| This Week's Highlights |
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analysis w/e 14.5.11 |
DVDs out 9.5.11 |
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@ DVDfever Youtube |
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May 11 2011 
DVDfever co uk
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Three stars hussle their buns in LA County. It would have been unsurprising if three rock legends decided to have some extra-curricular distraction just for the sheer hell of it. They ‘met’ (conveniently) at Dave Grohl’s 40th birthday party last year, and ‘Hey Presto!’… an album. If Jack White pulled-off a masterstroke forming supergroup The Raconteurs, then Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl has matched it with Them Crooked Vultures. It was top secret stuff and amazingly the media didn’t get a whiff. Capitalising on the stalemate in the Led Zeppelin camp following the one-off O2 show, Grohl enticed bassist John Paul Jones (64) to join him with Queens Of The Stone Age singer/multi-instrumentalist Josh Homme (36) at the Pink Duck studios in Burbank, Los Angeles County. Now, I’m not exactly a big Foo fan for starters. I know even less about QOTSA. As for Led Zep…well, the greatest rock band ever. When I saw the TCV line-up, especially knowing Grohl’s penchant for ‘over zealous’ drumming and unsophisticated guitar technique (subtlety ain’t this guy’s middle name) I feared the worse.
Hearing this though, I’ve got a gut feeling that ol’ thunder-thumb Jones had a bigger influence than Grohl, and it’s for the better too, because this is a seriously brilliant album, fusing old school sensibilities with 21st century touchstones. Zep’s ability to fuse rock with melody has been recreated here without the thrash mentality of the Foos, thankfully. Homme’s singing is fantastic showing a good range, sometimes bordering on falsetto. His guitar work is pretty impressive too, with a definite nod to Zep’s Jimmy Page in places. In essence they’ve done a Zep by genre styling hard rock, alternative rock, and blues-rock, and it has to be said, with swagger and style. One thing it lacks is diversity, because this is effectively a white knuckle ride par excellence. Before they got to the tapes, there must have been some serious jamming going on I can tell you. The overall feel is a band keen to impress (not overly) with their collective skills. And, they sound very comfortable with each other, so they can relax and let rip. And rip they do. After a stuttering start, (not a clever idea to tracklist your most tentative offering as the opener – No One Loves Me…) the band finds its groove quickly hitting throbs galore on Mind Eraser…and then on jam-like lead-off single New Fang. Massive chord slabs and wailing solos propel high-octane Elephants. Then we get to a Cream-like gem (and THE jewel in the crown) – Scumbag Blues. Homme hits falsetto and burns up some fine solos. JPJ hits a Zep-like Trampled Underfoot keyboard drop-in, bringing an instantly infectious and foot-tapping groove - awesome. Bandoliers has JPJ written all over it, with Latin flourishes and shifting time signatures, with the latter heavily featured on Reptiles. Warsaw… has strong space-jazz-rock elements with a dirty riff and glorious harmonies hovering overhead, while Caligulove is an unforgiving beast with a quirky ending – hear the titters. After JPJ’s piano introduction, all hell breaks loose on Spinning Daffodils, which would have slotted nicely onto Led Zeppelin 4. The verdict – Wow!
Weblink: themcrookedvultures.com
The full list of tracks included are :
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B 37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier. PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
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Review & concert pics copyright © Elly Roberts, 2004-2010.
