Alibis & Other Lies by Grinspoon

Alibis & Other Lies, Grinspoon's fifth album, arrived on 21 July 2007, and the Lismore four-piece of Phil Jamieson, Pat Davern, Joe Hansen and Kristian Hopes play it like a jukebox with every button pressed. Ramesh Sathiah, who had produced the Green Album, was back at the desk, though the sessions stalled from February to April while Jamieson was in rehab for an addiction to crystal meth. In the meantime the band swapped their website for a clip of their singer in suspenders laying down vocals for "Black Tattoo", next to a clock ticking toward release day.

That lead single swings back toward the scrappy punch of Guide to Better Living, and the rest roams wide: "Choirboy" struts like AC/DC, "Find Your Own Way" goes country rock, "Carried Away" piles on glam metal gloss and "Minute by Minute" softens right down. It reached No. 2 in Australia, earned a J Award nomination for Australian Album of the Year and closed out their Universal deal.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.