''Highly Evolved'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

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 Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

. Produced by

Rob Schnapf Rob Schnapf is an American record producer. He was the co-producer (along with Tom Rothrock) of Elliott Smith's albums '' Either/Or'', '' XO'' (on which he also played guitar on the song " Baby Britain"), '' Figure 8'' and ''From a Basement o ...

, known for his collaboration with

Tom Rothrock Tom Rothrock is an international musician, composer, record producer, and owner of Bong Load Records. Tom Rothrock has worked with James Blunt, Foo Fighters, Moby, Beck, Badly Drawn Boy, R. L. Burnside, Athlete, Sloan, Gwen Stefani, Mot ...

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known as Elliott Smith, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, whe ...

's albums ''

Either/Or Either/or and related terms may refer to: * ''Either/Or'' (Kierkegaard book), an 1843 book by Søren Kierkegaard * ''Either/Or'' (Batuman novel), a 2022 novel by Elif Batuman * ''Either/Or'' (album), a 1997 album by Elliott Smith * ''Either/Or'' ...

'', '' XO'', and '' Figure 8'', ''Highly Evolved'' was an immensely popular debut, part of a trend towards

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock music that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The style is ...

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 Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

. The debut single, "

Highly Evolved ''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 ...

", was chosen as Single of the Week by influential British music magazine ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

''. 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 ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music criti ...

''. In October 2010, it was listed in the book ''

100 Best Australian Albums ''The 100 Best Australian Albums'' (a.k.a. ''One Hundred Best Australian Albums'') is a compendium of rock and pop albums of the past 50 years as compiled by music journalists Toby Creswell, Craig Mathieson and John O'Donnell. The book was ...

''.

Recording and mastering

''Highly Evolved'' was recorded and mixed at

The Sound Factory The Sound Factory (also known as Sunset Sound Factory) is a recording studio in Los Angeles, California. The Sound Factory was built in the 1960s on Selma Avenue in Hollywood. At the time, it served as the home of Moonglow Records and the Moon ...

and

Sunset Sound Recorders Sunset Sound Recorders is a recording studio in Hollywood, California, United States, located at 6650 Sunset Boulevard. Background The Sunset Sound Recorders complex was created by Walt Disney's Director of Recording, Tutti Camarata, from a co ...

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

, California. It was recorded between July 2001 and February 2002.

Track listing

Personnel

; Performance * Craig Nicholls – vocals, guitar,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

, 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 Jon Joseph Waronker (born May 20, 1969) is an American drummer and music producer. He has performed with acts including Beck, R.E.M., Oasis and Roger Waters, and is a member of the experimental rock bands Atoms for Peace and Ultraísta. Back ...

– drums on "Get Free" * Pete Thomas – drums on "Factory", "Ain't No Room" and "Homesick" (excerpt) *

Roger Joseph Manning Jr. Roger Joseph Manning Jr. (born May 27, 1966) is an American keyboardist, singer, and songwriter who co-founded the bands Jellyfish, the Moog Cookbook, Imperial Drag, and The Lickerish Quartet. He has also spent several years as a member of Bec ...

– keyboards ("Highly Evolved", "Outtathaway", "Sunshinin'" and "Autumn Shade") ; Production * Kevin Dean – production assistant * Ted Jensen – mastering *

Ethan Johns Ethan Thomas Robert Johns (born 1969 in Merton, London) is an English record producer, engineer, mixer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Johns has worked with artists including Robert Vincent, Ryan Adams, Kings of Leon, Paul McCartney, ...

– additional percussion ("Get Free", "Autumn Shade", "Factory" and "Sunshinin'") *

– 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 Doug Boehm (born November 4, 1969) is an American record producer and sound engineer who specializes predominantly in the rock music genre and has worked in collaboration with Rob Schnapf on a number of occasions. He produced the releases of th ...

–

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

* 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

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

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