Search - Rob Schnapf :: Winning Days

Better, Different, Sad, Crazy, Amazing Album

Daniel Nicolas | Carlsbad, CA United States | 03/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Vines second album Winning Days put to show who the real fans were. All the "I listened to it because everyone else did and it made me part of the 'in' crowd" people drifted away because it wasn't an exact duplicate of Highly Evolved, the band's first album. It wasn't all screaming guitars and vocals. It wasn't the same.



Don't buy Winning Days if you're looking for two copies of Highly Evolved.



However, if you're looking for musical expansion, chilling vocal blends, and amazingly expressed sadness, then Winning Days is for you.



Even on the heavier tracks (Ride, Animal Machine), Craig Nicholls fails short on the expection of screaming his way through the whole track. In fact, he does a pretty good job singing through most of the album.



The harmonies (Autumn Shade II, Winning Days, Rainfall, Amnesia, Sun Child) really stand out.



The guitars aren't just screaming all over the place, they are part of a song, part of a blend of harmonies, bass, drums, guitars, and the trademark scream of Craig Nicholls.



This album is suggested listening for anyone who enjoys good music."

About Taste, NOT Talent

J. E. Merrick | Louisville, KY USA | 07/01/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"People... listen to me. If you're going to review an album, review one that you understand. If you're into rap and review a classic rock album it really does nothing for anyone interested in making a purchase or giving a band a listen. The same can be said about people who are into different genres of music reviewing albums of different genres. "Alternative," is just a name for music that takes from all sorts of different genres and therefore can not actually be used as an absolute definition for anything unless of course you're trying to determine whether or not a group sounds indefinitely like Chuck Berry.



THE VINES are a group with a LOT of talent in their field. They have post-grunge hard hitting loud songs... but they also have mellow beautiful harmonious songs, 70's era Joe Walsh like tunes, songs reminiscent of The Kinks, trippy drugged out Beatles influences ala "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."



YOU HAVE TO TRULY LISTEN TO EVERY SONG A BAND PUTS OUT TO DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT YOU LIKE THEM, but just because they're not your flavor doesn't mean that it's cool to give them negative reviews... you just don't get the music.



This band loves the complication in simplicity. One of the hardest things for anyone to do is make difficult things appear to be simple and easy. If you don't like simple and easy to follow then this band is probably not for you... but I can tell you that catchy melodies and layers upon layers of vocal harmonies don't just materialize without a load of talent behind them. Anyone who can play guitar can come up with a melody while playing a series of chords, but coming up with a truly good one that gets people's attention is another story.



This album is more enjoyable to me than the first because it shows maturity. It's not to say that everyone will agree with me on the previous statement because there is a tighter production quality on this album compared to the first and that may have been what others liked about "Highly Evolved," but whatever the case may be... this album still provides a great ride and is well worth the money if you like the band.



Now, not every song on the album is an instant radio hit... or even a single... but all songs on "Winning Days," deserve they're spot and their own moment to shine on the record, whatever the length of the tune may be... and THAT says a lot about the talent and quality of music that comes out of this band.



You may complain about the run time of the album, but I'd take a shorter quality album over a longer version with mediocre material injected any day. You may complain that the band doesn't play intricate guitar on the entire album, but no one compared Craig Nichols to Slash here, and no one can honestly say that complication is the only avenue to take in creating solid music-The Beatles were the biggest band in the world... most of their material was only conceptually complicated but could be played within a couple years of picking up an instrument and sung by anyone with a tuneful ear.



On this album The Vines DO wear their influences on their sleeves a bit more and have begun to flesh out with a tad more cohesiveness the 60's era melody with Post-Grunge/Garage Rock style that they had birthed on "Highly Evolved," and all in all I have to say that I thoroughly enjoy the final product. Perhaps not for everyone, but definitely for some... if you like The Vines, you won't find any other band that sounds quite like them and I highly doubt that you'll be disappointed unless you were expecting some epic barrier shattering, history making album.



If you don't dig this style of music, your review is kind of pointless and you're really just wasting everyone's time. Of course, if anyone really wants to see if they like the album or not you can honestly just sample it on Amazon before you purchase it anyway. As for me, I totally dig this album and the band... if nothing more, they deserve to be recognized as very capable musicians and that really says a lot now-a-days.

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