The Vines - 'Winning Days' (Heavenly) Released 22/3/04

You’ve got to feel sorry for The Vines. The band who just a year an a half ago were riding high on a wave of post-Nirvana grunge starved adoration, burgers, drugs and girls. Now, with the 2004 release of ‘Winning Days’, it seems that everyone has adopted the NME’s policy of deciding what’s good before it’s even happened. Even prior to the release of ‘Ride’, the first single from the album, the complete apathy the media showed it was perhaps more interesting than the release itself. It’s underserved.

Though Nicholls may not have even come close to Cobain’s legacy, though he may have expelled himself with tantrums and god-awful live performances from the near genius bracket he was put into, The Vines were the unlucky chosen ones who music hacks pinpointed as their own Strokes, and pushed for all they were worth. Disappointing then because ‘Winning Days’, though not as instant as its predecessor, has the same moments of fragile beauty, and the same **** off abandonment. Opener ‘Ride’ hems in the gargantuan disregard of ‘Outathaway’, while the lazily named 'Autumn Shade II' falls headfirst into Craig’s whirlwind drop into despair. "I'm succeeding to speak like I'm ****ing mad” exhales Nicholls, tapping into his neurosis, and drenching it in a sadness that makes you feel almost sorry for the poor ****er.

Though stand out tracks like the flippantly contemptful ‘**** The World’ fuel the rumours that The Vines are in fact a great band, the fact remains that along with the luminous ‘Sun Child’ (b-side on Highly Evolved single), the beatles-esque furore of ‘Winning Days’ and ‘Ride’, none of the songs are new. Fans expecting the madness of King Craig to have resulted in a Prozac fuelled gem of an album will be highly disappointed. The majority of the distinguished tracks were around as demos as their debut album was released.

While the former tracks lead you to embrace Craig, pat him on the back, and give  him a burger, appalling sub-Nirvana drivel appears on 'Evil Town', and 'Animal Machine'. The phsycadelia element parading throughout that could have been the continuation of the weed whirling majesty of ‘Mary Jane’, instead comes off as throwing up before the pill kicks in. Though the early write off may have been underserved, the bulk of the album lives up to the expectation. While the tracks written at the same time as 'Highly Evolved' show the same promise, a year of fancy living has done little to aid Craig in his song writing ability. Let’s hope it’s the calm before the storm.