Craig on an Opera show

I dont know if you have this review-it's my favourite

VISION VALLEY THE VINES
IAIN SHEDDEN
APRIL 1-2,2006, THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN REVIEW pg.20
***** (5 stars)

THERE'S a Vision Valley in Hurstville,near where the Vines grew up.
It's a kid's camp retreat run by the New Church.In the subject of the title song here it's"where the river ends" and "the sun is coming down",a tranquil and innocent environment,perhaps that has long since escaped them.
Craig Nicholls is at his happiest writing songs and recording them.It's his place of perfect
isolation. Any other requirements for rock and roll stardom have benn a lot harder on him. His diagnosis 16 months ago of Aspergers's syndrome,a form of autism that makes any social situation difficult, brought to a close an unhappy chapter in his band's short history, a phase that included the departure of bass player Patrick Matthews.
Some thought that would be the end of the Vines.
But it isn't, and VISION VALLEY is the glorious proof.Given all that they've been through, the Vines' third album is a surprisingly great piece of work;13 songs clocking in less than 32 minutes,with only the sprawling SPACESHIP straying beyond an average two minutes for each track.
Nothing is throwaway.
There are more memorable hooks on display here than on WINNING DAYS or their much- lauded debut
HIGHLY EVOLVED.
The pop-grunge axis remains and these elements ignite in steaming guitars,drums and harmonies on GROSS OUT, the opening Easybeats-ish ANYSOUND and on the poignant and bitter FUTURETARDED.
Better still, there is a handful of exquisitely crafted guitar pop songs. DONT LISTEN TO THE RADIO is brilliant bubblegum with grunt, CANDYDAZE is a celebration of close harmony and chiming guitars,and there's a hint of the Byrds-Teenage fanclub on TAKE ME BACK and GOING GONE.
All round, a four and half star effort,with an extra half star for proving the doubters wrong.

^^Awww that's soooooooo sweet!! I love it!!



Oh lord...

aw, that review is definitely a keeper. it'd not been posted, so thanks so much for sharing.

The Vines - Vision Valley

Released: 03/04/06
Label: Heavenly/EMI
Rating: *** 1/5


Backlash, backlash, lets all have a backlash. It's at times like this when DIY takes up its riot shield and faces the masses with a big wide grin. This new Vines album. It's not a letdown. It's not crap. It's not 'awful, just like we all expected'. In fact, it's pretty bloody alright.

Cheap shots at easy targets are to be expected, obviously. But when you look at the arguments thrown at The Vines, they rarely, if ever, stand up. Sure, 'Vision Valley' isn't the most artistically brilliant piece of music you'll ever hear; it's somewhere just north of the three minute pop song gone grunge. It does wear its influences on its sleeve, sounds as you may expect, and doesn't want to challenge any boundaries. So what?

What you're looking at is just over thirty minutes of proper summer pop music; an album for days in the garden with the sun out. The handclaps and sing-a-long chorus of 'Anysound' should be more than enough to prove there's hook lines in them there hills, even without giving a band so close to the edge credit for coming back.

Craig Nicholls circa 2006 is, generally, a more controlled soul. For every screaming of 70 second buzz fest like 'Gross Out', there's a blissed out psychedelic pop song to match. Title track 'Vision Valley' trips out over what sounds like the bastard child guitar line of 'Karma Police', and while 'Fuk Yeh' and 'Futuretarded' may not be the best titles you'll ever hear for a song, the sheer positivity of 'Don't Listen To The Radio' more than makes up for it.

'Vision Valley' isn't a revelation in the career of The Vines, but it is a chance for the blinkers to come back off. Though 'Winning Days' contained one hell of a summer pop classic in the shape of its title track, a few bitter reviews and one (badly attributed) bad attitude sank it before it even got going. With a reformed frontman and some tunes to match, Nicholls deserves his second chance.

Stephen Ackroyd


And a DLTTR review from the same site...it sounds familiar but I don't know if it was already posted or I've just read it before. Here it is anyway...

