Reviews > Them Crooked Vultures
Them Crooked Vultures’ Bloody Delicious Feast
By Johnny Firecloud
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Throughout the years, poets and believers describing the presence of God have been known to refer to a “terrible glory,” a power of unfathomable, devastating depth and beauty that transcends reference and commands reverence. As it just so happens, John Paul Jones, Josh Homme and Dave Grohl – collectively known as Them Crooked Vultures – make precisely that kind of music. For once, finally, a band has come along that makes the term ’supergroup’ its whimpering bitch, in all its terrible glory.
Them Crooked Vultures’ eponymous debut arrives November 17, after a summer of rampant speculation and mind-blowing live performances, allowing the trio of highly-established rockers the rarified air of having a desperately captivated audience, largely clueless of what was in store but leaping out of their skin with anticipation for what they were about to hear. When they left, they left amazed.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Grohl and Homme are lifelong Led Zeppelin disciples, and the fact that their bassist was fucking in Led Zeppelin obviously lends itself to comparison. But for the sake of sticking with the rational and relative present, how ’bout we leave Zep out of this? There’s really not much meat on that bone when all’s said and done.
Although the band as a whole are credited, Homme’s familiar production wizardry is the crystalline rudder for Them Crooked Vultures on wax, a clean and layered thousand-sided Rubik’s Cube that wouldn’t be a reach outside the Queens Of The Stone Age canon, as far as sheen and color are concerned. Jonesey’s multi-instrumental contributions lend a cockney flare and dash of cultured nobility to the proceedings, whether on a classical piano intro/outro or a keytar solo that pulls at the song’s seams of obtuse cohesion. Amidst Homme’s jittery, hook-heavy sexuality and Grohl’s pulsing metronomic backbone, Jones provides a key bit of cognitive dissonance, a regal spice of sorts.
Self-sustained on arbitrary cool, the album is a planet of popped-collar reptilian kings with wild eyes, razor teeth and twitching, rampant hard-ons, getting themselves off on the groove for the fun and the fuck of it, Rock doctrines be damned. New Fang and Elephants – the latter a gloriously monolithic stampede of crushing riffs, roughly doubled vocals and brain-tick hooks – are evidence of this. The former, being the first single and impression-setter for casual moths to the flame, is a bit misleading; it captures the energy and strut of the album, but is easily the most straightforward of the thirteen songs included.
Traditional arrangements are scarce, and appeasement of quick-fix Rock idolators is clearly not the motive here, with riff-riding rhythms (and rhythm-riding riffs) pulsing like an undeniable heartbeat through the course of innumerable labyrinthian arrangements. It’s not safe, it’s not slight, and the riff and tempo changes demand constant engagement. Trap doors are a vital component to the songs, with the sweet spots setting in unannounced as the polyrhythms shift, the clouds part and a motherfucker of a riff suddenly lifts off, taking you in entirely unexpected and adrenaline-surging directions.
Driven by cocaine confidence dripping with sultry redlight overtones, No One Loves Me is a fuck song, plain and simple. The hip-check strut belies a deeper undercurrent groove, a surging, steady rhythm that remains throughout the album, albeit shifting like a chameleon all the while. If sex is a weapon, then smash, boom, pow, how you like me now? Homme asks, before the song cuts into the first of a countless number of larger-than-life riffs on the album – a chugging, brooding current soaked in sex and attitude.
The vocal production is uneven from one song to the next, likely because the instruments – vocals included – are all given largely common ground. If the song calls for a Jones-driven Middle-Eastern melody on some strange stringed beast midway through the third verse, so be it. Josh apparently felt as if his vocals would dominate New Fang unless it sounded like he was singing from an aluminum-lined pool fifty yards away, so you’ve got a polar shift in vocal presence between Fang and following night-drive murder ride Dead End Friends.
