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• Queens of the Stone Age (1998)
• Queens of the Stone Age/Beaver (1998)
• R (2000)
• Songs for the Deaf (2002)
• Songs from Amsterdam (2002)
• Lullabies to Paralyze (2005)
• Over the Years and Through the Woods DVD/CD (2005)

Queens of the Stone Age (1998)

7.5

Regular John / Avon / If Only / Walkin’ on the Sidewalks / You Would Know / How to Handle a Rope / Mexicola / Hispanic Impressions / You Can’t Quit Me Baby / Give the Mule What He Wants / I Was a Teenage Hand Model

Kyuss disbanded in 1995, shortly after the release of its most popular album …And the Circus Leaves Town, but it surely wasn’t because of the members' disinterest in making music, since the key members (and main song-writers, Josh Homme and John Garcia) commenced several other projects, none of which were an obvious rehashing of Kyuss’ monolithic desert-rock. Instead, they refined it, and created a more accessible variation on the dragging and psychedelic-tinged neo-Sabbath sludge. The most fruitful consequence of their prolific work ethic were probably the Desert Sessions-series, which featured members of Kyuss and similar, connected bands (like hot rod-stoners Fu Manchu and dope-rockers Monster Magnet). Garcia became involved in bands such as Slo Burn and Unida (check out their great album Coping with the Urban Coyote (1999)), which updated stoner-rock with a more straightforward hard-rock direction, while Homme, drummer Alfredo Hernandez and bass player Nick Oliveiri started messing around with a new band that would eventually result in Queens of the Stone Age. This is where the historiography ends, as I don't consider myself the Herodotos of amateur web reviewers (really).

The self-titled firstborn of the band sounds like a logical extension of Kyuss' last album, moving further away from the massive rock of Welcome to Sky Valley, adding more melodic (ouch) elements, and an as yet unseen tightness, resulting in less epic – but easier digestible – work-outs. It was certainly something late 90's rock needed, as their no-nonsense 70's-influenced approach proved to be a fitting antidote for an excessively praised eclecticism which barely succeeded in covering up its own emptiness. "Regular John," "Avon" and "If Only," the bunch that set off the album, are excellent examples of the new combination of impressive force and a certain dose of pop-accessibility that enhances the songs' powerful appeal. Monotonous hard-rock riffs are the new trademark feature, and Homme's laconic vocals are also quite a departure from Garcia's grand yelping. He isn't much of a singer to begin with (calling him a powerhouse voice would be as ridiculous as calling Lemmy the "English nightingale"), but somehow his drugged delivery and thin sound (quite a contrast to the man's huge size) fits the full-bodied sound that more than often reminds me of Hendrix' wah wah-drenched guitar antics (Band of Gypsys-era). Another noticeable aspect of the album is Hernandez' simple but 100% bullet-proof drumming that always keeps things minimal, but also flowing and rocking. Together with Oliveiri (I presume he's the one referred to as "Carlo" in the liner notes), Hernandez makes up a great rhythm section. Oliveiri's bass – lead-heavy and deep – proudly wears the Chris Goss-stamp and provides more than just a foundation: it's rock solid. Equally impressive are the primal assault of "How to Handle a Rope" (man, that is a great one!) and the bone-crunching "Mexicola," which points to the future and is another album highlight. Slower and reminiscent of the members' previous project is "Walkin' the Sidewalks." It would have been a keeper, if it wasn't for that endlessly stretched ending (what a waste of tape). "You Would Know" is more mellow and finds the band in laidback-mode.The remaining four songs are unfortunately less impressive: "Hispanic Impressions" is a shorter (less then three minutes is short when you're dealing with these guys, who once were prone to endless space-jamming) instrumental that's quite fiery but doesn't really get anywhere. Similarly, the longer "You Can't Quit Me Baby" has a great flow to it, but ultimately, you'll be waiting for a pay-off that never comes. Finally, "Give the Mule What He Wants" ups the ante again, as it's a decent mid-tempo rocker, but it's no match for the album's first tracks, so the title remains the most noticeable aspect of it. "I Was a Teenage Hand Model" also has a great title, but during this song, the presence of weird noises, pummelling percussion and directionless noodling are confused with inspired song-writing. But, at least 2/3 of the album is really good. The combination of hypnotic rhythms and riffs on the one hand, and a relaxed jam-atmosphere on the other hand, makes for a great combination. Add to that Homme's original delivery and the album's warm sound, and you'll realize you're dealing with a prime slab of sun-baked rawk that made sure the attentive listener realized he was dealing with one of the most promising bands of the dusk of the 20th century.

