MattA75's Full Review: Highly Evolved by The Vines
You know, I've held out on writing this review. No, honestly I have. I mean, I figured that if everyone else was "getting" what was so "great" about The Vines, I would too. After all, I'm the king of rock at Epinions, how can I NOT get it? But after buying this album in late August (despite not liking the first single, Get Free), I would listen to it time and again, waiting for it to hit me; the ironic thing is is that it already had: The Vines suck. There I said it.
But Dude, they can't suck, because they sound like Nirvana and The Beatles, together at last!
Yeah, whatever. It's funny, I remember when Nirvana broke out (that's when most of you Vines fans were about oh, 2 or 3 years old), and everyone said that Nirvana was this great melding of punk with Beatles melodies. So, therefore, what's the point of saying "Nirvana and the Beatles" when just saying "Nirvana" gets the point across? But I digress...
OK, so this review isn't supposed to be about Nirvana, although I will say that a Nirvana review would be much more interesting. Anyways, the Vines are from Australia. Their lead singer, Craig Nicholls, is so hard up for attention that he can't even keep a 3 minute performance from self destructing. When the band was signed, they hadn't even done 30 live shows as a group. Maybe that's why their live performances are as bad as this disc, but again, I digress...
I really wanted to like this band. I mean, let's face it, rock music these days is not that good. Disturbed? Pfft, give me Alice Cooper. Linkin Park? Give me Beavis and Butthead with Cher doing I Got You Babe. Nickelback? Give me Seven Mary Three. But you know, my main problem with the Vines isn't so much that they suck, it's that I don't really see who the Vines ARE on this record.
Their influences are surely in the right places. The Beatles. Nirvana. Even a bit of Vitalogy era Pearl Jam in one of these songs. But what makes a band great is when they take their influences, follow them, but add something so special, so magical, so BEAUTIFUL, that you know they are their own band. I don't get that from the Vines whatsoever.
Take the first single, Get Free. There is absolutely nothing about this song that is unique. The lyrics are worse than what Max Martin writes, and the music is an uninspiring ripoff of Nirvana. Those of you who know me, know that I hate comparing bands, but there are some bands I can't help but do it.
Another song that seemed to be played up by all the critics is Mary Jane. I find the song to be trite and rather boring. I mean, there's no reason for a song recorded in 2002 to sound like it came straight from the Sgt Pepper sessions from the 60s. Maybe if I were high, Mary Jane would sound like a better song.
1969 is just the latest in songs with years ending in 9 (Smashing Pumpkins did 1979, Less Than Jake did 1989). The opening of it sounds like Seven Mary Three has been reincarnated, which to be fair to this band, is the only time they sound like that on this record.
And then there's Outtathaway, which sounds like a restrained version of Pearl Jam's Last Exit, complete with the very same 5/4 pounding drum intro. YAWN!
The only song I found to be redeeming on this whole record was the very cool Sunshinin, a tune with a great melody and some nice guitar work. It's too bad there weren't more songs like this on the record.
As I said above, my main problem is that I don't think I'm seeing who THE VINES are. If I am, they won't be around very much longer. You guys can still call Craig Nicholls a genius. Me? I'll go listen to the new Silverchair disc: at least THEY are truly Highly Evolved.
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