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youngveinsPosted on June 8, 2010 by TJ
The split between Panic! at the Disco’s Ryan Ross and John Walker & Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith (the latter two of whom stayed in the band…holy conjunctions, Batman) was hardly surprising to anyone who heard the band’s divisive second album Pretty, Odd. While this blogger knows plenty of folks who enjoyed that album, the rift amongst bandmates made it clear that Panic at the Disco never planned on paying homage to The Beatles. But when Ross and Walker formed The Young Veins just weeks after word of their departure from Panic! (who was now reunited with their estranged exclamation point), fans of Pretty, Odd. were largely pleased to hear that this new band would indeed embrace a retro flavor. On their debut album Take A Vacation! The Young Veins craft a love letter to the surf-rock bands of decades past. But while their understanding and nostalgia for the genre is handled well, Ross and Walker don’t have the songwriting skills to make this album much more than novelty.
At eleven tracks totaling less than half an hour, The Young Veins certainly have the theory of ’60s pop-rock down. Very short songs with emphasis on backing vocals, simple arrangements and elementary beats are the standard. The title track sounds like it could have been lifted from a forgotten American Bandstand act, while “The Other Girl” sounds like an old Beach Boys tune. But the key element that Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson had that Ross and Walker lack is an ear for a hook. Try as they might (and effort certainly isn’t in short supply here), nothing on Take A Vacation! reaches earworm status the way ’60s pop music could. The Young Veins certainly walk the walk (look at that album cover), but in talking the talk, they have a bit of a stutter.
Which is not to say that The Young Veins is a complete failure. Far from it. Ross and Walker do deserve praise for even getting as far as they do in paying tribute to an era of music that, much as I might bemoan the old codgers that complain about my generation’s music (“You kids with your rock and roll and your iPools and your interwebs…”), was just so damn fun sometimes, you know? Indeed, The Young Veins will be right up the alley of fans of Panic at the Disco’s later work as well as mid-life crisis victims seeking to latch onto something the kids like without drifting too far from the familiar. It’s a flawed effort indeed, but Take A Vacation! is a sunny, uplifting treat of an album worth at least a spin in the stereo of your (clearly updated if it’s playing CD’s) ’67 Ford Mustang as you head to the beach some day this summer.
Final Score: 6.8/10
(source)
The split between Panic! at the Disco’s Ryan Ross and John Walker & Brendon Urie and Spencer Smith (the latter two of whom stayed in the band…holy conjunctions, Batman) was hardly surprising to anyone who heard the band’s divisive second album Pretty, Odd. While this blogger knows plenty of folks who enjoyed that album, the rift amongst bandmates made it clear that Panic at the Disco never planned on paying homage to The Beatles. But when Ross and Walker formed The Young Veins just weeks after word of their departure from Panic! (who was now reunited with their estranged exclamation point), fans of Pretty, Odd. were largely pleased to hear that this new band would indeed embrace a retro flavor. On their debut album Take A Vacation! The Young Veins craft a love letter to the surf-rock bands of decades past. But while their understanding and nostalgia for the genre is handled well, Ross and Walker don’t have the songwriting skills to make this album much more than novelty.
At eleven tracks totaling less than half an hour, The Young Veins certainly have the theory of ’60s pop-rock down. Very short songs with emphasis on backing vocals, simple arrangements and elementary beats are the standard. The title track sounds like it could have been lifted from a forgotten American Bandstand act, while “The Other Girl” sounds like an old Beach Boys tune. But the key element that Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson had that Ross and Walker lack is an ear for a hook. Try as they might (and effort certainly isn’t in short supply here), nothing on Take A Vacation! reaches earworm status the way ’60s pop music could. The Young Veins certainly walk the walk (look at that album cover), but in talking the talk, they have a bit of a stutter.
Which is not to say that The Young Veins is a complete failure. Far from it. Ross and Walker do deserve praise for even getting as far as they do in paying tribute to an era of music that, much as I might bemoan the old codgers that complain about my generation’s music (“You kids with your rock and roll and your iPools and your interwebs…”), was just so damn fun sometimes, you know? Indeed, The Young Veins will be right up the alley of fans of Panic at the Disco’s later work as well as mid-life crisis victims seeking to latch onto something the kids like without drifting too far from the familiar. It’s a flawed effort indeed, but Take A Vacation! is a sunny, uplifting treat of an album worth at least a spin in the stereo of your (clearly updated if it’s playing CD’s) ’67 Ford Mustang as you head to the beach some day this summer.
Final Score: 6.8/10
(source)
