Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
Ok, I've whined and wailed over this album for a long time, bemoaning it's lengthy process to get into my hot little hands. I was excited about the album, and I had considered just downloading it, but I decided that I wanted the disk, the booklet, and all the materials. So, I opted to order it and have it sent to me.
Well, we all know how that turned out. It got here eventually, and that's the end of that.
It was well worth the wait. This is truly a fantastic album. I almost wrote "classic," but that's really something only time can tell. Without a doubt it's the best "supergroup" record released this year, there were a lot of them, and they were good projects, Chickenfoot, Tinted Windows, etc.
The victory comes in the fact that it seems the sensibilities of all the players were exactly in line here, there seems to have been more of a point to the group than "get together and have a blast making music together. That seems to have been the only reason for the Chickenfoot record, and I love it, but it lacks the weight of Them Crooked Vultures.
The blueprint for the sound certainly feel like it would be, not Led Zeppelin, despite John Paul Jones presence, but Cream. In fact, on "Scumbag Blues," Josh Homme's vocals sound astonishingly like Jack Bruce. The wild jam-band feel, with concise and powerful songs, the pounding rythum section, etc. Frankly, Homme's guitar skills don't rival Clapton, but he fits in the pocket very well.
The three guys, as a whole, just play well together. I mean, sure, these are pros with decades of playing in the spotlight, and they could probably "fit in" with any number of groups. That being said, it really feels like something was clicking here. It's just cool to see these guys mix it up and seem to really be getting off playing together.
Highly reccommended.
Top tracks:
(Really, I'm digging every track, I'll put too many on this list, but these really snap.)
- Mind Eraser, No Chaser
- New Fang
- Dead End Friends
- Elephants
- Bandoliers
- Caligulove
- Gunman
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