Review: The Subways - Money and Celebrity

 There really ought to be a lot more thought put into The Subways as a band. The Hertfordshire trio are a bunch of fresh faced indie rockers, who will play their music with a sense of hard ferocity and even have some time for the odd dose of scream vocals. Music and image-wise, they really do epitomize the rock star ideals. However, this is a group who have received much criticism in the past, and it's understandable. Their biggest hit Rock & Roll Queen ranks high as one of the blandest rock songs I've ever heard. Understandably not many are able to tolerate them after this. So maybe they've taken a more creative path on album number three Money and Celebrity.

 I constantly get the feeling that my expectations are constantly aimed too high. This album is just a bland generic get up and go party indie rock album. There's just so little in the way of originality and substance that the band. Throughout the album the band's basic indie rock sound sounds like a poor rip-off of The Futureheads without any kind of artistic or experimental charm that the Sunderland trio are capable of creating.

 It's difficult even to seek out a stand out moment from Money and Celebrity. All the songs find themselves cycling through a repetitive cycle of standard indie rock structures with some rapid and hard samey riffs, and all feature the same kind of get up and go and have fun lyrics with the occasional lyrics that talk about... oh I don't know, not needing to be a celebrity or be rich? How fitting. This album is unlikely to see them become either anytime soon.

 The thing is, I could have enjoyed this album due to it's overly summery sound were it released in June or something where I was just about to go on holiday and just wanted some catchy indie rock to lose my head to but the fact that they've released it close to October, a time when for me real preparation for the educational hardships of 6th year at school are about to begin just makes this sound so much more irritatring, and the smug sounding vocals of Billy Lunn only manage to fuel the bitterness in listening to the album.

 So, I really didn't enjoy Money and Celebrity. It pissed me off rather than entertained, it's generic, uninspiring serves just as the kind of release that makes me worry for the future of mainstream rock.