Highly Evolved (2002)

Highly Evolved is the debut studio album by Australian alternative rock band the Vines, released in July 2002 on Capitol Records and produced by Rob Schnapf. The album was a significant success, riding the wave of the garage rock revival trend and earning critical acclaim, including being named the 2nd best album of 2002 by NME and being included in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" and "100 Best Australian Albums."

Release

Highly Evolved was released on 14 July 2002 on Capitol Records. Produced by Rob Schnapf, known for his collaboration with Tom Rothrock on Elliott Smith's albums Either/Or, XO, and Figure 8, Highly Evolved was an immensely popular debut, part of a trend towards garage rock revival bands known as much for the relentless hype from the UK music press as for their music; the Vines were frequently compared to Nirvana. The debut single, "Highly Evolved", was chosen as Single of the Week by influential British music magazine NME. The magazine also voted it the 2nd best album of the year in 2002. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In October 2010, it was listed in the book 100 Best Australian Albums.

Recording and mastering

Highly Evolved was recorded and mixed at The Sound Factory and Sunset Sound Recorders in Hollywood, California. It was recorded between July 2001 and February 2002.

Personnel

Personnel taken from Highly Evolved CD booklet.

• The Vines
• Craig Nicholls – vocals, guitar, percussion, piano on "Homesick", cover painting

Patrick Matthews – bass, piano on "Autumn Shade", "Mary Jane", and "Factory", organ on "Autumn Shade" and "In the Jungle"

Dave Olliffe – drums on "Highly Evolved", "Autumn Shade", "Outtathaway", "Sunshinin'", "Homesick" (outro only), "Country Yard", "Mary Jane" and "1969"

Additional musicians

Pete Thomas – drums on "Factory", "Ain't No Room" and "Homesick" (except outro)

Joey Waronker – drums on "Get Free"

Victor Indrizzo – drums on "In the Jungle"

Roger Joseph Manning Jr. – keyboards on "Highly Evolved", "Outtathaway", "Sunshinin'" and "Autumn Shade"

Rob Schnapf – additional guitars on "County Yard", "Homesick", "Ain't No Room" and "Factory"

Ethan Johns – additional percussion on "Get Free", "Autumn Shade", "Factory" and "Sunshinin'"

Steven Rhodes – additional percussion on "Get Free", "Autumn Shade", "Factory" and "Sunshinin'"

• Production
• Rob Schnapf – production and mixing
• Doug Boehm – engineering
• Steven Rhodes – additional engineering

Andy Wallace – mixing on "Get Free"

Justin Stanley – production on "In the Jungle"

Tony Rambo – engineering on "In the Jungle"

• Ted Jensen – mastering
• Kevin Dean – production assistant
• Craig Conard – production assistant