Hats off to the Buskers, the much-hyped debut from the much-hyped Scottish band the View, comes by its breathless plaudits honestly: this is first-class crunchy guitar rock with singable melodies and heaps of attitude. Kyle Falconer and company aren't breaking any new ground here -- stylistically, the band has a lot in common with fellow U.K. rock hounds the Libertines -- but they bring a kickiness and energy to songs like "Superstar Tradesman" and "Same Jeans" that causes a genuine musical jolt, the kind you wouldn't want to miss if you've previously surrendered thrills to bands like Arctic Monkeys. "Skag Trendy," "Gran's for Tea" and several other tracks say great mouthfuls about the View's commitment to keeping it real -- they're kids from Scotland with Scottish-kid stories to tell -- but in a way that's more endearing than alienating. Standouts on a disc you'll want to play eardrum-dentingly loud include the rollicking "Wasted Little DJs," the hard-hitting but playful opener "Comin' Down" and the ska-circling "The Don." ~ Tammy La Gorce

For all those who found the Arctic Monkeys too brash and bratty, or the Libertines too messy and dangerous, the View and their 2007 debut Hats off to the Busker should be welcome. Cheerful and cute where the Monkeys and Libertines were all coiled nervous tension, the View are polite, well-scrubbed and eager to please, offering up their tunes with vigor but no venom. Given that this is bright classicist Brit-pop -- all ringing guitars and la-la-la's, performed as if punk never happened -- it doesn't really hurt that the group lacks bark orbite, but it sure gives Hats off to the Busker a prefabricated feeling. It's a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy, and since the raw elements of the original material -- Monkeys/Libertines via Blur/Oasis via the Jam/the Clash via the Kinks/the Who -- are still appealing, the View are hard to hate, but they're not energetic enough or craftsmanlike enough to be all that attractive on their own terms; after all, they're hardly playing on their own terms, they're using a rule book that's been passed on from generation to generation. And since they lack the audible passion of the Arctic Monkeys -- who, even as detractors of the over-hyped debut must admit, do have a kinetic kick to their records -- or the audacity of, say, Supergrass, they are perfectly easy to file and forget after their perfectly pleasant, utterly unmemorable debut is finished. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine