The Hives: Veni Vidi Vicious CD Track Listing

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The Hives Veni Vidi Vicious (2000)
Originally September 12, 2000\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: Rousing, stompin' garage rock from these Swedes, with plenty of mod and frantic punk energy to keep you grooving along. "Party Party!" they seem to be saying, and you just want to join. This is definite change-up from the usual hyperspeed pop-ska-punk dross offered on Epitaph. Perhaps this arises from the fact that these guys are only distributed on Epitaph and yet are actually on the Burning Heart imprint. Plenty of fuzzed, struttin', propulsive guitar work on this disc to assault your ears. Well worth your time to take a spin. More records like this need to exist. [The Japanese edition offers several bonus features, including videos, a website connection, and three bonus tracks ("Untutored Youth," "Fever," and "Mad Man.")] -- Jeremy Salmon\n\nAmazon.com Expert Review\nAmerican punk rock seems to get more watered down with each passing year. Leave it to the Swedes to remind the USA that we were once the home of the Stooges and the MC5. The Hives' Veni Vidi Vicious owes its very being to Detroit's punk genesis; they may be decades too late, but the Hives capture the zeal and fury perfectly. "Die, All Right," an angry rant against capitalism, spikes the aural brew with frontman Howlin' Pelle Almqvist's nasty nasal shouts. Just as rocking is "Hate to Say I Told You So," which boasts a clunky punk groove and delightfully dark lyrics such as "Do what I please gonna spread the disease because I wanna / Gonna call all the shots for the no's and the not's." Veni Vidi Vicious clocks in at just under half an hour--a perfectly timed charge of codeine-meets-caffeine and decibels-meets-delicious-rock. --Jason Josephes \n\nAmazon.com Product Description\n2000 release from the amazing Swedish rockers who make The Strokes sound like The Eagles. \n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nSwede punk, April 30, 2005\nReviewer: E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA)\nWhen you think of Swedish music, ABBA and other embarrassments come to mind. Well, scratch that impression. In 2000, the American rock scene got its blast of Swedish punk rock from the Hives, who got attention with the raw energy and raging music of "Veni Vidi Vicious." \n\nTheir breakout album is a lot more assured than their relatively clumsy debut, "Barely Legal." It kicks off with some catchy riffs, joined rapidly by some heavy percussion and unholy yells from Howlin' Pelle. That's only the first minute and a half, an explosive opener called "Declare Guerre Nucleaire." (The meaning is pretty obvious) \n\nThat sets the tone for the rest of the album, with its mix of hard rock and aggressive yells. Some of them, like "Statecontrol" and "A Get Together To Tear It Apart" are almost dizzyingly fast-paced, while songs like "Main Offender" are catchy enough to count as genuine singles. Fortunately, they don't sacrifice too much of the aggressive rockin' for catchiness. \n\nThe Hives have done their homework, unlike many a whiny faux-punk band. What makes rock'n'roll like this enjoyable is not laments about how your girlfriend left you, but explosive energy and a bit of hell-raising. I don't know if the Hives hell-raise in real-life, but in "Veni Vidi Vicious" they sound about ready to. And love every minute, too. \n\nLike many popular rock bands, they have a lot of classic rock echoes -- most notably Iggy and the Stooges. Despite a lot of unfortunate hype surrounding them, here's nothing original or groundbreaking about the Hives. They simply move faster and with more energy, and their lack of pretention is what makes them entertaining. \n\nHowlin' Pelle is well-known now for living up to his name -- at least the "howlin'" prt. He shrieks, he yowls, he yells, he yelps, he wails. He even sings a little, in a very hammy manner, in the wickedly tongue-in-cheek "Find Another Girl." But mostly he howls, and that gets a bit annoying after awhile -- especially since he actually has a pretty decent singing voice. \n\nFast, rip-roaring and full of earthy energy, "Veni Vidi Vicious" is a fun rock'n'roll listen, despite the over-the-topness of Howlin Pelle.\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nTotally Fun but not Genius, March 19, 2006\nReviewer: D. D. Harwood "RocketReducer62" (Buffalo, NY USA)\nI don't know why this album in particular has instigated this tirade from me but for some reason all the bad reviews have really pissed me off. For whatever reason I'm in the habit of reading the lowest rated reviews of albums I like first. Usually I just laugh at the ignorant fools who say stuff like, "The Velvet Underground is the most over rated band in history," and you won't find a more vigorous Velvets defender than me. But the handful of lousy reviews for this album, which I don't even give 4 stars myself, really made me mad. \nFirst of all, I think that in 2006 it's really idiotic to dismiss a band because they sound like another band. So the Hives are obviously derivative of the MC5, the Kinks, Da Stooges, etc. and those bands did it first and better. Of course they did... THEY'RE THE F**KING MC5! But you know what? The MC5 hasn't made any new music since 1971. So any band that worships them as much as I do is cool with me. As long as they don't rip off riffs directly I'm ok with "derivative". Because if you like that old-school crummy rock it's hard to come by and you should be dying for more. Besides in this day and age it's almost impossible to NOT be derivative of something (before you jump down my throat, I know there are exceptions: Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, Tom Waits - off the top of my head). As long as it's done right, with the appropriate reverence/humor, it's perfectly acceptable to wear your influences on your sleeve. \nSecondly, when people complain that a 30 minute rock album is a rip off because it's too short just tells me that those idiots have absolutely no understanding of rock-n-roll at all let alone the history of the music business. You see, in the glory days before Compact Discs destroyed music 30 - 40 minutes was the most music you could cram on an LP without losing fidelity. More than that and you had to either cram the grooves so close you lost sound or you had to move it on to a second LP which was prohibitively expensive. That's part of the reason