The Datsuns: Headstunts
The Datsuns' Headstunts aren't what you might have hoped
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Friday, 03, Oct 2008 04:50
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In a nutshell..
A spent force - derivative semi-punk rock effort
What's it all about?
This is the Datsuns' fourth album although, following the success of their debut, and the lukewarm response afforded its follow-ups, and barring any freak hit single, it seems destined to make a larger splash in their native New Zealand than it ever will in the UK. The sneaking suspicion, even before first listen, is that The Datsuns time may have passed.
Who's it by?
New Zealanders the Datsuns gained acclaim in 2002 following the release of their debut album, lumped along with a wave of new NME-approved garage-rock bands such as the Hives and the Vines.
As an example...
"Oh oh oh, take my hand/Hold me close/Hold me steady/Get ready, set, and then I go." - Ready, Set, Go!
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Unlikely to make much of an impression here in the UK, let alone break into the USA.
What the others say
"Headstunts... could see The Datsuns filed under 'could've beens'." - CMU Daily
So is it any good?
Many a listener could be forgiven for assuming that the Datsuns had split up. Their last couple of albums made little or no impact and so you could be easily forgiven for filing them alongside the Vines in the section 'bands I used to like in the early 00s'.
But remembering the big dumb charms of their debut album could still evoke enough goodwill enough to give this new effort the benefit of the doubt. Don't.
The Datsuns were initially so likeable because their barely-concealed music borrowings (AC/DC, ZZ Top) were, crucially, FUN - a welcome element in any era and when teamed with a willingness to rock-out, deserving of praise. Here their influences are far more suspect. The likes of Highschool Hoodlums aim for the Ramones but end up sounding like a pale imitation of early Ash - before they were any good. The Datsuns seem depressingly content to join the legions of mediocre bands whose loftiest musical ambitions lie no higher than mid-period Green Day.
Lyrically this band were never going to stake their claim as the new Dylan but whereas their give-a-damn dumb-ass choruses were once a crowd-pleasing charm, here they just sound spent - writing about high schools they left long ago, offering empty threats to "get up and go".
The Sabbath-lite Eye Of The Needle offers some stoner-rock relief. The same cannot be said for the interminable wannabe guitar freak-out that ends the album. Ultimately, both tracks only make you want to re-play the vastly superior Black Mountain's last album instead.
On this evidence these New Zelanders are simply not particularly accomplished musicians, severely uninspired songwriters and, most crucially, in 2008, the Datsuns are no longer any fun.
3/10
Stephen Braund