Customer Reviews

Your New Favorite Band: Best of

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I know we are all weary after a year of Strokes fueled critical adulation, but I have to say...

These guys Rock.
Their music makes me want to tear up the house,
quit my job and take up professional air guitar.
Turn this record up.
Great slabs of torn speaker muffled dueling guitars and pounding bass. Handsome crooner Howlin Pelle Almqvist is possessed of the finest rock and roll scream since Gerry Roslie of 60's favorite sons the Sonics.
With matching threads, white shoes, ascots, and a moustache sporting young Orson Welles/John Belushi look alike on bass,
What's not to like?

At first glance it would be easy to dismiss these boys as mere sixties revivalists. But they manage to mine the last four decades with equal aplomb, flowing effortlessly from garage to hardcore to new wave. Influences include the entire Pebbles/Nuggets canon, 70's punk like the Dead Boys and a just a touch of Gary Numan.

Pick Hits include:
Main Offender
Hate to say I told you so
Here we go again
Die Alright

Plus this cd comes with 4 cool mpeg videos

I got this as a gift, and it is the best disc I've heard in a long time. I was in my teens in the late 1970s and am well familiar with the punk of that time and its influences. If you like 60s garage punk, Raw-Power era Stooges, early Damned, the Dead Boys, and the Saints, you will like this. These guys manage to tie together the best of past punk sounds into one awesome new sound.

The Hives wear their influences on their sleeve: Iggy and the Stooges, *all* 60's psychedelia garage: Nuggets 1965-68 Original Artyfacts, 70's punk like the Ramones, 80's American Hardcore like Black Flag, Minor Threat et al. through to the Pixies and still write original (relatively), catchy, punk powerpop tunes that sound great at high decibels!

They capture the progression of punk music from the 60's to the present so clearly.

If you like well-written punk music with a hook, buy this.

Anyone expecting `The Hives', to play songs of slow poignant melancholy, will be sorely disappointed and well advised to look elsewhere, as this is about as Fast & Furious as it gets...and perfected magnificently by the rousing, passionate hollering's of singer/frontman "Howlin' Pelle Almqvist", whom screams and howls his way through every song, with the subtlety of a cricket ball smashing through a glass conservatory....and guitars rocking & Drums thumping with volume set to `Max'. And its surprisingly its actually very uplifting, with track 3 "Supply & Demand", clocking in at just under 2:27, and is as bone fide an anthem as Blur's "Song 2" is considered...and its not a one trick pony either, as "Hate to Say I Told You So", "Die, All Right!" & "Main Offender" are particularly well crafted Rock Songs that do a tremendous job of holding your attention completely. Obliviously this is not an album for when quieter music is needed....but Who Cares!??, this isn't what the band are trying to achieve, its all about foot to the floor furious Jams...and urging their listeners to `Nod their heads aggressively' (and maybe punch their hands into the air), and very few people can match (let alone surpass) these guys when it comes to that.....essential.

Like many people my first introduction to The Hives was when they made their t.v. debut in Britain on a late night music show.Just like the audience,the show's presenter I was startled by what I had just witnessed-a lead singer gyrating around like Iggy Pop may have done in his teens,a guitarist who slashed and thrashed at his guitar so hard that his hand pumped blood.When you witness a performance like that you just gotta go out and hear more from this group to yourself.So I was even more excited when I discovered their newest c.d.-"Your New Favourite Band" was on Alan McGee's(founder of Creation Records and sponsor of Primal Scream and Oasis,etc) new label-so I knew we'd have an interesting group!Yes you could describe this c.d. as interesting-at times it's total unmelodic noise and on other occasions it just radiates pure brilliant energy.Musically it's pure punk and not west coast bubble-gum punk at that.Yet strangely there are elements of fifties rock and roll;and even more bizarre then this some sounds have a hint of 60's/70's C/W about it to.The album seems to be a compilation of sorts of the best stuff they did on their previous smaller label.The first 4 tracks are taken from their last album,Veni,Vidi,Vicious.3 tracks are taken from an album in '97 and it sounds more racous then the later stuff.There's also a couple of tracks from e.p.'s also.Some of the tracks are very hard to listen to.But tracks like the first two and the single a.k.a.i-d-i-o-t,make this whole album very memorable.The vocal' are really good,verging from hoarse screams to sounding like Jack White of The White Stripes.It's the sort of album that you won't know quite what to make of it when you first hear it.It's the sort of album that will drive your neighbours crazy and could lead to lots of confrontation.But it's raw,it's new.It's packed with attitude and probaly ironic aggression.It's loud yet it's also melodic at times.You ain't heard another band like this-they're pretty much one of a kind.Last year we heard from a Scandanavian group that 'Quiet is the new loud"-I'm afraid that this Scandanavian group are about to blow that theory out the water.

I don't actually own this Cd but I borrowed if off a friend only recently and let we tell you, It was a horrible feeling when I had to return it. Although I was constantly humming the tunes in my head for days I was still left with an empty space. Trust me, if you like Pure Rock then these guys will be right up your alley. A mixture of Garage fuelled with Punk whilst somehow never straying away from their roots. Sure the tracks may be a little unoriginal with structure and not all the songs are great but who cares. It's Rock n' Roll at it's finest and I haven't seen a band this exciting in a long time. Q magazine voted them the top band to see before you die. Just listen to untutored youth if you need a taste of pure adrenelin. Or maybe you need to just mellow out and in that case try the instrumental The Hives Are Law, You Are Crime.
The standout of the Cd for me is Die, All Right. I don't know what it is but this track ignites me and makes me really want to get up and rock.

Overall this album is an excellent investment if you are new to The Hives. Buy it and hear the future of Rock Music.

If ya' don't like the Hives, then ya' don't like rock'n'roll and it's just that simple. I don't know why the hell people are tryin' to compare the Hives to the Strokes. It's kinda like comparin' gasoline to wine. . .and ya' know which one is gasoline baby 'cause the Hives just burn, burn, burn. They've got an unrelenting high energy vibe that'll make ya' positively spastic and they've got all the markings of a truly great band. They kinda remind me of early Makers and Termainal Boredom era Registrators. Think well dressed high-octane garage punk-rock'n'roll and your startin' to get the picture.

The Hives are the best musical export out of Sweden since ABBA (sorry, Roxette). This mini-"best of" album is a hotch-potch of 4 tracks from 2000's "Veni Vidi Vicious" album (which only this year gained acceptance in the US), with album tracks of 1997's "Barely Legal" CD and a variety of singles and B-sides.

Clocking in at 28 min., "Your Favorite New Band" sums up very nicely where the Hives are at this point: take-no-prisoners, all out sonic assault, short songs that make rock so great, check out "Hate To Say I Told You So", "a.k.a. IDIOT", and "Outsmarted". The best song, though, is the delicious B-side "The Hives Are Law You Are Crime" (an instrumental no less) which puts us all in place!

Please don't confuse the Hives with the Vines! The Hives are what rock is about (not that the Vines arent), and this compilation is a great introdution. Now when will they come out with a bona-fide follow-up to "Veni Vidi Vicious"?

Having seen these guys on 'Later' and having quite enjoyed them (even though the lead singer thinks he is Mick Jagger) decided to buy their album. It is good for when your angry, just turn up and let the raw guitars play. Unfortunately, I believe that after a while the songs get a bit repetitive and turn into a mass of noises. Personally I prefer The Strokes.