Highly Evolved

Scream rock

Kind of like The Hives but not as good? A garage revival band, but I'm not sure exactly what they're adding. I found this album at best super boring ("Mary Jane") and at worst really grating ("Factory"). Their big hit "Get Free" was a middling angsty yelly song that would be a throwaway track on a Sonics or Stooges record.

It's ok i guess. I can see where the Nirvana comparisons came from, not from the songwriting obviously, but the singer's voice and the way it drags out sometimes is similar to Cobain. The mix is really way too clean for something like this though, I need a bit more edge. Some of the harder rocking songs like Get Free are fun, but there's not enough of them.

The song selection is schizophrenic. The album has too many moods.

Eyeroll

Tan normal que ni me he enterado de qué va.

"Highly Evolved" but not particularly involving.

old wine in new bottles. very old wine, not very new bottles

Just making up the numbers in 90s indie. Sound like 6 other bands but doesn't improve on any

I remember this being pushed by the NME at the time and 'Get Free' being all over Kerrang TV. I suspect the British music press were looking to create a new music movement as a last-ditch to maintain some form of relevance in a rapidly changing media world. Unfortunately, in garage rock, they picked a fairly boring genre without a lot of variety and with little to say. The big singles from this album push the nirvana-esque sound. A style of music I find particularly dull. Going yeaaaah, ooooooh, heeeeey, over a loud minor chord says nothing other than you have nothing to actually say. Fortunately there are a handful of quieter, more subtle tracks on this record, which break up and balance the standard neo-grunge fairly well and make it a much more enjoyable listen. Rating: 2.5/5 Playlist track: Homesick Date listened: 17/09/23

It sounds like the sound track to Gran Turismo. I hate the soundtrack to Gran Turismo. Factory was a pleasant diversion though.

We had just gotten out of the 90s but for some reason The Vines wanted to take us straight back there.

Listened Before? N Someone got into their older brother's Nirvana records. Good for them, but it's no Nirvana. Lots of noise and oversimplified songs. Didn't hate it but probably won't listen again. Added to Library? N Songs added to playlist: Get Free

They huffed and they puffed but they failed to blow the house down. A lot of noise and faux fury going nowhere.

Até achei que já tinha escutado, mas deve ter sido hives, whites ou algo similar e que soa com indie mais alegrinho.

I feel like his voice was just lazy… I was kind of impressed with “Mary Jane” I don’t know it was cool but otherwise I am not totally sure. It did get progressively better, but it’s not amazing.

Too much like Nirvana in enough spots to prevent the occasional breaches into legitimately-talented songwriting to shine through. Highlight: "Sunshinin" Not my bag. 4/10 2 stars.

Very mid.

Keskinkertainen. Ei purassut.

Kuulostaa tavanomaiselta rock-levyltä vuodelta 2002. Sanoisin 2,5/5 ja hämmennys listalle pääsystä pyöristää alas.

Boring and generic. Sounded like everyone else that came out around the same time. Maybe 2.5

Just because it’s loud indie doesn’t mean it’s good indie

Y dis on ze list

I just don’t see the point of all this

So generic. No hits.

Correct, genre de punk rock moyen ahah J'ai pas trop trippé ca sonne générique 2.75

2.7 - A pungent blend of runoff from various genres: grunge, neo-garage and Britpop. All masticated into a loud unappealing stew.

"The Vines were frequently compared to Nirvana". I'm not a Nirvana fan and can clearly see this is bullshit. Fuck the Brit loving music apologist that put this on the list of things to listen to before you fucking die. If you're compared to one of the greatest bands from a genre, you need to be better than them or shut the fuck up. 2.5/5.

Wasn't as bad as I feared, mainly because it's quite short. Sounds like a high school band playing their favorite '90s tunes in the local scout hut. Fair enough, I suppose, but I've seen friends in bands with much more talent and originality have no success, so it seems a bit unfair that something so elementary and derivative can make this bunch of drongos quite rich.

2.5

Australia's honest entry into the garage rock revival of the 2000's. Get Free was the hit song, and not without reason. The other songs, unfortunately, leave little impression. This is made doubly so by the back end of the album, which drags on until the very end. While it all sounds just fine, it barely registered in my brain that I listened to a full Vines album. That was just Get Free and a bunch of other noises. Whatever.

C+ Highly Evolved - 2 Autumn Shade - 3 Outtathaway - 3 Sunshinin - 2 Homesick - 4 Get Free - 2 Country Yard - 4 Factory - 3 In the Jungle - 2 Mary Jane - 3 Ain’t No Room - 3 1969 - 3 I really liked this album from the get-go thanks to its cover art. The music was really good, but I wasn't the right audience. When it spoke to me, it hit hard, but mostly it felt like it was speaking to others. Definitely an album I'll return to at some point.