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Queens of the Stone Age/Beaver (1998)

7

The Bronze / These Aren’t the Droids You’re Looking for / Absence without Leave / Morocco

I got my hands on this release only recently, so that explains all the David Copperfield kind of crap in the next review. This split-EP was released around the time the self-titled Queens of the Stone Age-debut came out, but it was distributed by the cult label Man’s Ruin. Of course, QOTSA wasn’t the household name it is now and even Kyuss didn’t have its current legendary stature yet. Anyway, this EP contains two tracks by the Queens and two by Dutch (!) stoner band Beaver. The QOTSA-songs sound the best and most unusual here, with especially “The Bronze” being particularly impressive. If it had been included on the debut album, it would have even been a highlight. The instrumental “These Aren’t the Droids You’re Looking for” is less impressive, starting off rather clumsily (that's not very surprising when the liner notes mention that these songs were “recorded between 12:00-12.17” on April Fool’s Day, 1998), but it soon settles into a typically drugged groove that’s quite entertaining. The Beaver contributions are heavier, and sound more like Homme and Oliveiri’s previous band. During “Absence,” this implies outlandishly plodding bass pudding, concrete riffs and a wailing/moaning singer suppressed in the background. “Morocco” has more of a psychedelic-tinged flavor, but again the band’s jamming style proves it’s equal to many of its American brethren’s. So, definitely a must have if you’re into these bands, and recommended if you dig the “genre,” the EP is waiting to be picked up by you. That last advice might be a bit pointless (or motivating), though. Let Man’s Ruin tell you why.

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R (2000)

8

Feel Good Hit of the Summer / The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret / Leg of Lamb / Auto Pilot / Better Living Through Chemistry / Monsters in the Parasol / Quick and to the Pointless / In the Fade / Tension Head / Lightning Song / I Think I Lost My Headache

Right at the moment when even mainstream rock publications and broadcasting companies were getting ready to embrace the stoner-movement (OK, it’s no movement, there’s no creed or anything, but please, let’s keep this simple), Homme and Co. drifted further and further away from the genre’s mastodon heaviness and slowness. The self-titled debut album already marked a more conventional and catchier hard rock-direction than any Kyuss album before, but R is the album where the Queens got rid of the “stoner” tag, once and for all. Admittedly, the guitar still has that “fat” sound (which I think sounds great) and is way thicker than on most other contemporary rock albums, but apart from album closer “I Think I Lost My Headache” (or at least the first half of it, since the rest of it is some utterly superfluous horn crap), this album sounds remarkably up-tempo and varied when compared to Welcome to Sky Valley. Homme and Oliveiri wrote almost all of the songs, and while most of them sound positively catchy, they also learned about the benefits of additional instrumentation (keyboards, vibes, saxophone, horn), often provided by members of the Queens’ family tree (Chris Goss, Mike Johnson, The Screaming Trees’ Barrett Martin), while Mark Lanegan makes his debut on lead vocals, and Halford adds his 2 evil cents to the opening track.

