Famous First Words [CD]

Are Viva Brother the greatest guitar band since the giants of the Britpop era? No
Are Viva Brother a tuneless, clueless racket that make the noise of a dying camel looped and amplified sound like music? No

What Viva Brother have done is take music they like and strapped it to a tried and tested, if unimaginative formula. They are not the world's greatest lyricists, nor are they the tightest musicians, but they do have a good enough model for a pop song. Yes they are very much influenced by Oasis, Blur, Suede, et al., but these in turn were influenced by the Beatles, the Kinks and Bowie. This does not make them a bad band.

Haters, moreover, seem to be under the impression that Viva Brother are all over the airwaves, adored by idiots across the country. I'm afraid the press did not over hype this band. They gave them plenty of coverage initially, but for the best part kept an open mind. Instead it is both fans and, perversely enough, haters that have overhyped this band.

Do not buy this album if you want music that pushes boundries and makes one think. Buy this album if you like pop songs. Ignore the hype. It is an average debut from an ok band. And that genuinely isn't an insult.

Picks: Time Machine; New Years Day; Electric Daydream

To read some of the reviews for this debut album you would have thought that rather than having released a record, they were had published a book saying what a jolly nice chap Hitler was and Mugabe is an excellent guest for the vicarage afternoon tea party!

Yes - they are a bit Oasisy...but is that a bad thing? To condem a band for being too similar to a previous band is to write off most of the music out there - I mean Coldplay...Radiohead anyone???? (Well, I thought so anyway).

One suspects that the tone of the reviews, the most vitriolic of them appearing to be from the mainstream press, is more motivated by the band's lippy attitude to the great and the good in the industry, rather than their music. Having seen the band live at four different festivals this summer I could not disagree more, yes they may not be everyone's cup of tea but I thought the sound was refreshing and, whilst not new, a welcome return to the idea of writing a few songs and banging them out on guitars.

No...the reviews tell you much more about the establishment's dislike of those who dare to stick their heads over the battlements...the only thing the band may be guilty of is naieveity in assuming that the critics, the very ones who have bigged them up for months are all to willing to pan them when it suits them...tells you a lot more about the sorry state of the UK music industry than anything else. Don't believe me - well, if these guys are THAT bad then why didn't the same critics pan the 3 or 4 singles that the band have had released for several months now? They have had ample opportunity to do so.

Whilst Britpop may be awfully cringeworthy to the post Blair thirty or fourty somthing it is obviously striking a chord with the younger generation..and I can say that 'cos I'm fourty...

The album licks along at a good pace and the songs are as they are - catchy and good...it may be a bit more of a collection of singles rather than a perfectly formed album but so what - the MP3 player has effectively destroyed the formal format of the album...

So...download it and see if you like it...

I did

Excellent album, very much in the Oasis mould.
I think theres big things to come from this band in the future.