Jet - Shaka Rock

Rating

: * * *

Verdict

:

See you at the pub, it's Jet's shout.

It must be tough being a band who score a big rock 'n' roll hit on debut and must forever live up to it. Jet's

Are You Gonna Be My Girl

, from the 2003 debut album,

Get Born

, was a worldwide hit thanks to its 60s Motown hip-shaking beat mixed with a punchy Melbourne pub rock attitude. Follow-up

Shine On

was good but hardly had the catchy-to-the-point-of-annoying hits of the first; and now third album

Shaka Rock

sees Jet simply a band plying their trade.

So despite the arcing and shuddering

Bullet the Blue Sky

guitar riffs and fist-pumping chorus of opener

K.I.A. (Killed In Action)

, it falls straight into a mundane formula and fails to take off, and a song like

Goodbye To Hollywood

is simply a rip-off of Mick Jagger at his posturing best crossed with the hollering of fellow countryman Jimmy Barnes.

Then again, the most striking songs are first single,

She's A Genius

, which has a whiplash spark akin to

My Sharona

and the snappy

La Di Da

is a steely Mexican-inspired desert party song.

Mostly, the kind of rock 'n' roll Jet produce is polished bog-standard. Nevertheless, frontman Nic Cester sounds like he's doing okay, dividing his time during the year between touring commitments and his homes in Milan and Melbourne. So either there's still money to be made from pub rock, or else the royalties from that debut hit just keep rolling in.

Scott Kara