Melodia (album)

2008 studio album by The Vines

Melodia

Studio album by

The Vines

Released| 12 July 2008 (Australia)
Recorded| November 2007 – March 2008
Studio| Sunset Sound, Hollywood, California, United States
Kingsize Sound, Los Angeles
Genre|

* Alternative rock[1]
* garage rock
* post-grunge
* neo-psychedelia

Length| 32:42
Label| Ivy League
Producer| Rob Schnapf
The Vines chronology
| The Best of The Vines
(2008)  | Melodia
(2008)  | Future Primitive
(2011)

|
|

Singles from  Melodia

1. "He's a Rocker"
Released: 3 June 2008
2. "MerryGoRound"
Released: 21 July 2008 (Australian radio promo-only)
3. "Get Out"
Released: 29 September 2008

Melodia is the fourth studio album by Australian alternative rock band The Vines. The album was produced by Rob Schnapf, and subsequently released by Ivy League Records in Australia on 12 July 2008, and through retailer Insound, in the United States on 22 July 2008. The album peaked at number 12 on the Australian ARIA Charts.

## Background

[edit]

Recording of the album was completed during the week of 3–10 March 2008, with a release occurring in July 2008. Originally thought to be called Braindead, the title of the album was confirmed via their MySpace website on 22 May 2008 to be Melodia and an official track listing was also announced. The band demoed 25 songs, only 14 of which made the final cut. This is The Vines' first album for record label Ivy League Records, after parting ways with EMI and Capitol Records in 2007. The band began recording in Los Angeles in November 2007 with producer Rob Schnapf, who has also worked on their albums Highly Evolved and Winning Days. The song "True as the Night" is the sequel to the song "Vision Valley", which appeared on the album of the same name.

The first single "He's a Rocker" was debuted officially at the 2008 MTV Awards in Australia, on 26 April, with airplay beginning on radio soon after. "He's a Rocker" was released through iTunes on 3 June, with two bonus tracks. "Blue Jam" being a rough early version of "Jamola" with "Hey Now" being an exclusive non-album song.

A limited number of signed copies of the album were made available for online pre-order on 23 June in Australia, whilst Melodia was sold on CD exclusively in the United States by Insound, from 22 July.[2] Orders online through Insound received a free MP3 of the song "Make Believe".

Melodia had its UK physical release on 6 October 2008. The second single from the album is "Get Out".

"Get Out" is part of the soundtrack played during the video game Midnight Club: Los Angeles.

It was announced in February of 2021 that Melodia would be reissued for Record Store Day on 21 June 2021.[3]

In comparison to their previous albums, it has received mixed reviews from critics, a situation that has recurred with every album released since Winning Days.

## Reception

[edit]

Professional ratingsAggregate scores

Source| Rating
Metacritic| 44/100[4]
Review scores
Source| Rating
AllMusic| [5]
Drowned in Sound| 2/10[6]
Mojo| [7]
musicOMH| [8]
NME| 4/10[9]
PopMatters| 4/10[10]
Spin| 6/10[11]
Q| [12]
Uncut| [13]
Under the Radar| 6/10[14]

Initial critical response to Melodia was average. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 44, based on 10 reviews.[4]

## Track listing

[edit]

All tracks are written by Craig Nicholls.

No.| Title| Length

|
|

1.| "Get Out"| 2:10
2.| "Manger"| 2:02
3.| "A.S. III"| 1:53
4.| "He's a Rocker"| 1:57
5.| "Orange Amber"| 2:01
6.| "Jamola"| 0:59
7.| "True as the Night"| 6:07
8.| "Braindead"| 2:26
9.| "Kara Jayne"| 2:07
10.| "MerryGoRound"| 2:12
11.| "Hey"| 1:33
12.| "A Girl I Knew"| 2:19
13.| "Scream"| 2:00
14.| "She Is Gone"| 2:52

## B-sides and bonus tracks

[edit]

Song  | Length  | Source

|
|

"Blue Jam"  | 1:05  | He's a Rocker EP
"Hey Now"  | 1:20  | He's a Rocker EP
"Make Believe"  | 1:25  | Insound pre-order / iTunes bonus track

## Personnel

[edit]

