I have always been a big fan of Karen O’s voice but I personally find it best suited for the upbeat rawker numbers like “Gold Lion”, “Zero”, and nearly all of the songs on Fever to Tell. By in large I don’t care much for the down-tempo tracks, which make the majority of It’s Blitz which is my issue with the album in general. I would rather the slower numbers stayed the welcomed exception rather than the new rule. I will also note that It’s Blitz also suffers perhaps the worst case of track ordering I have run across: the two upbeat singles, “Heads Will Roll” and “Zero” are slotted in the first two spots with the remainder of the album meandering in slow whispered ballad territory. I remember reading that Brian Wilson spent more time arranging the song order on Pet Sounds then he did recording it. I bet he would tsk tsk the YYYs for violating some sort of sonic Feng Shui with the It’s Blitz track ordering. The show itself was afflicted by the a similar problem with the last third of the show losing my interest with a way-too-long string of sleepers.
I suppose the blame can be placed on the success of “Maps”. That song has been ridden a little too hard even being performed on SNL two albums and six years after it was released. It’s a decent song but would best served if it were to stay a hidden restrained respite in a slab of of otherwise relentless rawk that is Fever to Tell. This bozo music blog critic says: “More ‘Black Tongue’, less ‘Maps’!”
This is a live track from the 2009 show at Radio City.
[audio: http://www.thesoundofindie.com/archive/2010/20100129/YYY-HeadsWillRoll.mp3|titles=Heads Will Role (Live)|artists=Yeah Yeah Yeahs]Download: Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Heads Will Roll (Live)