In concert, Interlude With Ludes is a sexy slow-romp, featuring Homme’s rooster-strut and hammy overtness. On record it’s a circus-tent ecstasy ride with a side of raw ether, a mindbending binge that’s not recommended for anyone who can’t hold their psychedelics. If you want me I’m yours, Josh croons, Even if you don’t want me. Definitely the oddball track of the album, Interlude evokes the feeling of sinking into the sunshine after a handful of, well, ‘ludes. Warsaw, by contrast, is a chin-jutting groovefest, an awesome multi-part jam spaz that bathes in blues before giving way to a spacey, long-form psychedelic breakdown.
Jones’ keyboard solos and slap bass run new colors through the squealing-lead funk of Scumbag Blues, and his organ leads out-absurd Homme’s pop-chug riffage in Caligulove, making a guilty-pleasure Halloween jam out of something that shouldn’t have worked in the first place. Reptiles, meanwhile, is a little bit of Talking Heads, a dash of Queens’ Rated R and a whole lotta supercharged classic-rock melody, rolled into a murderous vaudeville song-and-dance freakshow. It’s a terrible, hateful beast in caked-on makeup, singing for the spotlight, barely able to hide its scales and deadly spite. On the jitter-strobe of Gunman, Homme’s vocals seep through like ghosts in the halls of ancient castles – layered echoes over guitar countermelodies and an alarmingly danceable beat.
Having saved the best (and longest) for last, Spinning In Daffodils is possibly the best closing track on an album by any of these men. Grinding to life after an epically melancholy mystic-fog piano intro, the sounds of a herd of shadowed giants running through ancient forests emerges. It’s the feeling of being sixty feet tall, leading an unstoppable march of Tyrannosaurs, the perfect product of millions of years of evolution and raw survivalism or, in this case, decades of top-of-the-mountain Rock experience, craftsmanship and devotion to the sound. A more beautiful, powerful climax would be difficult to imagine.
So high I just may never come down are the final words on the album, a fitting narrative to the feeling you’re left with as you watch the hurricane pass into the night – but the urge to run back into the storm and go through it all again has never been stronger. It’s hard to imagine turning on the radio after such an album. This one is special, a very rare melding of classic, psychedelic blues-rock authenticity and passionate groove-junkie sorcery. Feed with the Vultures – it’s good for you.
- 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
- 11. Caligulove
- 12. Gunman
- 13. Spinning In Daffodils
Only 5 stars? *sigh* This site’s a joke.
This, after I had to watch the back of your head all night as a horrible-smelling young man jumped all around (and on) me through the entire show.
I was a jumpy guy last night too. I’m not usually the jumpy guy but beer made me do it. I hope I didn’t irritate my neighbors though.
Self-titled/Rated R are both much better
Josh peaked a while ago
“Reptiles, meanwhile, is a little bit of Talking Heads, a dash of Queens’ Rated R and a whole lotta supercharged classic-rock melody, rolled into a murderous vaudeville song-and-dance freakshow.”
Talking heads? I was just expecting some head pounding debauchery, but this is very interesting. I’m just glad to see JPJ not sitting around waiting for Robert Plant to jump off of Allison Krause and tour. From what I’ve heard so far, this album kicks ass and takes names.
Thems fighting word Trucks.
Maybe
In a few years I likely won’t listen to this much, if at all. S/T, R, and SFTD still get regular rotation. It’s still better than a lot of music out there, but much like EV and LTP, this one will be on the backburner.
@trucks: Josh Homme clearly sold out when he changed his band’s name from “Sons of Kyuss” to just “Kyuss”. Fucking lame commercial move!
Screw this, I’m going to NME.com. Unsubscribering!11
I call it like I see it.
Well, I guess hear it is more appropriate.
That and a toothache? My apologies and deepest empathy Johnny but, believe you me, at least you didn’t have to endure the BO en masse where I was that threatened to asphyxiate me.
And I think the neighbors were to busy being irritating to be irritated.
Hearing the full album in sequence really is a gift; come Nov 17th I can really pay attention to all of the pieces. One or two songs leave me ambivalent but, as a whole, it’s a fine ass piece of work. Can’t wait to watch Grohl in his natural state.
i can’t believe this album is actually every bit good as it had to be to live up to the unscalable mountain of hype.
