The Vines

Arriving on the hipster radar around the same time as the similarly named but better-dressed Swedish retro-rockers the Hives, these Aussie grunge babies were adopted by 2002's "rock-is-back," who found enough protopunk swagger and '60s-style songcraft to anoint their processed Nirvana dirges as part of the garage revolution.

Pretty and petulant frontman Craig Nicholls seems to have come out of the womb with just the right sort of marketable disdain for the paparazzi who would surely plague his future. After the band wowed the Brits with its pop-slanted single "Factory," alt-rock über-producer Rob Schnapf stepped in and offered to guide their debut, Highly Evolved. His precision lushness makes the band's rawness sound a bit canned, though the single "Get Free" survives with its vroom and fractured bash intact. The grunge millstone hangs heavy on the rest, including the redeemingly energized "Highly Evolved" single, the middling tantrum "Outtathaway!," and the dreary reheated growler "In the Jungle." As things progress, though, Nicholls reveals himself to be also a partisan of Abbey Road–era Paul McCartney, with songs like the dolorous folkie pastoral "Autumn Shade," and the piano-flecked Cali dream "Sunshinin'." Unfortunately, in these moments, Schnapf can't resist slathering on the treacle. Followup Winning Days heads even further in that dazed direction. The heavier stuff is boilerplate SUV rock, with none of the uptempo cuts approaching the abandon of "Get Free." Curiously, though still overly filigreed, the folk-pop tunes on Days, especially the countryfied "Rainfall," evidence Nicholls' melodic sense emerging more inspired and nuanced than his Silverchair-hurling hissy fits. (LAURA SINAGRA)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide