Powderfinger - DoubleAllergic

Fri 8th Jul, 2005 in Music Reviews

Imagine you’re in a band that put out a few successful EPs but when it came time to put down your debut record, uncertainty and inexperience caused it to flop enough to nearly be dropped by your record company. What do you do? Shake hands with your band-mates and go your separate ways? Or swallow your pride, tour like hell, and record a second album to convince everyone that your band has what it takes to become one of the biggest in the country? Thankfully Powderfinger chose the latter and came up with the melodic rock sounds of Double Allergic.

Nominated for seven ARIAs in 1996 and 97, Double Allergic was Powderfinger’s first hit record. After the band’s original success with their independent EPs, their follow-up album, Parables for Wooden Ears, did not match high expectations. But when Double Allergic was released in 1996, it showed the band were here for the long haul to become arguably one of the best of the decade. 

The album begins with the track Skinny Jean. I used to think it was about a girl that was too skinny, then I though she was too fat, and then I imagined some references to substance abuse. But it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that it’s a great song that starts off the dirty and moody rock that is to comprise the next fifty five minutes. Songs like this and track two, Turtle’s Head, are often criminally ignored from the ‘best of Powderfinger’ lists, possibly because they’re a bit darker then your usual.

The third track, Pick You Up, was the first single from the record and my favourite Powderfinger song. This and D.A.F. were the big singles from this album that gained the band lots of radio attention and ARIA nominations. The melodic guitar rock was toned down just enough to make it radio ready and catch the attention of many new fans.

The big dirty rock anthems are on the last half of the record.  Boing Boing, Give, Oipic, and Glimpse all feature heavy riffs with screaming guitars, neither of which drown out the vocal melodies of Bernard Fanning. His vocals are an important part of the success of the band and there is hardly a better singer in the country.  Fanning can go from rock screams to soft whispers and everything in the middle within seconds, leading the music all in the right direction.

Oipic was the first of the epic songs. Followed in later albums by Capoicity, Thrilliology, and maybe Pockets, these songs are longer than average and are all done so well by the band. The ‘oi’ epics all exemplify what is great about each of their albums.  By combining distinctive melodies with imported riffs, each epic song is unique in the same way that each album is unique, making Oipic an epic sized dirty riff.

These harder rock songs are complimented by a few toned down acoustic flavoured songs. JC is sung by guitarist Darren Middleton and features great lyrics about false icons in contemporary society.  This and the song before it, Living Type, allow a short breather from the heavier stuff.

The excessive use of the hidden b-sides is thing I can complain about with this record. As a rule they piss me off and these ones are no exception. These three songs are good; bitching aside. But the long breaks, combined with the scare factor from the returning music, means they rarely get the listen they deserve.

In some good album reviews they will tell you that any song could be a single. This definitely doesn’t apply to here. Most of these songs aren’t for radio.  You’re not supposed to hear them on the radio.  You’re supposed to listen to them at 2am when your roommate tells you to turn it down or in the back of a dark lecture theatre with your headphones shoved in your ears. If everyone heard how great Oipic was on the radio it wouldn’t be as special to those of us who love the album.

Powderfinger’s second album is filled with great anthemic dirty rock songs. Think dirty Led Zeppelin meets moody Nirvana meets melodic You Am I and you have Double Allergic. The difference between this album and others from the band is purely a matter of taste. The distinction between Double Allergic and its follow-up Internationalist is startling and while both are very good they polarise ‘finger fans and most are drawn to the dark side of Internationalist.  But if you prefer your music loud, your riffs dirty and your beer cold, Double Allergic is the record for you.