Your New Favourite Band [ECD] - Hives (The) > Reviews > My New Favourite Band

Author's product rating:   

Originality
Lyrics
Quality and consistency of tracks
How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Value for Money

Advantages:	loud, brilliant, upbeat, pure genius perhaps
Disadvantages:	a little on the short side, if you dislike loud music chances are you won't like the Hives

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Okay - so the title is a little lame. But heck, I'm only the second person to write about 'Your New Favourite Band' and the title just seemed apt. I've bought several cd's of late, some old, some new, and of all of the cd's I have purchased, I find it is The Hives who are back in my cd player again and again.

When I first played the cd, my sister (she of no discernible musical taste) asked what that 'noise' was. When I responded, and quite enthusiastically I might add, that that 'noise' was my new favourite band, she simply gave me a withering look and asked if I could kindly keep it down, if not actually change the cd.

I probably could see my sister's point of view. Your New Favourite Band is definitely a very 'loud' album. Loud drums are a prominent feature, the vocalist does not so sing so much as shout and the pace of every song is phenomenal (so much so that the album lasts a very, by normal standards at least, meagre 28 minutes and 19 seconds despite there actually being 12 songs on the album) but I don't think I could describe how well it all works together. This is the kind of music you want to listen to while you're doing something - it makes an excellent accompaniment soundtrack whilst playing on my Gamecube (yay!), while writing Ciao! reviews (okay so I haven't been doing that lately) or just mooching about the house. This music is not the kind of music you can be depressed to, it's too upbeat - and that's never a bad thing.

Considering I bought The Strokes 'Is This it?' and 'Your New Favourite Band' on the same day, I was actually expecting to prefer the Strokes' offering. I already knew a few of their songs, and I only thought I might know one of The Hives' songs. But after just one listen - I knew YNFB was going to be a firm favourite from the off, whereas I've had to listen to the Strokes' and endure it for a while before I could actually get into it.

Well that's enough waffle - I'll just do a quick run through of each song, and give you my opinion. There are people in the world who I might say to them - don't buy this, but I don't think anyone should pass them by without at least giving them a go.

1. Hate To Say I Told You So

If you've heard one song by the Hives, this is the one. Very loud, brash guitars with drums that are a little subtle in comparison to the rest of the album with an excellent chorus - it's no lyrical achievement but it does wake you up in the morning. Probably one of my favourite tracks, although it is quite slow if you listen to the rest of the album. There's a nice bit of solo bass in there too, which is quite broody. Why did I mention that - heck knows.

2. Main Offender

Very drummy. And fast guitars. And well just very, very energetic. The kind of song you want to see live. Really. Also, another good chorus. It's actually nice to listen to an album with songs that have titles that make sense.

3. Supply And Demand

More drums - jarring guitars. Has a line in it, and I quote 'Shiny hair that's my life ambition'. Can you beat that? Can you find someone who can beat that? I think not.

4. Die, All Right!

Mainly I just hear guitars and that clashy thing you get on drums. A symbol? Am I making a fool of myself? Probably. Really comes into its own about a minute and a half through when I dunno, the guitar sounds really cool. It's a pretty slow starter, but as it draws to an end, this song is flipping fantastic.

5. Untutored Youth

Very fast. It sounds like on the guitar, it's just one note over and over again. Then the music starts and the guy keeps singing, then drum, then guitar again. It's very structured in that way but this is probably one of my favourites, if not my favourite. It's short though, at 1 minute and 30 seconds.

6. Outsmarted

Really fast guitars and really fast drums and really fast singing. This song is just really fast. If I'd been super lazy and described this with one word it would probably be...headbanging. Yep, I reckon so.

7. Mad Man

This song sounds so menacing at the beginning...and then it just descends into one big shout fest. Best listened to loud. If you really wanted to scare your mum for example, then play this very, very loud.

8. Here We Go Again

Probably my least favourite of all the songs on the cd, this one is quite slow and repetitive (it's still quite fast though) and I suppose this is probably one of the weaker songs.

9. A.K.A I-D-I-O-T

I love this song. It's very fast, got very loud drums, and you really have to respect someone who can sing/shout I-D-I-O-T so fast with apparently so little effort! If you haven't heard the song, you may find that statement a little odd - but trust me. Try doing it yourself. It's hard!

10. Automatic Schmuck

At the risk of repeating myself (I've done it so many times in this opinion already) this is an incredibly fast song. Also, there's some weird kind of organ used towards the end of the song, that sounds very creepy but kitsch at the same time. If you know what I mean.

11. Hail Hail Spit N'Drool

In the same vein as Here We Go Again, this one is a little forgettable and more of a filler than anything else. Having said that it isn't a bad song, but there is better.

12. The Hives Are Law, You Are Crime

Instrumental. Very cool. And a very good track to round off the album. It encapsulates the cool of the Hives, but with less noise. Class.

Okay, so there's my very brief opinion of the tracks. They do sound all similar, but they are all very good. If you listen to just one track and hate it - you'll probably despise the album. However, if you happen to like just one track, I'm pretty near certain you'll not be disappointed with the album.

One last thing is the actually album cover design. It's not in a crap plastic cd case that is going to snap, it's in quite a nice cardboard sleeve which has all of the lyrics and a very funky cover design. So there.

Cheers.