The ultimate hedonistic statement, the lyrics of “Feel Good Hit of the Summer” (“Nicotinevaliumvicadinmarijuana-ecstacyandalcohol”?) get a fitting musical backing of stuttering drums and guitars, with an increasing intensity and acceleration. Basically this isn’t what I’d call “accomplished” song-writing, but they pull it off, and quite possible because they were stuffing themselves with their song’s subjects (who knows?). It’s the next song - one of the best singles of 2000 in my opinion - that proved the Queens had become an awesome rock band, with it’s hooked melody and smart use of vibes courtesy of Barrett Martin. There isn’t really a song on the album with the same mainstream potential, though “Auto Pilot,” sung laconically by Oliveiri, and with a great wailing guitar playing by Homme, is another winner. There’s also the repetitive riff of “Monsters in the Parasol,” which seems to be universally despised, but for some reason it kept on drifting around in my head. The dense “Better Living Through Chemistry” has a nice percussion-filled intro (again, Martin), and slightly spooky vocal line by Homme, until after a silence (around 2:15) the guitar suddenly returns, and directs the songs into neo-psychedelic territory, with rolling drums and wavering backing vocals. The laidback “In the Fade,” sung by Lanegan, has in fact a lot in common with the sound on his former band’s last album, or that kind of rock in general. There’s also the playful “Leg of Lamb” that basically gets its value from Homme’s drugged vocals, but underneath it all there’s a nice melody as well. Since the Queens are something of a democracy, second chief Oliveiri gets to shine during the filthy rockers “Quick and to the Pointless” and “Tension Head.” Neither of both is particularly great, but the girly backing vocals and Oliveiri’s manic performance during the first one are flat-out fun. “Tension Head,” on the other hand, has some crunchy guitar parts, but the vocals are really lousy.

Finally, the Queens also continue the tradition of ending the album on a lesser note: the short instrumental “Lightning Song” is nice and oozes out a slightly eastern influence because of the percussion, while the Sabbath-esque album closer “I Think I Lost My headache” is just fine, up till that annoying pseudo-jazz ending that completely spoils the fun. But, the final verdict is really positive since the band evolved into a creative and interesting rock band that’s not afraid to shed the bludgeoning force of its past while incorporating often surprisingly poppy elements into their music. Despite their infatuation with all things druggy, they didn’t succeed in making an addictive album, because it’s way to uneven for that, but they confirmed that disbanding a band needn’t result in lesser results. At this point, the band eclipsed Kyuss’ popularity and almost its excellent music. Almost.

Some superfluous notes on the vinyl version: Besides the regular (blue) edition of the album, there was a red one available called Rated X. It wasn't just a limited gatefold album that featured some nudity on the inside (mainly the good ol' tits 'n ass), but it also contained the Oliveri-sung "Ode to Clarissa," which previously appeared as a B-side to the "Lost Art of Keeping a Secret" single. With its manic start and memorable line "I'm the one your mama told you about" (and you believe him), it had everything to be regarded as an early QOTSA-classic. No idea why they didn't include it on the album in the first place. (Feb. 26th, 2006)

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Songs for the Deaf (2002)

9

You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire / No One Knows / First It Giveth / A Song for the Dead / The Sky Is Fallin’ / Six Shooter / Hangin’ Tree / Go with the Flow / Gonna Leave You / Do It Again / God Is in the Radio / Another Love Song / A Song for the Deaf / Mosquito Song / Everybody’s Gonna Be Happy

Months before its release, Songs for the Deaf already became the most eagerly anticipated rock album of its year. R already meant a leap forward for the band, so everybody expected a confirmation of that, but also the fact that Dave Grohl took place behind the drum kit will have something to do with that. Anyway, Songs for the Deaf didn’t disappoint, as it’s their most pleasing and consistent album by far. Maybe it doesn’t have easily accessible and remarkable hit potential like “The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret,” but the majority of the songs on this album combine punch and melody, brute rock force and pop accessibility. Saying that QOTSA is a metal band – something which many people and professional critics claim - seems a bit far-fetched as they’re not led heavy but loud, and not aggressive, but forceful as hell. The consistency of the album (some people complain all the songs sound the same) benefits from the dry and simple production, while each member of the new line-up - Homme, Oliveiri, Grohl and new permanent member Lanegan, aided by several former members and session musicians – simply excels. The album is presented as one long radio broadcast, and while some of these chit-chat moments are fun, they weren’t really necessary: if there’s been one album in 2002 that sound as an unbreakable and uniform collection, it must’ve been this one.

