Atlantic Stars of CCTV

Amazon.co.uk Road-tested in a car speeding the mean streets of Staines, Stars Of CCTV - the debut album from Middlesexs Hard-Fi consciously sets out to update the sense of frustrated tension and suburban dread that powered second-wave ska acts like The Specials and The Beat back at the close of the 70s. Dont get it twisted, this isnt ska-punk a la Brit troupers [Spunge] and Capdown: Hard-Fi play this music lean and moody, like The Streets on downers, or Massive Attack plugging in and tuning up. "Cash Machine" sees a swallowed debit card as the jump-off for vocalist Richard Archer to spin a tale of crushing poverty and unwanted pregnancy, spurred along by thrumming dub bass and the sad wheeze of a vibraphone. They do upbeat as well, as club anthem "Hard To Beat" a heart-fluttering composite of Northern Soul elation and fist-pumping Rockers reggae joyfully confirms. But its the emotional struggle, the ups and downs of life, that keeps Stars Of CCTV engaging throughout: see penultimate track "Living For The Weekend", a hedonistic blast filled with not a little of the passion that fuelled Oasis Definitely Maybe, which succeeds chiefly because its all too aware of the bad times as well as the good. --Louis Pattison