Customer Reviews

Winning Days

5 star:		(63)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Wow people. Are you out of your minds? This album is friggin awesome. "just not the vines" "difficult second album" "let down." Ouch. I love the Vines, and I say that the Vines have done what they did on Highly Evolved and made it better. I still like their mellow stuff (Mary Jane, Homesick, Autumn Shade II, Winning Days,) and they really can rock out (Outtathaway! Ride, She's got something to say to me.) I don't know why you people say this album isn't as good, or sucks. You're wrong! If you liked the first album, you'll definately like this.
Absolutly get this album.

The Vines have truly outdone themselves here. Pay no mind to the bad reviews you may have read. And what's up with that, by the way? I swear, when this cd first came out it was getting rave reviews and now it's like music magazines are trying to erase history by dissing this cd, probably just because it didn't sell well. That's not how you should measure or judge art/music. Music magazines, quit trying so hard to be cool by putting down cds that have a less-than-stellar sales record. They did the same thing with R.E.M.'s last couple of studio albums; they gave them great reviews upon release, but a year later acted like they never liked those cds from the get-go!
If you're a fan of catchy choruses, loud/soft garage band dynamics, and especially, lush, layered vocal harmonies, stop what you're doing right now and run out and buy this cd. The attention to detail on the multi-tracked vocals is what really stands out on Winning Days, more so than on Highly Evolved. Yes, this music may not grab you as quickly as that on Highly Evolved, but after repeat listens, it will grow on you.
Standout tracks include TV Pro, Autumn Shade II, Winning Days, and Amnesia, it being my favorite. The mood evoked by Amnesia is so laid back, trippy and atmospheric, it gives me goosebumps when I listen to it! The guitar solo in it definitely uses the "less is more" technique, as far as notes, to great effect.
Overall, I can't say enough good things about this cd!

The Vines second album Winning Days put to show who the real fans were. All the "I listened to it because everyone else did and it made me part of the 'in' crowd" people drifted away because it wasn't an exact duplicate of Highly Evolved, the band's first album. It wasn't all screaming guitars and vocals. It wasn't the same.

Don't buy Winning Days if you're looking for two copies of Highly Evolved.

However, if you're looking for musical expansion, chilling vocal blends, and amazingly expressed sadness, then Winning Days is for you.

Even on the heavier tracks (Ride, Animal Machine), Craig Nicholls fails short on the expection of screaming his way through the whole track. In fact, he does a pretty good job singing through most of the album.

The harmonies (Autumn Shade II, Winning Days, Rainfall, Amnesia, Sun Child) really stand out.

The guitars aren't just screaming all over the place, they are part of a song, part of a blend of harmonies, bass, drums, guitars, and the trademark scream of Craig Nicholls.

This album is suggested listening for anyone who enjoys good music.

The Vines follow up to the highly rated and highly successful Highly Evolved proves the band still knows how to make great music.
Ride - The first single and for good reason. Catchy, smart & addictive, this track is a standout and it is unlikely you'll ever be sick of this.
Animal Machine - The song hits you straight away. This is hard alternative at its best.
TV Pro - Has a dreamy feel to it. Soft verses, rocking chorus.
Autumn Shade II - Matches the original and then some. A soothing ballad.
Evil Town - WOW. Blows you away with the awesome guitar riffs and Craig's voice shines on this song.
Winning Days - Could this be the Vines best song ever? Very Classy has a Beatles feel to it.
She's got something to say to me -Has a nice 60's garage feel to it.
Rainfall - A nice indie ballad with nice drumbeats.
Amnesia - Dreamy, slow song that makes you really appreciate the Vines. Best song on the album. You'll be transported into another world when listening to this song.
Sun Child - Nice, simple acoustic ballad.
FTW - The Vines at their rocking best. Great hard rock song with a cheeky title!

This album is a must for anybody who loves good music. Simple as that!

This cd is much, much better than the vines previous effort, Highly Evolved. I've read a few reviews here claiming otherwise, and I must say I disagree completely. This cd here is much more cohesive, and mature. The Vines move past the simple grunge and drive of the first album, and here one can find quite a few songs with a strong melody, and very impressive harmonies. The Vines best songs in my opinion, are the ones where they utilize the harmonies.

Ride is a strong song to open this album, and has a feel of a Highly Evolved track, but much better. The next great song, in my opinion is Autumn Shade 2. Autumn Shade 1, off the previous album, is much weaker. This song is incredible, and hard to believe it's a Vines tune. Track 5 is good, but track 6, the title track is wonderful. It has a slow, smooth opening, and gets going quite nicely about a minute in.. by the time it ends, I'm hitting back on the cd player to listen to it again.

Track 7, She's Got Something to Say to Me, is hard to describe. It has a certain punk feel to it, almost Ramones-like.. and by the time it gets to the chorus, I'm thinking Beach Boys. Weird. I love this track though. Very well done.

Track 8, Rainfall is my fave. If I'm ever in a bad mood, driving in my car, I can pop this cd in, and put it on this track and I'm instantly singing along, tapping away on the steering wheel. This song is extremely catchy.. another repeatable track.