In Country Yard singt der Sänger: „I'm tired of feeling sick and useless” und man möchte ihm zurufen: „Dann mach’ was aus deinem Leben und bitte keine Musik mehr!“ War dann der Moment, in dem ich das Album ausgemacht habe.

Uh

It's not quite my kind of music but I think it also hasn't aged well. A little bit too forgettable.

Mjeh i aint feeling it

"frequently compared to Nirvana" ... well that was disappointing.

Did not engage with this at all. Not terrible, but really bland, especially considering all the different sounds incorporated on the album.

Energetic and varied rock album with nothing particular exciting about it. It’s just kinda there.

Nää

Demented band. Demented music. Not a fan.

#427/1001. According to an ai review, "Media Hype — The British music press, especially NME, heavily promoted The Vines, comparing them to Nirvana and labeling them as the 'saviors of rock', which contributed to their initial popularity This week I also get the Strokes first album, which according to the same review "Media Influence — The New Musical Express (NME) played a crucial role in promoting The Strokes, creating a buzz that positioned them as the saviors of rock music." Artic Monkeys, Libertines, White stripes, Franz Ferdinand, Pulp, Blur, Oasis, Hives, Suede, the LA's... There is a long list who saved rock. I have a few questions: how do new bands save rock, since most just repeat what others have already done? And more importantly: does rock need saving? Just a claimer, that yes, I've given high scores to some of these 'rock saviors', it is more the hype I am criticizing, at least when it is far from reality, such as the case with this one.

🙄😮‍💨 ne mogu. 1/5, 1/10

Nope This was a tedious listen I guess the warning sign was the Nirvana reference in the review section Next warning was the list of other bands being compared to - none of them are to my liking Nothing memorable here at all

★½

Pointless waste of 45 minutes

Please stop giving me garbage

4 seconds in and i already know the sort of triple j spider fucking i'm about to receive. no. fuck No. full Beatle™️ violators. circa clockstoppers (2002) capitol records 90s distillation "walkie talkie man" bogshite. the faggy warhols™️ even. if only Bruce Almighty could save me now. 0.5-2.

This should've been left in 2002 (and it wasn't good then either)

Its OK. Nothing stood out.

Post grunge Australian rock …not my bag and wouldn’t have made my top 1001

1. evolved - 0 2. zhaved - 1 3. out - 1 4. zun - 0 5. zick - 1 6. free - 2 7. yard - 1 8. factory - 0 9. jungle - 0 10. mary - 2 11. room - 0 12. 1969 - 1

Alternative band from Australia, cool band name and a great looking album cover. This should be a homerun, right? Well, we had three great albums in a row this week... I suppose it's the law of averages that a clunker comes along. It seems like the vision here was to mimic differing styles of music then add screaming and guitar feedback. Which I guess is something different, but it just doesn't work. And it doesn't help that the mixing sounds like someone's cat walked across the mixing board and they just went with it. Why is the guitar feedback louder than everything else at times? There were a few moments that sounded okay but ultimately sounded derivative or just forgettable.

eee spis ne bro

Toto ma nezaujalo...

ABC book of a bit from here Nirvana, a bit from there Beck and so it goes on... Back to my audiobook

Squelch and scream. Nope that.

third rate, at best. very derivative - the Cobain screams, the Pixies LOUD/quiet arrangements, the Nirvana mixing of scratchy guitars with GREAT BIG MONSTER RIFFING GUITARS. some mild Beatle-isms, too. overall, a waste of time. not one original idea on it.

Mediocre at best. Widely over hyped at the time, no idea why it's on this list.

Not a fan

Not my vibr

not really my stuff, too happy? dont really like the vocals, music is forgetable. Really heavy Nirvana influence, but in the wrong way for my taste

Oh, bloody hell, it feels good when it stops.

Angsty aughts. No thanks.

A bit like the strokes but without any good songs

The fact that this is on here but Weezer isn't is hilarious. One star.

The one hit wonder syndrome. I think I covered this theme before with The Only Ones. If you trotted off to the cross roads with Robert Johnson and butted into the chat with Beelzebub, and before he said fuck off I'm talking to Robert, he told you you'd be a one hit wonder would you take it? Listening to this, I'm still not sure what I'd do? I'm sure The Vines were fun to see live but this is just a cavalcade of direct lifts to create a sound which is ok, not exciting or anything, just ok. Get Free, blimey get in the queue on what he's nicked there bless him, but it's ok. Word of warning though Craig, Daniel Johns and a few others, maybe even Brian Eno cause he pops up everywhere, will come a knocking on your door one day.

Overproduced, under-performed, unoriginal.

God save me from whiny men and mediocre music

they tried to trick me at first but this is not good.