Once again, Oliveiri gets to ‘do’ the album’s trash-rockers, the album opener and “Six Shooter,” and while the latter is uninteresting and the only weak track on the album, the opening blast is one giant venomous shot of undiluted power, with repetitive guitar parts and the bass player screaming like an insane maniac. “No One Knows,” the album’s first single is something completely different: a mid-tempo hard rock song with a catchy bouncy and a chorus during which Grohl proves why he’s so respected among his fellow musicians: the guy cannot only write songs, he has mastered a tremendously forceful drumming technique. As infectious as this song are also “Go with the Flow” (which became the album’s second single) and “First It Giveth,” which is another highlight. It’s not easy to describe their style, as they’ve obviously a decent knowledge of musical history themselves, and there are elements of genres as various as hard rock, psychedelica, ‘70’s rock, garage and plain pop detectable in their music, which simply stands on its own. “The Sky Is Fallin’” starts quite unremarkable, with a drugged atmosphere and some chanting (the great Chris Goss is there too!), but then the song launches into this simple yet cool riff, and Homme once again comes up with a killer vocal line in the chorus. He may not be a very versatile vocalist, but the guy knows how to write memorable hooks, also adds suitable backing vocals and clearly worked on these songs for a long time. Also stuff like “Gonna Leave You” (I’m not sure who sings that one, can anyone tell me, because otherwise I’d have to guess it’s Oliveiri) and the bludgeoning title track have these cool vocal parts that are quite thin, and a departure from traditional hard rock or metal-growling, but that’s what makes ‘em so original.

The history of Lanegan and the Queens probably goes even back before the days that Homme toured with The Screaming Trees during their last tour, but this is the first album that Lanegan is given quite a prominent role. His whiskey ‘n cigarettes sandpaper voice makes “Hangin’ Tree” and the near-shuffle of “God Is in the Radio” so much better than they already are, while his tombstone-growl is used to great effect on the title track, which he co-wrote. The track that did it for me, however, and for many people I’ve met, is the massive desert-rock bulldozer of “A Song for the Dead,” with its lengthy and speedy intro, until the band crosses into the riff, and Lanegan provides the most spine-chilling vocals since, well since I don’t know who. The man hasn’t got a “nice” voice, but it blends in so well with the forceful music, of which Grohl’s drumming is an absolute highlight. But there are several more surprises in store: “Another Love Song,” for instance, which has more in common with the 13th Floor Elevators than Black Sabbath, and then there’s also the ‘hidden track’ “Mosquite Song,” a semi-acoustic that makes a trip of thirty years back in time, with some nice sonic details and instrumentation. The album closer is a surprising – but enjoyable - cover of The Kinks’ “Everybody’s Gonna Be Happy” and confirms garage-y ‘60’s rock was a touchstone for the band. Like on the previous albums, Homme and his crew have come up with a strong album with a unique sound that combines the best of now and then (and later?), with strong musicianship (the album is crammed with impressive solos, memorable riffs and energy) and the songs to match it. With Songs for the Deaf, the Queens of the Stone Age finally eclipsed the commercial ànd artistic success of Kyuss, in one fluent move also becoming one of (loud) rock’s most interesting bands. What’s next?

Some terribly exciting notes on the vinyl version: Two bonus tracks on the vinyl (which is dominantly black instead of red - the one that I'm holding, at least): a Spanish version of "Gonna Leave You," which is a fine rarity, but one that's sonically inferior to the original album version (and those falsettos are pretty annoying there); and also a live version of "Lost Art of Keeping a Secret." It's a bit puzzling they picked a song from the previous album, but at least it's a fine rendition. (Feb. 26th, 2006)

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Songs from Amsterdam (2002)

7.5

Gonna Leave You / Never Say Never / You're So Vague / Who'll Be the Next in Line / Ode to Clarissa / Jealous Again / Feel Good Hit of the Summer / You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire / No One Knows / Regular John / Do It Again

