Artist: Them Crooked Vultures
Album: Them Crooked Vultures
Year: 2009
Grade: 3.5 pretzels
On paper, Them Crooked Vultures seems like a band that can do no wrong. Let’s just look at the math here:
Josh Homme (of Queens Of The Stone Age) on guitar
+
Dave Grohl (of Foo Fighters/Nirvana fame) on drums, his rightful place in the world
+
John Paul Jones (of this obscure little band called Led Zeppelin) on bass
That’s it. A classic power trio, built around three key players of three different decades of music. This isn’t just a supergroup of classic rockers joining hands for some money-cultivating nostalgia trip. Them Crooked Vultures features two members who are on the cutting edge of modern rock and one insanely famous bassist. In the abstract, Them Crooked Vultures seem unstoppable.
Which is why their self-titled album is a bit of a disappointment. No band call live up to the hype these three men can conjure up just by putting their names in the same sentence. I’m sure no one was expecting some kind of glorious QOTSA/Zep/Nirvana hybrid band, but people are allowed to dream a little bit, aren’t they? I won’t lie: when I heard about Them Crooked Vultures, I got very, very excited. It’s been a long time since commercial hard rock has anything going for it and TCV seemed to have more potential than the Dead Weather or any of the other high-profile bands running around lately. Basically, my hopes were a bit high.
The weirdest thing about Them Crooked Vultures is how much it sounds like a QOTSA album. Homme’s voice and guitar playing absolutely dominate all thirteen songs, overshadowing his historic rhythm section. Grohl also happens to be a QOTSA alum, so we’re already accustomed to his pummeling style fitting in behind Homme’s warped guitar licks and clear voice. Meanwhile, John Paul Jones does little to really distinguish his bass playing. It’s impressive enough that a sixty-three-year-old man can rock this hard, but his basslines mostly just reinforce Homme’s guitar…not unlike what you’d hear in QOTSA. Them Crooked Vultures could easily pass for either a Queens album or a volume of Homme’s Desert Sessions series if no one pointed out who exactly he’s playing with.
While none of the songs are bad, there’s a dangerous monotony to the album. All the songs share a heavy, mid-tempo vibe, featuring densely layered guitars and a fairly strong rhythm. On early songs, like “Mind Eraser, No Chaser”, that style is thrilling. However, over the course of fifty minutes, things began to blur together. It isn’t until the relentlessly groovy “Gunman” that the band really throws the listeners a changeup…and that’s the second to last song.
Them Crooked Vultures ends up sounding less like a jaw-dropping collaboration and more of a testament to Homme’s ability to impose his musical will on every other musician he plays with. TCV play with what an established Homme sound and there’s very little in the way of other voices creeping into the picture. The names are going to bring this band a lot of attention, but they can’t really hide the fact that Homme is totally and completely in charge. He also hasn’t offered up (or allowed) a lot of musical range on this album and the whole project has ended up suffering as a result.
Josh Homme (of Queens Of The Stone Age) on guitar
+
Dave Grohl (of Foo Fighters/Nirvana fame) on drums, his rightful place in the world
+
John Paul Jones (of this obscure little band called Led Zeppelin) on bass
That’s it. A classic power trio, built around three key players of three different decades of music. This isn’t just a supergroup of classic rockers joining hands for some money-cultivating nostalgia trip. Them Crooked Vultures features two members who are on the cutting edge of modern rock and one insanely famous bassist. In the abstract, Them Crooked Vultures seem unstoppable.
Which is why their self-titled album is a bit of a disappointment. No band call live up to the hype these three men can conjure up just by putting their names in the same sentence. I’m sure no one was expecting some kind of glorious QOTSA/Zep/Nirvana hybrid band, but people are allowed to dream a little bit, aren’t they? I won’t lie: when I heard about Them Crooked Vultures, I got very, very excited. It’s been a long time since commercial hard rock has anything going for it and TCV seemed to have more potential than the Dead Weather or any of the other high-profile bands running around lately. Basically, my hopes were a bit high.
The weirdest thing about Them Crooked Vultures is how much it sounds like a QOTSA album. Homme’s voice and guitar playing absolutely dominate all thirteen songs, overshadowing his historic rhythm section. Grohl also happens to be a QOTSA alum, so we’re already accustomed to his pummeling style fitting in behind Homme’s warped guitar licks and clear voice. Meanwhile, John Paul Jones does little to really distinguish his bass playing. It’s impressive enough that a sixty-three-year-old man can rock this hard, but his basslines mostly just reinforce Homme’s guitar…not unlike what you’d hear in QOTSA. Them Crooked Vultures could easily pass for either a Queens album or a volume of Homme’s Desert Sessions series if no one pointed out who exactly he’s playing with.
While none of the songs are bad, there’s a dangerous monotony to the album. All the songs share a heavy, mid-tempo vibe, featuring densely layered guitars and a fairly strong rhythm. On early songs, like “Mind Eraser, No Chaser”, that style is thrilling. However, over the course of fifty minutes, things began to blur together. It isn’t until the relentlessly groovy “Gunman” that the band really throws the listeners a changeup…and that’s the second to last song.
Them Crooked Vultures ends up sounding less like a jaw-dropping collaboration and more of a testament to Homme’s ability to impose his musical will on every other musician he plays with. TCV play with what an established Homme sound and there’s very little in the way of other voices creeping into the picture. The names are going to bring this band a lot of attention, but they can’t really hide the fact that Homme is totally and completely in charge. He also hasn’t offered up (or allowed) a lot of musical range on this album and the whole project has ended up suffering as a result.
No comments:
Post a Comment