Track Listing

1. Cash Machine
2. Middle Eastern Holiday
3. Tied Up Too Tight
4. Gotta Reason
5. Hard To Beat
6. Unnecessary Trouble
7. Move On Now
8. Better Do Better
9. Feltham Is Singing Out
10. Living For The Weekend
11. Stars OF CCTV

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1957 in Music
• Released on: 2005-07-04
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Road-tested in a car speeding the mean streets of Staines, Stars Of CCTV - the debut album from Middlesex’s 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.

Don’t get it twisted, this isn’t 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 it’s 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 it’s all too aware of the bad times as well as the good. --Louis Pattison

CD Description
'Stars Of CCTV' is the debut album from Surrey-based indie rockers Hard-Fi. Fusing together a host of influences, including Happy Mondays-esque baggy, sunkissed Ibizan grooves andeven classic two-tone ska, Hard-Fi have crafted an album that buzzes with raw energy and enthusiasm, celebrating the best of British pop culture. Includes the singles 'Cash Machine', 'Tied Up Too Tight' and 'Hard To Beat'.

Customer Reviews

An indie-rock classic
This is an incredibly accomplished debut album - a blistering set of songs with not one dud track amongst them. Weaving together a diverse range of influences, Hard-Fi spin tales of everyday life and love, but they somehow manage to turn this ordinary premise into a collection of tracks unlike anything you've heard before. Their influences encompass everything from traditional Britpop-indie to ska, dub, reggae, pop and dance, informing the nous and flexibility that made 'Hard to Beat', arguably the standout track, a club anthem as well as a festival favourite.

Every track crackles with energy - this is the raw sound of disenchanted youth on the edge of greatness, determined to break out of a grey backwater and head for the bright lights of the city. Anyone who's ever been stuck in a dead-end job will identify with frontman and songwriter Richard Archer's vignettes of everyday working-class life; there's the anguish of being broke on 'Cash Machine', the elation of a new crush on 'Hard to Beat', the bitterness of the subsequent break-up on 'Better Do Better', joy at the prospect of two days and nights of freedom on 'Living for the Weekend'. 'Middle Eastern Holiday' is as fierce and vitriolic an anti-war song as you'll hear anywhere, but like the rest of the tracks, it's written from a heart-wrenchingly personal point of view. Along with 'Feltham is Singing Out', it illustrates Hard-Fi's ability to tackle social issues with breathtaking effectiveness, while skilfully avoiding making their songs into political polemics. The title track is a fitting close to the album - a sublime paean to a world in which every move we make is caught on camera, it all hinges on Archer's sneering refrain of 'can't you see the camera loves me', his voice dripping with sarcasm. It's a song which captures the spirit of the album perfectly.

I can't recommend this stunning record highly enough; it's one of the most affecting, evocative and true-to-life albums I've ever heard. It deserves to be regarded as a true British classic - it's certainly on a par with (if not, dare I say it, better than) Oasis and the Arctic Monkeys' debuts. If this breathtaking album isn't already a part of your collection, it most definitely should be.

Album Of The Year!
I've been tracking Hard-Fi for the past year or so & had been anticipating this album for a while. After just one listen I was blew away!

When I was listening to hit I was waiting to hear the/a filler track but instead I got quality song after quality song. I can't find fault with this album at all.

Richard Archer may well be the best songwriter in Britain today. You'd of heard the brilliant singles 'Cash Machine', 'Tied Up Too Tight' & 'Hard To Beat' but they're surpassed by 'Better Do Better', 'Feltham Is Singing Out' & the title-track 'Stars Of CCTV'. The only stop for breath comes with ballad 'Move On Now' which is another top track.

Musically I find it really hard to catergorise Hard-Fi's sound. Think rock, dance, ska, pop, the lot. Lyrically they're argubaly the best around at the moment. Like The Streets only, well, good. It would of been nice to have the lyrics in the album sleeve but if that's the only fault of this otherwise awseome record then I'm sure you don't need any more persuasion to buy it. I really hope this wins the Mercury Prize, it deseves it.

Oh yes
The album is absolutely amazing. I saw them live a few days ago, that might also have made a difference, because they're even more amazing live. I truly recommend the new album, and I recommend seeing them live even more.
The album has a perfect mix of upbeat rock/indy/pop ballads, who will make everyone want to "stand up" and dance, and angry, heartbroken tales of misery and broken love ala- Cash Machine and Better Do Better.
They do it with such style, such flourish, it's hard not to get caught up in their beautifully put together album.
Especially Richard Archer's solo, Move On Now, cannot be forgotten, it will someday be a classic.
BUY IT NOW!