Winning Days - The Vines
Metascore
50 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 23 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 23
  3. Negative: 2 out of 23
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  1. Pitchfork
    27
    The Vines earn real damnation as Winning Days comes to a close. However boring and harmlessly vapid the first ten tracks are, "F.T.W." obliterates any possibility of forgiving them.
  2. Alternative Press
    20
    There's not much left for the Vines' frontman other than his music, which on Winning Days seems more like an afterthought--if not the work of an unbearably bad Oasis record. [Apr 2004, p.98]
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User Reviews

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User Score
7.4 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 53 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 34 out of 41
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 41
  3. Negative: 5 out of 41
  1. ScarTissue1990
    10
    A nostalgic, magical album. This is how music should be. This album is absolutely beautiful. I hear influences from The Beach Boys, The Beatles and Nirvana. beautiful.… Full Review »
  2. Alkie
    8
    One of the most underrated rock albums of the generation, Winning Days should have been the record that installed The Vines as one the definitive rock bands of the 2000's.

    Sadly the victim of unfounded press backlash, The Vines suffered at the very hands of those who had fostered the hype surrounding their debut effort "Highly Evolved".

    Admittedly, Winning Days never reaches the level of brilliance seen in Highly Evolved (tracks like "Evil Town" are bordering on abysmal) but it is still an outstanding album in its own right - featuring sweet melodic perfection in softer tracks like "Rainfall", "Amnesia" and "Sun Child". The title track "Winning Days" finishes with an uplifting flourish unmatched by any of their previous recordings, and songs like "Animal Machine" and the crowd (and advertising) favourite "Ride" retain the high energy rock edge that gave The Vines their initial reputation, lending themselves brilliantly to live performance.

    The problem I saw with this album's initial reception, is that most media critics were looking for an album stacked with 12 versions of Get Free, Outtathaway and Ride - often describing Winning Days as "bland". In this ignorant and oblivious process, they missed out on the genius within this album of melodic accomplishment.

    A great album overall.    … Full Review »
  3. YanG.
    9
    Winning Days is The Vines best album- it has both slow, quiet and lyrical songs like Winning Days or Amnesia and fast rythemed rock songs like Ride or Animal Machine, both of them are familiar to every ear. All in all, this album presents us with 40 minutes of good music for all moods. Highly recommended.… Full Review »
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