Come Of Age专辑介绍
The Vaccines have made public the cover art (pictured above) and tracklisting of their sophomore record Coming of Age, scheduled for release September 3, 2012. It was way back in January when Music Feeds first got word of the upcoming LP, reporting at the time that the band had managed to secure Kings of Leon/Ryan Adams producer Ethan Johns.
At that time The Vaccines were in Australia for the Big Day Out 2012 before retuning home to presumably put the finishing touches on their follow-up to their platinum-selling debut album What Did You Expect from the Vaccines?.
While being interviewed by NME about Coming of Age, vocalist Justin Young explained that his band has attempted to create a record that differs from the first but still retains the qualities that attracted fans to begin with.
“I don’t think there’s any danger of us making the same record twice. But I think anything people found attractive about us the first time round has been retained. I’m really confident we’ve got the balance right”, Young said.
“I wanted to look inwards with this record. Honesty goes a long way in music and it’s therapeutic. There’s a lot about the way I’m feeling. One minute you’re a shit-kicking 21-year-old and the next you’re playing a song you’ve written in front of 20,000 people chanting your name. But that’s tongue-in-cheek too; it’s not me taking myself completely seriously”, he said.
Mansun發行首張大碟《Attack of the Grey Lantern》、The Verve發行重組回歸之作《Urban Hymns》的那一年，香港回歸了。英國音樂圈對「Cool Britannia」這個工黨發起的文化運動頗為不滿，有人直言：「Britpop已死」；接踵而來的是Blur、Oasis等當年Britpop這些金字招牌走入歷史，英式搖滾頓時變成眾矢之的，Post-Punk Revival於千禧年後銜命而起。時代遭逢巨變，英倫樂隊曾經如恆河沙數，卻一夕成了流行音樂工業之莫大玩笑。
再回望2000年後蜂擁而起的Post-Punk、Dance-Punk風潮，The Strokes、Franz Ferdinand如今早已不復當年之勇；後起之秀若不是改弦易撤，便是轉往更長遠的歷史軌跡去挖掘，而Justin Young領命的The Vaccines便是如此。此人刻意不思Yuck之輩靠攏，而要作流行樂隊之翹楚。果然，樂隊的處子之征，躋身於專輯榜(UK Album Chart)第四位。如此甜頭，The Vaccines不思作何調整，食髓知味、火速以《Come of Age》歸來，寫的、唱片，仍是當下青年男女之百無聊賴。
主唱兼樂隊創作大腦Justin Young也說了，他們絲毫不擔心再玩一次《What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?》會有什麼風險——時代在我們腳下，我們本該盡情把握。儘管找來Ethan Johns(Laura Marling、Kings of Leon、Tom Jones)司唱片監製，歌曲〈No Hope〉、〈All In Vain〉仍保持〈Wreckin’ Bar (Ra Ra Ra)〉以及〈All In White〉之旺盛精力，即使〈Lonely World〉之傷感仍只是佯稱作勢，Justin Young仍會用擅長之做作口吻唱著：「I don't really care about」、「No hope, And it's hard to come of age.」。只管活在當下、不理前人哭笑。
Come Of Age专辑歌曲
- disc 2