Mostly Killer
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The Hives, in many respects, seem to be the heirs to the Ramones: sartorial gimmick, jackhammer tempos, catchy earworm choruses. What's not to love? The Hives' new album, The Black and White Album, starts with such a barrage of excellence that I was initially sure I was listening to the album of the year. The Single "Tick Tick Boom" leads into "Try It Again," which features cheerleaders on the chorus(!) and lead singer Howlin' Pelle Almquist doing more singing and less howlin'. This is a positive trend that continues throughout the album.Three more fantastic songs follow, including "Well All Right," which is not a Buddy Holly cover, but, rather, a new song which takes its place in the pantheon of "Woo hoo" songs with Gwen Stefani's "Sweet Escape" and Blur's "Song 2. Even "Hey Little World" succeeds despite its use of the line "what you gonna do when we come for you?" Any band that can evoke the theme from "Cops" and not go down in flames is clearly hot stuff.So far so good--joyful, melodic, hard rockin' guitar pop. What could go wrong? Well, around track 6 we hit a snag: "A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors." Hive Manor to judge by the instrumental that bears its name, is right next door to Nintendo's Luigi's Mansion. I guess it's okay to have this kind of filler track as a kind of palate-clearing sorbet (Husker Du did it with "The Baby Song," for example), but this goes on for nearly four minutes. Annoying. But then we're back to great songs, and The Hives even manage to get a little bit funky on "T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S". When they assert "we rule the world" on this track, it's tough to disagree, especially when "Return the Favour," my vote for single of the year, follows. And then the album goes off the rails. "Giddy Up" is a raunchy double entendre song that manages to be more annoying than fun. "Square One Here I Come" feels annoyingly posey--it's just tough to take seriously a song about being down and out from the day you're born from a band from Sweden, a.k.a. The Home of Democratic Socialism. "You Dress Up For Armegeddon" is fantastic and the rest of the album is forgettable.This album contains eight amazing songs, and yet I can't really recommend it for purchase as a full album because of the filler tracks. Download tracks one through five and seven through nine and twelve and you've got an album that's all killer, no filler. Spend the buck you saved by not paying for the filler tracks and buy a delicious guilty pleasure pop song. And now, enjoy "Return the Favour", which never fails to kill me.
Comments (16)
Johnnie Gee (Milwaukee's Kids Soul"
Hello, The original Johnnie Gee here, Making sure America knows I'm still alive, still releasing music, own my label "sidetraxx Records", and more.
Johnnie Gee story is the stuff of which legends are made. It is a saga that began in America's heartland at age 9 in Milwaukee Wisconsin, where Johnnie Gee was born on September 29th, 1959 to Elgie and D.W Gee, into a family of seven brothers and sisters.
When Mama Gee, herself a blues lover, noticed her sons' growing interest in music and performing, she devoted herself to the careful development of their nascent talents. Through hard work and dedication, Johnnie, Dewitt, Jerome, and other friends became ,The Exclusive Step By Step. The group began performing professionally in and around Milwaukee and Chicago in 1969; later that year, the siblings took their polished song-and-dance act to Wisconsin's famous "Cuca Records", where James Kirchstein produced LP's and singles from 1959 until the early 1970s.
While the company's bread and butter came from its vast catalog of polka and ethnic LP's, Cuca also recorded pop, rock 'n' roll, rhythm & blues, folk, and traditional jazz, with an output of over 1000 45-rpm singles. Because most of the artists were from Wisconsin or adjacent states, the Cuca recordings present a concentrated view of the area's ethnic and popular music. Read more about Cuca records here.
Johnnie Gee has promoted his career for over 30 years and still has a strong presence among his fans. At age nine, Johnnie recorded his first single with Step By Step; by age 13 he was already earning his own living as an entertainer. After 37 years, Platinum Records, Brunswick Records, Cuca Records and Sidetraxx Records have brought back the classic early sounds of Step By Step and Johnnie Gee.
Johnnie Gee and "Step By Step" went on later to record and sign with the famous "Brunswick Records". Johnnie Gee and The Step By Step Band turned the place out, winning over Nat Tarnopol. The staff reaction was welcoming , the founder of the New York-based Brunswick Records, then the most successful R&B label around.
Captivated by what they saw and heard, Nat signed the group immediately. Thus began one of the most successful runs by a recording group in soul, pop, R&B music history. Johnnie Gee is currently back on the scene with his new 'EP' "One More Time", Time After Time and The ABC's Of Kid Soul, if you like retro soul, pop or R&B, music with a professional sound from a recording artist that still has original product selling thousands in Japan, China , Australia, US , The Netherlands and many more countries around the world. The original Album that started Johnnie Gee's career has just been re-issued by several large distribution companies such as JVC, Victor Ent, BMG and many more.
I'm very happy with the new release "Home Schooled: The ABC's Of Kid Soul", it brings back the love in music and the original sounds that you can't get in current bands or artist today, enjoy "Time After Time", it was the highlight of my young career, and the begining of "Step By Step" band.
Please visit my web sites at:
www.gecomgroup.net www.myspace.com/johnniegee www.gecomcorpinter.com www.gecomcorpinter.com/bboytraxxmall.html
You also can find Johnnie Gee in any major search engine by simply typing in "Johnnie Gee"
Thanks so much, hope to hear from you soon..
Johnnie Gee