We Are Scientists – 'Crap Attack' (Virgin) Released 06/11/06

Following the stunning success of  ‘With Love And Squalor’, We Are Scientists (or more likely their record company), have decided to cash in on their current popularity by releasing a b-side and rarities collection which helps fill the void before the release of their eagerly anticipated follow-up. Rarely does a b-side release act as anything more than a stopgap between albums and sadly ‘Crap Attack’ does little to buck this trend.

Low on quality, We Are Scientists resort to chucking in a couple of cringe-worthy covers and even manage to butcher their own hits by going acoustic and remixing their songs to the point where only the lyrics bare any resemblance to the original. The stand-out track on their debut LP, ‘The Great Escape’, is the worst victim, as what was once a hip-shaking peach of a tune has been pulverised to a pulp. A turgid dance beat is over-ridden by what sounds like Harold Bishop on the tuba – not a pleasant listen.

‘Crap Attack’ does start with some promise though as ‘Ram It Home’ is a toe-tapping dance floor filler  armed with humorous lyrics such as “All my friends ask if my girlfriend is pretty, I said I don’t really know, I only look at her titties”.  But unfortunately this is the exception rather than the rule. The cover of ‘Be My Baby’ simply doesn’t work. The change in tempo and dreary vocals kill what was once a disco classic while ‘Surprise’ and ‘Mucho Mas’ fail to reach the high standard set on ‘With Love and Squalor’.

We Are Scientists have the ability to concoct uber funky indie tunes but when they strip their songs down by doing acoustic versions it seems to deduct all the energy and life out of them as ‘Call Backs Under The Sea’ and ‘Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt Under The Sea’ are emotionless ghosts of the originals.    

Releasing a B-sides album is always a little strange as the majority of the songs are obviously not of the standard to make the full album and therefore releasing them all together topped with a few random covers is not going to make for an invigorating listen. The inclusion of a DVD with a full gig and all 12 videos from their debut album gives a tad more incentive to part with your money. But only die-hard We Are Scientists fans will be left completely fulfilled, the rest should probably hold out for their sophomore release.