This release is definitely the oddball of the bunch: it's released by Interscope (the band's official label), but you can't find any information about it, and so far I've only come across the vinyl version I'm discussing here. As the subtitle - "A collection of live and studio recordings" - already mentions, Songs from Amsterdam is a bit of an hodge-podge that probably doesn't contain anything the hardcore QOTSA-fan doesn't already own, but it's actually a more interesting listen than the official EP of leftovers Stone Age Complication. The first six songs are studio recordings: there's the Spanish version again of "Gonna Leave You," but the other tracks are more interesting. Four songs are taken from the Rated R-sessions and apart from the lackluster "You're So Vague," all these songs are winners: "Never Say Never" was originally written and released by nearly-forgotten 80's band Romeo Void. Walking the (surprisingly) thin line between Duran Duran's slick cheesiness and Gang of Four's angular funk, it's a song for those that needed further proof these guys are also capable of delivering pop songs in a credible way. "Who'll Be the Next in Line" is a muscular Kinks-cover that was already included on a tribute to that band and "Ode to Clarissa" is the one head-scratching omission from the album. The remaining "Jealous Again" is not even a band performance, but features Oliveri's appearance on Rise Above, Henry Rollins' benefit album for the West Memphis 3. It burns as fiercely as the original Black Flag song. The B-side of the record features five live songs from a concert at Amsterdam's Melkweg from when they were on the verge of the major breakthrough. There's no Lanegan to be heard, but the band's frantic energy is obvious from the start, when they tear through a terrific "Feel Good Hit of the Summer," three new songs and "Regular John" from their debut album. Hardly essential but quite a lot of fun, Songs from Amsterdam confirms the Queens were one of essential (hard) rock bands of the early/mid 90's. (Feb. 26th, 2006)

Lullabies to Paralyze (2005)

7

This Lullaby / Medication / Everybody Knows That You Are Insane / Tangled Up in Plaid / Burn the Witch / In My Head / Little Sister / I Never Came / Someone's in the Wolf / The Blood Is Love / Skin on Skin / Broken Box / "You Got a Killer Scene There, Man…" / Long Slow Goodbye / Like a Drug (Bonus Track)

What happened next is that both the music and tabloid press were bestowed with a godsend when bass player Nick Oliveri, a.k.a. Tension Head, got ousted from the band by the same man he'd been playing with since the late 80s. Allegedly, Oliveri's confrontational behavior (a euphemism for the innumerable examples of on- and off-stage ruckus, as well as a barely controllable drug dependence - "Meth, I hear You Callin'," indeed) became too much for even the Queens, who used to be more than willing to live up to their image of the hardest partying rock band from the big league. It felt like editing the character of Paulie Walnuts from the Sopranos for the exaggerated use of the f-word. Say what? Anyway, the man soon found other outlets to keep himself occupied, such as touring with former cohorts Brant Bjork and Mark Lanegan as well as his own band Mondo Generator, from which he - ironically - would also be temporarily excluded for a while, after having beaten up a technician during a concert. Most definitely a good thing on a diplomatic level, but what about the consequences for the Queens? The band had never really relied on a steady line-up, with members appearing and disappearing again, becoming more and less present, etc. but all the while, the goateed nut's erratic behavior and renegade status proved to be the perfect sidekick to the more balanced control freak Homme is. It's a bit like Public Enemy's Chuck D. and Flavor Flav. As the thinker, leader and conceptualist behind the band, D. doesn't really need a clown for a partner, but that silly persona ensured there was always some fun to be had, some cheap shots to be received, some gossip to be picked up, some humor to be heard. The manic energy Oliveri brought to the band ensured they never appeared to be resting on their laurels, despite their occasionally ventures into crunching, corpulent monotony. Songs for the Deaf, for instance, is - because of the nature of the songs and the production - almost so homogenous it becomes one huge, bland song, but those occasional melodic ditties ("Another Love Song") and punk bursts ("Millionaire", "Six Shooter") offered a break of pace and turned the album's relentless surge of riffs a bit more vivid. Therefore, with Oliveri out of the picture, two questions need to be answered: can Homme indeed pull it off by himself and will Nicky be missed if he does?