Kinda forgettable, songs develop in predictable ways (with a few exceptions), and sounds quite derivative of the beatles/nirvana

Dull

Awful

Not for me.

nah

Its like a mix of screaming and Oasis without much else.

Not. For. Me.

Sounds very uninspired. Didn't like it.

Genres will naturally expand, evolve, and become something different from the original creation, a phenomenon witnessed across the entire spectrum of music. A progression that is sometimes natural, but often derivative, cashing in on the trend. Take a look at genres that blew up over the years, and you find this phenomenon occurring across the board. Whether it's hard bop, rebel country, death metal, black metal, or grunge, you can find derivative music that is mostly parts of something else, something worse, the perpetuation of a trend, or bands breaking out with truly unique sounds that capture the entire world. Vine, I am certain that much to their own satisfaction, was called the next Nirvana, or perhaps a resurrected Nirvana, laughable at best. How does one consider a band like the Vines as being out of the ashes of Nirvana? Vines: Highly Evolved is just that —a highly evolved distillation of first-wave American Grunge with Britpop added to the mix, featuring an abundance of "yeah, yeah, yeah" and "oh, oh, oh," along with highly repetitive guitar work and one track that sounds like a smooth brain version of the Clash. Highly Evolved is, if anything, highly manufactured music with pristine production and influence from every song they liked as a child, shoehorned into 43 minutes of unmemorable distillation from far more creative minds. 2002 held some incredible releases, but Highly Derivative is not one of them. A record where the correct music journalists wrote down the correct things to help establish a band that had zero business at that level, demonstrating quite clearly that when the correct keyboard and pen say the correct things, you will find success because you are being arbitrarily pushed to the top. You get the most Nirvana-sounding track on the radio, and the rest is history, obviously. Here we are, twenty-three years later, discussing an album that belongs in Walmart bargain bins. I suggest two records off the top of my head that would be fine substitutes for the Vines album, or a cleansing of the ears through listening to something that holds your interest and is unique. Sonic Youth - Murray St.: Seems sensible to listen to a brilliant return to form and a progenitor of grunge itself. Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights: Completely original and unique, and also imitated to no end.

This is so generic and uninspiring. Give me duck stab over this any day of the week.

Не чув раніше. По відчуттям альбом не дуже сильно постарів. Відчувається як ок суміш гранжового вокалу (щось середнє між Куртом та Лейном) з гаражним роком. В мене загальне враження "що тут цей альбом робить?", але й треба визнати, що декілька непоганих хітів тут є.

Not my cup of tea at all. Had to abandon listening.

Oh my god I hate this.

Sounds like Nirvana, but not as good.

Very samey. Homesick best track

Btec nirvana

did not need to hear this before i die and don’t you dare compare it to nirvana…yawn

oh no someone dropped Oasis and left it outside for a couple days 😞

++: Sunshinin +: Country Yard, Mary Jane, Ain't No Room, 1969 +-: Highly Evolved, Outtathaway, Get Free, Factory, In the Jungle -: Autumn Shade, Homesick 4,2/10

Even worse than The Strokes. The obvious intentional derivative posturing is like at like AI levels.

Zero interest in this shit

Complete crap

"Get Free" almost keeps this from being a 1/5. But not quite. Why the fuck is this even here?

I can't believe I had to listen to this.

What is this doing here? It’s not in the Dimery book? They probably didn't deserve all the scorn for coming along when the record business decided Rock Was Back and slotted this alongside the Strokes, White Stripes, and all the LES bands. But I mean...cmon.

Kept waiting for something, anything, remotely worth hearing. Still waiting.

"Must hear" LOL 40 days in, first record I haven't finished. I was losing brain cells with every track.

Get free is cool. The rest meh

Yeahhhh very much not my thing. They feel like a cheap parody of a rock band.

Wow this is just awful, really awful. This is even worse than I remember it being. It's musically a dribble of piss.

Hard rock. Pass.

100% background buzz to me. Wikipedia says "The Vines were frequently compared to Nirvana". I totally disagree.

two albums in a row where i’m like. yeah this is music. not much more.

1/5

Listened to this while walking home in a severe thunderstorm at 3am and got pissed that I might get hit by lightning while listening to this bullshit

1+ Stars (3/15)

Naming a record containing 45 mins of the most run of the mill early 2000's rock music 'Highly Evolved' is either beautfiully tongue in cheek or willfully ignorant

No

They're like the modern day Beatles. Shite, if you will

Boring.

trash can

Why do I get the impression, that most of the 'Indie'-Bands are trying to learn their instruments. I think there is a cause for their indipendence - most of the major labels don't want to take the risk. This Album gives me this impression. Beside of learning their instruments, they are seeking verry hard any direction - from pop - balads in some kind of Beatles - style to shouting punk tunes. for me it's absolute clear, that they have nothing to do with the 1001 list

Boring at best. This is an inconsistent mishmash of styles and it's not very well executed. Found myself getting annoyed with these guys. Even after a few listens it never really clicked. I have it on CD, but I won't bother taking it downstairs from the loft.

