Vue "Find Your Home"

Which came first, That 70's Show, or this rediscovery of 70's Rock? I really can't answer. One might argue that this latest trend is simply a hybrid of the last major "back to rock and roll's roots" trend, the unloved, mocked "grunge era." Since Sub Pop are the guilty party behind this release, I might be convinced to believe that they are attempting to relaunch that whole "rock and roll" thing, perhaps in an attempt to sell off all those Love Battery cassettes.

Either way, I have one simple, two-word phrase to say in conjunction with the new Vue album, Find Your Home. Rolling Stones. No if's, and's or but's about it--this is the music of the Rolling Stones, minus the track marks and the pension plans. Hell, maybe Vue have got those, too. No-frills, no-gimmick, pure-dee, 100% Rock and Roll, just the finest music that the good lord and Keith Richards have given us. Blues-based, soulful Rock. That's all Vue are delivering.

Lest you think that such blatant comparison is symptomatic of "lazy music reviewer syndrome", think again. On a recent road trip, I popped this on, and with the strumming guitar and harmonica-based opener "Hitchhiking," my friend immediatly said, "Joseph, I didn't know you liked the Stones!" He wasn't joking. And I am so not joking either when I say that that's all I can get out of Find Your Home. As much as I try to find something to talk about, I can't get past the most obvious fact that this record is nothing more and nothing less than prime Rolling Stones. Damn, and now i'm starting to wonder if these kids' mothers attended the Cocksucker Blues tour.

Find Your Home isn't bad, really. If anything, it reminds you that the young Rolling Stones possesed the magical keys to Rock Music. And, for the life of me, I can't imagine Vue's singer as having anything but big lips, long hair with flippy curls in the back, and three sizes beyond being too small trousers. I bet he prances around the stage, too--and then pulls the birds after the set. If the Rolling Stones have any particular successor to their legacy, it would be Vue.

Oh, wait--I think I've said too much.

--Joseph Kyle