jammin'
Three rock giants, one gigantic album
Drummer Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana), bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin) and vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) collaborate as Them Crooked Vultures and form red-hot chemistry by just playing together

By Ali Sultan

Artist: Them Crooked Vultures
Album: Them Crooked Vultures****1/2

Two hands, 10 fingers. Ask any committed rock fan to count 10 of the greatest living bassists and drummers around and you will surely find someone counting off the utterly bombastic eighth second entry of Dave Grohl into 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' or humming the sinister John Paul Jones bass line to 'Dazed and Confused' that critic Alex Ross once described as "something that summoned up the dark comfort of heartbreak and depression." Them playing together as a rhythm section is a boy's wet dream and that exactly is the sensation one gets listening to Them Crooked Vultures - which ladies and gentlemen is the best rock album of the year.

Are we forgetting someone? Oh yes, the wicked Josh Homme who plays the guitar and sings - and if Them Crooked Vultures brings to mind Homme's projects more than Grohl's or Jones', it's largely due to his role as lead vocalist and how a guitar can literally push a rhythm section as powerful as this to the side, dominating with its grinding riffs and solos. Though Homme is the driving creative force behind the group, Jones's influence is ever-present as the resonant grooves of Zeppelin-esque riffs that arrive in abundance, albeit channelled through Homme's grimy distortion pedal

The first thing you hear is Grohl's instantly recognizable drums punished the speakers on 'Nobody Loves Me & Neither Do I', as Homme lays down a chaotic blues rhythm and  Jones adds a tasty bass line.

'Mind Eraser, No Chaser', sees Homme emulating Jimmy Page via Eric Clapton when he was in a band called Cream with a crunchy wah-wah riff and a thrashing guitar solo in the opening 30 seconds. Grohl and Homme then exchange call-and-repeat interplay and vocal harmonies for the chorus: "All I wanna do is have my mind erased/I'm begging ya, pleading ya, stop karma teasing us all/Drug company, where's a pill for me?/I call it mind eraser, no chaser."

Grohl's impeccable drum work launches lead single 'New Fang', the track which sounds more like the Queens Of The Stone Age than any of the other 12 tracks. Homme wails obscure lyrics amid a mishmash of multiple staccato guitar lines amid Grohl's sonic assault and Jones low-end pluck. The band enjoys a frenzied curtain call where all members go all out with their respective instruments.

'Interlude With Ludes' is an odd psychedelic ditty laced with sudden stabs of percussion, overdubbed guitars and echo chambers, as Homme muses, "On the good ship Lollygag/LSD and a bloody pile of rags/I hate to be the bearer of bad news/But I am."
On 'Gunman', the trio summons a dense funk sound with the album's most memorable wah-wah lick. Coupled with a haunting chorus, Homme struts through his crunching verses with suitably haughty lyrics: "Flesh and bone has no persuasion/This is the pathway to my destination/Gunman, where you been?/You're my hero, savior, psycho, slayer."
'Elephants' is a befitting homage to Led Zeppelin, with the beat playing and sounding like the good old John Bonham and the crunching hook repeatedly shifting time signatures.

'Scumbag Blues' is a monster. A funky acid jam that sizzles and never cools down, as Homme's overdubbed guitars scream out of every nook and corner, Jones gleefully peppers the tune with clavinet solos and Grohl's foot never leaves the foot pedal. 

 While there are melodies and hooks that certainly dig into the skull, what impresses is about Them Crooked Vultures is the red-hot chemistry of how the three play together, how they instigate each other, and how they spur each other on, to the point where their familiar work sound fresh.  Play this very loud.

*****Get it NOW!
****Just get it
***Maybe maybe not
**Just download the
best song
*Forget that this was made