"Winning Days" Ahead for Vines

The Vines will release their second album, Winning Days, on March 23rd. The set follows the group's 2001 breakthrough debut, Highly Evolved.

The Australian troupe teamed again with producer Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith), recording the album on the heels of a lengthy tour behind Evolved. The Vines and Schnapf began work last May in Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, New York.

"We considered just re-recording the last album," frontman Craig Nicholls told Rolling Stone. "[But] I have a lot of ambition. We want to keep moving forward and up. Not up in terms of record sales, but in terms of overall satisfaction."

"FTW" (Fuck the World) is the album's first single, released through all U.S. digital retailers yesterday and also available for streaming at thevines.com. Other tracks, like "Amnesia," also show the band moving forward. "The layering of Craig's vocals is mind-blowing," Vines manager Andy Cassell said. "'Amnesia' has so many harmonies -- even though there are other instruments, all you hear is Craig's voice."

• 
  MUSIC 100 Greatest Debut Albums
• 
  MOVIES 'Great Gatsby' Is a Crushing Disappointment
• 
  TV Why You Should Watch 'Happy Endings'
• 
  POLITICS No Price Big Banks Can't Fix

Song Stories

“Let My Love Open the Door”

Pete Townshend | 1980

A peppy, hopeful love song, "Let My Love Open the Door" became a U. S. Top Ten hit for Pete Townshend in 1980, anchored by the kind of repeating synthesizer figures that he'd used in some of the Who's recordings in the previous decade. Although Townshend brushed the song off as "just a ditty" in Rolling Stone shortly after its release, in 1996 he revealed it was about love of the holiest sort. "It's supposed to be about the power of God's love," he remarked. "That when you're in difficulty, whether it's major or minor, God's love is always there for you."

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter