Un Reborn Again by David Bowie
Looking back at when giants walked the earth, stone 'n' roll lifespans were incomparably more compressed. When Jimmy Folio put out his seventh album, Presence with Led Zeppelin, he was 32. While information technology'due south a very interesting guitar record, the band were decidedly past their acme. At 44, it'southward impossible to tell if Josh Homme is currently at a tiptop, or that it's still to come. While information technology could be argued that Queens of the Stone Age were on a downwards creative slope after Songs For The Deaf (2002), Homme mixed things up and collaborated with Page'due south quondam band mate John Paul Jones on 2009'due south Them Crooked Vultures., then had some pretty practiced sized radio hits on …Similar Clockwork (2013), and produced the Arctic Monkeys' AM that same year which had even bigger hits.
He may have more in common with Iggy Pop, who's seventh album, if you lot count his get-go ring The Stooges and theKill Urban center album, wasNew Values (1979) at the age of 32. Or since we didn't count the Yardbirds and Kyuss, for Page and Homme, nosotros could say it'due southApathetic Apathetic Blah (1986), when Iggy was 39. While that album may seem to be clearly mail service-peak Pop, it's a lot more than interesting in retrospect. Besides having a decent radio hitting with "Existent Wild Kid (Wild One)," information technology was co-produced by his old pal David Bowie, (seventh album, 1974's Diamond Dogs, age 27) included the Sex Pistols' Steve Jones in the band, and sported a fascinating metallic sheen that balanced between the worlds of AOR, pop and heavy metal. And "Cry For Dearest" and "Winners & Losers" were pretty crawly. Despite I'yard certain many predictions for his early death, Pop kept trucking along, making more okay to good albums, reuniting with The Stooges for several awe-inspiring tours, then collaborating with i Josh Homme for the excellentPost Pop Depression (2016) at the age of 69.
As expert as Homme's collaboration with Jones and Pop were, Villains is some adjacent level shit. And so perhaps Bowie is a more apt comparison? With Marker Ronson (Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga, "Uptown Funk" with Bruno Mars) producing, some may wonder if this would exist his Let'due south Dance (13th album, age 36). Not quite. WhileVillains is better (Let'south Dance sold a boatload, but Bowie was embarrassed by information technology, while Homme should non be), he's not quite at Bowie's level. And interestingly,Villains is far from the dance pop album some people were inexplicably imagining. Yes, at that place's a piddling bit of of funk and groove, but it's merely a subtle adjustment to the band's signature "robot rock," as Homme liked to call his music at the fourth dimension of their first three albums. 6 of the nine songs stretch out to betwixt five:20 and half-dozen:40 long. There's no obvious radio songs, though "The Way You Used To Do" is really doing quite well equally a unmarried, and every bit catchy every bit any of the Queens' more rocking songs. In a style, there's similarities in feel toLullabies To Paralize (2005), except with ameliorate arrangements, audio and songwriting. Despite the long song lengths,Villains holds my attention throughout, pulsing with changes and details that were absent-minded from the band'south albums a decade ago. As well, Homme has become a better, more than expressive vocaliser.
On opening track "Feet Don't Fail Me Now," Homme declares "I was born in the desert, Ma 17, in '73." Not shying abroad from showing his age, he knows he'south doing fucking great at 44, and also evokes fellow desert-dweller Captain Beefheart (seventh anthology Articulate Spot in 1972, age 31), who fabricated a similar introduction to his first album Safe As Milk (1967) on "Sure Nuff 'N Yes I Practise." This must exist a nod to the fact that "Articulate Spot" and "Large Eyed Beans From Venus" are clear precursers to Queens' barren desert robo-stone dejection, plus Kraftwerk. Approved!
Later an Aerosmithstyle guitar intro, "Domesticated Animals" features a staccato rhythm that hearkens dorsum as far as "The Lost Art Of Keeping A Hush-hush." The departure in the new songs is that they take more than swing, thanks to drummer Jon Theodore'due south disciplined work that pays some tribute to ZZ Top (seventh album, El Loco in 1981, Billy Gibbons was 32). It would be squeamish if the drums popped more like say, onTejas, but overall Ronson's production ably balances the rock (the fast and loose "Head Like A Haunted Firm") and the keyboards and special effects ("Fortress," "Un-Reborn Again") to keep information technology sounding fresh and modern.
To be honest, I sometimes wish Homme would revisit the fuzzed out stoner rock he pioneered with Kyuss and the beginning QOTSA album. But he is conspicuously confronting whatsoever sort of recycling and more than interested in moving forward, which is totally understandable. It would be very difficult to revisit the by when that audio has been adopted by literally dozens of bands since. While shy with his own past sounds that forged bombed-out Black Flag + Black Sabbath guitar fuzz desert/stoner rock, he's not afraid to go further back in history to engage in a musical dialog with heroes from Hendrix to Page, Iggy, Lemmy, and an evolving range of guitar tones, some of which that sound more like serrated aluminum, accept more in mutual with Robert Fripp'due south work in The League Of Gentlemen, new wave era King Reddish and Bowie'sHeroes, to whichVillains holds upward a black mirror.
The diverse anthology only truly digs into the band'south past with "The Evil Has Landed," where the band puts together their favorite ingredients of riffs, choruses and a signature robo-rock vamp that's a total blast. Anthology closer "Villains Of Circumstance" ends on another strong notation, Homme revisiting the vulnerability of personal lyrics on "Fortress" and crooning with seeming heartfelt sincerity. Fifty-fifty if one does take hold of a wink or a sneer, this band known for both hedonism and humor tin can't hide the fact that they likewise have soul.
The band has had besides many great albums to easily say if this is their best. Complaints that …Similar Clockwork was too dark are ridiculous. It'due south a great record with stunning highlights, butVillains may be their most consistent, if not quite as riveting as the peak moments ofRated R (2000) andSongs For the Deaf (2002). Either way, a new rock album that feels similar a major event is even more of a rarity at present than it was 17 years ago. And for that I'one thousand grateful for Homme and his Queens.
Source: https://fastnbulbous.com/queens-of-the-stone-age-villains/