With Shine On, the follow-up to their four-million selling debut, Get Born, Jet want you to do the timewarp all over again. They’ve been pillaging from the houses of the holy – Zep, Stones, Beatles and Beach Boys – bringing it all back home and mixing in a little Antipodean rocket fuel to create an album which lands impressively on the right side of the accomplished homage/hackneyed pastiche divide. Shine On works like a dream.
The album opens with the dual blast of ‘Holiday’ and ‘Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is’ and the listener is given it from both barrels: the guitars and drums are immense. Forget Jet, this sounds like a 747, weighed down with a lethal cargo of ire, preparing for take off. ‘Bring It On Back’, a tender plea as something precious slips outside our hero’s grasp, provides some respite. The sad-eyed boogie of ‘King’s Horses’ is reminiscent of The Band, while ‘Shine On’ is an intimate paean to the Cester brothers’ late father. It’s introspective, nostalgic and heartfelt and, yup, it’s Jet at their best.
It’s certainly not zeitgeist defining stuff – but with Shine On, Jet have delivered a glistening, nostalgia laden treat.