(Hut)
It's tough being the next big thing.
Everyone knew The Music was the next big thing. The record poachers in Leeds knew it. The screaming hoards of Hives fans knew it. The record labels that fought over the group knew it. The media knew it. Mecha of European music NME called it \potentially the most important group since Oasis.""
So, to the record-store prowling, limited-run record poachers and the Hives fans; to the record labels and the media; to the teeming masses of indie rock yearning to hear the next big thing, and to the classic rock fans looking for a new way in to popular music: Go buy another copy of the Datsun's debut. The Music misses its mark on its self-titled full-length debut.
This is, of course, not to say that The Music is not destined to be a big thing. The Music clearly strips rock back to the loud reverb and energy the '70s brought without abandoning the modern Hives and Strokes sound. The first single and EP showed that The Music definitely has greatness in it. But all the greatness in the short-length releases is stretched far too thin over a longer album. The Music has a brilliant sound, the energy and finesse to pull it off and the songwriting prowess to write the three-way collision between Robert Plant with the Hives and the dance-ability of Achtung Baby U2 on the album's stand-out track ""Getaway."" If only songs like ""Disco"" didn't start promising and end up sounding unfinished, if only the middle of the album didn't blend together into mediocre filler songs of which any current big thing would be ashamed, The Music would be a juggernaut. Instead The Music comes off as a dicey Led Zeppelin tribute, with a few genuinely strong tracks.
If The Music was The Music's third album, it would be passable. It isn't. The Music needs to do far better next time, or the record poachers, the Hives fans, the record labels and the media will be eating far too much crow.
