I won’t be the first blogger to point out the similarity between I Shall Overcome and Robbie Williams’ No Regrets. It’s Richard Archer’s phrasing of the chorus line “I shall oh-ver-come” that does it, but once you notice it, every subsequent listen of the song is slightly marred.

Another thing that other reviewers complain about with I Shall Overcome is the difference between this and the previous two tracks Hard-Fi released. Yes, it’s got that grim vibe to it, but I think there’s something epic in the chorus and the orchestration.

And the No Regrets connection might actually be in their favour – it gives the song something familiar, like you’ve heard it before. Anyway, I can’t be the only person wondering what Richard Archer will sing about once the band are stinking rich.

The video’s probably the weakest part – I get the boxing theme and how it links to the song, but….yawn…

We’re still impressed with Hard-Fi’s second album offerings here at Unreality Music. Can’t Get Along (Without You) is the second single from the Once Upon A Time In West album.

Despite the song being written when Richard Archer was in a previous band (Contempo), Can’t Get Along fits very well with previous single Suburban Knights.

The single boasts the same stabbing guitar lines married to pounding drums and excellent uplifting strings. Richard Archer’s vocals have a real urban swagger to them. All in all, Hard-Fi seem to have a knack for writing memorable, almost anthemic tunes.

Video

The Can’t Get Along (Without You) video features Archer being chased through the streets of Berlin. As Ross Phillips posted on the band’s MySpace page:

In a nutshell the video is Rich being chased around Berlin by a big, rock hard looking german with a tache. Us 3 make some small cameo appearances, but other than that we sat around laughing at Rich, drinking beer and eating sausages. Happy days. This video has got it all; People smashing through windows, jumping through hedges, car chases and birds. What more could you want? Rich even did his own stunts!

All in all, another awesome song from the Hard-Fi guys. Check out the video below…

The fact of the matter is that Hard-Fi come across as more direct and less pretentious than their Indie-label bedfellows, and their music is always, well harder than them too.

Suburban Knights is the lead single from the band’s forthcoming second album Once Upon A Time In The West. I’m loving the big, mob chorus (hey, hey, hey) and the stabbling, distorted guitars.

Richard Archer pulls off a decent rock vocal on the track too, spitting out the lyric in places. He’s still singing about the “bills dropping through his door”, a frequent topic in Hard-Fi songs.

Suburban Knights: The Video

Suburban Knights is mostly a performance video, with the band playing on top of a building surrounded by satellite dishes, which ties in with the lyric “yeah, we rock the satellite”.