The Vines - Don't Listen To The Radio

Rating: ****
There's only one way to handle a backlash; come back so bleedin' marvellous there's no hope of lightning striking twice. The fact that The Vines have managed to do that is nothing short of remarkable, given the much publicised problems of the last couple of years, but do it they have.

It's not that 'Winning Days' was a bad album, in fact it was Really Quite Good in parts; they were simply a band in the wrong place at the wrong time. Someone was taking the fall for the New Rock Revolution, and the (at the time) supposedly moody little brat of indie pop seemed a ridiculously easy target.

It won't be happening this time round. A band member down but a hell of a lot more understanding gained, 'Don't Listen To The Radio' heads up a slew of proper 60s-pop-via-90s-grunge pop stompers. If anyone was expecting Craig Nicholls to be handing in sick notes, they were very, very wrong.

Storming guitars and ridiculously uplifting handclaps bounce off the best scuzzpop harmonies the band have managed to date. Coming in at just over two minutes, it's no slouch of a track either. Like fellow new cuts 'Gross Out' and 'Anysound', 'Don't Listen To The Radio' is a welcome statement of intent; there's no room for filler this time around.

'Don't Listen To The Radio' is taken from The Vines forthcoming third album 'Vision Valley', released through Heavenly/EMI on 3rd April 2006.

Stephen Ackroyd

http://www.thisisfakediy.co.uk/articles/1170.html






The Times April 01, 2006

The Vines

Rating:***
Vision Valley
(Heavenly/EMI)

Anyone witnessing Craig Nicholls lurching around the stage with a cigarette up his nose in the Vines’ early days could be forgiven for thinking that he was a bit of a fool. The truth emerged when he blew a gasket in his home city of Sydney and was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, an extreme form of autism.

It has taken the band a couple of years to regroup, but Vision Valley has a clarity and poise that was absent from their second album, Winning Days. Ripsnorters such as Gross Out and Anysound are nicely streamlined, but it’s the relaxed, West Coast mood of slower numbers such as Take Me Back and Going Gone that suggests the ambulance chasers have to move on.


MIKE PATTENDEN

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/art...2107108,00.html

it would be funny LOL, i saw a picture of him with a violon, we can make him violonist in an opera show

The Vines' new record, Vision Valley, is today's featured review on Kevchino.com

Here's the link....http://www.kevchino.com/index.aspx?review=904

6/10. that isn't very pleasing

filter scan sent from ray at capitol.

Vision Valley
The Vines
[Capitol]
Baltimore Sun

Australia has always been a repository for both American and British pop culture. That dual influence is evident on the often-excellent third album from the Vines, the Aussie rock outfit fronted by the volatile Craig Nicholls.
The best songs -- crunchy, tightly coiled nuggets like "Anysound" and "Gross Out" -- are drenched in a Yankee flavor reminiscent of the Romantics. Go a little deeper into the CD, and the dank English mood descends with mediocre quasi-ballads like the title track and "Going Gone," which recall Oasis.

When the Vines cling to America, they're unstoppable.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/...-live-headlines

..Yankee flavor? Wtf?

Phoenix News Times

From Nirvana to The Donnas in just three moves! Those of you who only remember the post-grunge urgings of "Get Free" but let The Vines suffer the slings of sophomore slump alone might be surprised to find the abundance of tambourines, handclaps and songs under two minutes (seven out of 12). Those would be the rockers, most of which are immediately accessible but seem calculated after repeated listenings, like Enuff Z'Nuff vying to be the next Jet. Only Vision Valley's three ballads point to bold new directions for the band. Forget the "Australian Strokes" tag -- these guys could be the Down Under Teenage Fanclub if they really put their minds to it. Fans of Highly Evolved will just be grateful for front man Craig Nicholls hanging in there after being diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, not to mention any decent Vines album after the lackluster Winning Days, the most wildly misnamed album since Michael Jackson's Invincible. However, marginally interested people who feel shortchanged paying an $18.98 list price for a sitcom-length album should just wait for a used copy. In moviegoers' terms, it's a renter, but a feel-good one.

http://music.phoenixnewtimes.com/Issues/20...l?src=music_rss

Digital Spy
Anysound review 2nd May

After lead singer Craig Nicholl's diagnosis with Aspergers Syndrome (a form of autism) back in 2004, The Vines weren't sure whether they would be able to record together again. Harsh criticism from the press, as well as Nicholls' prominent breakdown on stage, collided together to form an immense amount of pressure on the group.

