A&M/Octone
2007
The Black And White Album
About This Album
Time and time again, the Hives have shown that they can crank out consistent, and consistently fun, garage rock. The Black and White Album's title alludes to the band's strict formulas for everything from color codes to dress codes to cleverly structured dumb rock, yet this is the album where the Hives break away from their routine -- they add some gray to the mix. At this point in their career, it's understandable that they'd want to break out of the mold, at least occasionally, even if they are the experts at honed, toned garage-punk. To that end, the band recorded with a host of different producers, from Dennis Herring (who worked on the bulk of the songs) to Pharrell Williams to Jacknife Lee, as well as on their own. Considering how many people worked on the album, it's a minor miracle that it has any cohesiveness at all, but the Hives nod to tradition by starting off with a bunch of sure-fire songs. "Tick Tick Boom" comes at your ears from all directions, full of snarling "yeah!"s and low-slung riffs that are tamped down like gunpowder before exploding on the choruses. "Hey Little World" is one of the band's best Stones-on-speed rockers in some time, and "You Got It All.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10)

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