The Vaccines - What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? (Album Review)
Monday, 21 March 2011
Written by Liam Gascoigne
From hearing all the hype about The Vaccines over the past few months, I wasn't sure exactly what I did expect from The Vaccines.
This is a band that seemingly came out of nowhere. A year ago, this band weren't even together - yet within months, were being touted as the group to save music, the modern day Beatles, the messiahs. Are we being brainwashed? Is Simon Cowell their publicist? Or are they genuinely good enough for all the hype?
The title track of the album - 'Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)' - as well as proving how dramatically fast their rise was (the single charted at number 157 as recently as November 2010) - is a perfect opener. Quick and straight to the point, it sums up everything good about this album. 'If You Wanna' continues the great sound, and as being arguably the catchiest song on the album, is the song that will make you start to realise just what you did expect from The Vaccines.
If you decide that what you expected is good then you will love the rest of the album, if not, then this won't be your thing. The rest of the album provides some of the catchiest hooks of the year and "Her mind's made up, she don't wanna go steady, she's only 17 so she's probably not ready" from the very catchy 'Norgaard' will be on most people's lips over the summer.
Are they anything original? Not at all. Obvious similarities go to The Ramones and The Strokes where as the song 'Family Friend' in particular is reminiscent of the more recent wave of bands like Glasvegas and White Lies. However, having your influences and sounding like somebody else doesn't matter if you can make it work. And The Vaccines certainly do.
It isn't a perfect record, far from it. The album doesn't break any boundaries, none of the songs are particularly clever, especially 'Post Break Up Sex' and 'Under Your Thumb', a track in which they seem to have forgotten how to write lyrics. However, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives.
It's clear that with The Vaccines becoming so hyped and popular in such a small space of time, that they simply got a lucky break. However, you still need the tunes to go with the hype, which they most certainly have got.
It took me a while to realise what it was I expected from The Vaccines but after listening to this a couple of times, I finally realised that it was pretty much exactly this. And it didn't disappoint.
Stereoboard Album Rating: 7/10
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
The title track of the album - 'Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)' - as well as proving how dramatically fast their rise was (the single charted at number 157 as recently as November 2010) - is a perfect opener. Quick and straight to the point, it sums up everything good about this album. 'If You Wanna' continues the great sound, and as being arguably the catchiest song on the album, is the song that will make you start to realise just what you did expect from The Vaccines.
