The Subways couldn’t have picked a more suitable first single and opening track for their new album than the smashing ‘It’s A Party’. Money And Celebrity, you see, is not the kind of album that you will enjoy while sitting on your couch sipping tea on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
This album, it seems, was recorded for the sole purpose of getting you up on your feet and jumping around for a non-stop 37 minutes. Throw a party. Go to your favourite indie rock club. Catch the band in concert. This is how to appreciate Money And Celebrity at its fullest.
And now the bad news. Unforunately, ‘It’s A Party’ is as good as the band’s third studio album gets. There are some impressive moments, with the excellent post-Blur era ‘Popdeath’ and the intriguing ‘Money’ standing out, but the record is not always convincing.

Is it possible to feel this happy all the time? Their previous album All Or Nothing, recorded during the break-up of Billy Lunn and Charlotte Cooper’s relationship, is far more emotionally engaging, perhaps for that very reason.
12 upbeat tracks with catchy guitar riffs, buzzy bass lines and mighty vocals mean that the guys are in a good mood and we’re all happy for them. But great music is seldom written purely out of happiness.