Highly Evolved Get Free

This entire album just sounds like a grunge record from Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins released 10 years too late. Listeners should just stop fucking about and go listen to the real thing. The Vines bring nothing of themselves or originality to this album and therefore it does not belong on this list. There were plenty of bands that were releasing original and vital records in the naughties and this is not one of them; and frankly this lists' record of selecting records from the naughties has been utter shite.

This album is a good reminder of why the British considered throwing tea into a river as one of the highest forms of violence one could commit. Bland, uninteresting record that's indistinguishable from the plethora of other British rock acts from this period who were all trying to be the modern Beatles. There's a song called Mary Jane and guess what the fuck it's about.

why does this guy like pink floyd so much jesus christ don’t know if i even finished this album it was so boring i wanted to kill myself some of the slower songs are not bad, but it doesn’t make up for how basic and unremarkable the rest of this garbage is wish it didn’t suck as much as it did finding very little redeemable or interesting things about any of this ok i’m calling it i don’t think i’ll come back to this, and if i did, i wouldn’t even remember the name of the song i liked the most and i don’t want to wade through audio feces to find gold

no no

Get Free was okay but this was boring at the time and hasn't got more interesting with age. Possibly the low point of early 00s NME barrel scraping - at least the Libertines had the occasional melody .

Ok

Like a lesser Stone Temple Pilots... which is like saying, "Worse than sucks."

A while ago 1001 generated Ash:1977. This album is more garage rock and has even worse songwriting.

Not really my type of music. Favorite track: Factory

Langweiliger Rock

Unbearable. Generic early 2000 indie rock. Hated it back then still hate it now

Rock muy basicon de los 2000. Bajísima calidad, todo ruido. Un Green Day pedorrisimo.

I tried to find a redeeming quality in this music. Too bitter I lost 45 min of my life. 1/5

forgettable

Not in the mood

Meh

Det här är ju bra trist.

Highly dull.

Hey album, what are you doing on this list? No one, certainly not the critics (4.1 by Pitchfork), finds you remarkable. No problem you exist and that some persons like you, but to me you're just another 1.5 hours (two spins) waisted by very mediocre rock. Now I feel like a bully, but I'm just being honest.

The only comparison to Nirvana they deserve is that I'd rather take a shotgun to the head than listen to this worse-than-Bush grunge parody'

Oh man this record rubs me the wrong way. Its way too shouty and quite annoying.

Highly bad. Been six days since I heard this and the memory has the sensational impact of a stale eggy fart.

Take a slice of Nirvana, cook it in a Britpop sauce (part Blur, part Oasis), sprinkle with abundant portions of psychedelia and early 2000s garage rock (à la The Strokes), and what you get is a predictable "indie" success at the time this one came out. The thing is, none of those great ingredients gel or interact in any sort of cohesive or satisfactory manner in *Highly Evolved*. I felt it at the time, and I feel it even more now. Worse, there are quite a few embarassing moments in this LP. The verses of "Factory" sound like Paul McCartney circa 1975 playing a ska song. Should I really need to say more? I mean *really*??? Two things ruin this record overall: first the transitions between the different sorts of songs are absolutely jarring. Sometimes topsy-turvy albums have their charms. Here, unfortunately, the stylistic 180-degree turns are just awkward. Yet the *real* problem is that the songs are themselves pretty lame, even taken on their own. The chord successions are unoriginal and predictable. The compositions are boring. Long tracks have grating vocal lines that meander aimlesly, and short tracks feel half-cooked. Only the rockers "Get Free" and "Highly Evolved" are fully enjoyable--mostly through the energy that's displayed in those Nirvana and The Strokes rip-offs... Too bad those two decent cuts are not enough to save this record from disaster. On their strength, I could have been led to believe the album was somewhat even remotely interesting. Glad I didn't fall into that trap at the time. And also glad that I could listen to that thing again. Sometimes, as you get older and broaden your tastes, you end up changing your mind about some acts. But not in here, and not me. 1/5 for the purposes of this list of "essential" albums. Which translates to something between a 4/10 and a 6/10 grade for more general purposes, such as assessing the hard work made a professional band. Hey, it's still better than the 1 or 2/10 mark I would give to Limp Bizkit, at least. Next please. 😏 Number of albums left to review: 533 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 224 Albums from the list I *might* include in mine later on: 108 Albums from the list I will certainly *not* include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 136 (including this one)

Nothing in it really caught my ear