WARNING: Listening to The Best of the Vines will cause you temporary amnesia. How else could you explain songs like Spaceship and Factory constituting hits? It’s debatable whether the average listener has even heard these songs.
The newly released album contains sixteen songs by The Vines with the bulk of the material originating from their first two albums, Highly Evolved and Winning Days. Granted that the band has recorded numerous good songs over the years, it is somewhat doubtful that they have released enough to warrant an entire greatest hits compilation. Plus, with new material imminent, one would hope that this collection is by no means definitive. In reality, this is their final album to be released by Capital Records, and thus a concluding attempt by the label to profit from the artist.
Secondly, you can’t say this is a singles collection because there are two omissions from the album, Vision Valley. The radio-only single, Gross Out, and video-only release, Dope Train are excluded and two others from the same album, the aforementioned Spaceship and the title track feature, despite not being released as singles. Additionally, the inclusion of the cover, Ms Jackson may have made a good addition, as it was as a popular b-side on the Outtathaway single and was previously voted into the Triple J Hottest 100.
Unfortunately, fans of the group will find the disc redundant, as no new material is offered. The sixteen tracks are all lifted from the three studio albums. However, the release is a good introduction to the band for new listeners, opening with their three most popular riotous rock-meets-psychedelic tracks. Their influence is currently being heard in the likes of The Silents’ debut album, Things To Learn, as the younger group emulate The Vines’ sound in their own trademark way.
Chronology does not factor into this release, as the songs are ordered in part according to genre, providing a jumbled assortment of rock bursts peppered with interludes of layered, gorgeous ballads. The group’s musical forte for writing good songs in both styles is clearly portrayed here where Craig Nicholls’ vocals lilt between sweet melodies and distressed banshee shrieks. Moreover, there are plenty of dirty guitar riffs and startling drums thrown into the pot.
In addition, some further problems mar this piece. First, call me stupid, but if a band warrants a best-of album the least that should be included in the liner notes is a short biography or some information about the band. Moreover, the liner notes only feature two photos of the group and these are both taken from the Winning Days album. This wouldn’t be so bad if it was their most popular one, but the compilation contains the same number of songs from this as their debut record. Plus, former bassist, Patrick Matthews is no longer a member of the band and is now a member of Youth Group. Meanwhile, newer recruit and guitarist Ryan Griffiths only performed on the latter two albums.
I am being pedantic here, but it’s a visual misrepresentation to solely include two dated photos of the band, and it would be equivalent to someone releasing a Smashing Pumpkins greatest hits album with most of the tracks deriving from Zeitgeist while simultaneously using promo shots of D’arcy and James Iha.
In sum and in spite of my negative diatribe, the album is a strong release with many great tracks, including the aforementioned golden triptych and other singles: Winning Days, Outtathaway, Autumn Shade (parts one and two) and Homesick. As the majority of readers would have heard the bulk of the material, I will spare you the lengthy descriptions of the music. However, I will leave you with a final thought: perhaps my review is a little harsh given that The Sex Pistols have released over sixteen compilations despite only recording one studio album (albeit, a seminal punk one) and a movie soundtrack. Make of that what you will.
JackT
said ages ago