September 29, 2006

Jet: Shine On

Avant-garde, techno-infused second from Oz’s finest. Just kidding

7 / 10 When Jet emerged three years ago, they were a wonderful, denim-clad throwback. The Cester brothers were an Antipodean Noel and Liam (though far more in thrall to The Faces and AC/DC), and their debut ‘Get Born’ was a brilliant, energised blast which, with help from ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl?’’s appearance in an iPod advert, made them international stars.

Now, for their second record, there’s an obvious question – can they follow an album that owed such a huge debt to others with something that shows the essence of themselves? It’s a question that’s obviously plagued Jet… for about two minutes. With a typically Aussie lack of concern for daggy conventions such as ‘development’ or ‘progression’, they’ve simply made another joyfully old-fashioned rock’n’roll album immersed in the classics. There’s much ‘Rubber Soul’-era Beatles, The Everly Brothers on ‘Eleanor’ and, most of all, a massive shadow of Oasis. Indeed, at times it feels like a nod to Oasis doing The Beatles, with the rock’n’roll spirit of the Gallaghers so apparent that if you closed your eyes you’d be convinced it was actually them. Take the title track – a moving tribute to the Cesters’ father, who died of cancer as they toured ‘Get Born’. It’s essentially ‘Stop Crying Your Heart Out’, but why worry about where it came from when it’s such an obvious classic-in-waiting? So ‘Shine On’ is not an album that tries to reinvent the wheel. In fact, it barely gives it a polish. But if you get a kick out of glorious, ragged old rock’n’roll, then you’ll consider it essential.

Paul McNamee

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