Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 14/04/08
Label: Polydor

That The Courteeners have already attracted both hype and hostility beyond their merits is largely down to their singer, songwriter and professional gobsh*te, Liam Fray. It isn't just a question of slagging off rivals in the NME - a standard guitar band rite of passage, like sex with Kate Moss - but of a lyrical worldview which is strikingly unpleasant. Seeking fame is often a form of revenge, but rarely as blatantly as on "St Jude", with its relentless, ugly attacks on the Manchester rock scene in general, women in particular and one unfortunate ex specifically.

So, opener "Cavorting" gloats at said ex's unhappiness, while closer "Acrylic" dumps a stomach's worth of bile over rivals who sound like The Libertines (interestingly, in a song that sounds like The Libertines). In between Fray rants about "Overrated, dehydrated, goggle-eyed girls" and "Ugly girls who are singing too loud", threatens to stab a girlfriend in the arm with a syringe and idolises a man who kicks girls "face first" out of his door. He's not exactly Enrique Iglesias. Producer Stephen Street has worked with some unsavoury characters in the past (Hello Morrissey, Damon, Pete), but Fray seems particularly toxic.

What he isn't, however, is as talentless as some detractors claim. "St Jude" may be occasionally derivative, but it's also solid, confident and, musically at least, rewarding. And Fray himself is a muscular singer and guitarist, as shown on the brilliant "Aftershow", with its full throated wail and pummelling guitars. "Cavorting" may be misanthropic in theme, but it has a charming, chiming Las-like riff and a deft, diving melody that makes it oddly life affirming.

Mostly, "St Jude" is superior indie rock, with debts lodged in the usual places: The Libertines on the brisk-paced, shambling "Bide Your Time", early Smiths on "No You Didn't, No You Don't" and Arctic Monkeys on the rowdy, street brawling "If It Wasn't For Me". However, there are a few diversions along the way, with mixed results. The gothic guitars and doomy atmosphere of "Kings Of The New Road" are compelling, even if they do sound like Chris Isaak's "Voodoo" (probably not a reference point they'd embrace). But the mellow countryisms of "How Come" are simply dreary, and the acoustic closer "Yesterday, Today & Probably Tomorrow" is insipid and uninspired.

Whether The Courteeners are 2008's Twang - overhyped on what turned out to be a false, condescending premise that thuggishness automatically pulls in punters - remains to be seen. But there's enough promise here to suggest that The Courteeners could one day be a better, more interesting band. Whether the same can be said of Fray the person seems more doubtful.

    by Jaime Gill