Vulture Street | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 4 July 2003 | |||
Recorded | 2003 | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 44:21 | |||
Label | Universal Music | |||
Producer | Nick DiDia | |||
Powderfinger chronology | ||||
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Singles from Vulture Street | ||||
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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. [4] [5] Produced by Nick DiDia, Vulture Street was certified platinum, and spent 47 weeks on the ARIA Charts and peaked at #1. [5] Singles from the album included "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind", "Since You've Been Gone", "Love Your Way" and "Sunsets".
The album received nominations for ARIA Awards in five different categories in 2003, which included "Album of the Year", "Best Group" and "Best Rock Album". Vulture Street also received the award for "Best Cover Art", which featured Czech supermodel Eva Herzigová.
Vulture Street was described by certain critics as "a rawer, louder, but by no means unrefined" album. The title of the album was taken from an iconic street in the inner southern suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland, the city in which all Powderfinger members grew up. [6]
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". [7]
Powderfinger did not enter the recording studio with a specific plan on what they wanted Vulture Street to be, but that they "felt that [they] wanted to write a rock album". [8] In the end, the album became "stuff that makes you want to jump around and feel good about yourself"—guitarist Darren Middleton said this had not been the band's intention. [8] Coghill said the band wanted to make an album that was fun to perform live and listen to—most of the songs on the album were performed and released live on These Days: Live in Concert . [8]
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. [5] The album was recorded over a seven-week period in Sydney. Prior to recording, the band had written about 50 songs, which was trimmed to the final 11. [9] A significant number of songs on the album were producing during jam sessions, with DiDia giving the band additional space to move in. Middleton said in an interview that the band "always start things spontaneously, because that's when you're thinking less and just playing." [10]
In producing Vulture Street, Powderfinger moved in a different direction to their previous works, especially Odyssey Number Five , [8] starting with opening song "Rockin' Rocks", which was written, according to Middleton, after "a couple of months trying really hard to write this new rock album" but not making anything they really liked. He also said the band could easily have written many "The Metre"–like songs but didn't do that "for our own interest in the band and music". [8]
In an interview with ninemsn, lead singer Bernard Fanning said the band "tapped more into that energetic rock thing and made it really different from our other albums" when creating Vulture Street. He also said the band were a lot more serious when making this album, and this was partly due to "the way we've matured as musicians". [11]
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. [7] [12] 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. [13] Vulture Street entered the ARIA Charts in Australia at #1, and the RIANZ Charts in New Zealand at #17. [14]
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. [15] The song was nominated for "Song of the Year" and "Best Video" at the 2003 ARIA Awards, but won neither. [16] "Love Your Way" was released as the second single from Vulture Street, and spent two weeks on the ARIA charts, entering at #37. [17]
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. [16] "Sunsets" charted better than most of its predecessors, reaching number 11 on the ARIA Chart, and entering the RIANZ Chart in New Zealand at number 38, the first single from Vulture Street to do so. [18] [19] The fourth and final single, "Since You've Been Gone", was released in March 2004. [20] 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. [21]
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". [22] The song became the band's opening track for live performances, though. [23] 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, [24] [25] [26] and musicOMH called it "an unashamed full-tilt rocker". [27] 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. [28]
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. [26] "Sunsets" also dealt with this theme; Fanning told MTV Scene "we write unashamedly about that emotional attachment". [29] "Love Your Way" saw an acoustic opening followed by a loud chorus for which Universal Music Canada recommended the air guitar. [9] musicOMH's Simon Evans alikened the song to Roy Harper, [27] while David Welsh praised the three main aspects of the song—the acoustic introduction, "affected vocal delivery", and guitar solo. [30] On live performances, Fanning plays "Love Your Way" with an acoustic guitar to give the loud second phase of the song more "oomph". [31]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | link |
The Sydney Morning Herald | link |
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". [24]
The Sydney Morning Herald's Bernard Zuel approved of the album, giving it four stars, and calling Vulture Street a "rawer, louder, but by no means unrefined, album". He said that throughout the album, guitarists Darren Middleton and Ian Haug "dominated in a way they haven't since their 1994 debut, Parables for Wooden Ears ". Zuel drew several connections to Powderfinger's early work, but noted "a superior intellect" in this album. Zuel summarised by saying it was easy to "just enjoy Vulture Street's power and passion. And the rock." [21]
Ty Burr of Entertainment Weekly reviewed the album positively, writing of a return to Powderfinger's "bar-band roots", while still featuring some "sharp pop hooks under the riffs". He drew references to early Radiohead and Bad Company, whom he argued Fanning was inspired by on "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind". The review was summarised by Burr describing Vulture Street as "good company". [25]
MusicOMH reviewer Simon Evans said Powderfinger added "a real punch to songs...far removed from your standard rock and roll fare" in Vulture Street, praising the emotion and seriousness of "Since You've Been Gone" and "How Far Have We Really Come?", and the "fun" in "Don't Panic". Evans praised producer Nick DiDia for his work on the album, which he summarised as "a quantum leap from its rather passionless predecessor, Odyssey Number Five". [27]
Vulture Street received numerous nominations for ARIA Music Awards from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) in 2003 and 2004. To date, the album has received eight nominations in six categories, four of which they had won the award for.
