{"id":41146,"date":"2008-10-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/all-or-nothing\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T11:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T11:20:12","slug":"all-or-nothing","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/all-or-nothing\/","title":{"rendered":"All Or Nothing"},"content":{"rendered":"

When last we encountered the boy-girl-boy, brother-fiancee-brother British power trio The Subways, they were wringing every drop of sweat they could out of a set of frenetic, slightly adolescent punk-pop.\u00a0 That was their 2006 debut Young For Eternity<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Two years and a potentially lethal breakup between guitarist\/vocalist\/lyricist Billy Lunn and bassist\/vocalist Charlotte Cooper later, they\u2019re back.\u00a0 The obvious questions are: is the band still cohesive, how have they changed, and how does superstar producer Butch Vig (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Garbage) figure into the equation?<\/p>\n

One thing\u2019s apparent from the start; this trio has lost none of its Nirvana times Oasis melodic drive.\u00a0 Lunn still brings the monster riffs and banshee screams, Cooper still plays the light melodic yin to his dark angsty yang, and younger bro Josh Morgan still smashes the skins like a cross between Dave Grohl and Keith Moon. <\/p>\n

The principal difference between Young For Eternity<\/i> and All Or Nothing<\/i> suggests that Vig\u2019s presence was huge.\u00a0 The former album was a big shaggy dog of a debut, full of manic enthusiasm but uneven and often underdeveloped songs; the new disc has all the in-your-face impact of the first plus a lot more strategic discipline.\u00a0 Songs are songs here, not just sketches trying to get by on a single sweet riff or line.<\/p>\n

\u201cGirls & Boys\u201d encapsulates the whole album in its first 75 seconds.\u00a0 Starting off with just Lunn\u2019s guitar playing a jangly, melodic riff, the tune does a steady build until it explodes into an extended, bludgeoning riff that would make Jimmy Page smile.\u00a0 Then it falls back to the melody, now supported by bass and drums, and Lunn and Cooper come in with dueling lead vocals, trading lines in a harmonic counterpoint that\u2019s both compelling and absolutely brilliant.\u00a0 The tune also immediately brings one of this album\u2019s lyrical themes into focus \u2013 tension and anger and suspicion around male-female relationships.\u00a0 (Okay let\u2019s just say it: Rumours<\/i> 2008, anyone?)\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cKalifornia\u201d is a second helping of aural nitroglycerin, dark aggro verses giving way to a sunny chorus over a retro Beatles backbeat.\u00a0 \u201cAlright\u201d is a variation on same and then \u201cShake! Shake!\u201d comes in and slams you up and down with its coiled-then-unleashed dynamics and sneering lyrics (\u201cI’m calling out to you from the basement \/ I got a need to feel so I Shake! Shake! \/ You got a problem with me, say it \/ I couldn’t care if we lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMove To Nelwyn\u201d is the first place things ease up, as Lunn turns it down and Morgan and Cooper step up for a dreamy tune full of clever start-stop dynamics and lush harmonies.\u00a0 There\u2019s a distinctly British lilt to the melody here that also pops up in the strongly Oasis-influenced titled track.<\/p>\n

\u201cI Won\u2019t Let You Down\u201d brings back the slamming power chords and unrestrained aggression as Lunn cries \u201cI won\u2019t let you down \/ I won\u2019t tear your heart out\u201d until he can\u2019t take the irony any more \u2013 clearly his lover has<\/i> done both of these things to him — and lets loose with an agonized scream.\u00a0 \u201cTurnaround\u201d builds off of this fury to take the band squarely into punk territory, frenzied chords and unhinged vocals from Lunn offset only momentarily by Cooper\u2019s complementary vocal lines.<\/p>\n

The closing quartet of songs offers fresh variations on all of the above, with the standouts being the softer pair — \u201cStrawberry Blonde,\u201d with its gentle, spacious build and Beatlesque harmonies (this should be a single), and \u201cLostboy\u201d with its disarming melody line and vulnerable lyric (\u201cI was a lostboy that was found \/ Drowning underwater \/ Smothered by the pressure \/ I was a lost toy now I’m found \/ You patched me back together \/ Sewing up the leather\u201d).<\/p>\n

There\u2019s not a song over 3:40 here, but they don\u2019t need to be; under Vig\u2019s watchful eye the band has put together its most accomplished set of songs to date and polished them beautifully without losing any of their essential rawness or vitality.\u00a0 Across the Atlantic<\/st1:place>, NME has already declared this \u201cThe best U.K.<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> rock album of the year\u201d — a fairly bold statement considering there\u2019s still plenty of year left — but it’s a hard sentiment to argue with.\u00a0 I can\u2019t think of another band this young that delivers such a potent combination of raw adrenaline and sheer musicality.\u00a0 The right combination of brawn and melody is a knockout punch for a power-pop aficionado like me, and this one left me flat on the mat with eyes closed and a big smile.\u00a0 The Subways have arrived — all aboard!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":29553,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7704],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-41146","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-subways","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41146"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}