Vue "Babies Are For Petting"

I really, really, really do not understand how someone at a major label could have thought of Vue as the next big thing. I really don't hear it. I mean, they're an OK band, but I just don't hear how they could enter the realm into "next big thing" status. In a way, they remind me of Jackyl--a second wave band, near the end of a hyped-up genre, who one or two okay songs, but not really capable of much more than that. They seem like the kind of band that would be best served by their former label, Sub Pop. Now is not the place to discuss their business choice; let's let the band deal with that, and accept and deal with the ramifications that may arise.

What, then, to make of the music? It's okay, but it's not particularly memorable.In fact, only three songs are new--and were recorded by musical mastermind Don Was. (Good to see that he has work!) "Look Out For Traffic" sounds like a lost Georgia Satellites outtake, and "Hey Hey Not In Here" and "Babies Are For Petting"....well all I can say is that Mudhoney released a great record last year. The other two songs aren't really new; "Find Your Home" is a live version recorded on Austin's hip radio station, KVRX, and "It Won't Last" is a B-Side from the "Pictures of You" single. Though I might see where people will say that it sounds like it's a definite growth from their last full-length, the not bad Find Your Home, in reality, it doesn't sound like much different, except it's a lot more polished.

I hope Vue get what they deserve. I hope their major label experience is a good one. The songs on here seem rather puzzling; Vue are certainly capable of better, and such weak songs as a "debut"--let's just say that I hope that the rest of the world doesn't hear them, because Vue have done better. The one lesson that should have been learned from previous major-label signing sprees was that many bands really don't have much to offer to the world in general---better to stay in the indies and be a big fish, you know, than to drown in an ocean, unmourned, unknown, and forgotten. (Schleprock, anyone?)

--Joseph Kyle