Year | Award | Work | Result [16] |
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2003 | Album of the Year | Vulture Street | Won |
Best Group | Vulture Street | Won | |
Best Rock Album | Vulture Street | Won | |
Best Cover Art | Vulture Street | Won | |
Highest Selling Album | Vulture Street | Nominated | |
Song of the Year | "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind" | Nominated | |
Best Video | "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind" | Nominated | |
2004 | Best Group | "Sunsets" | Nominated |
All songs written by John Collins, Ian Haug, Bernard Fanning, Jon Coghill & Darren Middleton
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". [13]
Powderfinger
| Additional players
| Production
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Chart (2003–2005) | Peak position |
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Australian Albums (ARIA) [32] | 1 |
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) [33] | 17 |
Chart (2003) | Position |
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Australian Albums (ARIA) [34] | 4 |
Chart (2004) | Position |
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Australian Albums (ARIA) [35] | 26 |
Chart (2000–2009) | Position |
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Australian Albums (ARIA) [36] | 25 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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Australia (ARIA) [37] | 6× Platinum | 420,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Country | Release date |
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Australia | 4 July 2003 |
United Kingdom | 6 October 2003 |
Canada | 13 April 2004 |
United States | 9 November 2004 |
Powderfinger were an Australian rock band formed in Brisbane in 1989. From 1992 until their break-up in 2010, the line-up consisted of vocalist Bernard Fanning, guitarists Darren Middleton and Ian Haug, bass guitarist John Collins and drummer Jon Coghill. The group's third studio album Internationalist peaked at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart in September 1998. They followed with four more number-one studio albums in a row: Odyssey Number Five, Vulture Street, Dream Days at the Hotel Existence and Golden Rule. Their top-ten hit singles are "My Happiness" (2000), "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind" (2003) and "Lost and Running" (2007). Powderfinger earned a total of eighteen ARIA Awards, making them the second-most-awarded band, behind Silverchair. Ten Powderfinger albums and DVDs certified multiple-platinum, with Odyssey Number Five—their most successful album—achieving eightfold platinum certification for shipment of over 560,000 units.
Augie March are an Australian pop and indie rock band formed in 1996 in Shepparton, Victoria. Since 2001 the group consists of vocalist and rhythm guitarist Glenn Richards, lead guitarist Adam Donovan, bass guitarist Edmondo Ammendola, drummer David Williams, and keyboardist Kiernan Box. Box had replaced Robert Dawson, the band's piano player since March 2000, who died in January 2001.
The 17th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards were held on 21 October 2003 at the Sydney Superdome. The ceremony aired on Network Ten.
Internationalist is the third studio album by Australian alternative rock band Powderfinger. The album was released on 7 September 1998 and was often labelled Powderfinger's most adventurous work, with greater experimentation than in previous works.
Odyssey Number Five is the fourth studio album by the Australian rock band Powderfinger, produced by Nick DiDia and released on 4 September 2000 by Universal Music. It won the 2001 ARIA Music Award for Highest Selling Album, Best Group and Best Rock Album. The album is the band's shortest yet, focusing on social, political, and emotional issues that had appeared in prior works, especially Internationalist.
Bernard Joseph Fanning is an Australian musician and singer-songwriter. He was the lead vocalist of Queensland alternative rock band Powderfinger from its formation in 1989.
These Days: Live in Concert is a live album by Australian alternative rock band Powderfinger, released as a CD on 6 September 2004, and as a two disc DVD on 4 October 2004.
Fingerprints: The Best of Powderfinger, 1994–2000 is a greatest hits album by Australian alternative rock band Powderfinger, released on 30 October 2004 in Australia.
Tea & Sympathy is the debut solo album by Australian musician Bernard Fanning. It was released on 31 October 2005, by Dew Process records while Powderfinger—Fanning's main band—were on hiatus. Contrary to Powderfinger's usual alternative style, the album blends alternative and country-folk music. Most of the record was written after the cancer-related death of his brother in 2002. His brother's death coincided with the end of Fanning's twelve-year relationship with his partner, and both events were instrumental in his move away from his typically political and socially lyrical subject matter.
