Interscope Records
2003
Fever To Tell (Explicit)
About This Album
From release to release, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have grown considerably, moving from the arty yet anthemic garage punk of their self-titled EP to Machine's angular urgency. Fever to Tell, their first full-length and major-label debut, also shows growth, but for the first time the band doesn't sound completely in control of the proceedings. Their EPs were masterful studies in contrast and economy, balancing just the right amounts of noise, melody, chaos, and structure within 15 to 20 minutes. It's possible that the band needs the limits of an EP to give their music some boundaries; at 37 minutes, Fever to Tell manages to sound, at different times, scattered and monotonous. Most of this can be chalked up to poor sequencing -- the album opens with some of the raunchiest noise the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have ever recorded, then abruptly changes gears and delivers a kitchen sink's worth of pretty ballads and experimental pieces. Ironically enough, the sudden switch makes Fever to Tell feel more like two EPs' worth of songs slapped together than playing their actual EPs back to back does. Both the old and new sides of the band's sound offer brilliant and frustrating moments: "Rich," a sneering sugar-mommy story; "Black Tongue," which features the great lyric "let's do this like a prison break" and is almost Hasil Adkins-esque in its screwed-up sexuality and rockabilly licks; and "A Date With the Night," a rattling, screeching joy ride of a song, combine Karen O's unearthly vocals, Nick Zinner's ever-expanding guitar prowess, and Brian Chase's powerful drumming in familiar but fresh ways.
Track List (try tracks 1,2,4,6,7,8,9 and 10)

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