Fever to Tell [CD]

EDITORIAL REVIEWS lid but slender debut, the Brooklyn-based Yeah Yeah Yeahs were the subject of so much international press hype that the White Stripes were probably taking quick , nervous peeks over their shoulders. But while Fever to Tell captures a lot of what’s good about the trio--mostly the caterwauling energy of their club shows- -it also exposes the band’s limitations. Singer Karen O is the undeniable star here, contorting her voice from a primal P.J. Harvey growl to the pre-orgasmic p urr of Chrissie Hynde. Nick Zinner chops, slashes, and torpedoes his guitar arou nd, across, and straight at O’s voice, while drummer Brian Chase delivers a sui tably raw trash-can thump. There are a lot of cool sounds on this 11-song, 37-mi nuute disc, and enough metallic-KO attitude to make a bare-chested grandpa like Iggy Pop proud. What’s missing is a more varied set of fully fleshed-out songs, the kind it took the White Stripes four albums to write. Hype too early in a ca reer can be terrible burden--ask Liz Phair or, soon enough, the Vines. Better to enjoy Fever to Tell for what it is--an uninhibited blast of garage-rock fury--w ithout swallowing extravagant claims for a potentially great band still under co nstruction. --Keith Moerer.…