This came out in 2004 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
The good news: Down Under rockers Powderfinger are one of the few Australian bands this year who aren’t blatantly trying to sound like The Strokes or MC5.
The bad news: If you didn’t know better, you might think they were trying to sound like The Tragically Hip. The singer has the same sort of throaty delivery and earthy sincerity. The band pen the same sort of crunching rock anthems and play them with the same fat-free, guitar-powered simplicity. They aren’t totally Hip-centric — on their solidly built disc Vulture Street you can also hear echoes of everyone from The Rolling Stones and Black Crowes to Big Star and (natch, given their name) Crazy Horse. Still, the 11 ragged, rangy, rootsy rockers here sound less suited to the Outback than a Prairie bar on a weeknight.
