Category Archives: The View

Album Review: The View

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The View -‘Cheeky For A Reason’ (Cooking Vinyl)

Back in 2006, when indie was having one of its commercial ups (and bands were scoring no.1 singles and albums), The View seemed like one of the bright hopes. But six years down the line, and now on their fourth album, the reality is that it’s hard not to see The View as just another guitar band.

Sure, The View never set out to show that they were going to outdo Flaming Lips or Spiritualized in the being adventurous stakes. But this far down the line, the feeling is that they are still using the same template, and that nothing has evolved in their world. Not that they should have been hanging out with Skrillex or writing concept albums, but, y’know…

The album kicks off with recent single ‘How Long.’ And yeah, it’s singalong, and jaunty and upbeat. But the album just feels like The View by numbers. Sure, if you’re a diehard fan, you’ll probably still chant that ‘The View Are On Fire’ (with all the capitals). And it’s not an awful album, it’s just a particularly interesting album.

**

Cheeky For A Reason is out now on Cooking Vinyl.

The View return – with NSFW video

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I was quite into The View on the basis of their first couple of singles ‘Wasted Little DJs’ and ‘Superstar Tradesman.’ I still play those songs occasionally, and I gave the thumbs up to the debut album on this blog, over five years ago.

Time passes, fashions change (traitor sneer) – but The View are still here. They are shortly to release their fourth album Cheeky For A Reason on July 9, through Cooking Vinyl.

The first single ‘How Long’ is one of the best things they have done in a long while. The video is quite eye-opening. This is perhaps the third interestingly NSFW music video in almost as many months (following Liars and Spiritualized).

For a really interesting experience, watch the video with the sound off first and then with it on.

Just saying.

Gig review: Kaiser Chiefs/The View/Pigeon Detectives

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Gig review: Kaiser Chiefs/The View/Pigeon Detectives

Edinburgh Meadowbank Stadium, August 24 2007

I have to be honest that before I went to this gig, I had barely heard the Pigeon Detectives and was expecting them to be commercial indie-by-numbers. Well, they do sound fairly commercial and their sound owes a lot to the Libertines/Arctic Monkeys…but they do it with style. they harden this cynical heart very quickly and win the corwd over too. Songs like ‘Wait for Me’ and ‘I’m Not Sorry’ are used to work the crowd and I have to confess I was won over very quickly.

‘The View! the View! The View are on fire!” runs the chant even before the Pigeon Detectives come on. Er, not on tonight’s evidence they weren’t. Struggling to do more than produce a bit of smoke. Whilst it has become fashionable in bloggerland to slag The View (general attitude of people being successful that upsets the more snobby types), I really liked the album and reviewed it very positively here at the beginning of the year. ‘Wasted Little DJs’ and ‘Skag Trendy’ pick up the pace a bit, and closer ‘Superstar Tradesman’ is excellent, but so much of their set feels lazy and shambolic.

The Kaiser Chiefs rule. Three years ago in Edinburgh I saw them supporting the Ordinary Boys (long before Celebrity Big Brother etc..) and thought they really had something. A year later they opened the US part of Live8. They come on, tease the synth riff of ‘Everyday I Love You Less and Less’ and the crowd goes nuts. There are no pyrotechnics, just solid songs and performance. Two albums in, the Kaisers have not only mastered the art of writing pop singalongs, but they can work a stadium gig just as well as their mates the Foo Fighters. To watch the hands wave in the air as they effortlessly tear through songs from their two albums -‘Angry Mob’ ‘Born to be a dancer’ ‘Modern Way’ and of course ‘I predict a riot’ and ‘Ruby.’ As the sky darkens, the twentyfirst century stadium gig equivalent of lighters in the air that is mobiles in the air add to the ambience of what is an amazing gig. As we progress out, the joy is infectious. Long may they make our hearts fly.

The View -‘Posh Boys.’ mp3 (Non-album track. Come on guys, let’s remind the people what you CAN do).

Kaiser Chiefs -‘Oh My God.’ mp3

Kaiser Chiefs -‘Born to Be A dancer.’ mp3

(Both from 2004 Drowned In Sound CD single of Oh My God).