some of those first 2 lp albums are real classics, i.e. The White Album, Exile on Maine Street, Blonde On Blonde. [Actually the White Album is a bad example because it was the first album on Apple Records but you get my point.] In order to convince the label to put out two LPs you really had to have something to say. Otherwise your album got cut to fit the medium, therefore you left the weaker songs off the record. The CD's 75 minute format allowed artists to become very poor self-editors. Whatever crap they recorded got slapped on the CD. Rarely is there a 75, or even 60 minute album that is good all the way through but, now, the music buying public, in true American-Consumer fashion, has come to demand quantity over quality. "If I'm going to spend $18 on a CD I better be getting 75 minutes of music even if 45 minutes of that is pabulum I'll never listen to." (For a few years a backlash to this has been building, hence the success of iTunes.) \nAnyway, my long rambling point is that - More Is Rarely Better! The Hives' 30 Minute Veni Vidi Vicious is the perfect length. No filler. No tedious solos that need to be skipped over. The longest song clocks in at 3:22; no time to get bored here. Just 12 short kick-ass examples of garage rock in almost it's purest form. I say "almost" because, despite what some reviewers here say, this album is overproduced. Personally, I really cherish that recorded-in-my-parent's-basement kind of feel to my crappy rock records; this album is obviously meant to be a little bit more radio friendly. I can't fault them for that but it's just not my thing. \nBottom line is that this is a fun record and I think that a majority of the reviews have missed this point. If you understand that when I call some music "crappy" I don't necessarily mean it derogatorily or if you appreciate Lenny Kaye's Nuggets Collection or if you have a collection of cherished 45s you bought at local rock shows then I trust this album will make you smile. No, it's not as good as the MC5 or the Stooges or what ever high water marks you want set for Rock... But what is? If you can't get over that I can only suggest your life would be much happier if you get off that pretentious pole you've got lodged in your rectum.\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nROCK OUT!!, November 17, 2005\nReviewer: Andrew Clark (Wilmington, DE USA)\nIts been a while since a band like the Hives have been around. Bands liike the Stooges and the New York Dolls were bands that had the energy, the anger, and the talent to pioneer punk rock. Raw Power by the Stooges especially showed what a breakneck speed thrashing guitars, anthemic, though at times repetitive drum work, and a screeching voice can do. The Hives remind me so much of these great bands, and they certainly hold their own. \n\nThis album is packed into a half hour, but after that short half hour, you will feel like you need to sit down somewhere and take a breather. The screaming, breaking vocals of Howlin' Pelle never ceases to amaze me. One reviewer stated that musically this album was amazing, but the voice was horrible. But in response to that, how many other singers could keep up with their music, and maintain the energy?? \n\nThis is such a fun album. Some of my favorites are the anti-capitlaist Die, Alright!, Main Offender, Hate to Say I Told You So, and The Hives Introduce the Metric System of Time. one thing to know about this album, not to stray from the quality of the album, is that it just might have been the Hives golden age. Their debut Barely Legal is faster, harder, and much sloppier. this approach has its appeal, but it isn't the amazing punk rock record that this is. Their followup to this album, Tyrannosaurus Hives, was good, but it seemed to have mellowed some. I guess most bands don't feel they can only put out continually crazy albums, and i am proud of them for experimenting with more serious forms of rock. but their specialities are seen here. so pick this up, and prepare to fall in love as you are rocked straight out of your socks! (heh heh sorry for the bad pun, it just seemed to fit!)\n\nHalf.com Details \nProducer: Pelle \n\nAlbum Notes\nThis is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.\n\nThe Hives: Howlin' Pelle Almquist (vocals); Nicholaus Arson, Vigilante Carlstroem (guitar); Dr. Matt Destruction (bass); Chris Dangerous (drums).\n\nThose who can remember the '60s probably weren't there, right? So goes the old adage, and Sweden's The Hives work it to their advantage in a remodeling of the garage rock motifs beloved of aficionados of the genre. It's much to their credit that they do it with a fresh energy and obvious affection, not to mention a ready wit (witness "The Hives Introduce the Metric System in Time") that recalls not only long-vanished garage bands of the '60s but also later inheritors of the garage rock mantle such as the Flamin' Groovies. "Declare Guerre Nucleare" doubles as appropriate opener and statement of intent with a blast of hot, ear splitting guitar, distorted cymbals and screaming Iggy-type vocals, swiftly followed by a steaming slice of unreconstructed punk rock courtesy of "Die, All Right!" In case you were still unsure where they were coming from, there's a Saints-style rock outing on "A Get Together to Tear It Apart." With its determinedly lo-fi sound and scrappy energy, VENI VIDI VICIOUS is a time capsule of '60s dynamism and intensity, as interpreted by early 21st century Swedish rockers. It took the British to revitalize '60s American rock & roll--at the dawn of a new century, this time it's the Scandinavians' turn.\n\nIndustry Reviews\nIncluded in Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums of 2002\nRolling Stone (12/26/2002)\n\n8 out of 10 - ...12 blasts of retro garage punk, played so close to the mic that you'll be wiping spittle from your ears....They came, they saw, they rocked viciously.\nAlternative Press (07/01/2002)\n\nRanked #10 on Spin's list of 2002's Albums of the Year - ...Five natty graduates of Sweden's Universitet for Iggy Pop...\nSpin (01/01/2003)\n\n4 stars out of 5 - ...VICIOUS is a combination of punk's snottiness, Detroit rock's raw power and the stylized blues freak-outs of bands like Pussy Galore....Nevertheless, the white-hot sound [on the album] is unmistakably the Hives.\nRolling Stone (06/20/2002)
This rock cd contains 13 tracks and runs 44min 29sec.
Freedb: a00a6b0d
Buy: from Amazon.com

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