The Vines - Highly Evolved
(Capitol)
Lately whenever me and my lady turn on the modern rock Clear Channel affiliate, I jokingly refer to it as the "oldies station." The station boasts playing more Pearl Jam than any other station in the area (no really... more Pearl Jam than anyone else), and even with the "new rock" influx, more than half of the songs played are from before 1995. However, given the fact that I still even care, perhaps it will come as no surprise that I want rock and roll to win. I will agree wholeheartedly with anyone who complains that The Strokes, The Hives, and The White Stripes are wholy unoriginal. However, if the choice comes down to being innundated with more jock-metal and producer-rap anytime I decide to sample Clear Channel and MTV's choices-du-jour, I would clearly prefer some derivative but enjoyable rock and roll, please.
Go ahead and toss the Vines in the pool with the "new rock" clique, but by doing so, you'll find them with inflatable tubes around their arms, barely treading water. The Vines are young, impressionable teens from Australia who were sent to the USA by some Aussie hot-shot to record an album with Andrew Slater, the guy who gives the Foo Fighters their Mentos freshness. And, wouldn't you know, The Vines' debut album, Highly Evolved, sounds like over-produced modern rock. Columbia overheard the sessions and, oblivious to Kathie Lee Gifford's problems with foreign child labor, decided that overproduced modern rock was just what would could be forced down the throats of America's ears.
Turning one of the two bursts of Nirvana-inspired grunge on the album into a buzz cut, giving the album a more mysterious and dark celophane outer-cover, and bargain pricing it at less than the price of a used CD, it is hard to resist the marketing of The Vines. However, closely listening to The Vines feels dirty. They clearly don't know who they are yet, so it just seems wrong to hand them over to Slater and let him take control. While the band's buzz cut elicits pure Nirvana angst and explosion, most of the music here is amateur Kinks rehash, from the pop songstyle to the populist politics. Having Highly Evolved on radio playlists and in the global headspace is like having a high school sophomore write a book report on Walden Pond and have it be edited into a think-piece on Asian smog clouds and published in Time magazine.
However, I'd still rather listen to The Vines than Eminem. There are two or three more "singles" on this album which perhaps will get cycled in with "Come As You Are" and "Alive" as you are waiting in rush hour traffic during the next few months; likely I won't switch to my CD player in disgust. However, if The Vines in any way help rock and roll win, I will be rather surprised.
|
