VISION VALLEY - THE VINES
While the Vines introduce their third disc with a hand-clap-dusted riff-rocker that imagines Brendan Benson fronting AC/DC, they hardly keep up that pace throughout, adding strings to the so-so title track and even recalling Pavement’s great “Range Life†on the strummy “Take Me Back.†That is good and bad. They clearly want — and probably need — to grow and take chances with tempos and melodies as they do here on songs like the pile-driving “Gross Out.†But one wishes they would spend a little more time plowing through the album while kicking amps and knocking over mic stands rather than changing things up. The Vines are at their most fun when they turn a blind eye to musical evolution and getting songs on the radio. — Billboard
