Review dedicated to the donor of this CD, Mr. Harrison Kopp.  I hope I like it.  I am writing this review “live” so to speak, on first listen.

JET – Get Born (2003 EMI)

Get Born is Jet’s first LP, only two years after forming, and after one 4-track EP.  Let’s listen and find out how adept this band got at writing songs after only two years.  You already know track 2, “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”, the one that everyone says is “Lust For Life” re-written.  Both songs utilize Motown beats, though the Jet song has more frantic energy.  Plagiarism is excusable in some cases.  In this case, I’m still undecided.  Is the rest of the album more original?

Many of these songs are fast and short.  Opener “Last Chance” doesn’t even break two minutes.  It possesses a strong riff, reminiscent of AC/DC in their Bon Scott heyday.  Lead singer Nic Cester is quite adept at “Yeahs!” and “Woos!” which will suffice.  This leads directly into the signature bassline on “Are You Gonna”, which we don’t need to review.  You already have your opinion, and mine is that you can’t tell me those guys never heard “Lust For Life”.  That kind of thing always has a subliminal influence, intentional or not.  The only question I have is how much was intentional, but I really stopped caring 20 years ago.  It is, admittedly a good song if overplayed on radio (still).

“Rollover D.J.” hits right off the bat with bass and guitar, and sounds great in that second it smashes you in the face.  Then it lays back a bit, in a Def Leppard-y way, when they used to rock.  The chorus is punkier, but feels somehow incomplete.  “Look What You’ve Done” switches up to a piano ballad, an unexpected twist.  This tender song has an Oasis quality without the snot-nosed BS.  This means, yes, you can hear a Beatles influence.  Nic Cester demonstrates a smoother side to his singing.  I didn’t want to like it, but the truth is, if this was on one of the first three Oasis albums, I would have liked it anyway.  A keeper.

A nice rock n’ roll riff brings in “Get What You Need”, and one must admire the nice thick bass tone on this album.  This song is all about the guitars.  The melodies are inconsequential.  It’s all the guitars, and the bass.

In another surprise, “Move On” opens with the distant sound of a steel guitar, before an acoustic intro.  This western tinted ballad might be too soon after the previous ballad, but it’s a good song!  Very much like the way the Stones would throw those acoustic numbers on their albums.  It’s now clear that Jet are not interested in breaking new musical ground.  They are focused on writing and recording classic sounding songs that fall within a certain boundary.  That’s allowed.

Another surprise:  acoustics and piano return on “Radio Song”, a moody trip that has me questioning everything I just wrote.  Lead vocals by guitarist Cameron Muncey.   I can hear some Radiohead, but the irony is the chorus:  “This won’t be played on your radio, tonight.”  It’s as if they knew “this is the song where we’re going to experiment a bit.”  It’s different, and it has an audible heart to it.  It goes epic by the ending, but not too much.  Not into Guns N’ Roses bombast.  Still sticking to the core instruments.  An album highlight.

Back to rocking.  A stock riff occupies the necessary space on “Get Me Outta Here”, which fortunately compensates for it with verse and chorus power!  Really great work here, with all the singing parts hitting the spot, satisfying a certain craving for a song that’ll be in your head long afterwards.

AC/DC’s fingerprints are all over “Cold Hearted Bitch”, though with drums more out of the Who school of crashes and smashes.  Unfortunately, momentum is lost on “Come Around Again”, another Stones-y ballad with piano and twang.  It takes time to build, but the reward is brief.  The mellotron and organ are the most interesting parts.

Energy returns on the punk-surf-rock-blast of “Take It Or Leave It”, like a shot of pure adrenaline to the album.  By this stretch of the album, the “Yeah’s!” are getting a bit tiring and the schtick is wearing thin.  “Lazy Gun” has a completely different vibe, with a Gary Glitter sound, and an unexpected secondary section that may or may not fit the first part.  We’re over 40 minutes into the album now, and this, the longest song, shouldn’t be track 12.  Ear fatigue is setting in.

Finally, “Timothy” is an acoustic ballad to close the album.  It sounds extraneous, though with a psychedelic rock twist.  I like the chorus, “It’s not what it seems, but it is…” but it seems the song never builds to anything bigger.

Two takeaways:  1) Jet is more diverse than I expected.  2) I don’t think they have a lot of character on this album.  Nothing strikes me as unique.  Further listens are warranted, but…

To Harrison:  “I’m sorry, old friend…”

3/5 stars