After nearly 15 years of existence, The Hives has refined its stripped-down rock ‘n’ roll assault and emerged as one of the most entertaining live bands in the current scene. A performance last month at Washington’s Black Cat found singer Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist swinging from ceiling pipes and mingling with the crowd while the band flailed behind him, executing hits such as “Main Offender” and “Walk Idiot Walk.”
While the band is best experienced live, previous albums Veni Vidi Vicious and Tyrannosaurus Hives were filled with memorable songs. However, it is fortunate that The Hives changed the name of the band’s most recent album, The Black and White Album, from its first choice: The World’s First Perfect Album. While the album has its share of excellent songs, it definitely falls short of the band’s previous efforts.
Opener “Tick Tick Boom” kicks things off in classic Hives form, with a treble-y guitar riff. “Tick Tick Boom” has a similar slow-burn intensity to the band’s breakout single, “Hate To Say I Told You So,” but is notably louder. “I’ve done it before, and I can do it some more/ I’ve got my eye on the score, I’m gonna cut through the floor,” Almqvist sings, before the instrumentation drops out and Almqvist imitates a time bomb ticking off. “Tick Tick Boom” is just a little bit of a twist on The Hives’ formula, but it’s enough to make it one of the best songs in the band’s catalog.
Although some of the album’s best tracks, such as “Try It Again” and “You Got It All … Wrong,” recall The Hives of previous albums, The Black and White Album definitely shows the band branching out from its “punk rock avec kaboom” concept. Unfortunately, not all of these exercises work well for The Hives.
“T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.” – tapped to be a future single off of The Black and White Album – shows the band testing the waters of sharp, jittery funk, yet with decidedly mixed results. Almqvist’s voice goes higher than it ever has (save for Mick Jagger-esque squeals on previous songs), but the song sounds like a throwaway Prince track.
A couple of tracks find the band exploring almost cabaret styles, such as the oddly Tom Waits-like “Puppet on a String,” in which Almqvist sings over creepy piano and finger-snaps. The juxtaposition of Almqvist’s distinctive vocals with such sluggish music is jarring, considering the high level of energy found on basically everything else the band has released.
Listening to The Black and White Album, there are times when it seems like The Hives are reaching a point that every band fears – the moment they start to run out of ideas. The attitude of the album might be best summed up by a line in the excellent “Try It Again,” in which Almqvist states, “They say the definition of madness is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.” Like so many of the stylish ’60s bands The Hives emulates, the group does the same thing and expects the same result – but at least Almqvist and the gang do it with unparalleled precision.
jameschristopherberry@gmail.com
RATING: 3 stars out of 5