I’m too cool for this album: “Fever to Tell” by The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

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I must have heard some Yeah Yeah Yeahs songs in 2003 when Fever to Tell was released, but I can’t really remember. They must have been mentioned in the many music magazines I bought and read back then (who else remembers Magnet?). If anything, I must have heard Maps, but Maps doesn’t stick out in my mind until I heard it again in 2009. Then again, maybe I’m mixing it up with Heads will Roll, which DID come out in 2009. I don’t know. Clearly I didn’t pay much attention to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

On to the review!

Loves

The album started off with “Rich”, which I totally enjoyed. I love their energy and it totally came through in this song!

I also liked “Black Tongue”, about midway through the album. It reminded me a lot of the other garage-y music I listened to in the mid 00s, so I dug it.

My favorite part of the album, though, came near the end—Maps, Y Control, and Modern Romance. Of course Maps is fantastic and essentially a perfect song, Y Control the perfect high-energy follow up, and Modern Romance slowed it down and showed some emotion! Those three songs told a story and I listened with delight.

Mehs

I almost loved the rest of the songs on the album, but every single one of them had something I didn’t like and caused me to not enjoy them as much. I can’t put my finger on it but it made the songs not as enjoyable to me. However, I can totally see how great all these songs would be live, and maybe it’s more of a loss in translation between a live show and a studio recording. I’m not sure.

Overall thoughts

I really thought I’d like this album more than I actually did. I thought the first few songs all sounded the same to me, and I found myself getting bored listening to the same thing over and over again!

I loved the three songs toward the end—Maps, Y Control, and Modern Romance—and wished there’d been more songs like Maps. I guess there is only one song like Maps, though, and nothing else even came close to that song on this album.

However, I can see this album being AMAZING live, and perhaps maybe the album does’t actual capture the energy of a live show. I’d totally see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs in concert, even though I didn’t especially dig this album.