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So what happened to the implosion? Is it better to
burn out than to fade away? And just how off kilter
is Craig Nicholls these days? Hype less and hopeless?
Second album syndrome will soon tell. Despite the questions,
and pending Nicholls’ state of mind, they remain as
electric a live act as anyone. With the focus usually
on his erratic behaviour it’s easy to overlook Nicholls’
penchant for a riff and a rhythm. New songs ‘Ride’,
‘Animal Machine’ and ‘Evil town’ all emanate from the
same blueprint of 2 minutes of pure adrenaline pumped
straight to the veins. Gone is the ‘more spaced out
than Neil Armstrong ever was’ psychedelica of ‘Highly
Evolved’ replaced by a resurgent steely edge to their
sound. But trying to decipher what he’s saying is another
story, as he’s still got the coherence of Rab C. Nesbitt.
Looking controlled, bar the odd screech and gurn, Nicholls
inevitably breaks into a needless rock n roll tantrum.
It’s sad that he feels he needs to do this because he
doesn’t. Take away the needless falsettos and accents
and you have a livewire, unpredictable and magnetic
who really perform when he wants to.
As ‘Get free’ grinds out it still empowers you with
an energy that makes you want to run through walls,
and his ability to generate this power remains his greatest
asset. If he was an actor, it would be overacting, if
it was religion, he’d be a terrorist. But he’s a ‘rock
star’. And it’s music.
Relevant sites:
http://www.thevines.com
Sherief Younis for Crud Magazine 2004©
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