The View
Hats Off To The Buskers
SonyBMG



This week's contenders for saviours of rock 'n roll are The View. Even before their debut LP hit #1 in the UK, NME were praising The View for once again breathing life back into music and for fair reason too. 'Hats Off To The Buskers' contains some absolutely corker tracks; it's no 'Definitely Maybe', but this mixed dozen has plenty of sweet drops amongst it.

The J's have been loving the single Wasted Little DJ's, and rightly so, it positively oozes cool and effortlessly builds until it reaches a full throttle catchy pop/rock song that Tim Rogers would kill to have written.

Amidst a glut of writers telling stories about life in the UK (The Streets, Artic Monkeys, Jamie T) it might seem so passˇ, but when Kyle Falconer tells his tales about life on the streets of Dundee it's hard not to be captivated (Gran's For Tea). When he sings, "I don't want money; I want a thing called happiness. I don't want cash; no I'd quite like memories" he seems so believable (Superstar Tradesman). However, a band whose songs have as many hooks as a squid jab (ala Dance Into The Night), its hard not to be suckered even if they might be re-writing The Libertines style punk rawk.

The biggest downside to this album is the poor editing; at fourteen tracks they could have easily pruned back a few songs which sound like poor imitations of bands that were past their used by dates in the first place; Same Jeans (Cornershop), Skag Trendy (The Young Knives) and Wasteland (Living End; I know The View probably wouldn't know them). However, a band who can write ballads as sweet and compelling as Claudia as well as rock as catchy as Superstar Tradesman can be forgiven for almost anything.

I never imagined I'd be writing a positive review about a band that sneaks ska onto their listener's palate, but The View have reworked Brit-pop into something that is deliciously refreshing.

Scott Berry