Payola 1, 2 & 3
The Cribs
Wichita Records
When Payola was
announced, it just seemed wrong to me. The Cribs didn’t seem to be the kind of
band that would release a cash-in best of – and surely that’s something bands
do at the end of their career, right? The cheeky title felt like a winking
attempt to sidestep criticism, but in doing so acknowledged they felt criticism
was justified and inevitable. But if there’s one thing the Jarman brothers can
do, it’s get the fans excited. So instead of a disc of ‘hits’, we’ve got three,
which all come together to tell their ten year history.
Payola 1 is the
standard collection of singles and favourites, with one unreleased track on the
end. They’ve decided not to structure it chronologically, so it feels more like
the setlist of an amazing gig rather than an examination of the progress
they’ve made over the last decade.
Whilst it feels like a missed opportunity to tell their
unique story through the sounds they made, in this case, I think it works. It’s
a pop album at its core; great songwriting across the board. The only
identifiable changes are in the production; if someone came to this having
never heard the band, it would be hard to pin songs to points in their career.
Which is an odd way to say that they have consistently produced memorable,
catchy songs. Only the very early songs, full of charm and naivety and the more
complex arrangements of the Ignore The
Ignorant era tracks stand out as something a little different.
It’s nice that this isn’t just a collection of singles; live
and band favourite Be Safe, featuring
Lee Ranaldo, is in there and the aforementioned newbie is Johnny Marr era
outtake Leather Jacket Love Song.
Perhaps it is the lack of shine on the production, but it certainly has the
feel of the younger days it references, though isn’t quite a classic (excellent
video aside).
The exclusion of Martell,
Baby Don’t Sweat or even Housewife may be questioned by the
hardcore, but the record basically fulfils its role; it tells you all the need
to know about The Cribs across 22 tracks.
Payola 2 is a
collection of B-sides and rarities that comes with deluxe versions of Payola 1. It is a strong collection of
18 tracks and certainly of interest to someone like me who has the albums but
few of the singles. Though not quite in the realms of The Smiths or Radiohead
for quality B-Sides, they do sit closer to The Beatles or The Manics – there
are a couple of exceptional tracks here, but largely the band made the right
choices.
A couple of unexpected sonic sidesteps like Glandular Fever Got The Best Of Me and Don’t Believe In Me sit amongst noisy,
scuzzy slabs of Cribs-esqe Indie rock, just with less hooks. The pleasure is in
seeing how they sit by the tracks on Payola
1. Advice From A Roving Artist is
a blueprint for Be Safe, though in
this case, it does stand on it’s own two feet as an essential entry into their
canon.
Don’t You Want To Be
Relevent? is an absolute gem that shows in 2007 these guys were unstoppable. Better Than Me recorded
by our good friends at Greenmount Studios is another highlight and So Hot Now is a blinder – all would have
made great A-sides.
Payola 2 does a
great thing of making their A-Sides seem even greater, just through virtue of
that fact most bands would be pleased to just have Payola 2 in their catalogue. Knowing what they can achieve at their
best justifies their decisions here to leave tracks as B-Sides. It’s an
interesting lesson.
Payola 3 is a
collection of demos that was given away free with NME. The draw was the
inclusion of the first three recordings ever made under the title ‘The Cribs’.
These are especially sweet, sounding just like the kind of thing you’d hear any
band in Wakefield
record and as raw as you will ever hear them.
Diclomax Retard
naughtily steals from Nirvana’s Even In
His Youth for it’s verse and the Grunge / Punk influences are worn proudly
on the sleeve. Like Payola 2, it is a
great education for a band. How did they go from this, to Another Number and onwards (third track Melmac being the clue) ? It’s a brave thing to lay it all bare
here, for everyone to see and hear.
The rest of the collection is not nearly as exciting. It
does backup what made Payola 1 so
good – at their heart these are just incredibly well written and constructed
pop songs. Even here, in demo form they work just as welll. Some collections of
this type would end up showing the vital role a producer can have in making a
band work and work and work on perfecting their writing, putting the chorus in
the right place, placing each hook and melody with precision. This shows they
did that themselves, almost from day one.
Even little touches like the rasping hi-hat in Men’s Needs; I had always presumed it
was a production touch, but here it is. I’d have liked more outtakes and
unreleased stuff, but hey, it’s free, so who am I to complain?
The three records tell a compelling story. And they are an
excellent document in showing why The Cribs mattered to so many. The only
lingering question is whether there will be anything else to follow it. With
all members now performing with other people with varying degrees of seriousness
and with this record - a career retrospective no less, not being promoted with
a world, or even a proper UK
tour, you have to wonder if all that has become a bit tiring, no matter how
much they may love it.
But as the year winds on, I expect there will be further,
fan friendly nods of appreciation. An arena world tour is not The Cribs way of
passing on their thanks. But, if anything, a fan focussed thank you would be
more likely to suggest this could be the end.
In The Belly Of The
Brazen Bull felt like an attempted return to their roots, but a lot of bands
end that way; going back to where it started. Even that Abbey Road style ending, could that be seen as a sign?
Whatever happens, I think we can be sure they’ll never stop
creating music. It’s who these three people are, and more than anything across
these three records, a passion for creating music that expresses that
inescapable need and reason to do something (anything), to celebrate life and be true to
yourself is not just evident, it is the lifeblood of every single moment.
Dean Freeman
