The Vines The Winning Days Release Date: March 23, 2004 Label: Capital Rating: 3/5 Over the last couple of years, I think I've been trained to look at all of the efforts from every single band that's lumped in the nu-garage movement suspiciously. I've been told that the return to straight forward rock is a good thing. And that the plethora of bands that play with passion and without the typical gloss of big studio efforts will save my soul. And they may be right, but I think it's to a point where that ethos has been shoved so far down my throat that I no longer know if I actually hear the twangy thrashy music for what it really is, or if I actually - and simply - see the hip stylings of a nu-garage movement, regardless of substance. What in the fuck is a boy to do? March saw the return of The Vines, with their latest disk The Winning Days. Before the album was even released to the masses, the video for the first single "Ride" was in rotation on the TV. The video was filled with far too played-out imagery, a vocalist who's acting insane as he postures around the mic, band mates with dressed in ill-fitting t-shirts, complete with unkempt hair in their faces. Sure, there's nothing wrong with that imagery, but because of this the band is instantly lumped into the nu-garage archetype, mitigating any new idea or approach the band may have. When I listened to The Winning Days for the first time, I didn't know what to expect, and I ultimately didn't know what to think. I mean, come on, this is The Vines. The band that was, about 3 years ago, lumped together with The Hives, and The White Stripes, and quickly the trio was nailed to the cross and hailed as the saviors of rock and roll. And we loved it, and it was good. And then, the trio was over played, and over exposed. And then we hated it, and it was bad. Seriously, I'm willing to bet that any merits of these bands have been completely washed away and hastily replaced with totally fickle and subjective judgments. Yeah, Elephant was cool but Jack White is dating that chubby chick from that Bridget Jones Diary movie now?? Yeah, "Veni Vidi Vicious" was cool... but don't you think the bass player's moustache was a bit too ironic?? Who cares? Well apparently we all do. And now, when I try to judge the latest effort from The Vines, I find myself contextually judging a piece of work, based on spin, based on image, headlines... based on anything, but the music itself. So, fuck it. I've locked myself in my car, coupled with The Winning Days CD, a pad and a pen. No, I'm not driving as I write this. And no, I'm not paying attention the outside world as I listen... um... without prejudice (To accidentally quote George Michael). The Vines latest CD isn't perfect. But, a lack of perfection does not equate to a bad album. There's a reason why "Ride" was positioned to be not only the lead track on the album, but also the lead single... it's a good song. It's genuine rock song, complete with a classic caveman song structure of leaping from quieter to louder from quieter to a quick break back quieter finishing loud. The sound and approach isn't a huge leap from the previous album, Highly Evolved. But it works, and existing fan-boys will eat it up. There's nothing wrong with this at all, kids. Perhaps the one element of The Vines sound which almost always seems covered up, and almost always isn't promoted is their ability to take it down a notch. Craig Nicholls can pull of masterful, soaring harmonies over the more down tempo tracks the band creates. A shining example of this is the song "The Winning Days". It may be the greatest three and a half minutes of the entire disk. There are far too serious acoustic singer / songwriter types who wish they could pull off this kinda vocal pairing with such charm. But The Vines aren't daft... they know not to let their guard down for too long. By the end of "The Winning Days" we're back in it, bombastically knee deep in the electric riffs, the unkempt hair, the nu-garage image. But if you ignore the posturing and take in the music as it is, the odds are, you'll enjoy yourself. -Rob Anand Elsewhere The Vines website Published : April 22, 2004.