiefs) and opened some concerts for the excellent Death Cab For Cutie.

 Since the times of their first two works, their sound can be compared to certain garage bands like Mando Diao and The Strokes (especially the latter); it should be noted, consequently, that Kapranos's contribution in production did not "Franz Ferdinand-ize" the sound of the Jarman brothers.
Recorded in Vancouver, the new album is the first to be signed with a major label. But the surprises don't end here: besides Kapranos, in the track "Be Safe" (the best on the entire album, with a vocal part very close to spoken word set on heavy and gloomy atmospheres) there's another excellent collaboration, with Sonic Youth co-founder Lee Ranaldo.

"Men's Needs" (the music video is fun and  absolutely unmissable) is a successful and catchy single, fully in The Strokes style, and fully represents almost the entire album; like all the songs on the album, it does not exceed the canonical three and a half minutes in length. Even the singer's voice, in many points, sounds à la Casablancas. The energetic opener "Our Bovine Public" launches no less than veiled barbs at the music critics, but it's nothing new, at least in Albion. They deviate from the aforementioned models only on two or three occasions, among them "I'm Realist", which evokes more Paul Smith (Maximo Park) than Julian Casablancas, and the concluding "Shoot The Poets", an objectively splendid acoustic piece.

 A fine album, this "Men's...", enjoyable and full of well-chosen melodies; at times overly derivative, but frankly valid and played more than well.

Good first run as a producer, then, for the good Kapranos, awaiting the much-anticipated return to the mother house.