MUSIC REVIEWS
The Vines - Vision Valley
David Allun Jones
It looked to be over for The Vines, Australia’s answer to a number of bands throughout rock and roll’s entire history. Since making their debut oh-so-long-ago in 2002, the band’s career trajectory has played like a fast-forwarded version of “Behind The Music”. The little garage rock band that could stormed the world amidst the bombastic hype of the “return-to-rock” movement that also involved other bands like The Strokes and The Hives. But from the time their first album, Highly Evolved, made them critics’ darling, their off-stage antics slowly chipped away at all the admiration. Frequent public brawling, drug use, internal member shuffling, lead singer and primary band songwriter Craig Nicholls’ erratic behavior and a comparably weak sophomore album made the band increasingly unlikable, bringing a seemingly premature end to what had started out as a refreshingly sharp act. One less member (bassist Patrick Matthews bounced) and one revealing diagnosis (Nicholls was discovered to have a form of autism) later, the trio’s third album, Vision Valley, point the band back into the right direction artistically, if not being all that original.
Clocking in at a brisk thirty-one minutes, the thirteen-track Vision Valley brings back into focus what made The Vines so popular from the get-go with songs that quickly come and go before wearing out their welcome. This adds a repeatability element that’s truly commendable and perfectly realizes the band’s understanding of “short and sweet”. The catchy “Anysound” leaves a notable mark with it’s swirly haze of 70’s guitar riffs and relentless drive, as does the feel good 60’s shimmer of “Candy Daze” and punchy, rebel distortion of “Futuredarded” with neither track surpassing the two minute mark. Still, two minute rockers doth not an album make and the band manage to balance it out with fine psychedelic ballads that explore their expert ability at grandiose pop song craft, culminating in the epic six minute closer “Spaceship”, a dreamy “Stairway To Heaven”-type tour-de-force about family distress (“Mother said ‘Get me out’/ Brother meant ‘Get me out’/ I got a spaceship in the yard/...I will leave home”).
As polished and perfect as everything seems, though, Vision Valley never ends up giving The Vines a distinct identity. Each record is drowned in the spot-on influences that you find yourself listing off from the get-go. The Beatles, Nirvana, the Monkees, Led Zeppelin, Oasis and The Cars are just a few of the numerous acts that come to mind when listening to the album. It’s ultimately made clear that this has always been a problem with the band from the start, but Highly Evolved was such a welcome addition to the music scene that such a flaw was understandably overlooked. Now an established band, the tightened Vision Valley puts the band back on their feet but leaves you wanting more of an individual statement than a amalgam of the genius of others.
