Second-rate indie stomper

(Morning Star, Friday 12 January 2007)

ALBUM: The View - Hats Off to the Buskers
(1965 Records)

THE View are not the latest "best new band in Britain," as touted by many in the music press.

Their sneers and snotty attidude are a stone's throw from such rock luminaries as Lil' Chris off Rock School and their Britpop-by-numbers leaves them far short of many contemporaries.

From the depths of 1995, they've made the most of their limited talents on this second-rate indie stomper of a record - they've half-inched both sound and swagger from such working-class scamps as Arctic Monkeys, but they just don't have the charisma to make it stick.

Superstar Tradesmen, a cynical, biting attack on the working people of their rundown hometown Dundee, has garnered the band a reputation, but, the truth is, their "punk" posing is straight out of the NME, their ethos wrenched from the newly media-savvy world of record company execs trawling MySpace.com for the next big thing.

Elsewhere, on the raucous Street Lights and single Wasted Little DJs, there's not a bad effort at guitar rock karaoke and no-one could blame The View for trying to escape from the misery of Dryburgh through the medium of music.

In fact, with that in mind, The View deserve snaps for effort - remember that and drop them a few coppers when they proffer their Burberry caps in your direction in the City Square.

But the decision to mix the lyrical poetry of Dodgy with the adopted swagger of Rick Witter is really a poor one.

The View's debut is overhyped and undercooked, which is probably why they've taken their hats off to the buskers - they know that's where they'll be themselves within the year.