THE HIVES - The Black and White Album

By Simon Howell - A Listening Ear - 10/13/2007

Whatever else they may have been, The Hives were once ruthlessly efficient -- 2004's Tyrannosaurus Hives blasted through its twelve songs in half an hour flat. Of course, most bands that release 30-minute rock records belong on labels like Epitaph and Lookout!, but The Hives have always managed to keep some rapid-fire grit in their songwriting even as they enjoy major label backing. Alas, in the world of the majors, what doesn't need fixing must be broken, and The Black and White Album marks the group's first diversified recording, with forays into drum machines, keyboards, acoustic guitars, piano and even strings. It must be asked, given a comparative listen to their past works, if it was really necessary for them to stray so far from their apparently limited strengths (one can't help but wonder just how much of this was at the label's insistence).

The album starts off reasonably strong with the catchy-but-stilted single, "Tick Tick Boom," the considerably better "Try It Again" (with backing vocals resembling a cheerleader squad of riot girls) and the new-wavey "You Got It All…Wrong." Before long, however, the group loses focus along with its growing list of collaborators, including no less than twenty contributing engineers. Among the biggest missteps are the two tracks produced by pop-rap alum (and occasional genius, as evidenced by the Clipse's Hell Hath No Fury) Pharrell Williams; "Well all Right!" is passable, replacing driving guitars with barroom-style backing vocals and a swing rhythm, but "T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S." is a lame attempt at an "Under Pressure"-style anthem. Even worse is "Giddy Up," for which the band themselves is solely responsible, and can best be described as an annoying Gossip c-side. At times the group seems unhealthily flexible to the whims of their producers (of which there are four, not counting three self-produced tracks) -- dance-rock cut, "Hey Little World," for instance, is a dead ringer for some of the more upbeat moments on Bloc Party's A Weekend in the City, and sure enough, it's Jacknife Lee on the boards. Even though the album's most convincing departure is the sinister cabaret-pop tune, "Puppet on a String," one can't help but feel a twinge of irony upon hearing the derision they level at the easily-manipulated figure in question. 

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