In memory of Fopp

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(This is meant to represent the sun setting on Fopp. :-(( )

Frankly gutted by Fopp’s closure but if you want to try and do something, then there is a MySpace site: www.myspace.com/helpsavefopp

Have been trying to work out what songs remind me of Fopp, whether it was things that I bought there as a customer, or remember from working there.

Seven years of going makes it too hard to narrow it down that much, but this is a selection. As always, if you like what you hear, go and support your local shop, we do not need any more repeats of this.

Battles-‘Atlas.’ mp3

Futureheads-‘Hounds Of Love.’ mp3

iLIKETRAINS-‘Spencer Perceval.’ mp3

Justice-‘Waters Of Nazareth.’ mp3

The View-‘Superstar Tradesman.’ mp3

It would be more but I am just about to exceed my bandwith, so more on this very soon! And yes, I may have posted these before, but hey…

Keep Scotland Clean

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Clean George IV are a scottish band that, I must be honest, I don’t know a huge amount about.

However, they have so far issued one very good single, entitled ‘First Blast Of The Trumpet Against The Monstrous Regiment Of Women.’ This is not enocuraging wind instrument related misogyny, but is the title of John Knox’s infamous pamphlet about women. As to the b-side, I don’t know when the great Highland Crack epidemic was, though Scotland has had its problems with drugs like most countries in the majority and minority worlds.

This is their first single, available on 7″ from HMV, and other stores (mine came from Fopp) and when you buy it, you also get to download the tracks for free (if only more bands did this, for those of us who like to have a physical product and like that to be vinyl. As well as owning iPods and not being able to afford USB turntables.)

Clean George IV -‘First Blast Of The Trumpet Against The Monstrous Regiment of Woman.’ mp3

Clean George IV -‘The Great Highland Crack Epidemic.’ mp3

Remember, if you like it go and buy it, and go and make friends with them at their mySpace page

And here’s a few more mp3s of Scottish bands that I thought I would post. Enjoy!

The Delgados -‘No Danger (Kids Choir Edit).’ mp3

Teenage Fanclub -‘Everything Flows.’ mp3

The View -‘Wasted Little DJs.’ mp3

The View -‘Superstar Tradesman.’ mp3

NB. These will be up for a week only. If you like them, BUY THEM.

Links removed April 18.

Album Review: The View ‘Hats Off To the Buskers’

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And so it comes to pass…like so many bands before them, feted by the NME and many others, three fantastic singles that have gained progressively higher places on the charts (do we now say ‘Tracks’ chart? Singles chart is, like, so 2006) The View‘s debut is with us. The word is that ‘it’s the best debut since Definitely Maybe.’ Hmm. no hype there, then…

The aforementioned trio of brilliant singles ‘Wasted Little DJs’ ‘Superstar Tradesman’ and ‘Same Jeans’ are present and correct, and they are worth the price of admission alone (assuming you haven’t bought them all already, arguably). There are also some excellent tracks on this Dundee four-piece’s band that are worth hearing – ‘The Don’ and ‘Face For Radio’ certainly impacted on my radar even on first listening. The album is a fun, fine listen – but it is stretching it to say that it’s as good a debut as Definitely Maybe. Call me old -and as a teacher, hundreds of kids do daily – but there is a slight feeling of ‘heard this done before.’

The album doesn’t so much evoke Oasis’ debut, as bring to mind the Arctic Monkeys and the Libertines. Like the View, good bands who sometimes are at risk of their considerable talent being overwhelmed by even greater hype, that has a nasty habit of getting vicious like a media descending on Jade Goody. But like those bands, they have an excellent way with a tune, and Superstar Tradesman still feels as life -affirming as when I heard it a few months ago.

Ignore the hype, and take the album on it’s own merits, of which there are many.

7 1/2 out of 10.

The View -‘Superstar Tradesman.’ mp3

The View -‘Wasted Little DJs.’ mp3

This post is now a week old and I have removed the links. If you want to hear it, go and buy it!

Buy The View on Amazon