THE BAD: The Vines - Vision Valley

When people get sick then try to do things they used to, deep down inside you root for them to do a good job, but you know it’s never going to be as good as when they weren’t sick. This brings us to The Vines. Recently, the lead singer was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. Now, he’s most likely had this all his life, including during the recording of the first two albums. And maybe, the reason those albums worked was because he was dealing with the fact that he felt different than the rest of the world and it came through in the music. But now that he knows he’s different than the rest of the world, he’s trying to sound normal…and it just doesn’t work. At all. The Vines started as this Nirvana meets the Troggs, genre-bending band. What they delivered this time around doesn’t even deserve…

….to be mentioned in the same paragraph as those bands. Oddly at 13 songs, this album barely clocks at 28 minutes. Glad to see they put so much effort into it.

Vision Valley

1. Anysound – A decent kick-off melody that never really kicks off.
2. Nothing’s Comin’ – Verse Chorus Verse Chorus Verse (been there done that)
3. Candy Daze – Sounds exactly like their song Winning Days except with different lyrics and nowhere near as good.
4. Vision Valley – Probably the best song on the album. And probably because it rips off the melody from R.E.M.’s Country Feedback.
5. Don’t Listen To The Radio – The only other song on the album worth listening to. Sound like it could have been on any of their other albums.
6. Gross Out – At one minute twenty seconds long…this song still manages to overstay its welcome.
7. Take Me Back – Again, this song is listenable only because the melody is lifted from another song…Pavement’s Range Life.
8. Going Gone – A nice soaring melody that takes off then just sits there.
9. Fuk Yeh – If you thought by mispelling "Fuck Yeah" the song would then rock...you'd be wrong.
10. Futuretarded – The future’s not retarded…this song is.
11. Dope Train – A song that brings back sounds of their first album. But by this point, I’m not really listening anymore.
12. Atmos – For the first minute, you think you might be listening to a good rock song. But then the song…slows…down…and…starts…sucking….
13. Spaceship – If the Beatles got so loaded up with LSD, pot, acid, and ‘shrooms…they might make a song like this. What am I talking about? They would shoot themselves if they made a song like this.
    

How it compares…

1. Winning Days – B+
2. Highly Evolved – B
3. Vision Valley - D

Something for your ipod...

1. I'm Only Sleeping (Beatles cover)
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CDUniverse : Vision Valley - The Vines
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