The Black and White Album

The Black and White Album is the fourth full-length album by Swedish rock band The Hives. The album was released on 15 October 2007, in the United Kingdom through Polydor Records and November 13, 2007, in the United States via A&M/Octone Records, No Fun Records, Universal Music Operations and Stockholm Records. The album was originally scheduled for release on 9 October in the United Kingdom; however, this date was postponed to 15 October for unknown reasons, as was the original US release of October 9, 2007.

The first single from the album, "Tick Tick Boom", appears in the games Madden NFL 08 and Madden NFL 11, although it is an early version with some notable changes, such as an alternative chorus. The final version appears on the album as well as in NCAA Football 10. Clips from this song appeared in a Nike commercial shortly before the single's release date, August 14 for the US and 24 September in the UK.

The band said they had recorded 20 to 30 songs (including seven recorded with super producers The Neptunes) for this album from which they finally chose the best. Other tracks were produced by Jacknife Lee and Dennis Herring. Sessions were held with Timbaland, with whom the band produced the song "Throw It On Me", but took place too late for any of the resulting tracks to be on the album. They hoped to use these songs as B-sides.

The album's track listing was confirmed on the band's German website on 13 September 2007, and later through NME.^[2]

By 9 October, "Tick Tick Boom", "Try It Again", "You Got It All... Wrong", "Well All Right!", "Won't Be Long" and "Fall Is Just Something Grownups Invented" were available on iTunes.

On 17 December 2007, "T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S." was confirmed as the album's next single on the band's website.

Sound

The band revealed in an NME interview that one song, "Puppet on a String", has just "piano and hand claps".

The song "A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors" is an instrumental using just a 1960s organ and a drum machine.

The song "Fall Is Just Something Grownups Invented" was written and was being used for autumn promotions on the US television channel Cartoon Network. This song appears as a bonus track on the United Kingdom version of the album.

"Well All Right!" and "T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S." were produced by The Neptunes.^[3]

"Try It Again" features the cheerleading squad from the University of Mississippi. It was also featured in a commercial for the film Get Him to the Greek. "Try It Again" was used in an opening scene in the Chuck (TV series) episode Chuck vs. The Third Dimension. "Try It Again" was part of the promotional trailers for the USA show White Collar.

The song "Tick Tick Boom" was the official theme song for WWE's Survivor Series 2007 and also featured in the Madden NFL 11 soundtrack. "Tick Tick Boom" featured on a teaser trailer for the 2008 film Get Smart and was also used in a video for the 81st Oscars Awards. In 2010 the 12 contestants in American Idol made a Ford video including this song.

"Well, All Right" has been featured on Sears' spring and summer commercials and a playable track of NBA Live 08, as well as part of the official trailer of The Pink Panther 2.

A video for "Won't Be Long" was released on The Hives MySpace on 26 August 2008.^[4]

"Hey Little World" is featured in trailers for the film Kick-Ass and in Victoria's Secret commercials.

Track listing

All songs by Randy Fitzsimmons

1. "Tick Tick Boom" - 3:25
2. "Try It Again" - 3:29
3. "You Got It All... Wrong" - 2:42
4. "Well All Right!" - 3:29
5. "Hey Little World" - 3:22
6. "A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors" - 2:37
7. "Won't Be Long" - 3:46
8. "T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S." - 3:37
9. "Return the Favour" - 3:09
10. "Giddy Up!" - 2:51
11. "Square One Here I Come" - 3:10
12. "You Dress Up for Armageddon" - 3:09
13. "Puppet on a String" - 2:54
14. "Bigger Hole to Fill" - 3:37

Bonus tracks

• "Hell No" (Best Buy Bonus Track) - 2:22
• "I Can't Give It to You" (Indie Exclusive Track) - 3:37
• "Fall Is Just Something Grownups Invented" (UK Bonus Track) - 2:41
• "Waits Too Long" (B-side) - 3:28

Personnel

• Pelle Almqvist – vocals, piano
• Nicholaus Arson – lead guitar
• Vigilante Carlstroem – rhythm guitar
• Dr. Matt Destruction – bass guitar
• Chris Dangerous – drums
• Pelle Gunnerfeldt – mixing
• Serban Ghenea – mixing
• Ted Jensen – mastering
• Dennis Herring – producer
• The Neptunes – producers
• Garret "Jacknife" Lee – producer
• Thomas Öberg – producer
• Matt Radosevich - engineer

References