The answer to these two questions are inevitably linked to each other. Of course Homme can do it all by himself - throughout the past decade and a half, he has created and refined a wholly personal and immediately recognizable style, a juxtaposition of suave vocals and melodies on the one hand and a colossal update of no nonsense riff-based hard rock on the other hand. It's a style that often succeeds in uniting the sun-parched, lumbering grooves of his first band Kyuss with a more concise, even fresh brand of hard rock, characterized by repetitive riffing and massively pounding rhythms. Nothing new under the sun, but over the course of a few albums, the approach has become so perfected, so stylized and tightened that the stiff art design of the album covers has translated into equally well outlined music and this is where the absence of Oliveri comes in. Whereas the previous album managed to avoid boredom because of the silly thematic snippets, maniacal punk songs and 60s styled rev-ups, Lullabies to Paralyze almost collapses under its own homogenous sound and weight. It definitely has its change of pace and stylistic shifts, but the recurring reliance on a bag of tricks, as well as a mechanical vibe that more and more replaced the looseness that could be found on earlier efforts puts the focus on the production stages of the album. In other words: here's the first album that feels like the product of a job, a process of rehearsing and recording, the first one that sounds as if Homme & Co. (Troy Van Leeuwen, Joey Castillo, Alain Johannes, Lanegan) were aiming for "a QOTSA album" instead of doing whatever the fuck they felt like. As such, the album is tainted by a self-consciousness and lack of spontaneity that also slightly marred Mark Lanegan's (superior) 2004 album Bubblegum. This isn't to say the album is a failure, as the majority of the songs are worth checking out and the band still displays amazing chops, offers some blazing songs and the good ol' cocktail of eros and thanatos (which also included drugs), the sex drive and play with danger and death.

The concept of "album as a bunch of lullabies" is actually one that fits the band extremely well. Like very few other bands, the Queens have always succeeded in keeping their music both powerful and lustful, bursting with sexual metaphors and occasionally macho posturing with a wink. The overwhelming lullaby/nightmare/fairy tale-frame and its old-school obsession with sex, perversion of death provides the perfect form for the band to play with. For a while, this results in a mostly terrific string of songs, as the run up 'til centre-piece "Someone's in the Wolf" is for the most part as rewarding as their previous albums were. Lanegan's spooky vocals set the tone for much of the album, as layers of vocals, eerie effects (echoes, clattering knives, creepy child pianos, etc) create an almost carnivalesque ambiance of lunacy that always looms in the background. The first album half is heavy on the energy songs, with "Medication" being the wildest example, a charged rocker that almost comes off like the previous album's "Millionaire," except that this one isn't nearly as lethal. Easily as effective are songs like "Everybody Knows That You Are Insane," which shares a vague melodic similarity and amount of syllables with the Buzzcocks' "Everybody's Happy Nowadays," but otherwise explores familiar territory: scorching hard rock with a straightforward drive and a melodic hook you can't get rid of. Equally accessible in a "hey, this sound like pop music!"-way, are "Little Sister" and "In My Head," but whereas the former is an infectious winner that shows them at their tightest, the latter (which already appeared on one of the Desert Sessions albums, just like final song "Like a Drug") feels somewhat underdeveloped, with a rather lame chorus in particular. The results are sometimes better when they're playing it not as straight, as the gloomy "Tangled up in Plaid" transcends from a creepy strut to a blistering acceleration with a great performance from Castillo and nightmarish violence scenario of "I Never Came" is delivered in an admirably sensual and restrained manner.

