The Hives

May 21, 2008

The Hives

The Black And White Album

[3/5]

There’s an old adage that goes, “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer,” which suggests you need to know what your backstabbing foes are up to just as much as you need your confidantes for support. On The Black And White Album, it seems the Hives have kept a little too close to their enemies; namely, the critics who’ve accused Sweden’s finest rock outfit of making the same record over and over again like some alt-rock AC/DC. Though their taut-rocking discography has taken them out of the world of dirty rock clubs in bad neighborhoods and into opening American arenas for Maroon 5, the Hives felt the need to change things up a bit-with tenuous results.

First the good news: Black And White features some future Hives classics in waiting. “Hey Little World” is an urgent rocker that will elicit cries of “more cowbell” when played at the right volume. “Tick Tick Boom” finds them vandalizing mailboxes on the streets of Rewrite City, but it’s still great, right down to the last broken guitar sustain. The double payoff: “Square One Here I Come” could best be described as a manifesto to white-trash self-entitlement, powered by spiky guitars. In contrast, the closing “Bigger Hole To Fill” sports self-motivating fury, with Pelle Almqvist spitting how “I ain’t got no time to spare!” while the track ends in a torrent of amp static.

But as good as those tracks are, they’re buttressed by positively ignorable moments. “Well All Right” is a ’50s noir pop song that puts out a vibe somewhere between West Side Story and Patti Palladin and Johnny Thunders’ collaboration Copy Cats-but it’s merely okay. The self-referencing spell-out (as opposed to shout-out) “T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.” is a grating dance-club spinner somewhere between the Make Up’s falsetto funk and U2’s pointless “Numb.” The galloping electro-twaddle of “Giddy Up!” is more irritating than the last two Peaches albums. “Puppet On A String” finds the Fagersta, Sweden, delegation goofing on an upright piano for some hipster down-home family meeting. The hardly creepy home-organ interlude “A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors” offers nothing of interest musically or atmospherically. If this is the stuff that made the cut, collectors might want to reconsider seeking out expensive singles with non-LP tracks.

The Hives are far enough along in their career to pull off whatever flight of fancy tickles them (could a Justice remix or a session with the remaining members of Sun Ra’s Arkestra be too far away?). Inevitably, B&W’s oft-referenced line will be Almqvist’s aside in the slumber-party rave-up “Try It Again.” “They say madness is defined as doing the same thing over and over again to get different results.” Some fans might want to tighten the straps on his straitjacket to remind him. (INTERSCOPE) Jason Pettigrew

TRACK LISTING:

1. Tick Tick Boom

2. Try It Again

3. You Got It All… Wrong

4. Well, All Right!

5. Hey Little World

6. A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors

7. Won’t be Long

8. T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.

9. Return The Favour

10. Giddy Up!

11. Square One, Here I Come

12. You Dress Up For Armageddon

13. Puppet On A String

14. Bigger Hole To Fill