Once Upon A Time In The West
by Hard-Fi

Album details

US: 18 September 2007 on Atlantic
UK: 3 September 2007 on Atlantic

This is the second album for the Staines, England-based band fronted by Richard Archer.

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The critical consensus

Ladies and gentlemen: The sophomore slump. While the BBC notes that Hard-Fi "have delivered the goods with their songwriting, stepped up a notch on the production front and crammed memorable hooks on their sophomore LP," they also find the album lacking some of the vitality present on Stars Of CCTV. Drowned In Sound praises the band for attempting to progress musically, but says the progress is hampered by poor songwriting and Archer’s singing. Aversion complains about many of the same things, noting that it sounds like "Hard-Fi’s just plain out of ideas." The Independent, too, faults the songwriting, and NME calls out the "paper-thin" lyrics. That publication also finds many songs "comfortably interchangeable with ‘Stars Of CCTV’’s less inspired tracks" and the album "a disappointment."

Exclaim!, on the other hand, finds the album as a whole "solid," although not consistently so. MusicOMH actually enjoys album number two, although even they equivocate in their praise: "While the songs aren’t particularly complex and won’t be to the taste of anyone after something challenging, the band impress with how easy they make straightforward songwriting look." The Observer actually offers something close to a rave, calling Once Upon A Time "a well-written, well-recorded, mainstream rock record." Uncut declares it to be "a 40-minute joyride through urban Britain delivered with unflinching intensity." And Dotmusic loves the disc as well: "It might be a little too airbrushed, arch and meticulous for some, but it’s brilliant all the same."

Once Upon a Time in the West is not a bad album, just disappointing - the sound of a band refusing to play to their strengths.

- Alexis Petridis, The Guardian

Review roundup

Tracklisting and media

1. Suburban Knights
   
   
2. I Shall Overcome
3. Tonight
4. Watch Me Fall Apart
5. I Close My Eyes
6. Television
7. Help Me Pleas
8. Can’t Get Along
9. We Need Love
10. Little Angel
11. The King

Also on the web

• Official Artist Site
• Hard-Fi @ MySpace