Labels: Major
Review by: Alex Deller
Kerching kerching! The shiny sound of fad-led kids popping their pennies into greedy cash registers as the latest Next Big Thing is unveiled, gasps of awe as they’re told just what to buy and why to buy it. And somewhere, deep down in the ground a hungry beast opens a yellow eye, and smells something on the air, a wind of change, a sign that it is time to feed and that this worthless piece of shit nobody band it’s had on the racks for way too many years may finally come to serve a useful purpose. Because before Queens of the Stone Age was a band called Kyuss, and, whilst they were beyond good, not many people really cottoned on to the fact, and they lived and died pretty quietly, knocking out three amazing records and forging a path for more bands than is worth mentioning.
And so we have this. A belated requiem? Methinks not. A heartless cash-in due to the success of their high-flying compadres? Take a guess. This is not a ‘best of’ as it’s touted: a best of is virtually impossible seeing as how the original records have a natural flow to them which can’t be recreated by simply chopping and changing, collating the riffiest songs and hoping they sit nicely side by side. Then, for the collectors we have the inclusion of four non-album tracks, which aren’t the easiest tunes to acquire unless one has money or the luck of the devil. The whole thing stinks of something that’s hastily put together, hastily packaged (liner notes? Nope. Where the songs actually appeared first? Nope. A two-page spread of records that are ‘also available’? Sure thing…) piece of crap that will appeal to both the know-nothings who won’t actually be getting a fair representation of a truly awe-inspiring band, and idiots like me who’ll pay full-whack for a bunch of stuff they already have and those elusive rarities. Oh, and some pointless live versions of old favourites, whoopee-fucking-do.
Oh and the music? Naturally its all awesome, no flow whatsoever, but still amazing. The genre-defining birth of ‘desert rock’: all soulful howls tempered with riffwork which can sway beautifully between lead-heavy sludge and other-worldly solo-work, plus an awesome rhythm section and some truly dirty bass noises. Listen to understand. Seriously, if you want to hear this band just check out any of the albums (minus ‘Wretch’) and the split with QOTSA, just ignore this for the piece of cash-in shit that it is.