Amnesia is best hi-lited by the incredible guitar at the end of the track. Very fun...

Please do yourselves a favour, and buy this cd before Highly Evolved. I'd even go as far as to say, skip Highly Evolved.. it's nothing compared to this one!

Winning days has a great variety of songs, ranging from fast to slow, and aggressive to calm. It's very much rooted in straight-forward riff rock, which works very much in their favor on tracks like 'Ride' and 'Animal Machine'. But they also have ways of colouring songs with a surreal aura, like 'Autumn Shade II', where Craig Nichols sings with dreamy harmonies. It is these touches on many of the album's songs that raise them to a higher level.
I'm not sure why so many critics dislike this album. It's incredibly strong track to track. The craftsmanship is similar to Highly Evolved, and I think they've managed to improve their songwriting without sacrificing the aggressive fury that was ever present on that album.
I heartily reccomend Winning Days. Also worth noting is the fantastic 'TV Pro', which begs to be played at maximum volume and is definitely one of the best rock songs in a long time.

Its astounding how small the interest surrounding the Vines' new album is compared to their debut, but think back a year or two, and Highly Evolved was all the rage, even reaching, ridiculously, one of Q's all-too-frequent 'Top 100 Albums Ever' lists. Despite some good moments (the utterly fabulous single 'Get Free') that album was patchy at best. Unfortunately, 'Winning Days' is just the bad side all over. Their Nirvana-meets-Beatles formula of snarling rock is still evident on first single 'Ride', but its a stodgy regurgitation of previous, better, efforts.

Elsewhere, muddy guitar riffs, willfully unhinged vocals and pointless guitar solos often dominate. 'TV Pro' starts with an intruiging, Mercury Rev-esque verse, but gets ruined by a tremendously unoriginal shout along chorus. 'Autumn Shade II' and the title track revive their love for pastoral folk, and keep things eclectic, with nice, Beatles-esque harmonies, but won't move mountains - Nicholls voice less suited to this style than the rock. Shame, then, that the rock is turgid. 'She's Got Something To Say' is so like early Nirvana its almost funny, and 'Animal Machine', 'Sun Child' and 'Rainfall' almost stray into Oasis B-sides territory.

Nirvana meets Beatles is the exact formula throughout - but let's face it - that's not a tremendously imaginative combo. We get strains of the psychedelic here and there, but couldn't you get the same so much more gorgeously off so many other albums? Nicholls' live performances now are laughably poor too, and the signs are all that the band is soon to implode. Unfortunately, that may be the best thing for all of us.

This album is full of beautiful, amazing, sarcastic and gorgeous songs that have a slight hippie cross dead beat edge to them, yet still contain that element of the soft rock that so many bands try but fail to achieve.

To say this album is perfect would be a lie, because it is not. But it is scary how close it comes to being so. The songs are a mix of lots of different styles, and they surprisingly mix together well to make a strange yet attractive sound that is catchy and hard to ignore.

I am not really a fan of this kind of music, but the vines have pulled me in and got me addicted to their quirky lyrics, which are at times hard to understand, but you can still appreciate them none the less.

The fact the singer is a nut case doesn't affect the album in a negative ay at all, and if anything, it gives it an intellectual side that many albums fail to grasp.

Overall, this album is great. It's smooth, easy to listen to, a great album to just listen to while you want to relax and an amazing listen. Buy it while you can, because it is well worth your money!

The problem with the Vines, if there is any, is that there was just too much hype at the beginning of their career, and they suffered the by now standard second-album NME backlash.

Winning Days was dismissed automatically by many eager to bring them down a few pegs, but it is an album that deserves multiple listenings which reveal its powerful melodies and great musicianship. The impact of their first album left little room to move for the band: they continued to do what they do so well. The album certainly doesn't break new ground, but let us be honest, there are very few bands that do so on their second album.

The Vines remain to my mind one of the best live bands around by capturing that wild unpredictable element that is so sadly lacking in many of today's performances. Winning Days is a brilliant album that suffers by being just as good as their first album, which was not apparently good enough for many critics.

Don't believe the hype: The Vines are really one of the best things around today.

I want you to ignore whatever you have previously heard about the vines. Most people only think of them as the band with that crazy singer, but those people are narrow minded and can't appreciate a good thing. I think winning days is a brilliant album. Like someone else said, it does take time to get used to, it gets better and better every listen! Put this album on when you are just hanging out or doing nothing and listen to how well the songs flow together. My 3 favorite tracks are going to have to be animal machine- dont ask what the heck it means, just listen, really listen to the music!! I also really like autmn shade 2- i love zoning out to this song. Craigs voice is so beautiful and this song has great imagery. Definatley as good as the first autmn shade. The vines picked a great closer, FTW. Listen to the bass riff! Is that not one of the coolest things you have heard in awhile! Great song to listen to if you are angry, but dont take the message too seriously, its suppost to be sarcastic. I like every single song on this album. The vines have truly given us a great peice of work here. Its psychadelic, beautiful, damn good rock. just go check it out!
And no the singer is not crazy, Craig has aspergers disease, common in alot of famous people, so quit being so harsh! Music should be fun and wild!