It's easy to hear the Vaselines influences as well as the influenced. But it's funny to think a band of relatively unknowns as big influencers. As we all know, we owe Kurt Cobain for that. He spoke very highly of this band. And that inspiration may not appear to be worn on Cobain's sleeve. But, really it is. There are many things that are special about the Vaselines. Most important is their talent with melody. These songs seep into your brain and can float about for days. How very Nirvana is that?
In fact it is fun for the casual fan to stumble upon a few songs that they may have credited to Nirvana in the past ("Son of a Gun, "Molly's Lip's", "Jesus Don't Want Me For a Sunbeam")
On Enter the Vaselines- a career retrospect in two parts-a reissue of a reissue of the bands complete recordings from 1992 (at the height of Cobain-mania) and the remaining demos and live tapes.
Although this is a lot of music to listen to consecutively there are few bad moments. On the second half of the release many songs will slip into the background because of the weak recordings or because of boredom.
But the jangle pop punk is so sweet on the first half of the disk that you will wonder how more aren't influenced by this band.
As far as their influences, they owe a lot to the Velvet Underground, but the boy/girl contrast of Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee -though somehow lo-fi-also channels punk bands without much distortion.
The highlights on the album are many. The aforementioned Nirvana covers are stunning to hear in their original form. And beyond these tracks "Dum-Dum", "Dying For it" and "You Think You're a Man" continue along the bands playful sexual driven tunes.
This is an album that all rock fan should have in their collection. Many owe Nirvana a thanks for getting them off commercial rock. And if you aren't off it and still listen to Nevermind regularly this may be the album to wean you off and take you through a decade plus of great indie music...even if these tunes are years older than Nirvana.
Rated: "It's Great"
