The View - Hats Off To The Buskers (1965)
4/5
By: Alex Lee Thomson
The View, now they're one of those bands that you like, but aren't sure are actually any good. Are they the next Libertines, full of spunk and ready to take on music, or a pasty copy with little or no ability? We all got excited when we first heard them, we know we did, and 'Wasted Little DJs' played the soundtrack to our summers. Their live shows were vigorous and reflected an early Pete 'n Carl, and while their obvious talent to make great indie music took them into the mainstream, we're left feeling a little puzzled. Are they a mainstream band hijacking a much loved sound, a group that's so brilliant there's no stopping their climb to success or a small time outfit that got lucky and will ultimately fail to deliver a complete album?
Well, 'Hats Off To The Buskers' is it. Their completed composition and debut to the world, but is it too little, too late? Have we already tired of them, having their tunes rammed down our throats every 10 minutes by commercial radio, or have we only observed a smidgen of what they're about?
So many questions we know, but 'Hats...' has all the answers...
Opener 'Coming Down' is coarse, electric and haphazard. It coheres to 'Definitely Maybe' and sets the random and rambunctious tone for all that follows. Straight away we're flung into the world of The View, and with such great production, taken back to August nights spent queuing outside the Barfly or those hot, hot days in tents at Leeds or Reading witnessing a show that many went on to describe as 'history being made'. It's The Clash pumped up and Kasabian doing their best work, yet sounds too unsystematic to be either. 'Coming Down' straight away shows that The View are more than a one-trick-pony - sighs of relief abound.
From this twist of dealings into something more recognizable for the next two jingles as 'Superstar Tradesman' and 'Same Jeans' give the mainstream fans something to cream over while reminding the early risers why they initially fell in love with these Dundonian rogues. The View are capable of writing a superb three minute pop song - with something more than a catchy chorus line to hold it up - and these two tracks are the verification. Since they came down from Scotland we've been throwing the word 'Libertines' around like it's going out of fashion and though it's almost a genre in itself, these guys are more than filling that Libs hole that's been scantily plastered over the past two years with their singles as Pete-patches if you will.
As we're asking ourselves if The View have anything to really offer, aside from their obvious single appeal, 'Don't Tell Me' gives them another chapter of profundity as you get to hear something unanticipated, diverse and concentrated, while remaining violent and utterly bohemian, and just a wee bit Beatles concurrently. 'Skag Trendy' shows its age on the album, as it's been around the live circuit with the band for so long it's been morphed into an outlandish display of their writing and performing abilities, and expels the album into a realm we all hoped it would reach. When bands are taken on by the mainstream media too soon they inevitably bow out to the pressure and their resulting album fails to maintain their initial impact, (Arctic Monkeys *cough, cough*), but The View have somehow managed to keep a few tricks hidden, this being one of them. Their album could have so easily been a collection of songs that sounded like 'Superstar Tradesmen' but 'Skag Trendy' and shortly followed 'The Don' put them somewhere else entirely. For all the View naysayers out there, this five-minute block will have you on the edge of your seat with pure satisfaction, stupefaction and glee. This album's worth your money for 'The Don' alone and it's hard to imagine that at this point you're only half way through the best album to come from north of the border since 'Sunshine On Leith'.
'Face For The Radio' sounds a little too Fratellis to be unique but sober and rewarding enough to still be a well placed, creamy and endearing album centre. It's a cute song with some subtle acoustic guitars and Lennon-esque vocals that lull you into a false sense of security as it wraps a loving set of arms around you metaphorically kissing your forehead telling you that everything's going to be OK... Shock, fecking, horror then that this beauty ploughs you into 'Wasted Little DJs', the staple to any self respecting indie-disco lovers summer diet. We all know the song... it's a razor-sharp, energetic, pulsating, responsive, non-stop, spiky, ruthless, anthemic and haphazardly brilliant one that's changed the fate of The View and the British population consequently. It leaves us crying into our bottles of beer wondering if we need The Libertines back with all their emotional baggage. The View are here and this is their theme tune... even if the chorus line doesn't make any sense.
After such an assault 'Grans For Tea' seems kind of pointless yet somehow manages to recover your concentration, gesturing your hand away from the 'skip back' button on the CD player. It's as content as the rest of the album but diffused enough to tug the reigns a bit, slowing the pace down without losing any velocity, a much bypassed skill of most Brit-indie bands. 'Dancing Into The Night' sounds like The View, simply put, and offers little of variety but confirms their house style, asserting an identify, allowing them to advance without doubt, disorder or half-arsed comparisons. There's more solemn and melodic displays on 'Claudia' and 'Streetlights' that get a number of arms swaying and out-of-tune singalongs underway while additional 'Definitely Maybe' shards are tossed at you with more style than the lifetime achieving Manchester boys could ever assemble. 'Wasteland' is incoherent and ruthlessly bizarre, bootlegging the back end of the album with a Tim Burton like sense of the eccentric. It thrashes around corroborating their stabilised ability to be not only themselves but query further what that demands.
Though 'Hats Off To The Buskers' answers many questions regarding their capacity, worth, necessity and ability, it raises further areas of wonderment such as; where's all this going, whose shoes are The View really trying to fill, and do they have the bollocks to keep this level of insanely animated mixture going? Time and a lot of touring will tell, but for now take comfort in this album, as it simply can't let you down.
Artists in this article: The View
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