Album Review: You Am I - 'The Lives Of Others'

Let's get this on the record - it’s wildly unfair to sit down and listen to a new You Am I record expecting that Tim Rogers and his band of merry, rollicking men [Davey Lane, Andy Kent and Rusty Hopkinson] will deliver another lightning-in-a-bottle concoction of the ilk of Hi Fi Way or Hourly Daily.

Yet, here’s the rub though - it seems no-one gave You Am I that memo as their newest body of work The Lives Of Others provides their sharpest output this side of the Millennium by some distance.

Tracks The Waterboy and Woulda Been Me are brimming with that magic combination of driving rock and melancholic storytelling, while more thoughtful cuts Lookalikes and stand-out ballad Manliness showcase Rogers’ in scruffy troubadour mode, with a dash of 1950s cool.

It might be the fact that Rogers had a dark night of the soul contemplating his future in the music business - working as a bartender before penning the record - or it could be the relative void of this type of Australian rock record, and of course it might be the ‘C-word’ [ed note: COVID, not the usual one] issue injecting a dose of perspective to the bands’ creative spirit. Whatever the cause, on The Lives Of Others You Am I have wound the clock back with some vintage, hook-laden rock and roll with equal levels of nostalgia and angst. 

Like a late-career Ricky Ponting pull-shot, The Lives Of Others reminds the younger generation of guitar-loving songsmiths how the masters do it. 

Find out more about You Am I here.