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It's one thing to be celebrated, and it's quite another to become inescapably iconic. Hard-Fi stumbled into the latter with their debut Stars of CCTV, reflecting on life in satellite town UK with stark iconography, articulately pitched lyrics and accessibility sprinkled with the credibility o
It's one thing to be celebrated, and it's quite another to become inescapably iconic. Hard-Fi stumbled into the latter with their debut Stars of CCTV, reflecting on life in satellite town UK with stark iconography, articulately pitched lyrics and accessibility sprinkled with the credibility of The Clash's rebel poise--a rare achievement, perhaps only equalled by Arctic Monkeys' and The Streets' snap-shots of teenage life. An icon is not infallible however, and it looked like Hard-Fi's commuter train to realism-central might have been derailed in the run up to this album's release. Their cocky, misguided decision to declare the death of the album cover simply by printing the words "NO COVER ART" on theirs was a bad joke at best. And while the diagnosis for the album itself may not be quite so bad--the buoyant swagger of "Suburban Knights" opens things up without breaking stride--Once Upon a Time in the West does lack the thematic weight of their debut. Musically it is more mature; there are strings everywhere, the ska influence remains but the bright-light club ambience of old is largely smoothed over. "Television" bags a chorus worthy of expectation, blokey-gospel to the extreme, but throws around so much pre-school sloganeering against culture and politics that its effect is dimmed. "We Need Love" is less preachy and works better. "Can't Get Along (Without You)" is a dumb Motown-esque love song, doesn't suit their posture at all, but is just the kind of bubblegum they might have to rely on if their socio-realism has gone flat. --James Berry (Review copyright Amazon.co.uk)
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