This is a much fuller, more developed review than Rolling Stone’s (although what did I expect from them? It’s not Neil Young, so its not 5 stars..) and The Guardian’s also; both of which I believe refused to address the album on its own terms and instead insisted on back referencing the members’ past. Personally, it’s the album I wanted Era Vulgaris to be: experimentation whilst holding on to hard-rock. I think I would give it 4 stars, not all of it works as seamlessly as the opening and closing tracks, but its a fine album. Overall, I think Mastodon’s Crack the Skye is my rock album of 2009, but this is a clear second place.
I actually don’t think the album lives up to the hype.
But i’m pretty sure i’m the only one so ah well.
That was a fantastic review.
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I particularity enjoyed your comment on Nobody Loves Me…calling it a fuck tune. I think this whole album was made to fuck to…I can’t wait to try it out personally.
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And I am left with the same feelings when the album wraps up with the mindfuck that is Spinning in Daffodils. I just need to go back and start the ride over again.
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Fuck the radio…I’m going to repeat this record for the foreseeable future.
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I just wish they didn’t lead out with New Fang, because not only is it the most straightforward song on the album, but it also the shittiest.
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This has been worth the wait and to me is the best record of 2009.
That was fun to read. The first sentence nearly killed me. I haven’t heard the album yet, gonna buy it tommorow. I’ve yet to hear a better ending peace then I Think I’ve Lost My Headache or Teenage Hand Model, we’ll see/hear about that.
Really now, there should be an EDIT button here somewhere. PIECE, God damn it…
Great albums but some tracks screams for other vocals – more rough, more agressive. I think Grohl should step up to 2-3 tracks – that would be perfect. I think it’s 4.5 album with other vocals here and there would be better, but still one of the best records of 2009 after Black Gives Way to Blue and Backspacer for me :)
Awesome review, best I’ve read so far. You actually relate the music to people who almost exclusively love this stuff instead of trying to seem hip or cool like the cunts over at NME.
Also, kudos for not talking about Zep like literally everyone else. Much appreciated, you guys are awesome.
I agree. That review got my blood up! Nicely worded. I liked the “cockney flare” bit, though I’m not sure what that means….. :)
I’m glad, too, from the get go you rated it on it’s own merits. Far too easy to compare it to Zep.
I am purposely on blackout until the album comes out, even tho I know I can stream it from the website……
…….frothing at the bit………
GREAT review – I am now (somehow) more excited to buy this gem on the 17th than ever before… I completely agree with pretty much everything you’ve said here… and I’m normally not one to ride the bandwagon but I know quality when I hear it and this, kids, is fucking GOLD.
I shall also second the notion of it being a “fuck” record. indeed. So many chunky grooves and seamless signature transitions… anything that makes your body slide through space like this has some sort of magic in it, made from wizards!
Rory I really like New Fang, like a lot like it! So if it’s the shittest on the album then i am in for some fuckin treat! ive not looked forward to an album as much as this in a long long time. very interested in hearing the last song. come on monday!
good review for a solid album. but c’mon guys: obtuse cohesion, hip-check strut, pop-chug riffage etc. what the fuck? leave that wordsmith shit to pitchfork.com and their band of indie followers, i want to understand what you’re talking about!
“Ahm takin’ them big words and hyphen thangs as a saan of disrespact! Whut, you thank y’all got more smarts than me?”
Really? We should leave the “wordsmith shit” to …Pitchfork? That’s who we should trust with the detailed descriptions, while keeping our reviews free of thought-provoking terminology/wordplay? Come the fuck on. If you like your reading to be at the third-grade level, I suggest looking elsewhere, because we take this shit a little more seriously.
People must be really dumb to diss New Fang as the “weakest track”. I love Nobody Loves Me, that’s what I call an opener. Can’t say the same for Daffodils as a closer. Then again, more hearings are needed to fully appreciate that I guess. It’s pretty fucking great for a first hear, I’m so glad I waited for the physical release.
Much more fun review to read than RS. While I’m not going to give it 5 stars (I’d give it 4), it is nonetheless a fun album to listen to. Not the biggest fan of “Elephants” or “Scumbag Blues”, as both tend to plod despite nice intros. But agree that a) it should stand on its own rather than compared to the original members groups (did any one compare Cream to Bluesbreakers or Blues incorporated?) and b) it is an album worth relistening to–like most great albums.
