Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever

Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever is the third studio album by English indie rock band the Cribs. It was released on 21 May 2007 through Wichita Recordings in the UK and Warner Bros. Records in the U.S. Critically acclaimed, the album propelled the band into a greater audience, reaching number thirteen on the UK Albums Chart, number nine on the annual 'Albums of the Year' by influential UK music magazine NME and various other end-of-year lists. The album's lead single, "Men's Needs", also reached number three in the same NME chart.

Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever
Studio album by the Cribs
Released	21 May 2007
Recorded	Autumn 2006 – Spring 2007
Studio	The Warehouse Studio (Vancouver, British Columbia) Avatar Studios (New York, New York)
Genre	Britpop[1] indie rock
Length	42:23
Label	Wichita Warner Bros.
Producer	Alex Kapranos
The Cribs chronology
The New Fellas (2005) Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever (2007) Ignore The Ignorant (2009)
Singles from Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever
"Men's Needs" Released: 14 May 2007 "Moving Pictures" Released: 30 July 2007 "Don't You Wanna Be Relevant? / Our Bovine Public" Released: 15 October 2007 "I'm a Realist" Released: 25 February 2008

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Drowned In Sound	[3]
NME	[4]
Okayplayer	[5]
Pitchfork	(6.7/10)[6]
Playlouder	[7]
Robert Christgau	[1]
Rolling Stone	[8]

Background and recording

At the conclusion of The New Fellas campaign, the Cribs signed a major label deal with Warner Bros. Records in North America, retaining Wichita Recordings in the UK and Ireland. Recording for the album began in autumn 2006 with Franz Ferdinand lead vocalist Alex Kapranos as producer at the Warehouse Studio, Vancouver, British Columbia. With the majority of the album recorded, the band undertook a run of small club dates to preview the new songs, captured on the accompanying Leave too Neat documentary. Further sessions took place at Avatar, New York City in spring 2007, producing "Be Safe", a collaboration with Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, and "Shoot the Poets", which closes the record. David Corcos engineered the sessions, whereas Andy Wallace mixed the record, with all the songs receiving mastering treatment at Alchemy, London, from John Davis.^[9]

Composition

Rob Crane designed the cover and inlay artwork with the photograph originally being taken by Bert Hardy, with Bob Taylor photographing the Belle Vue stadium shot and Janette Beckman taking the couch shot. Gary plays bass and provides vocals, Ross sticks to drums and Ryan takes guitar and vocal duties. Lee Ranaldo takes on lead vocals for "Be Safe".

Singles

The album produced four singles: "Men's Needs" preceded on 14 May 2007, with "Moving Pictures" following on 30 July. The double a-side "Don't You Wanna Be Relevant?"/"Our Bovine Public" introduced a new song recorded shortly after the album sessions finished on 15 October, and "I'm a Realist" closed the run on 25 February 2008.

Reissue

On July 29, 2022, The Cribs released reissues of their first three albums, the main reason for which was because the albums' vinyl editions had been out of print for some time.^[10] After regaining the rights and master tapes for the albums through the legal battle that caused the band's inactivity several years prior, they spent 2021 sifting through their archives for bonus material to include on the reissues.^[11] All three reissued albums entered the Top Ten of the midweek UK Albums Chart.^[10]

Accolades

Publication	Accolade	Year	Rank
NME	Albums of the Year	2007	9[12]
NME	Tracks of the year ('Men's Needs')	2007	3[13]
Rolling Stone	Tracks of the year ('Men's Needs')	2007	57[14]
NME Awards 2007	Album of the year	2007	nominated[15]
NME Awards 2007	Single of the year ('Men's Needs')	2007	nominated[15]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Our Bovine Public"		2:17
2.	"Girls Like Mystery"		2:51
3.	"Men's Needs"		3:16
4.	"Moving Pictures"		3:10
5.	"I'm a Realist"		3:03
6.	"Major's Titling Victory"		2:45
7.	"Women's Needs"		4:34
8.	"I've Tried Everything"		2:46
9.	"My Life Flashed Before My Eyes"		3:30
10.	"Be Safe"	Ryan Jarman G. Jarman Ross Jarman Lee Ranaldo	5:55
11.	"Ancient History"		4:49
12.	"Shoot the Poets"		3:27

All tracks are written by Ryan Jarman, Gary Jarman and Ross Jarman except where noted.

Digital bonus track^[16][17]

No.	Title	Length
13.	"Fairer Sex"	2:55

Definitive Edition Disc 2

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"It Happened So Fast" (Vancouver Version)		Alex Kapranos	3:12
2.	"To Jackson" (Vancouver Version)		Kapranos	3:05
3.	"Don't You Wanna Be Relevant?"		The Cribs Will Jackson	3:01
4.	"Fairer Sex"		Kapranos	2:53
5.	"Tonight"		Kapranos	2:47
6.	"Get Yr Hands Out Of My Grave"		The Cribs Will Jackson	3:38
7.	"Kind Words From The Broken Hearted"		The Cribs Sebastian Lewsley	3:38
8.	"My Adolescent Dreams"		The Cribs Sebastian Lewsley	2:29
9.	"Bastards of Young"	Paul Westerberg	Bernard Butler The Cribs	3:39
10.	"I've Tried Everything" (Acoustic)			3:15
11.	"Men's Needs" (CSS Remix)		Kapranos CSS	4:16
12.	"I'm a Realist" (The Postal Service Remix)		Kapranos Jimmy Tamborello	3:05
13.	"Our Bovine Public" (Demo)			2:18
14.	"Men's Needs" (Demo)			3:13
15.	"Moving Pictures" (Demo)			3:13
16.	"I'm a Realist" (Demo)			3:03
17.	"MTV" (Demo)			2:48
18.	"My Life Flashed Before My Eyes" (Demo)			3:44
19.	"Ancient History" (Demo)			4:58
20.	"Tonight" (Demo)			2:57
21.	"I've Tried Everything" (Demo)			2:48
22.	"Shoot the Poets" (Demo)			4:07
23.	"Be Safe" (Rehearsal Tape for Lee)			7:17

Charts

Chart (2012)	Peak position
UK Albums Chart[18]	13

Chart (2022)	Peak position]
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[19]	1