The Hives - A Little More For Little You (Polydor)
UK release date: 7 November 2005
This tune starts off so ridiculously catchy that it'd be easy to suspect it was a cover version. Yes, The Hives are always pretty infectious, but this is a different kind of addictive bounciness. They've changed this song from the album version, the main difference being that they've taken out some of the slightly peculiar noises and simplified it down to the kind of raw, typical Hives sound that they really ought to have gone for in the first place.
That's not to say that this is the same old same old. In fact, it's a bit of a departure from the traditional punky and intense wailings that Howlin' Pele Almqvist tends to specialise in, and is more of a straight forward pop tune. He's still screaming, but the screams seem happier and less irritable. For those enjoying the new Hot Hot Heat album, this will be an absolute treat because it's that kind of stuff that this is made of.
If that bunch of cheeky British scamps the Arctic Monkeys were to play the hits from the Tom Hanks movie That Thing You Do, they'd probably play them a little bit like this. And if you thought the Hives' time had passed, this song ought to prove you well and truly wrong.