@bhet/Mal/Ally/Richard/Zoops, etc – thanks for the kind words. Keeps the flame burning bright.
To comment on the New Fang thing. It was weird for me really…as I actually don’t like the song. When I heard it was going to be the single I was disappointed.
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I’ve had time to listen to the album so many times now, and other songs I wasn’t too hot on at first have really grown on me (Bandoliers, Warsaw). New Fang won’t grow on me…am I alone on this one?
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And Spinning in Daffodils is great! But I love my QOTSA…
I personally like New Fang but maybe your not so much alone, I’m sure others might have been dissapointed with the choice of “New Fang” as the first single as well.
I’ve listened to the record a few times now, it’s amazing, great review and I can agree that there are stronger songs they could have chose as first single but you have to admit even that song is better than ALOT of the shit out there today.
If they weren’t so hyped you probably would realize that too. Try not to split hairs, good tunes are good tunes and 1 song you don’t like out of 13 is a record not to be TOO dissapointed about especially when the other tracks are so strong. I’m gonna really enjoy listening to this record for a while.
Fairest review I’ve seen yet – all biases aside. *REFRESHING* not to have comparisons to Zep or any of the members’ other groups and instead take the album on its own merit.
Well done!
Awesome piece to read.
I also love New Fang, but the rest of album is far greater which blows my mind, I’ve listened to it quite a few times and it just gets better. You’ve nailed it with this review.
All I have to say is- FINALLY something good! Hooray!
If you recently entered your ears into some kind of oratory Olympic competition this album will be your daily trainer. Wait a second that’s not how I wanted to start this post. Let’s try this one: have you ever taken a hit of acid and then someone (your particularly evil friend) hands you some vitamin C tablets (you know to make it all a little ‘better’) and then the crazy times really get insane. That scenario is akin to what I imagine happened in Them Crooked Vultures practice room. Let’s take a peek inside:
Josh: Yeah Dave that’s real cool play that part in 4/32 time!
Dave: OK I will and at the same time Josh, you add lead and rhythm guitar with a dash of some weird doodling guitar in the background.
Josh: right on and Jonesy (that’s what JPJ’s friends call him) you start the song off with some whacky keyboards add in some super funky bass work and just for fun play that Keytar thing too!
The constant time changes, machine gun like drums, and distorted ghost-like vocals make this album Volume 1 of the “How to Make a Super Artistic Hard-Rock Album” manual. These three musicians have truly made an artistic (say ‘artistic’ with a faux French accent to really get the effect or would it be affect I think both could work here) statement on this album. How often do you really think of radio friendly acts (yes YOU Nickelback I’m talking to you!) as artists? These three are for sure. They made an album that is an album. It is the sum of all of its parts/songs. There is not a ‘single’ on here it is one big piece of music with little breaks every four or five minutes – just to keep us all from getting too Interluded with ludes. If, you know what I mean?
Yeah, what Trucks said. Not a terrible album by any means, just nothing that really sticks with me on this lp — the first 2 songs are terrible, and that so-called best last song ever is ruined by the goofy circus music layered in at the end. Not in my top 25 of 2009.
I don’t understand how you could listen to this album and not be impressed, but each to their own I guess. Myself, it leaves me with goosebumps and grinning, and an ache in my balls.
“Dead End Friends” is just too good..
my face fell off halfway through listening to this album!
I have no idea what the fuck BC is talking about…but I’m glad he likes the album…
Believe the hype, this is a killer album. I will be purchasing this one Tuesday morning, even though the guys posted it online for free. I think you should pay for music that’s worth a damn…
This album has one of the greatest opening tracks I’ve ever heard. The first half is groovy, sexy and funny while the riff midway through the song hits you like a kick in the groin. Good stuff.
Got it on iTunes. Done hearing. Live versions with pre-order are great. Better ending than “Spinning In Daffodils” could only be “When The Levee Breaks”.
