Them Crooked Vultures, a Supergroup comprised of vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age and Eagles of Death Metal. As the drummer Dave Grohl famously of Foo Fighters and Nirvana, fills that position and bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin. The band also features Alain Johannes another member of Queens of the Stone Age as the rhythm guitarist. The self-titled debut album starts off with a bang, with No One Loves Me & Neither Do I, Grohl’s drum work is one of a kind and may make you have Nirvana flashbacks. Grohl isn’t a one trick pony among this collection of apex musicians, he also pulls out a little Phil Collins action on Mind Eraser, No Chaser. Let’s not forget the rest of the band though, it’s the whole package that makes the album work so well. Homme’s voice is one of the best in the music industry, the highlights of which came out of his Queens of the Stone Age album Lullabies To Paralyze. John Paul Jones is a living legend, and at 63 years old Jones’ fingers still work just fine. So many bands these days try and recapture the visceral guitar power riffing of classic bands such as Led Zeppelin, with Them Crooked Vultures there is no need to emulate because they posses one of the sources. Combined, the group sounds like a supercharges version of Queens of the Stone Age, a band that has always managed to find great talent to fill the band’s roster, but never the likes of Zeppelin alum. That’s a whole other bag of peanuts boys and girls. Of course we could be mistaken, the associate contributors to Queens of the Stone Age stands at thirty-five, who knows maybe Robert Plant slipped in for a couple of tracks without anyone noticing…doubtful.
Supergroups seem to be all the rage these days and why not? The effect of Supergroups are obvious and economical, musicians like to play and perform with their peers, it’s what they do, they perform, and the better the group is as a whole the better they feel about their individual performances. The Monsters of Folk is a variation on the whole super group idea. And Bands like Them Crooked Vultures are made up of some of the most prolific figures in the music industry and rock world. The Monsters of Folk and its’ members are cut from a different cloth. Made up of some very talented men, the guys that constitute the Monsters of Folk are much less prolific than the men who make up the roster for Them Crooked Vultures. Jim James of My Morning Jacket was very much responsible for the eclectic and richly performed tracks off of My Morning Jacket’s last album Evil Urges, (the track Librarian is especially odd and enjoyable, highly recommended). He and Matt Ward of M. Ward and She & Him make up the notables of this group. There is of course Conor Orerst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes, they round out the foursome, though they are lesser known by most. But the principle that gathered these men together also brought the members of Them Crooked Vultures together, the effect of musical collaboration, and most likely the thrill of performing with musical peers and in the case of John Paul Jones, a living legend.
Not to depart much, but it seems with bands such as, Dr. Dog, Sunset Rubdown, M. Ward, Deer Tick, Kings of Leon, we are seeing a new bread of music. One that takes its influences from a host of genres and eras, what results is a style of music that is getting harder and harder to place. They do not come off as a style that is trying to be something from the past, or a style that is unfamiliar, it is simply a reflection of the musicians’ musical interests. In contrast we have Them Crooked Vultures comprised of some very well respected musicians, who instead of saying ‘hey, we should have some serious throwback riffs on this album…something like you would hear on a Zeppelin album,’ during the initial formation of the band and its sound didn’t say just said, ‘Let’s get John Paul Jones to play in the band we are putting together.’ The distinction is what really puts Them Crooked Vultures at the top of the heap, they didn’t simply absorb the essence of the great music of decades gone by in a wonderful synthesis, they went to the source. They released the album on the 9th of November from their YouTube page to the dismay of some onlookers. The main release date is the 16th of the same month. Key Tracks off of the self-titled album of Them Crooked Vultures are, No One Loves Me & Neither Do I, Scumbag Blues, Warsaw Or The First Breath You Take After You Give Up and so on. It might just be that the whole album is key.
Tracklist:Supergroups seem to be all the rage these days and why not? The effect of Supergroups are obvious and economical, musicians like to play and perform with their peers, it’s what they do, they perform, and the better the group is as a whole the better they feel about their individual performances. The Monsters of Folk is a variation on the whole super group idea. And Bands like Them Crooked Vultures are made up of some of the most prolific figures in the music industry and rock world. The Monsters of Folk and its’ members are cut from a different cloth. Made up of some very talented men, the guys that constitute the Monsters of Folk are much less prolific than the men who make up the roster for Them Crooked Vultures. Jim James of My Morning Jacket was very much responsible for the eclectic and richly performed tracks off of My Morning Jacket’s last album Evil Urges, (the track Librarian is especially odd and enjoyable, highly recommended). He and Matt Ward of M. Ward and She & Him make up the notables of this group. There is of course Conor Orerst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes, they round out the foursome, though they are lesser known by most. But the principle that gathered these men together also brought the members of Them Crooked Vultures together, the effect of musical collaboration, and most likely the thrill of performing with musical peers and in the case of John Paul Jones, a living legend.
Not to depart much, but it seems with bands such as, Dr. Dog, Sunset Rubdown, M. Ward, Deer Tick, Kings of Leon, we are seeing a new bread of music. One that takes its influences from a host of genres and eras, what results is a style of music that is getting harder and harder to place. They do not come off as a style that is trying to be something from the past, or a style that is unfamiliar, it is simply a reflection of the musicians’ musical interests. In contrast we have Them Crooked Vultures comprised of some very well respected musicians, who instead of saying ‘hey, we should have some serious throwback riffs on this album…something like you would hear on a Zeppelin album,’ during the initial formation of the band and its sound didn’t say just said, ‘Let’s get John Paul Jones to play in the band we are putting together.’ The distinction is what really puts Them Crooked Vultures at the top of the heap, they didn’t simply absorb the essence of the great music of decades gone by in a wonderful synthesis, they went to the source. They released the album on the 9th of November from their YouTube page to the dismay of some onlookers. The main release date is the 16th of the same month. Key Tracks off of the self-titled album of Them Crooked Vultures are, No One Loves Me & Neither Do I, Scumbag Blues, Warsaw Or The First Breath You Take After You Give Up and so on. It might just be that the whole album is key.
01 - No One Loves Me & Neither Do I
02 - Mind Eraser, No Chaser
03 - New Fang
04 - Dead End Friends
05 - Elephants
06 - Scumbag Blues
07 - Bandoliers
08 - Reptiles
09 - Interlude With Ludes
10 - Warsaw Or The First Breath You Take After You Give Up
11 - Caligulove
12 - Gunman
13 - Spinning In Daffodils
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