No matter how many times I listen to the latest release from Australian faux-garage rockers The Vines, I simply can’t get over how bad Craig Nichols’ voice is. Ignoring the virtues of originality and artistic merit, a decent portion of this album might be at least somewhat pleasing to the ear if Nichols wasn’t howling away so loudly. His voice isn’t bad in that bad-but-actually-kind-of-cool way that Michael Stipe’s or Kurt Cobain’s voice is; it’s simply grating, whiny and a distraction from the instrumentation, which offers little enough by itself.
I really wanted to give this album a decent chance. I actually liked their old single “Get Free” a little bit (gasp!), but after factoring the lack of innovation and completely derivative approach the band takes to its songwriting, I’m forced to conclude that Winning Days isn’t worth the plastic it’s burned on.
The album inexplicably opens with the two worst songs present, “Ride” and “Animal Machine.” Both sound like potential singles, as the band halfheartedly tries to rip off their moderately successful debut album. They fail to even imitate themselves successfully, and apparently realizing this, change style completely for the duration of the album. Most of the subsequent tracks sound like a bunch of middle schoolers who only ever listen to the Beatles and Radiohead’s OK Computer trying to write their own songs, and the results are predictable.
While the influences stem from some of the greatest music ever recorded, the Vines lack the will to go beyond the most tired uses of their instruments, and since they obviously aren’t trying to make this into an artistic statement ? la Guided By Voices, there’s absolutely nothing compelling about the songs assembled. As a public, proud burnout, Craig Nichols seems to have fallen into the trap that plagues so many high school bands: The great rock stars of history weren’t just stoned; they were geniuses, “stoned immaculate” as Jim Morrison said. If the Vines traded in their hash pipes for inspiration, they might actually have a fighting chance next time.
