The Vines: Highly Evolved : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Right now, the Vines are the toast of England, and it's easy to see why. Just as the British are going barmy for such New York garage revivalists as the Strokes and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, these four handsome Australian lads are doing a fine job of plundering decades worth of trashy-yet-tuneful American rock. Besides serving up stripped-down garage anthems ("Get Free," "Outtathaway!") and updates of Bleach-era Nirvana ("Highly Evolved," "In the Jungle"), their debut album also trafficks in the spacey, pseudopsychedelic aura that has defined a lot of recent Brit pop - witness "Mary Jane," which duplicates the day-dreamy vibe of the Beatles' "Dear Prudence" as well as any Oasis song. Highly Evolved is a promising first effort that suffers from retro fever, natch, but with all of their members still in their early twenties, the Vines have plenty of time (and enough songwriting smarts) to outgrow their influences.

CHRISTIAN HOARD
(RS # 901 - July 2, 2002)