It all leads up to the album's awkward epicenter, the 7 minute "Someone's in the Wolf," an angular piece of blues-rock driven by a disjointed, endlessly repeated riff & rhythm, and given a perverse Little Red Riding Hood-treatment. Unfortunately, the song also marks the beginning of the downward spiral, as the remaining songs are often decent, but either short on ideas (the distorto-fest of "Skin On Skin," the alarmingly directionless "You Got a Killer Scene There, Man…") or stretched out for way too long, like the 6+ minutes of "The Blood Is Love" and "Long Slow Goodbye." It is almost as if these songs were tacked to the preceding bunch of songs as an afterthought, as they lack the energy, top quality riffs and fine combination of vibe and power, of sexiness and balls. Like most other albums that run on for an hour, Lullabies to Paralyze would have benefited from a slightly humbler approach, but that's a piece of advice that's wasted on folks who have Billy Gibbons over, but only have him play on a so-so song like "Burn the Witch." Oliveri perhaps wouldn't have prevented Homme from turning in a modern day version of a mastodon concept album about nothing in particular, but I'm sure he would've turned the energy meter up once in a while, as most of this chugs by too lazily and self-satisfied. For its first three albums, the band performed with the eagerness of wild canines and some will believe that Lullabies to Paralyze delivers the same quality, but after way too many listens I can only conclude the band sold its editing machine, lost some of its mojo, had its fangs pulled and had them replaced by a nice pair of harmless dentures.

Note 1: They're opening for The Rolling Stones next month. Not that there's anything wrong with The Rolling Stones.

Note 2: The limited edition version of the album comes with a DVD containing a half hour peek into the studio-special that's quite interesting, but not very insightful (and it confirms my expectation they spend more time on the recording than most rock bands on their entire catalogue), as well as the video for "Someone's in the Wolf" and a 10 minute mock interview that's about funny for twenty seconds. (Feb. 5th, 2006)

Some earth-shattering notes on the vinyl version: Also two extra songs on this one - a superfluous one and a great cover. "Infinity" basically isn't that interesting. It fits the streamlined rock & roll-direction of tracks like "Little Sister" and "In My Head," featuring that metronome-tight rhythm, but it's certainly deserving of its bonus track-status. "Precious and Grace" on the other hand, is the kind of song that would've turned Lullabies into less of the drag it sometimes is. Copped from ZZ Top's classic Tres Hombres (1973), it's a red-hot piece of voodoo blues-rock, propelled by an awesome vocal performance by Lanegan, a lethal groove and a blistering solo by Gibbons himself (is it still a cover in that case?) to top it off (Feb. 26th, 2006).

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Over the Years and Through the Woods DVD/CD (2005)

8

DVD: This Lullaby / Go with the Flow / Feel Good Hit of the Summer / The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret / Regular John / Song for the Deaf / Avon / Little Sister / You Can't Quit, Me Baby / I Wanna Make It wit Chu / Monsters in the Parasol / The Fun Machine Took a Shit and Died / Mexicola / Burn the Witch / Covered in Punk's Blood / I Think I Lost My Headache / Song for the Dead / I Never Came / No One Knows / Long Slow Goodbye // The Bronze / Better Living Through Chemistry / Auto Pilot / Precious and Grace / First It Giveth / You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire / How to Handle a Rope / Quick and to the Pointless / God Is in the Radio / Hanging Tree

CD: Go with the Flow / Regular John / Monster in the Parasol / Tangled Up in Plaid / Little Sister / You Can't Quite Me, Baby / I Wanna Make It wit Chu / Leg of Lamb / I Think I Lost My Headache / Mexicola / Burn the Witch / Song for the Dead / No One Knows / Long Slow Goodbye

