Albums to watch

Famous First Words

Viva Brother

Famous First Words

Debut collection of straight up Britpop indie from this Slough group

ADM rating[?]

3.5

Label
Geffen
UK Release date
01/08/2011
US Release date
09/08/2011
  1. 6.0 |   The Irish Times

    While these anthemic, beefy rock songs don’t quite inspire instant adulation, they’re far from horrible enough to hate
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  2. 6.0 |   The Fly

    Some will have great nights out to these songs; others will throw up onto their Animal Collective t-shirts
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  3. 5.0 |   AU Review

    Famous First Words just doesn’t stray far enough from safe ground to leave a lasting impression
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  4. 5.0 |   NME

    Every song sounds as if it has been written to a formula for greatness excitedly, adorably scrawled on the back of a beer mat in the Third-To-Last-Chance Saloon
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  5. 5.0 |   The Digital Fix

    A competent debut that almost makes you forget they were once emo band Kill The Arcade
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  6. 5.0 |   Clash

    What’s frustrating is that it’s too damn enjoyable and not quite derivative enough to actively hate
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  7. 5.0 |   BBC

    Musically it’s sure-footed enough – revivalist fare that ticks enough nostalgia boxes to have anyone whose teenage years took in the mid- to late-90s humming along absent-mindedly – but the lyrics here are pitiful
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  8. 4.0 |   Uncut

    It's all just talk, sadly. Print edition only

  9. 4.0 |   Q

    A disappointing debut. Print edition only

  10. 4.0 |   Mojo

    Estuary vowels and clipped guitars belie songs with nagging hooks, clever arrangements and hints of hands-aloft euphoria. Print edition only

  11. 4.0 |   Evening Standard

    Brother turn out to sound like the mildly more butch offspring of Busted and McFly. Oh, well
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  12. 4.0 |   musicOMH

    Viva Brother's world is neither brave nor new
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  13. 4.0 |   The Guardian

    Even if you were in nappies when football was held to be coming home, you've heard it all done better before
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  14. 3.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    Derivative to the point of being permanently stuck in reverse gear, it's a record that oozes predictability and little besides
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  15. 2.9 |   Pitchfork

    Nothing more than a thinly disguised, crass attempt to smoke latent Oasis fans out of hiding
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  16. 2.0 |   The Independent

    Brash, self-consciously bratty chancers, who are fatally mired in hackneyed Britpop mannerisms
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  17. 2.0 |   The Skinny

    The formula marries the two most iconic styles of the era – Blur's high-pitched singalong choruses, and Oasis' beer-soaked guitar hooks – while surgically removing any residue of charm or personality
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  18. 2.0 |   God Is In The TV

    If you REALLY like 90s music go and buy a few additions of Shine, or some of the best albums of the period. PLEASE DON’T WASTE YOUR TIME ON THIS
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  19. 2.0 |   Independent on Sunday

    This debut is so lame, it makes the Beady Eye album sound like Let It Bleed
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  20. 2.0 |   The Observer

    Sets the cause of resurgent guitar rock back… ooh, a good 20 years
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  21. 2.0 |   PopMatters

    Whether to laugh or cry is your choice to make
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  22. 2.0 |   The Quietus

    About as anaemic and pale as music gets
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  23. 0.0 |   No Ripcord

    This album is bad. Not only is the album bad, no... awful, actually no... repugnant. It is also what it represents that is equally offensive
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Viva Brother: Famous First Words

  • Download full album for just £5.99
  • 1. New Year's Day £0.99
  • 2. Still Here £0.99
  • 3. David £0.99
  • 4. High Street Low Lives £0.99
  • 5. Electric Daydream £0.99
  • 6. Darling Buds Of May £0.99
  • 7. Otherside £0.99
  • 8. Fly By Nights £0.99
  • 9. False Alarm £0.99
  • 10. Time Machine £0.99
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