Powderfinger: Vulture Street

By RUSSELL BAILLIE

(Herald rating: * * *)

The Brisbane band's last album, Odyssey Number Five, made them the first Australian rock act that we - with our discerning tastes - took to heart in a long while.

With hits like My Happiness, We Should Be Together Now, and Like A Dog the band showed they had song-smarts beyond being another guitar group who could pack them in from Fortitude Valley to St Kilda.

By contrast, Vulture Street sounds like all that sensitivity and songwriting on the last one sure took it out of them. Much of this has the feel of songs designed only to leave the floor covered in XXXX, but so far as much else sticking ... well, it's fun while it lasts.

That's from the notice-of-intent first song Rockin' Rocks, and the retro blues-rock swagger of On My Mind and Stumblin'. Elsewhere, Roll Right By You stands out with its mix of Stonesy riffery and Crowded House-ish tune, while the epic Pockets is the sound of band democracy failing and the two extravagant guitarists gaining a dominant majority.

Frontman Bernard Fanning gets contemplative on some measured ballads and mid-tempo numbers like How Far Have We Really Come?, Love Your Way and Sunsets - all possible candidates to be My Happiness II with their rousing tunes and dynamics. But much of Vulture Street sounds like a road already much travelled.

Label: Universal