The Hives: The Black And White Album : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

The Hives' howlin' Pelle Almqvist remains the international king of talk-idiot-talk stage patter. Pelle: "I'm out of control! Tell me to take it easy!" Crowd: "Take it easy!" Pelle: "No, I wooon't!" He's right — he won't. The Swedish garage-punk maniacs continue to polish their sharp-dressed groove on their fourth album, adding new tricks, rhythmic jolts and some very not-indie studio wizardry without denting their basic bang-on-the-head formula, as epitomized by "Try It Again." Pharrell joins them for "T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.," bringing a robot-disco flair that could pass for LCD Soundsystem after group sex with Heatwave, while throwing in some demented doo-wop to "Well All Right!" "Giddy Up" and "Tick Tick Boom" tweak the Ramones-ready guitars with discreet funk. "A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors" is a strange, horror-movie keyboard instrumental, from the scene where the kids in the haunted house are about to step on the zombie's grave. The most surprising success is "Puppet on a String," with plonking piano and an eerie Tom Waits-cabaret-swing beat. Yet there's no need to worry about the Hives succumbing to progress or sophistication — their rock & roll manifesto is "Square One Here I Come.”