Four albums into their existence and the Queens of the Stone Age (A.K.A. Josh & Whatever Friends Happen to Be Around) have already gone through enough personnel changes, drugs- and violence-escapades and creative phases to warrant a live DVD (or CD, depending on which format you turn to first). Over the Years and Through the Woods, a release blessed with the ugliest cover design since Wham!'s Make It Big, tries answer the "Where are they now?"-question. The current line-up of the band - Homme, Marvel Comics hereo Castillo, Troy Van Leeuwen, Alain Johannes and during this tour keyboardist Natasha Shneider - is a well-oiled machine (literally in the drummer's case) that tears through 100 minutes worth of steroid-fueled hard rock with a German precision and professionalism you'd never deem any of Homme's bands capable of. This unit is tight, disciplined and extremely gifted, yet since Oliveri got ousted from the band, they've also lost a bit of their edge. This benefits the performances in a Tool-kind of way, if you're looking for versions that are faithful to the studio versions. However, the entirely germ-free playing and lack of moments that take the energy/danger-meter completely in the red is somewhat wearisome. You want a bad-ass band to deliver the goods and expect them to come up with footage of how they transcend themselves, which is not the case here. A generous 20 songs picked from two London concerts are thrown at you, yet what becomes obvious above all is that their material has the potential to sound extremely monotonous after a while, as one fuzzed-out guitar riff follows the next and Homme's cool cat-attitude and suave vocals prevent the listener from yelling along. This is most obvious from their rendition of "Song for the Dead," which in the hands of raw-throated Mark Lanegan was turned into Doomsday Announcement. It's not exactly limp in the hands of this line-up (especially Castillo gives his all, and I do mean everything he's got in him), but I've you've seen them play in 2002, you know what I mean.

I shouldn't exaggerate though, as the DVD is still plenty of fun to watch. The footage from the Brixton gig (the bulk of the material) is beautifully shot and the sound quality is almost pristine, while the grainier footage from the Camden concert is perfectly acceptable as well. The moment that Homme (the embodiment of Aryan perfection! the Oliver Kahn of rock & roll!) addresses an annoying audience member as a "cocksmoker" is the unquestionable (comedic) highlight of the show, but there are a few instances where the band manages to offer surprises: the extended version of "No One Knows" manages to stay interesting for its entire 7+ minutes, the horns used during "I Never Came" were a damn fine idea and in the context of the concert, it was an appropriate idea to pick "Long Slow Goodbye" as the closing song. For some reason, however, director Chapman Baehler also used older footage here and there. When the DVD starts of with Homme playing an acoustic "This Lullaby" in a dark alley, you expect to be treated to more of that kinda stuff, but unfortunately the film only offers some teasers and nothing substantial. All in all, maybe three minutes of extra footage is used, which only makes it distracting and has you wonder why they didn't offer a shorter live show and more extras, the stuff that turns these DVD's into keepers. On top of the 20 songs, there are ten more live songs taken from various stages throughout the band's short existence (hence the 'Over the Years'). There's "The Bronze" from back in the late 90s, "Auto Pilot" from the Rated R-period, the breakthrough line-up (with Dave Grohl showing how it's done) give their all during several cuts and finally also two songs with Billy Gibbons: "Burn the Witch" and an awkward/messy ZZ Top cover, "Precious and Grace." The CD offers 14 songs and overlaps with DVD to a large degree, but there are some differences. While the DVD has the obscure "The Fun Machine Took a Shit and Died" (from the Lullabies-sessions) and the brief "Covered in Punk's Blood," the CD hits back with the marvelous "Tangled Up in Plaid" and "Leg of Lamb." Both contain the Dessert Sessions-rarity "I Wanna Make It Wit Chu" ("a song about fuckin'"), but sadly also a tiresome "You Can't Quit Me Baby" that has no reason whatsoever to go on for 45 years.

Fans of the band will surely be pleased by the sheer amount - I mean, 30 live songs and 70+ minutes on the CD is the definition of "getting your money's worth" - and the product is presented in a very professional way, but as suggested above, it perhaps would've been even better if the band still had something to prove. The older footage occasionally has below-quality sound and there's no camera creativity going on, but seeing/hearing the band tear through "How to handle a Rope," "You Think I Ain't Worth a Dollar…" and "Song for the Dead" (with Lanegan) makes you wish they'd taken that as the core of it. They're currently at the top of their game as a band, respected by rock loving crowds all over the world, but what I also see are cracks starting to show. They deserve the benefit of the doubt, but I'm really looking forward to what Homme's next move is gonna be now. (Feb. 28th, 2006)

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