Heart of a Punk Soul of a Rasta

Hard-Fi versus The Subways

Hard-Fi & The Subways, two bands that back in '05 brought some much needed phlegm, fire and fury to the scene ("scene" ha ha ha what a wanker I am). With their debut albums "Stars of CCTV" and "Young for Eternity", both youthful detonations, they gleaned plaudits from all and sundry and were more than enough to wake this geriatric tosser from his sleeping slumbers.

Listening to their respective debuts back in '05 I also found the answer to a question that had bugged me for a long time. More than thirty years ago I'd listen to John Peel and wonder why this chubby bald old knob got lathered up to such an extent that he had to play "Teenage Kicks" by The Undertones night after night after night. The bloke was just too old. Where was the connection? Well the whirligig of time turned and listening to "Young for Eternity" and "Stars of CCTV" I finally realised exactly how John Peel felt. If you're as old as me you should know, if you're not, you'll just have to find out for yourself.

Six years back I thought Hard-Fi and The Subways had it. The Heart of a Punk & the Soul of a Rasta; both debut albums were right bleedin' crackers; both infused with 100% proof neat raw energy. On "Young for Eternity" The Subways created a new hybrid called Nirvasis (I don't need to spell it out surely?). And on "Stars of CCTV" Hard-Fi came very, very close to creating The Clash 2005 Version 11.01. So why is it that it's been four years and six years respectively since I saw Hard-Fi and The Subways play live? Well, that's an easy question to answer. Both bands tricky second albums weren't exactly stinkers by any stretch of the imagination, but they were simply treading water. Neither band did enough to make me shift meself - and if I have the KA$H I don't need much of an excuse to get out there. The Subways 2nd "All or Nothing" apart from a few exceptions "Boys & Girls" being one didn't amount to a hill og beans. On it The Subways seemed content to head off towards the already over populated world of Kerrang Kiddie Band. Whilst Hard-Fi on "Once Upon a Time" were for the most part, flattened beneath a FAT gaudy over produced sound which rendered them less than VITAL.

Time has passed and here they are again, HARD-FI & THE SUBWAYS with their respective THIRD albums. Are they going to take a giant leap forward, tread water, or drown? I handed over my hard earned KA$H, and this is what I found.

First off The Tail of the Tape: Hard-Fi's "Killer Sounds" is brought to us by the independent Necessary Record label in association with the major WARNER. It was heralded with wall to wall poster promotion which meant "Killer Sounds" made it onto just about every tube station platform in Londres, capital of the SOUTH - big promo budget obviously. The record (or deadhead digital download) cost me nowt. Or £5.99 of our kids iTunes KA$H. And for that 5.99 earth credits we got 11 bits of digital music. No artwork. Nothing tactile. And definitely nothing to roll a joint on.

This time round the band dispensed with Wolsey White (who was twiddling knobs on the first two LP's) and produced the album on their todd.

First off The Tail of the Tape: The Subways "Money & Celebrity", released on the independent label Cooking Vinyl, has come to me by way of the strange, social media charity conduit thingy: Pledge Music. It cost me £15.00 back in December 2010 and for that wodge of KA$H I got the 12 track album on CD, a 10 track demo album on CD and some other stuff. The cover artwork (by "f**k knows who") and packaging - beauty wrapped & deftly decked out in a newspaper - is an exemplary bit of work especially in an age when LP artwork is becoming FOR SOME is an irrelevance. The producer is Stephen SUEDEHEAD Street is a safe pair of hands. A man a list of credits longer than the average man's dick (you can decide how long that is).

"Killer Sounds" is a great title; but if you're going to call your album "Killer Sounds" it better be damn good. Otherwise you're going to look pretty daft. So has "Killer Sounds" got some "killer sounds" or some "pet sounds" or just "filler sounds". Well…………………….

"Money & Celebrity", great title; is it a classic concept album? A no holds barred full frontal attack on modern society, iniquity, mass media and self centred preoccupations? Well…………………….

Yes & no. Let's start with the positive stuff first though. "Killer Sounds" is at least full of intent; which is quite a tricky thing to pull off, especially when every bleeding track seems to have a middle eight pause slap bag in the middle of it. "Killer Sounds" also has a lot of urgency. So much so, that at times, you're fooled into believing that something is really going on when actually nothing much is. "Killer Sounds" can be categorised thus: first there's THE FOOTBALL CHANTS, then there's THE DANCE STUFF, and finally there's THE RETRO STUFF. Here's a snatch of what you get.