Dream Days at the Hotel Existence is the sixth studio album by Australian rock band Powderfinger, released by Universal Music on 2 June 2007 in Australia, 19 November 2007 in the United Kingdom, and 11 November 2008 in the United States on the Dew Process label. It was released in Australia with a limited edition bonus DVD, titled Powderfinger's First XI, featuring eleven music videos spanning the band's career, from the first single, "Tail" to "Bless My Soul", the band's latest single before the release of the album. A collector's edition, including a CD and DVD, was released on 18 April 2008.
"(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind" is the first single from the fifth studio album by Powderfinger. It was released as a single on 16 June 2003 and reached No. 9 on the Australian Singles Chart, the band's third-highest-charting single to date. In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind" was ranked No. 97. The music video, directed by Scott Walton, was nominated for Best Video at the ARIA Music Awards of 2003.
"My Happiness" is a song by Australian rock band Powderfinger. It was released via record label Universal Music Australia in August 2000 as the first single from the band's fourth album, Odyssey Number Five. Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning wrote the lyrics for "My Happiness" as a reflection on the time the band spent touring to promote their work, and the loneliness that came as a result. It was inspired by his love of gospel and soul music. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. Despite its melancholy mood, "My Happiness" is considered by many to be a love song, a suggestion Fanning regards as mystifying.
"Sunsets" is a song released as the third single from Australian rock band Powderfinger's fifth studio album, Vulture Street. The single was released in January 2004. "Sunsets" earned a mixed response from reviewers. Some reviewers praised its appeal and aggression, while others appreciated the power ballad elements within it. Others, however, described the song negatively as "lumbering". "Sunsets" charted moderately, reaching No. 11 on the Australian Singles Chart.
The discography of Powderfinger, an Australian alternative rock group, consists of seven studio albums, thirty-three singles, six extended plays, three live albums, four compilation albums, one video album and twenty-nine music videos. They have been nominated for forty-nine ARIA Music Awards, of which they have won eighteen. Shortly after the independent release of their debut self-titled EP in 1993, Powderfinger signed on to a major record label to release their second EP, Transfusion. In 1994 they issued their debut album Parables for Wooden Ears, which did not reach the ARIA Albums Chart. After performances at music festivals, touring and supporting international artists, Powderfinger released their second studio album, Double Allergic (1996), which became their charting breakthrough by peaking at No. 4. Following public recognition from the album's high-selling singles, Powderfinger went on to release Internationalist in 1998, which was their first number-one album; it was certified five times platinum by ARIA for shipment of 350,000 copies.
"Since You've Been Gone" is a 2004 single from Powderfinger's fifth studio album Vulture Street. It was the fourth and final single released from Vulture Street and reached #51 on the Australian music chart. It was a limited edition single, hence no video or puzzle piece on the spine of the single. The song refers to Powderfinger's lead singer Bernard Fanning missing his brother who had died a year prior to the song's release.
"Stumblin'" is a song by Australian rock group Powderfinger, which is a track on their fifth album, Vulture Street. A live version was issued in 2004 as a promotional single from the group's first live album, These Days: Live in Concert, which had been recorded from a performance at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on 12 December 2003. The B-side is the studio version from Vulture Street. The track was listed on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2003 – an annual poll by listeners of the national radio station. The song was used in an ad for Australian road safety.
"I Don't Remember" is a song by Australian alternative rock band Powderfinger, from the album Dream Days at the Hotel Existence. It made its radio debut on 9 July 2007 on Australian radio stations, and was subsequently released as a single and digital download on 4 August 2007 in Australia, 3 September 2007 in New Zealand, and 13 August 2007 in the United States. The song was written by Powderfinger lead singer Bernard Fanning, and influenced by bassist John Collins. The riff was then developed by guitarist Ian Haug. The song is about reconciling difficulties and arguments, rather than shifting the blame.
The Across the Great Divide Tour was a live DVD and release by Australian rock bands Powderfinger and Silverchair. Released on 1 December 2007, it followed two Melbourne concerts during the bands' two-month-long nationwide tour, titled the Across the Great Divide tour. The DVD was produced by filming company PVC Live, who have produced DVD releases for U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Radiohead. It was mixed in the United States in 5.1 surround sound, and filmed with 24 cameras.
Golden Rule is the seventh and final studio album by Australian rock band Powderfinger, released on 13 November 2009. The album reunites the band with producer Nick DiDia, who produced several of the group's previous albums including, Internationalist, Odyssey Number Five and Vulture Street.
One Night Lonely is an EP recorded by the Australian rock band Powderfinger in 2020. It was released on 25 May 2020 following a charity performance raising money for Support Act and mental health organisation Beyond Blue. The band had a goal of raising $500,000 Australian dollars. On 26 May, the band confirmed it had raised more than $460,000. On 28 May 2020, it was confirmed the performance had almost reached its goal.