Vulture Street is the fifth studio album by Australian alternative rock band Powderfinger, released on 29 July 2003 by Universal Music. It won the 2003 ARIA Music Award for Best Rock Album. Produced by Nick DiDia, Vulture Street was certified platinum, and spent 47 weeks on the ARIA Charts and peaked at #1.
Background, recording and production
Following their last record, the highly successful Odyssey Number Five, the band agreed that they wanted to continue in their musical careers, but wanted to have more fun with it. They were no longer dole reliant, as they had been when they made their debut album, Parables for Wooden Ears. Drummer Jon Coghill told The Sydney Morning Herald "we wanted to have more fun and enjoy that we were a band, rather than chase what you're supposed to do", and guitarist Ian Haug said "We all found that this is really important to us, but we wanted to make it more fun".
Like Powderfinger's two previous albums, Vulture Street was produced by Nick DiDia. It was mixed by Brendan O'Brien, who had worked with Powderfinger inspiration Neil Young.
In producing Vulture Street, Powderfinger moved in a different direction to their previous works, especially Odyssey Number Five,
Album and single releases
Vulture Street was released on 29 July 2003 in Australia, with the band launching the album at the Tivoli nightclub on 52 Costin Street Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. A special edition DVD was included with selected early copies of Vulture Street. The DVD included a documentary with all of the albums' songs and several music videos. Vulture Street entered the ARIA Charts in Australia at #1, and the RIANZ Charts in New Zealand at #17.
Vulture Street's first single, "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind", was released in June 2003. It entered the ARIA charts at #9 on 29 June 2003, and spent 13 weeks in the top 50. The song was nominated for "Song of the Year" and "Best Video" at the 2003 ARIA Awards, but won neither.
The third single, "Sunsets", was released in January 2004. It earned the band a nomination for "Best Group" at the 2004 ARIA Awards, but again was unsuccessful. The fourth and final single, "Since You've Been Gone", was released in March 2004. It wasn't as successful as its predecessors, and failed to make the ARIA top 50. "Since You've Been Gone" was written by Fanning as a tribute to his brother.
Music and lyrics
The music on Vulture Street was more rock orientated than Powderfinger's past work, especially Odyssey Number Five. The opening track, "Rockin' Rocks", was described by Harp as "far too cheesy to open this record—or any record, for that matter". The song became the band's opening track for live performances, though. The first single, "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind", was one of the heavier songs on the album; varying reviewers alikened it to AC/DC, Bad Company, and Stereophonics, and musicOMH called it "an unashamed full-tilt rocker". dB magazine said the title of "Stumblin'", released as a single from These Days: Live in Concert after appearing on Vulture Street, was representative of the "classic rock clichés" on the album.
Second single "Since You've Been Gone" contained similar lyrical features to "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind", but with a more mellow sound. Fanning wrote it following the death of his brother, to help deal with the event. "Love Your Way" saw an acoustic opening followed by a loud chorus for which Universal Music Canada recommended the air guitar. musicOMH's Simon Evans alikened the song to Roy Harper, On live performances, Fanning plays "Love Your Way" with an acoustic guitar to give the loud second phase of the song more "oomph".
Reception
Vulture Street was generally received well by critics. AllMusic's Jason MacNeil gave the album four stars, stating the opening notes of the album had a "great rock flavor to them". He described "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind" as reminiscent of "Stereophonics rehashing old-school rock for a contemporary feeling", and said "Since You've Been Gone" was an "uplifting gospel-tinged effort". MacNeil's main criticism was for "Roll Right By You", a song he described as "run-of-the-mill". However, MacNeil said that overall the album was "an outstanding piece of work".
|-
|rowspan=7| 2003
| Album of the Year
| Vulture Street
| style="background:#dfd;"| Won
|-
| Best Group
| Vulture Street
| style="background:#dfd;"| Won
|-
| Best Rock Album
| Vulture Street
| style="background:#dfd;"| Won
|-
| Best Cover Art
| Vulture Street
| style="background:#dfd;"| Won
|-
| Highest Selling Album
| Vulture Street
| style="background:#fdd;"| Nominated
|-
| Song of the Year
| "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind"
| style="background:#fdd;"| Nominated
|-
| Best Video
| "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind"
| style="background:#fdd;"| Nominated
|-
| 2004
| Best Group
| "Sunsets"
| style="background:#fdd;"| Nominated
|}
Track listing
All songs written by John Collins, Ian Haug, Bernard Fanning, Jon Coghill & Darren Middleton
CD
- "Rockin' Rocks" – 3:04
- "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind" – 3:20
- "Since You've Been Gone" – 4:12
- "Love Your Way" – 4:31
- "Sunsets" – 3:49
- "Don't Panic" – 3:09
- "Stumblin'" – 3:46
- "Roll Right by You" – 4:15
- "How Far Have We Really Come?" – 4:00
- "Pockets" – 5:46
- "A Song Called Everything" – 4:23
Vulture Street Blues
A special edition DVD was included with selected early copies of Vulture Street. The DVD included a documentary with all of the album's songs, with the song "Sunsets" featuring twice. The DVD also included the music videos for "On My Mind", the acoustic version of "Sunsets" and as hidden bonus features, the videos for the song "Pockets" and the keyboard version of "These Days".
| 4
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+2004 year-end chart performance for Vulture Street
! scope="col"| Chart (2004)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)
| 26
|}
Decade-end chart
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+Decade-end chart performance for Vulture Street
!scope="col"|Chart (2000–2009)
!scope="col"|Position
|-
!scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)
|align="center"|25
|}
Certifications
Release history
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+Release history for Vulture Street
! Country
! Release date
|-
! scope="row"| Australia
| 4 July 2003
|-
! scope="row"| United Kingdom
| 6 October 2003
|-
! scope="row"| Canada
| 13 April 2004
|-
! scope="row"| United States
| 9 November 2004
|}
See also
- Full discography