Get Born

When The Vines's were touted, a couple of years ago, as the future of rock'n'roll, I worried about that future. More recently, Jet have received similar accolades, and their 2003 album Get Born suggests that rock'n'roll is in safe hands. This album sounds a lot like a tribute to some great rock'n'roll artists, but it has enough originality to make it a modern day classic. I was sold the first time I heard it: a nice blend of straight-ahead rock and pop, with lots of great grooves. Jet's lead vocalist, Nic Cester, has one of the best rock voices to appear in a while.

The album opens with Last Chance a simple rocker, just to get you in the mood. This is followed by the up-tempo, start-stop Are You Gonna Be By Girl, which was released as a single. Then there's Rollover D.J., which is a rock song whose lyrics are a shallow attack on an anonymous DJ who manufactures `new' music from other peoples' hard work: `a pill-popping jukebox is all that you are'. So far it just sounds like rock'n'roll and you don't necessarily realise that you're about to get some strong reminders of a lot of other music you (probably) already know. The first 3 songs are just nice and solid.

Look What You've Done is a Beatlesque, piano-based ballad - very nicely done. Get What You Need is a a straight ahead rocker in the style of The Kinks or perhaps The Rolling Stones. Move On is strongly reminiscent of Let It Bleed era Stones. Radio Song is psychedelic Revolver-style Beatles. This run of songs is all 1960s.

The next 2 songs are much heavier. Get Me Outta Here and Cold Hard Bitch are probably most reminiscent of AC/DC around the time of Highway To Hell and Back In Black. Very nicely done...

Come Around Again is my favourite song on the album. This is a nice, mid-paced ballad, with some nice keyboards in the mix - the sort of thing I'm a sucker for. This one features Billy Preston on keyboards.

Take It Or Leave It is probably the heaviest song on the album. There's a surf sound in there and the song is reasonably reminiscent of 1980/90s Australian band The Hoodoo Gurus. This is followed by Lazy Gun, which sounds like a Gary Glitter/John Lennon crossover that somehow still seems to work! The closing track Timothy is another ballad. This one reminds me a bit of Bowie, and a bit of Lennon... but, in this case, Julian rather than John... a bit more light and poppy sounding...

OK, so this album puts Jet's influences right out there in the spotlight. If you like the influences, the songs are so well done that this is a positive rather than a negative. This isn't just imitation. The album also has a nice live feel to it, which is enhanced by some talking that has been kept (or added?) before and after some of the songs.

Lots of people will buy (and have bought) this album because it sounds familiar, yet still fresh.