I have no desire to be consistently 'challenged' by musical heroes or wannabe-gods. What we could do with more of, however, are proper stars. For all their ceremonious amount of sucking (musically, that is), The Hives at least have the wide-eyed frontman who deserves his place on every music magazine cover, ever (and for a while, he was). But Rocket Science? It's just not there.

They have that same gage knack. Hey yo, this is the crazy shit. The simple, bring-it-on, come ooooon, let's rock nature comes out in 'Going Away' and 'Crazy', then next minute they bring it down to something funkier, to prove their worth as a diverse bunch. Sure thing, 'Being Followed' plods along at an assumed pace in a **Rolling Stones-in-the-'80s funk style. It's decent. Sure thing, there's nothing grossly offensive enough about them to make me want to go and shit in their kettles. They're saved slightly by closer 'Tomorrow's Soundtrack For Today's Swinging Generation'; an instrumental which is a vague take on surf-punk, rock'n'roll, and psychedelia.

They got the rock, they got the funk, they got mediocrity in spades. Unfortunately, a wholly unremarkable and unnecessary addition to your record collection.