The Vines
Highly Evolved

THE REVIEW

INTRODUCTION: Often when you listen to albums for the first time, you lean towards the stereo speakers all hopeful of having made a good purchase. At least personally, there's an instinctive desire to believe it is so; in fact, during the first listen, you tend to notice more of the positive sides of an album, despite convincing yourself that the element of ‘not understanding it quite yet’ prevails.

In reality, over time I have realized that yes, the first listen is important, but to truly evaluate an album, one should note all the sensations experienced from the first to the last, more analytical and deep listen, and finally sum them up mathematically. Otherwise, there's the risk of expressing a judgment believed to be objective (meaning valid, at least minimally, for everyone), “definite,” but under the influence of a momentary passion.

For a first listen’s approval, this album didn’t need a positive reception from me: it was the album itself that overwhelmed me with its verve (“cazzimma” as they say in Campania) out of the ordinary, with its grit, enjoyable to the nth degree because it’s not the result of carelessness or overdoing it, but of great compositional maturity that makes me think of a meticulous studio effort [also because in debut albums, musicians, not being able to engage in the barbaric habit of composing during the tour with the conviction of being absorbed by music until pure inspiration, don’t risk being too exhausted for a fully lucid composition], perhaps the muse of those other episodes of the album, high and intense, of nostalgic psychedelia (Autumn Shade, Homesick, Country Yard, Mary Jane). An album that is easily recognizable (for those who know it) and harmonious in its ability to blend a boisterous spirit with a psychedelic one with extreme nonchalance [the emblematic synthesis of the album are the passionate psychedelic vocalizations, often becoming hysterical, abundant on the album: "ohhhh, ooooo- o- oh...." etc.] without pathetic results.

Perhaps the key element of the album is the personality of the Vines, here courageously and fully expressed, leading to the proposal of songs that stand out from contemporary ones for the moods they convey: there is no overused, plaintive, and careless decadence, nor the rawness of much garage rock, nor the banality of "radio-friendly" pop, but well-crafted sounds, good humor, irony, freshness. They manage to merge, in well-structured songs, crystalline melodies (worthy of the '60s-'70s) with a guitar-bass-drums synergy worthy of Nirvana's repertoire (whose performance formed them as musicians). To crown it all, the splendid voice of Craig, if nothing else very original. This album was acclaimed by most critics, but some critics, at least in Italy (but also the amateur "critics" on this site), rightly wanted to be a bit more cautious.

My reflection is: why penalize artists who have managed to synthesize the best of the last forty years of pop-rock in such a wise and personal way? Just because they're essentially garage rockers (as were the Pixies, critics' darlings) who are very popular with a young audience? Just because the era of rock milestones is over? But this doesn't mean that the intuitions of classic rock [wanting to mean rock before '94, the conventional year of rock's death along with Cobain] cannot be reinterpreted in a "modern" (and highly evolved) way creating a memorable album. The Vines have to pay the price of coming later. If this review seems like "praise" to the Vines, I am justified by the fact that many critics have overused praise for some already famous and excessively celebrated albums, so why not do it myself by introducing this "gem"?? Don't believe it? Listen for example to "In the Jungle" and hear the crackling Nirvana tackling lysergic slow-downs (!) and hysterical speed-ups, the poetic "Autumn Shade" (the autumn atmosphere is present throughout the album and even in the vintage-psychedelic cover), "Highly Evolved" in which drums, bass, and voice (and then guitar) make love in a way as intense as it is brief, the playful "Factory" in a Beatles-like manner with distorted bass and guitar à la Nirvana, the roaring "Get Free" and "Outtathaway", the moving "Country Yard", the digressions of "1969" (lyrics-admission from Craig himself about the group's sixties roots and a title tribute to the Stooges) and much more... and lyrics that don't talk about girls and dating!!!!

An unpredictable album, good humor guaranteed!