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Jonas Brothers - Lines, Vines and Trying Times
| Ew |
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The Mouseketeers' prerogative, it seems, is to rage against the Disney machine that made them. In lieu of racy Vanity Fair photo shoots or leaked full-frontal iPhone pics, however, brothers Nick, 16, Joe, 19, and Kevin, 21, have given us their rebel yell in album form. Lines, Vines and Trying Times is the sound of a not-quite-quarter-life crisis, JoBros-style: heartthrob angst wrapped in glossy hooks, soaring pop-rock choruses, and (plus ça change) really great hair. On their fourth release in as many years, the boys don't entirely topple their Tiger Beat pedestal, but with Lines' PG-13 sentiments and wailing guitars, they try hard to leave their tween-dream innocence behind. That leads, inevitably, to a few clunky metaphors: The pensive ''Turn Right'' compares life to NASCAR, while the admittedly addictive ''Poison Ivy'' equates love with — ahem — a bad rash. When the album's brash lead single, ''Paranoid,'' and the sprawling ''Don't Speak'' reach for a sort of baby-U2 grandiosity (The Joshua Shrub?), they nearly pull it off. Alas, even guest rapper Common can't save misguided bank-robber narrative ''Don't Charge Me for the Crime''; it's the sonic equivalent of being held at gunpoint by a baby rabbit....full text |
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| Latimesblogs |
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Plenty of young pop stars have grown darker on records after a fast career ascent. Though "Lines, Vines and Trying Times" has a touch of late-teen angst about it lyrically, the Jonas Brothers' third album of sprightly and eclectic pop is unexpectedly their most easygoing and enjoyable yet. The refreshing thing about "Lines" is the sense that the brothers have zero hang-ups about finding authenticity through traditional rock gestures. The Jonas' have the advantage of a young fan base for whom Neil Diamond was never hokey and for whom soul has no political ramifications. So it feels natural when the trio skips from falsetto-stretching funk on "World War III" to rhinestone-cowboy country on "What Did I Do to Your Heart." It's a clean synopsis of the "I listen to everything" philosophy of today's youth, and it's in service of some worthy songwriting. ...full text |
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| Rollingstone |
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Whoa, JoBros! Nobody wanted to bring up Taylor Swift, but the best song on your new album vows, "I'm done with superstars/And all the tears on her guitar." Snapness! JoMG BroMG! Not only do the boys zap "Teardrops on My Guitar," the famous hit by Joe Jonas' most famous ex, there's also "World War III" (about girls who drop the bomb on you), "Paranoid" (rhymes with "consider me destroyed") and "What Did I Do to Your Heart" ("All I ever get is attitude"). Clearly, the gods of love have harshed upon the Bros. Play this back-to-back with Taylor's Fearless, and you get two sides of a teen romance for our times. The boys continue to expand musically, making this their kickiest and catchiest CD yet, even better than last year's A Little Bit Longer. "Much Better" is a superb bit of Motown-inspired moppet-funk, with some very 1985 synth-horn blasts. (Producer John Fields has Andrew W.K. on his résumé, but he seems to believe the peak of sonic perfection is Huey Lewis' "The Power of Love.") They write their own tunes, showing off the tricks they learned from their Stevie Wonder and Neil Diamond albums, trying U2-style rock, country and Eighties hair metal. But the weirdest moment has to be "Don't Charge Me With the Crime," a gangsta-rap tale with police sirens, machine guns and guest star Common. Even if the Bros aren't having any luck handling girls, they do better with guitars — and that just puts them in a long rock & roll tradition....full text |
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