I still reach for The View's debut album, Hats off to the Buskers, when I need a bit of cheering up. Their special brand of pep and oddity never fails to lift my spirits. And they have brought it quite successfully to their third album, Bread and Circuses. (We do not speak of their second album, Which Bitch, which made almost no impact on the music scene at all.)
The band has matured a little since their first album, and this brings a new air of restraint to their choons, but the same old quirky joy is still there, as the energetic track Tragic Magic makes apparent. Blondie displays that quirk of lyric that comes so easily to The View. Who else would write, “I bring the tea to the table, but my cooking's always slow”?
Bread and Circuses doesn't veer much from the Hats off to the Buskers, formula, but I have no problem with that since the formula works so well.
Despite sticking to tried and tested principles, this album sounds more Americana than Britpop, as is most effectively demonstrated by Sunday – an oddly triumphant tune that would do nicely in the closing scene of a teen movie.
Bread and Circuses is more melodic, calmer and a little more melodramatic than The View's previous offerings, but it is executed perfectly. While Hats off to the Buskers was steeped in situations unique to British culture, Bread and Circuses deals with more universal issues.
I have to admit that I still prefer the exuberance of Hats off to the Buskers, but Bread and Circuses is an encouraging return to good old The View awesomeness.
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