However, they have finally hit back after Nicholls responded well to treatment. And how. Anysound is only 1:55 long, but manages to pack a hell of a lot into that time. With no fancy production values, just throbbing guitars and Nicholls' achingly hoarse voice, you can practically feel the passion simply from listening to the meld of instruments and voice.

One of eighteen tracks written in a spate of creativity by Nicholls, the single is the perfect antithesis to much of the guitar-based crap that floods the charts at the moments. With bands like the Arctic Monkeys taking on the new diva status for their sector of the industry - refusing to play certain songs at gigs - one can't see The Vines choosing to do that (at least not any more).

As the biography on their website says: "The Vines have come full circle. They have nothing to lose because they find themselves at the bottom again." On the strength of this single, let's hope not for long.
4 stars

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds31743.html

Yeah in France too they put 3/5...

Yayay, Vision Valley got a great review from a pretty damn important newspaper over here. Shall I translate it and type it over?

that would be lovely, if don't mind.

I think we're talking about the same newspaper
I got so happy when I read it today.

AD Magazine, eh?

I'ma type it over tomorrow. I'm lazy. Sorrehh!

The Vines
Vision Valley
Capitol Records

The Vines burst onto the Australian music scene in early 2001 with their critically acclaimed debut, "Highly Evolved" which featured grunge inspired garage rock tracks that garnished comparisons to such bands as Nirvana and the Strokes. The Vines followed up with "Winning Days" which lacked all the qualities that made their first release so listenable. The band returns to their old ways on their latest album titled "Vision Valley" with 13 tracks sure to makes hipsters around the world drool.

The album kick starts with "Anysound" a track full of heavy punk pop power chords reminiscent of bands like Supergrass and the Bluetones. The Vines don't forget to pay homage to their heroes, Nirvana with "Nothin's Comin'" a song that is busting at the seams with the fuzzy 90's grunge sound. "Vision Valley" is an amalgamation of various different musical genres covering everything from the above mentioned grunge, garage, Beatles like pop tunes on "Candy Daze", and phycadelica ala Brian Jonestown Massacre style on "Atmos". Despite a disappointing second album, "Vision Valley" reclaims the Vines status as one of the major players in the Alternative pop scene.

Paul Borchert

http://www.moregoatthangoose.com/cds/cds.php?cd=00329.xml

bs. but YAAAAAY good review

http://www.rockandrollreport.com/the_rock_...view/index.html

check this review out. Well deserved i think.

Well while i was at school i came across this so called review, anyways this guys doesnt even know Craigs last name? he called him Craig Matthews and rated it 4 stars out of five. but where the fuck did he get Craig Matthews from?

heres the link anyways...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A12243656

oh whoa that first review is really rad, they gave it a really fair review !

stupid hardcore indie retards.....I managed to find two reviews they did in the local college paper for vision valley, and lets just say their not really flattering ( I send them a letter after and gave them a peice of my mind , and it was also printed in the next issue)

By Keith Carman
June 25, 2006

Album number three finds Sydney, Australia’s the Vines equally escaping and embracing the confines of the snotty, Nirvana-esque rock that plagued them for the early portion of their career. In terms of Vision Valley, they’ve realised that to please others is an invitation for certain doom. Growing into their instruments, half of this record expands beyond the overbearing four-chord attack of Highly Evolved and Winning Days, allowing the band to give things like soft, Cars-ish pop/rockers a shot with admirable results. The lilting sway of the title track is inescapably catchy and an overall air of laidback breeziness emerges that could border on the airy hippie schlock the Beatles fell into were it not for the step back into grunge territory via “Gross Out” and its “On A Plain” harmonies. Sadly, the band do have difficulty shifting out of first gear for the majority of the album resulting in a tough listen for those wanting a bit more mindless raunchiness. But when they do whip it out, it’s a step above their identity crisis-laden sophomore debacle.