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I can sense that you’re saying something really cool but I didn’t understand anything of it.
anyway there are some great songs in there, I’m big on the first half.
awesome album, getting better with every listen. although, isn’t warsaw longer than spinning in daffodils?
Aww for fuck’s sake, this isn’t some intellectual review board. I agree with the score but keep the wordy bullshit at the door, thank you.
New Fang is a great song. Good choice for the single IMO. Scumbag Blues is my fave so far, with Elephants being a close second.
Drewster, I disagree completely. You can’t separate the intellect from the music review. Sometimes going out on a limb journalistically is the only way to describe something that is otherwise totally indescribable. If you haven’t noticed, these guys dig a little deeper in their reviews than most shit you will read out there. I think this is by far the best piece Johnny has written that I have read.
Wordy bullshit is what you get from a Yahoo! Music or Amazon review; half-baked filler used to pad a shitty piece of writing, written by someone who’s just doing a job, instead of by someone who is genuinely passionate about the music he/she is reviewing.
JPJ playing “Slap Bass” ? LOL it’s a Clavinet.
Roflwaffles.
Bandoliers is great also. Really caught my ear at the show.
“New Fang” is given a whole new meaning if you’re listening the whole album and went all the way to the end of “Mind Eraser…”
you can see that Josh Homme is doing all the production in this thing. this could very well be the next QOTSA album.
I don’t get how people are hating on New Fang, its a good track and it doesn’t stay around longer then it needs to. Warsaw, Elephants, and Scumbag are definately my favorites so far. Can anyone else believe the relatively crap reviews this albums getting from everywhere? Its terrible. And I add my vote against the people who have a problem with “wordy” shit. I really dont know what business those people have reading.
I read the most awful review of the Wiltern show and I wanted to track the idiot down and punch him that’s how bad it was. This site is one of the few places that has intelligent writing.
I’m amazed at how much critics on other blogs/sites, even print media, want to bash this album/band or just belittle and dismiss it in some way. I think they are so jaded by the shit music they have to cover every day that when real genius comes their way they can’t even see it, or just assume it’s got to suck.
Even Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone, whose writing I usually like, gave the album only 3 1/2 stars and a backhanded complimentary type of review that kinda took the whole project as a lark.
RS has been fading as far as good album/show reviews for a long time, though, so can’t expect much from them anyway.
well if every writter was saying it’s as good as it actually is, then it wouldn’t be this good. “wordy”, huh?
releasing “New Fang” as the first single was already a way of saying “fuck you” to the ‘music industry’ – “since you’re going to overhype it and then dismiss it anyway, just take the most straighforward song on the album, which meaning you won’t even figure out, and suck it! we’ll just be making the music we want in the meantime and if it isn’t good enough for you, GO FUCK YOURSELF!”
Holy Fucking Shit.
I’ve been listening to this album nonstop for the last two weeks (first the leak, then the cd) and I’m still going strong.
This is far and away the best rock record to come out this year, in my not-at-all humble opinion.
The show at the Fox (Oakland) was mind-altering and face melting, to say the least.
And now it’s been announced that the boys are chomping at the bit to make another record.
It’s a good day for The Real Rock and Fucking Roll.
Great review, by the way, much better than pitchfork or rolling stone… but I’m sure you knew that.
Hey all…I reviewed the record as well. I post here regularly…and I’m looking for people to critique what I do as well. Thanks for any input.
If you would like to have a look:
http://rorybiller.wordpress.com/
Hey Johnny,
I finally got this and have meaning to tell you how much I love it.
That is all.
Leann
[...] Them Crooked Vultures‘ descent on the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles Wednesday night was an altogether different experience from the band’s previous visit last November, when they played on both the eve and the night of the release of their astonishing debut album. [...]
Very happy to hear it, Leann.
[...] Vultures became an international touring success following the release of their utterly phenomenal self-titled debut album in late [...]
[...] left off the album, the songs include single-worthy track The Bronze, as well as Them Crooked Vultures precursor These Aren’t The Droids You’re Looking For and instrumental jam Spiders and [...]
I need seconds!