New Vibrations - The Vines -- Winning Days

The Vines -- Winning DaysCapitolMarch 23, 2004

Two years ago The Vines were the second coming of Nirvana. Almost consecutively, rock and roll seemed headed in three separate directions, spearheaded by three "The's," The Strokes, The White Stripes and The Vines. Craig Nicholls, lead singer and guitarist, seemed primed to become a force in music, showcasing that mixture of talent, youth, anger and energy.

The Australian band's single "Get Free" was ubiquitous and Highly Evolved seemed to remember many of the lessons grunge had to offer that bands in the nineties were so quick to forget. Rather than imitating or duplicating the Seattle sound like say, Silverchair, The Vines were able to manipulate post-grunge beats and transform them into quick, charged hits like "Highly Evolved," guitar driven ballads like "Autumn Shade" and pop influenced, psychedelic endeavors like "Sunshinin'."

Sorry if I sound a bit reminiscent, but Winning Days leaves little to brag about. A band that seemed able, ready even to be a torchbearer would rather shy away from the task; an artist who seemed ready to be a rock hero, would rather play high school dropout this time around. The songs on Winning Days just seem lethargic, simple, boring even, something Highly Evolved overhyped as it may have been, never was.

Nicholls has his moments. "Ride," the first single, is great opener, if not falsely inspiring. "Winning Days" is a pastoral journey, contrasting the laconic hooks The Vines might be best known for. "Sun Child" travels some of the same psychedelic ground the band is known to tread, and sounds the most like Highly Evolved Redux you'll find on the album. But these songs all have something in common: they were written and demoed as early as 1999, three years before the bands' first release.

Winning Days just seems like a lazy effort by a band that can aspire to so much better. There are flashes of greatness there, The Vines are nothing if not talented, but the zealous, machine gun screams on "TV Pro" and a seven second guitar solo on "Winning Days" seem outmatched by Nicholls desire to stay in the "Autumn Shade." So much so, there's a track on Winning Days called "Autumn Shade II." Neither that song or this album is much of a sequel.