* Craig Nicholls – vocals, guitars, album cover with Love Police
* Ryan Griffiths – guitars, backing vocals
* Hamish Rosser – drums, percussion
* Brad Heald – bass, backing vocals
* Rob Schnapf – production, mixing, 12-string guitar on "Orange Amber" and acoustic guitar on "A.S. III"
* Doug Boehm – recording, mixing
* Graham Hope – assistant recording
* Dave Bowling – assistant recording
* Jason Gossman – assistant mixing
* Clint Welander – assistant mixing
* John Oreshnick – drum tuning / drum set
* Jason Borger – string arrangement ("True as the Night")
* Daphne Chen – violin
* Amy Wickman – violin
* Stirling Trent – violin
* Matt Fish – cello
* Love Police – album sleeve / artwork

## Charts

[edit]

Chart (2008)  | Peak
position

|

Australian Albums (ARIA)[15] | 12

## Release history

[edit]

Country  | Release date  | Record label

|
|

Australia[16] | 12 July 2008  |
United Kingdom[17] | 14 July 2008  | HMV
6 October 2008
New Zealand  | 15 July 2008  |
United States[2] | 22 July 2008  | Insound

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Melodia". rateyourmusic.com. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
2. ^ a b "The Vines' Melodia is Out on July 22". Insound.com. Archived from the original on 28 June 2008. Retrieved 25 June 2008.
3. ^ "Melodia [180-Gram Translucent Orange Amber Colored Vinyl]". Record Store Day.
4. ^ a b "Critic Reviews for Melodia". Metacritic. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
5. ^ Leahey, Andrew. The Vines: Melodia > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-10-06.
6. ^ Edwards, Tom (19 September 2008). "The Vines: Melodia". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on 20 May 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
7. ^ Sometimes erratic and headstrong, at others whimsical and somewhat listless, it ultimately sounds like an unsatisfying curio. [Nov 2008, p.110]
8. ^ Harper, Jamie. "The Vines - Melodia". MusicOMH. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
9. ^ Nicolson, Barry (8 August 2008). "The Vines: Melodia". NME. IPC Media. ISSN 0028-6362. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
10. ^ Haag, Stephen (7 April 2009). "The Vines: Melodia". PopMatters. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
11. ^ Wood, Mikael. "The Vines: 'Melodia'". Spin. ISSN 0886-3032. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
12. ^ At times, they still stray into Nirvana territory, particularly on 'Braindead,' but they do so with enough brio to get away with it. [Nov 2008, p.123]
13. ^ This fourth offering crams 14 tracks into half an hour and sounds like a sketchbook of ideas rather than a fully formed expression of any kind. [Nov 2008, p.128]
14. ^ Melodia represents a clear fade from glory, but only a slight loss of merit. [Spring 2009, p.74]
15. ^ "Australiancharts.com – The Vines – Melodia". Hung Medien. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
16. ^ MTV AA 2008 Red Carpet. MTV Australia. Retrieved 26 April 2008 – via YouTube.[dead YouTube link]video removed
17. ^ StefanieNicholls. "The Vines Message Board". Archived from the original on 2 September 2008. Retrieved 25 June 2008.

## External links

[edit]

* "The Vines Fill Us in on Album #4". ultimate-guitar.com. 17 August 2007. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
* Cashmere, Paul (3 April 2008). "The Vines Go With He's A Rocker Off Brain Dead". undercover.com.au. Archived from the original on 23 October 2009. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
* Krinkle, Henry (14 September 2011). "Fantomas – The Director's Cut Live: A New Year's Revolution". ComfortComes.com. Retrieved 6 October 2011.

* v
* t
* e

The Vines

* Craig Nicholls

* Patrick Matthews
* Ryan Griffiths
* Hamish Rosser
* David Olliffe
* Brad Heald
* Lachlan West
* Tim John

Studio albums|

* Highly Evolved
* Winning Days
* Vision Valley
* Melodia
* Future Primitive
* Wicked Nature
* In Miracle Land

Singles|

* "Highly Evolved"
* "Get Free"
* "Outtathaway!"
* "Homesick"
* "Ride"
* "Winning Days"
* "Don't Listen to the Radio"
* "Anysound"
* "He's a Rocker"

Related articles|

* Discography
* Garage rock revival
* The Best of The Vines

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

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