Jet

Get Born

January 09, 2008

*** 1/2 / ****

By Mr. Marlowe

Released 2003

Having gone to high school in the early ‘90s it should come as no surprise that at the time I listened to a lot of so-called “alternative music.” The Seattle scene was at the forefront of popular music and that meant the sounds blaring from the speakers of my ’81 Mercury Zephyr were dominated by MTV “buzz bin” bands such as Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Nada Surf, Bush, Sponge, Counting Crows, and Stone Temple Pilots. Sure, there was some Guns ‘N Roses, U2, and particularly a handful of ‘80s singles that I would later come to really embrace thrown in for good measure, but no doubt I was a kid of, by, and for the times. Of, by, and for the times is what Australia’s Jet and their 2003 debut album, Get Born, is all about. I sense that this is precisely the equivalent kind of music to what I listened to some ten years previous, in a good way, and I have no doubt if I was Class of 2005, Get Born would have been blaring from my speakers back then as well.

It was a different time, the early 2000s, and where the early ‘90s pop acts channeled The Pixies, Jane’s Addiction, R.E.M., and Neil Young, the new ones went after The Velvet Underground, Oasis, and Iggy Pop. Throw in a bit of Rolling Stones and home grown AC/DC and you’ve got Get Born, one of the best of the early millennium’s truly rockin’ albums with a taste for showmanship ballads.

Get Born treads familiar ground for the time and has plenty of riffs and tunes reminiscent of the best of classic rock. Where it separates from the pack of contemporary poseurs is that it feels genuine, it truly rocks, and it’s a whole lot of fun. I remember years ago hearing former G ‘N R and current Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash call Jet his favorite contemporary band and just about the only one those days that rocked. Right he is, Get Born rocks. And when you combine Jet’s rollicking good time tunes (Get What You Need, Lazy Gun, Get Me Outta Here) with a handful of sentimental, introspective ballads (Come Around Again, Move On, Look What You’ve Done, Radio Song) and one of the best singles of the year, Are You Gonna Be My Girl, you’ve got familiar classic rock channeled for a new, modern audience.

The whole notion of Get Born is quite stunning in its simplicity and though the album doesn’t break any new stylistic ground, it is a fun listen and some of the best driving music you’ll find released between 2000 and 2007. Get yourself a copy, pop it in your car’s CD player old school style, and you’ll be reminded that rock n’ roll is truly music without synthesizers, ill-fitting suits, and that winking, nudging irony. Get Born is real rock n’ roll, baby, and there ain’t nothin’ wrong with that.

Best Songs: Come Around Again, Are You Gonna Be My Girl, Move On, Lazy Gun