The
Vines - Highly Evolved
Best
New Artist
Best Rock Album
Album
of the Year
The following was originally published in our Review section.
Review by Keavin Wiggins
We usually don’t post reviews over a month
before an album is set for release but after listening to the advance of
The Vines “Highly Evolved” I had to make an exception. I really can’t help
myself, it’s sort of like being a kid who discovered something really,
really cool and you just have to tell everyone who will listen about it.
This CD is like that; it fires up my inner evangelist and makes me want
to preach the good news of The Vines from street corners. Yes, I am being
quite serious!
Another good reason to post this review
so early is the fact that the buzz about this group is about to hit critical
mass and dare I say the hype that is expected to blowup around them may
turn some people off before they even give the CD an honest listen. That
would be a big mistake and the people who jump to that premature conclusion
would only be cheating themselves.
I anticipate that in the coming weeks and
months we will hear a lot about The Vines. Especially the inevitable linking
of them to groups like The Strokes and The White Stripes. Let’s head those
off first. It is true that when The Strokes hit the national scene last
year they became an immediate critical darling because their retro style
and sound was a nice reprieve from the stale varieties of rock ruling the
airwaves. Because The Vines also employ a retro atmosphere to their sound,
they are likely to get lumped in with The Strokes but I would caution the
reader against making that connection. For one, the depth of the music
and songwriting on The Vines “Highly Evolved” album far surpasses even
the best moments of the Strokes album. Two, the music the Strokes produce
is far more limited in scope than The Vines. “It is like listening to all
your favourite bands at once,” wrote Betty Clarke of the British supersite
Guardian Unlimited. Betty hit on one of the key appeals of The Vines with
that statement. As you progress through the sonic voyage of soaking in
the album, you catch glimpses of other musical greats ranging from The
Beatles to Pink Floyd to Nirvana to The Stooges to early Soul Asylum and
many others. The Vines draw from many musical wells to write their own
music and the result is a vast canvas in which they make their art.
Determining that this was one of the best,
if not the best new CD I’ve heard yet this year was a no brainer. From
the first angst filled chords of the lead off track and first single, “Highly
Evolved”, The Vines captured my full attention. The song has The Stooges
meet Nirvana feel to it propelled with an abundance of melodic hooks and
overdriven guitars. Clockin in at one minute and 34 seconds the song is
over almost as soon as it begins, which makes it a really compelling option
to hit the rewind key on the CD player to hear it one more time. But then
the second song “Autumn Shade” starts and you decide to wait on replaying
the first song. “Autumn Shade” shows a mellower side of the Vines and is
the first introduction of the Beatles meets modern alternative rock you
will hear on the album. The song actually sounds a lot like something one
of my favorite unsigned bands Twelvehourmary might play. But again the
experience is short lived as the song segways into the much heavier “Outtathaway”
after only a couple of minutes. Here the Vines pay homage to Iggy Pop once
more but unlike a band like the White Stripes, The Vines blend the Stooges
influence with others like Nirvana that really helps it become far more
than a copy of the Stooges.
“Sunshinin’” comes across like an acid
rock band that was suddenly transplanted into 1992 Seattle and transfixed
by the grunge sound, incorporated it into their style while maintaining
their 60’s rock characteristics. The next song “Homesick” a ballad
that sounds like it would feel comfortable on side two of The Beatles “Abbey
Road” is a real highpoint of the album. The Vines mix of melody, exceptionally
delivered instrumentation and harmonies on this song are just part of what
makes this band so exciting to listen to and dare I say it, really helps
them stand head and shoulders above just about any band on the rock scene
at the moment.
“Get Free”, a full speed rocker takes elements
of early punk, grunge and 70’s era glam of the New York Dolls and gives
it a modern spin. It really comes on like something that Local H or early
Soul Asylum would write.
“Country Yard,” another slower song has
a psychedelic Beatles meets Radiohead groove to it that should appeal to
listeners both young and old. With “Factory” we see another side of the
group’s Beatles influence, a song that starts out as a look back at John
Lennon’s “Mr. Kite” from “Sgt Peppers”, the Lennon influence in the vocals
is uncanny. If it wasn’t for the heavier guitar driven interludes some
people might actually mistake this song for a long lost track from the
“Sgt. Peppers” sessions. The working class sentiments of the lyrics also
tie the song in with Lennon in spirit.
“In The Jungle” spans the decades as well
with heavy late 60’s undercurrent and modern alternative rock face that
makes it similar to the music of bands like The Posies but with a bit more
balls.
“Mary Jane” has a real trippy feel to it,
the vocals, bass and guitar sound unmistakably like “Dark Side of Moon”
era Pink Floyd, which is a really stunning achievement as not many bands
can pull off Pink Floyd’s style without sounding contrived. Every time
this song comes up, I have to hit repeat a couple of times, it’s that good!
“Ain’t No Room” is the most modern sounding
song on the album, the heavy guitars and vocals sound a bit like Nirvana
but it also mixes The Vines 60’s influences, so it stays in character with
their other songs. “1969” gets to the heart of the matter, a song where
the Vines unabashingly admit their deep love for the music of the late
60’s with lyrics like, “It’s 1969 in my head / I just want to have no place
to go / Living through the sound of the dead”. The sound is a clever mix
of the Beatles and Pink Floyd with a bridge that falls into Iggy Pop territory.
This is a really a love song written to an era of music that the band obviously
loves.
Unlike other bands that borrow from The
Beatles like Oasis, The Vines didn’t lift the sound from the Fab Four intact;
they take the best elements of many artists and recraft them into their
own sound. It may be 2002 but The Vines make you wish it were 1969 again.
For those of us who were too young to live through the real era of the
late 60’s, this is the next best thing. It’s time that music from a major
label stretches the boundaries of what is expected and voyages beyond the
pop-rock constraints of modern radio friendly music. The Vines are quite
simply one of the best new bands to hit the music scene in years. These
four guys from Australia have the makings of superstars and as James Dean
Bradfield of the Manic Street Preachers recently said, The Vines are “'absolutely
f***ing amazing.” Bloody well right!
CD Info
The
Vines – Highly Evolved
Label: Capitol
Rating: 
Release Date: 7/16/02
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