The opener "Good for Nothing" is a good old fashioned football chant (nothing wrong here). The chanting goes on with "Give it Up" and on the harmonica blasting "Stop". This is where Hard-Fi are on their strongest ground. Grinding out the chords, making you want to join, making you want to be on their particular terrace.

"Excitement" goes all GRANDMASTER FLASH in the intro and then settles for dumb dance floor with large sledgehammer backbeat blows. Richard Archer sings "spent all of my money on a Friday night". Err not quite believable anymore, but what the f***. "Fire in the House" is 100% (late eighties) New Order. Actually no, I'm being too generous here; it's sadly closer to Electronic. And "Sweat" is closer to Thomas Dolby than anything else - which is an irretrievably bad move.

"Feels Good" falls into the retro category. It tries very hard to be "Radio Clash", or is it "Another One Bites the Dust"? Either way I guess it would sound pretty damn wonderful if only you hadn't heard the former. "Stay Alive" repeats the same trick, unsure whether it's "The Magnificent 7" or "Rock the Casbah" before the final "Killer Sounds" quite comically ends the LP with some Oooh la la la lahs form Steve Harley's "Make Me Smile (Come up and See Me)".

Of course there's nothing wrong with being musically derivative. RETRO is the CURRENCY of the FUTURE - I know this cos I read it on the back of a box of matches once - I think. So what if Hard-Fi aren't musically ground breaking? That's not a problem surely. The problem is that Hard-Fi have no message on "Killer Sounds. No message and no truth and no decent yarns either. If they had something politically or socially vital to thread amid the mish mash of music cribbed from others, "Killer Sounds" might be KILLER. Without a lyrical edge "Killer Sounds" is frankly, just another day.

Unfortunately "Money & Celebrity" isn't a classic or even a contender. Instead it's a skull squeezing bag of frustration. Its weakness lies purely in one single aspect; the inherent triteness of the lyrics. There's nothing wrong with Billy Lunn's vocals, he has more than enough rattle to spare, and he's able to pick up, re-invent and re-invigorate a whole mountain of majestic rock progressions too. ("My Sharona" by The Knack and "Be Stiff" by Devo seemed to surface here & there - or is it just me?)


There's nothing wrong with the rhythm section either. Cooper & Morgan thrash away in fine fashion - but for me Charlotte Cooper's bass & backing vocals and Josh Morgan's drums sound more vital & visceral on Billy's demo version of the album. So for a large slice of the studio recordings I was left wondering how much Stephen Street got paid for ironing out the creases that would have been left, as creases. As far as I'm concerned Street's time would have been better spent working on the lyrics, as he did with Moz and Pedro, because frankly Mr Shankley the lyrical content is beyond PANTS.


"It's a Party" and "I Wanna Dance with you" score highest on the naff-ometer. These tracks maybe acceptable as the first faltering footsteps of a songwriter but they're a million miles away, and a massive retrograde step from, the likes of "I Want to hear what you have got to say", "City Pavement" & "Mary".


There are a few fleeting flashes of brilliance on "M&C", but "Rumour" is the only one I can truly remember. It has a classic sixties mod vibe thing going on; its probably the only track on the album that has a modicum of gravitas. But blink & its gone because lyrical lightness & triteness dominates just about everything else on "Money & Celebrity".


Six years on from the stylish "Young for Eternity" The Subways seem to be stuck, stuck in Kerrang Kiddie Band Land, when they should be on the front cover of MOJO giving it large, because The Subways have all the ammunition to be a great Rock n Roll band.

So the upshot of this Hard-Fi V Subways play off is quite a tragic one, because after listening to both these albums I don't think I'll be seeing either of these bands play live this time round. This for me is a real pisser. Back in '05 I thought these two bands would keep me busy until I checked into a maximum security twilight home. Hard-Fi's "Killer Sounds" is the better of the two albums, but it's a pyrrhic victory, because neither album is much cop. For me both bands debuts remain their high water mark. TIME for Hard-Fi & The Subways to lyrically start talking up rather than talking dumb. The Jam, The Specials, The Clash and Oasis never talked dumb, they never sang "ooh baby i wanna dance with you" either. And that's why they're still talked about decades on. Time for a short period introspection followed swiftly by a resurrection thru' bravery. The alternative is certain death - a slow death - death by drowning in a sea of mediocrity.