Another Review of Another Yeah Yeah Yeahs item... what a surprise

If you're a big fan of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and you're interested in purchasing Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow, their concert DVD, I'd suggest that you buy this album first. Why is that? Because if you buy their concert DVD, and watch them perform 4 out of 5 of these songs in concert, you might not expect these songs to be all too fantastic.

Take Miles Away, for example. It is, hands down, the best song on this album. It's powerful. Emotional. One of the best Yeah Yeah Yeahs songs of all time. It starts out with Nick Zinner, the guitarist, repeating a low note on his guitar at a moderate pace. Karen O's voice kicks in, and the song begins to sound very anticipative. By the time the chorus begins, we all feel very tense. O delivers perfectly. The part where she sings "you're more beautiful than ever" is the most powerful part on the album; simply unforgettable. The song exemplifies O's skills as a vocalist, Zinner's skills as a guitarist, and Brian Chase's drumming in the best ways possible. On the DVD, the strumming at the beginning went on for too long, and I was disinterested in the song by the time it began. Here, it flows perfectly.

A song of equitable musical quality is Mystery Girl, which is about... mystery girls, or something. The message I pick up from it is that women who try to be mysterious will pick up men, but only mystery men. Something like that. Oh well; at least the song's about something, unlike the songs in their second album. "Mystery Girl" is just plain cool. There's this part where Chase hits the lowest tom-tom, and Zinner creates a cool, descending sound, which instantly makes the song lovable. The chorus is really neat, and I love how Chase kicks in the crash hat at the end to create a better climax.

The most sexual song on the album is its opener, Bang. It's not so great as an opening act, but I suppose that's no big deal, because none of the songs on this album would open it up terribly well. "Bang" would work anywhere on the album, except for in the end. In it, O sings about a guy who hasn't really grown up sexually, declaring in the chorus, "For a f*ck, son, you sucked," which is... interesting to say the least. "Bang" is the least addictive catchy song I think I've heard. The beat is really catchy. But I hardly ever have this song going through my head outside of when I'm listening to it. Nonetheless, it's quality. There's a nice little jam at the end which closes things out nicely.

The other track which is featured online, Art Star, is merely experimental, and I hardly count it as a song. I suppose there's some symbolism involved, with the different degrees of emotion in the song explaining the manic depression of so many artists today, but the whole thing really doesn't add up to be... a composition. One part is content and happy-go-lucky, the other is screaming and angry, in a way that much resembles Static-X. However, both parts work out well on their own. The Static-X part is humorous, though nearly completely lacking in any real musicianship. The happy-go-lucky part is addictive; perhaps some people would call it my theme song.

I find myself rather disappointed with Our Time, the album's closer. It intends to be a great closer, but it fails at this, gradually decomposing into mediocrity. The beginning is neat, I suppose, but it leads the listener to suspect better things are to come, as there is something epic about the first note. Unfortunately, the song merely continues on, and I was personally left frustrated with the lack of effort. If you isolate the different parts of the song, there's nothing wrong with them, but together, they just add up to be disappointing. It must be noted, however, that this has never been a great band when it comes to closing things out. "Modern Romance", the closing song on Fever to Tell, is most certainly good, but it isn't too spectacular a closer (neither is the bonus track which follows). However, this could very much be the intention of the YYYs. Generally, with great closers, I feel a sense of completion once the album is finished. With mediocre ones, I'm left wanting more. This is the case with both of the YYYs' records.

This isn't a great record by any means, but it did open up some regions of the YYYs which I'd never seen before. Such as, I'd never seen them write a song with real subject matter, and I'd never seen them record something with poor sound quality. However, in terms of general songwriting and performance, back in 2000, they were not much different. But its that sincerity; that lack of intentional release which is part of what makes the YYYs such a great band.

Rating: B+