"Okay, so critics opinions shouldn't matter, right? That said, positive press reviews never hurt a band and for the Vines can only help. Full reviews for most of these sources are set to hit newsstands next week, but check out the 4-star 'Guardian' review and these pull-quotes from other UK press sources...
The Vines, Vision Valley
4 stars (Heavenly)
Caroline Sullivan
Friday March 31, 2006
The Guardian
Focused, coherent, connected - not words you'd have expected to apply to the Vines' comeback album, which arrives 18 months after singer Craig Nicholls' Asperger syndrome diagnosis.
The press release makes such lurid play of his condition ("deranged yelps", "wailing wreck") that it seems miraculous he even persisted in writing songs, let alone was able to turn them into possibly the best 31 garage-rock minutes you'll hear this year.
This (rather than their mediocre second album) should be taken as the follow-up to their hyped-to-the-heavens 2002 debut, because with Vision Valley the Vines fulfil the promise they showed as the former "Australian Strokes".
Nicholls is detached and dreamy when the occasion demands it (Take Me Back and Going Gone exemplify the group's soft, harmony-drenched side), excitingly arrogant and Iggy Poppish when it doesn't.
The retro-rocking Anysound may kick off with Nicholls declaring, "I am a Vine, all twisted and frayed," but on this album, he doesn't sound in need of sympathy.
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/st...1742847,00.html
Pull-quotes from UK press:
"Possibly the best 31 garage-rock minutes you'll hear this year" - The Guardian 4/5
"Nicholls has regained his muse in spectacular form" - Q ****
"Arguably their best album yet. Let the comeback begin..." - NME
"Surpasses anything they've recorded to date" NME
"Return to the kind of form that saw them compared to Nirvana." - Big Issue
"A triumphant new album" - The Observer
"They’re back with their best, boldest album to date. - The Fly 4/5
NME like it?
I'm so happy for our boys!!
Also, please remember to put all official press reviews in Proper Reviews thread in the 'Vision Valley' section."
posted by wonkytooth
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