Stars of CCTV

Stars of CCTV
Studio album by Hard-Fi
Released	4 July 2005
Recorded	2004–2005
Genre	Indie rock, alternative rock
Length	45:06
Label	Warner
Producer	Wolsey White, Richard Archer
Hard-Fi chronology
Stars of CCTV (2005) In Operation (2006)In Operation2006
Singles from Stars of CCTV
"Cash Machine" Released: 24 January 2005 "Tied Up too Tight/Middle Eastern Holiday" Released: 14 March 2005 "Hard to Beat" Released: 20 June 2005 "Living for the Weekend" Released: 5 September 2005 "Better Do Better" Released: 27 February 2006
Alternative covers
"Stars of CCTV" Mini Album

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	74/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Entertainment Weekly	8.3/10 (17 Mar 2006, p.114)
The Guardian
musicOMH	favourable
NME	9/10
Pitchfork Media	7.3/10

Stars of CCTV is the debut album by English indie rock band Hard-Fi. It was first released on 4 July 2005 on Necessary/Atlantic and Warner Music UK. It was nominated for the 2005 Mercury Music Prize, and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart in January 2006, taking it about five months to reach number one mainly due to the preceding single "Cash Machine" catching the sellers' attention; its original peak position was number six.

The album has reached sales of 1.2 million copies worldwide, with over 300,000 in the UK alone. The song "Gotta Reason" is included on the soundtrack of the football video game FIFA 06.

The majority of Stars of CCTV was recorded in a variety of unusual acoustic environments – bedrooms, pubs, and played back in Hard-Fi producer Wolsey White's BMW. 1,000 copies of this record were pressed with only 500 going on public sale, and the initial plan was to sell 1,000 each time. However it quickly sold out, receiving critical acclaim and radio play, proving a lot more successful than the band had imagined. Most of the album was recorded in a disused mini cab office, which cost them about £300, and it is known to this day as the "Cherry Lips" Studio (due to the colour of the paint on the walls). The band tried to make their music sound more environmental by putting a microphone in the corridor, which added echo, but background noises caused by people walking past or planes flying overhead could be heard while the band recorded. These background noises can still be heard on the record. The band used the TL Audio Fatman compressor for the album, Archer said "It's alright, it's cheap, you don't have to know what you're doing...".

Stars of CCTV was originally released as a mini album, a very limited release which sold out very quickly. A few months after, the album had been going on sale on websites such as eBay for £25. Talking about the situation, frontman Richard Archer said;