Hi-Fi Serious CD London Records, 0927-44776-2, 2002, 12 Track Amazon.co.uk As Hi-Fi Serious so ably demonstrates, sometimes it's just a matter of waiting for the rest of the world to catch up with you. Round about the time of their second album Monkey Kong, A were pegged as perfunctory Brit-rock chancers, a poor substitute for their angst-heavy Stateside peers. Come their third album, though, A sound every bit the globe-straddling international rock band. Marking out the crucial mid-point between the impassioned emo-pop of and the dumb-assed gross-out punk splatter of , Hi-Fi Serious is a cackling, cartoonish descent into fearlessly tuneful power-pop larkery. It's saturated in an obvious love for beach-bum Americana: "It's an endless summer/ It's the summer forever" breezes the bronzed power-punk of "Pacific Ocean Blue". And while the five are frighteningly eager to dally like playful puppies through all rock's cheesiest cliches--just check out guitarist Mark Chapman's Eddie Van Halen-style fretwork on "The Distance"--it's always performed with enough charm to win the day. Think the Brits can't do rock? Crank up Hi-Fi Serious and let A put a smile back on your face. --Louis Pattison