Queens of the Stoneage "Queens of the Stoneage" (1998)
Following the breakup of desert-rock/stoner-rock masters Kyuss, that
band's guitarist Josh Homme got together with Kyuss drummer Alfredo
Hernández to form QOTSA (major collaborator and former Kyuss member Nick
Oliveri would join the group following the album's completion).
Oddly I seem to remember not really enjoying this album when I listened
to it a few years back. Not sure why, as it seems to be the classic
QOTSA sound: bashy-yet-tight drumming a la Mitch Mitchell or John
Bonham, and Homme's muddy fuzzed out guitar and light, clear voice. It
also features the studio experimentation that Homme continued on the
group's second album "Rated R" with instruments being hard-panned to
either side of the stereo field in unconventional, yet cool ways.
"Walkin' on the Sidewalks"
has a guttural, gutter twang, contrasted by Homme's melodic
vocals. "Regular John" has a pounding, unrelenting pulse to it. The
instrumental track "Hispanic Impressions" bears a suspicious resemblance to Jimi Hendrix's very phonetically-similarly titled "Manic Depression".
In some ways with Homme writing all of the songs and playing most of the
instruments, this is the heart of QOTSA. Though I prefer "Rated R" and
"Songs for the Deaf" with their contributions from Oliveri, the
Screaming Trees' Mark Lanegan and (on the latter album) Dave Grohl on
drums, the band has always been Homme's baby.
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