By Bryan Borzykowski
May 10, 2006

Remember the Vines? They were the Aussie band, who in 2002 owned MTV’s airspace with the Nirvana sounding scorcher “Get Free.” They’re also the same group who almost destroyed their uber-successful career with 2003’s shockingly awful Winning Days. As their sophomore effort was going nowhere, the Vines’ lead singer Craig Nicholls was having major problems controlling his behaviour (he was later diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome) and it looked like the band’s days were numbered. Somehow, though, the Vines survived and even got it together to record a new album, Vision Valley. Like their first album, Highly Evolved, this disc is pure mid-’90s grunge. “Dope Train” is angst-y, brash and loud — it almost sounds like it’s off Nirvana’s Insecticide, while the melodic verses and screaming choruses in “Gross Out” would fit nicely on In Utero. It’s not all Kurt Cobain rip-offs though, the Vines are a lot poppier than Nirvana, and often come off sounding like Ash. Although Vision Valley is entertaining at times, it’s not nearly as meaty or as interesting as Highly Evolved, and the meandering six-minute closer “Spaceship” has no business being in the Vines’ oeuvre. What really saves this disc is timing. In 2002, the group were competing against the Hives, the Strokes and a bunch of other sound-a-likes, but now, with the Killers and Franz Ferdinand all over the radio, the Vines suddenly sound refreshing. Vision Valley won’t stand the test of time, but it’s worth a listen while it’s here.

The new album from the Australians The Vines is a meeting between vocals Craig Nicholls, the sanity and the explosive rock of Highly Evolved (2002). Vision Valley also answers a question: how much time do you need to do something of your routine?
Will Freeman, Hugh Grant's character on 'Um grande garoto' (dont know the name of the film in English), would answer half an hour. In half an hour he cuts his hair or watches a TV show. Craig Nicholls is a less boring guy: he'd answer 2 minutes. That's how long each track of the album lasts. Here's a suggestion of what to do (while listening the album) to test Craig's hunch and to know Vision Valley.

1. Dance allone in your room.
Two minuts is enough time to avoid that someone opens the door and you get a little embarassed. The suggested tracks are 'Anysound' or 'Dont Listen to the Radio', two of the three (!) singles already announced. The first one is more like The Vines, as the hits 'Get Free' and 'Ride'. The second one is very 'dancing'. Clap your hands, if you want.

2. Drink some Coke (or your favorite soda).
Now relax. Get some coke in the refrigerator and some popcorn. Nobody'd expect such a happy song from The Vines as 'Candy Daze'. 'Futuretarded' prepares you to the shouts.

3. Check the mailbox.
You have twenty seconds to pluck up courage, forty to find a break up letter and a minut to read it. Meanwhile, Winamp plays the beautiful 'Take Me Back'. 'Going Gone' also matches with jealousy.

The pain determines the end. If you go through this, go to the next paragraph. But if you're still sad, go to number 5.

4. Smoke a cigarette or eat some chocolate.
This is to make you satisfied. Who chooses the first option can see the smooth scattering in the atmosphere with 'Atmos'. But wacht out to not continue the trip with 'Spaceship', the only track with more than 2 minutes. The option to the non-smoking goes with the title track, pretty light to make up for the chocolate's calories.

5. Burn your room.
This end has more to do with Craig Nicholls. At the Winning Days' tour (2004), wich didnt succeed, he fought with ex-bassist Patrick Matthews and was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, a neurobiologic disorder. Now he's better, but he still sing his crazy songs such as "Gross Out" (third single announced), 'Fuck Yeah', 'Nothins Coming' and 'Dope Train'. When you scape from the fire, take your mp3 or your discman with Vision Valley. After these intense eight minutes, you deserve to listen to the one of the coolest albuns since the beggining of 2006.

This review is from a Brazilian site. Sorry for the bad English
http://www.pilulapop.com.br/receituario.php?id=296

WOOOOOOOOOO