Misplaced Pages

Highly Evolved
Studio album by the Vines
Released	14 July 2002
Recorded	July 2001–February 2002
Studio	The Sound Factory, Hollywood, California
Genre	Alternative rock garage punk post-punk revival post-grunge neo-psychedelia
Length	43:35
Label	Capitol Heavenly Recordings Wicked Nature Music
Producer	Rob Schnapf
The Vines chronology
College EP (2002) Highly Evolved (2002) Winning Days (2004)
Singles from Highly Evolved
"Highly Evolved" Released: 22 April 2002 "Get Free" Released: 17 June 2002 "Outtathaway!" Released: 18 November 2002 "Homesick" Released: 12 May 2003
Alternate cover
First American pressing

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	68/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Blender
Entertainment Weekly	C
The Guardian
Los Angeles Times
NME	9/10
Pitchfork	4.1/10
Q
Rolling Stone
Uncut

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.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Craig Nicholls, except where noted

Personnel

Performance

• Craig Nicholls – vocals, guitar, percussion, piano ("Homesick") and cover painting
• Patrick Matthews – organ ("Autumn Shade" and "In the Jungle"), bass guitar, piano ("Mary Jane", "Autumn Shade" and "Factory")
• Dave Olliffe – drums on "Highly Evolved", "Autumn Shade", "Outtathaway", "Sunshinin'", "Homesick" (outro only), "Country Yard", "Mary Jane" and "1969"
• Victor Indrizzo – drums on "In the Jungle"
• Joey Waronker – drums on "Get Free"
• Pete Thomas – drums on "Factory", "Ain't No Room" and "Homesick" (excerpt)
• Roger Joseph Manning Jr. – keyboards ("Highly Evolved", "Outtathaway", "Sunshinin'" and "Autumn Shade")

Production

• Kevin Dean – production assistant
• Ted Jensen – mastering
• Ethan Johns – additional percussion ("Get Free", "Autumn Shade", "Factory" and "Sunshinin'")
• Rob Schnapf – additional guitars ("County Yard", "Homesick", "Ain't No Room" and "Factory"), production and mixing
• Andrew Slater – executive production
• Justin Stanley – production ("In the Jungle")
• Andy Wallace – mixing ("Get Free")
• Doug Boehm – engineering
• Steven Rhodes – additional percussion ("Get Free", "Autumn Shade", "Factory" and "Sunshinin'") and additional engineering
• Tony Rambo – engineering ("In the Jungle")
• Craig Conard – production assistant

Charts

Certifications

References

1. "Reviews for Highly Evolved by the Vines". Metacritic. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
2. ^ Phares, Heather. "Highly Evolved – The Vines". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
3. Harris, John (August 2002). "The Vines: Highly Evolved". Blender (8): 126. Archived from the original on 11 August 2004. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
4. Raftery, Brian M.; Brunner, Rob (19 July 2002). "Highly Evolved". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 7 November 2015. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
5. Petridis, Alexis (5 July 2002). "Believe the hype". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
6. Nichols, Natalie (14 July 2002). "The Vines Highly Evolved Capitol". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
7. Fox, Jason (2 July 2002). "Vines: Highly Evolved". NME. ISSN 0028-6362. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
8. Dahlen, Chris (29 June 2002). "The Vines: Highly Evolved". Pitchfork. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
9. "The Vines: Highly Evolved". Q (192): 121. July 2002.
10. Hoard, Christian (2 July 2002). "The Vines: Highly Evolved". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 13 May 2007. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
11. "The Vines: Highly Evolved". Uncut (63): 116. August 2002.
12. Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (23 March 2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN 978-0-7893-2074-2.
13. "Australiancharts.com – The Vines – Highly Evolved". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
14. "Austriancharts.at – The Vines – Highly Evolved" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
15. "ALBUMS : Top 100". Retrieved 14 January 2025.
16. "Lescharts.com – The Vines – Highly Evolved". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
17. "Offiziellecharts.de – The Vines – Highly Evolved" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
18. "Irish-charts.com – Discography The Vines". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
19. "Charts.nz – The Vines – Highly Evolved". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
20. "Norwegiancharts.com – The Vines – Highly Evolved". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
21. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
22. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
23. "The Vines Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
24. "ARIA End of Year Albums Chart 2002". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
25. "Top 200 Albums of 2002 (based on sales)". Jam!. Archived from the original on 6 September 2004. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
26. "Canada's Top 200 Alternative albums of 2002". Jam!. Archived from the original on 4 December 2003. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
27. "2002 UK Year-End Chart" (PDF). ChartsPlus. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
28. "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2002". Billboard. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
29. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2003 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
30. "Canadian album certifications – The Vines – Highly Evolved". Music Canada. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
31. "Iconic albums turning 20 in 2022". Official Charts. Retrieved 22 September 2023.
32. "British album certifications – The Vines – Highly Evolved". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
33. "American album certifications – The Vines – Highly Evolved". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 28 September 2020.

• 2002 debut albums
• Albums produced by Rob Schnapf
• Capitol Records albums
• The Vines (band) albums
• Albums recorded at the Sound Factory