Is Staines in London? Hard-Fi would have us believe so. In this frankly uninspired follow-up to a much better song (Cash Machine), the bolshy Middlesex outfit find themselves musically floundering and geographically impaired. "Straight out of West London, just like a loaded gun" is apparently where the lads are shouting from, but then again punky, angsty lyrics such as "Where I come from, I just don't conform - get me out of here" show that wherever they are, it ain't pretty.
Like in their mini-album Stars of CCTV (from which the b-side Middle East Holiday is taken) Hard-Fi's sound is actually quite a pleasing mix of The Clash, Happy Mondays and Second Toughest in the Infants-era Underworld.
The band are also generating a fair amount of media buzz, and no doubt they have a certain attitude and swagger, but unfortunately Tied Up Too Tight is just not different or catchy enough to truly propel them above the ranks of their peers. The sound from the Heathrow flight path is pretty pedestrian.
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