Review of ‘Hard Life’, the long-awaited third album by The Tubs

Well yes, only one year after the outstanding “Cotton Crown”, The Tubs They return with a new portion of incandescent pop exaltations that range from The Wedding Present to Dinosaur Jr. through a mosaic of tonalities that can remind us of Richard Thompson’s singing and witness perfect hybrids between The Jam and The Smiths, as in that dart in the bullseye that is “Who’s Gonna Love You Now.”

Of course, they also drag us into utopias of what J. Mascis would sound like if he had grown up on the British coast, as happens in “If You Don’t Love Me.” But perhaps the most representative thing that exudes in almost the entire songbook prepared for “Hard Life” is a festive folk drive that recalls the poppier Pogues of “Peace And Love.” From the other extreme of reference, they can even sound like the most Springteen version of The Replacements, such that in “Heaven Or London.”

With such wickers, the dozen cuts that flow on this album respond to a timeless ideal that survives the shadow effect of past milestones thanks to a memorable crossover between melodic aim and contagious, highly emotional intensity. And they achieve it thanks to a perspective not so far removed from the pop precepts orchestrated by Elvis Costello in compass works such as “Armed Forces”. Precisely, in “Now And Then” They touch the handwriting of the second most iconic gafapasta in rock history (the first will always be Buddy Holly).

Beyond everything explained up to this point, perhaps the true way to understand the magic of this group is condensed in “In Your Place”irrefutable proof of the gift perfected by the Welsh to propel themselves into flamboyant tours de force balanced with the harmonic molds inherited from the Johnny Marr touch. Without a doubt, a feast of those that no longer remain.