Kyuss & Queens of the Stone Age, Split CD (1997)

If Man’s Ruin Records had never put anything else out, the 1997 Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age split would still make them legendary. The end of one era and the beginning of another. Of course, Man’s Ruin did put out a ton of other landmark albums from the likes of Acid King, Dozer, Alabama Thunderpussy and on and on, but to have the last Kyuss tracks and the first Queens of the Stone Age tracks on the same disc gives the split a momentous feel  in hindsight. Josh Homme had put out the Gamma Ray 7″ in ’96, and Queens would go on to include the track “18 A.D.” on Roadrunner Records‘ Burn One Up: Music for Stoners compilation (discussed here) in 1998, but the three tracks on this split — “If Only Everything,” “Born to Hula” and “Spiders and Vinegaroons” — were the first to surface under the moniker.

And until John Garcia and Brant Bjork picked back up with Kyuss Lives! and continued into Vista Chino, the jamming cover of Black Sabbath‘s “Into the Void” and the two “Fatso Forgotso” tracks (both of which were included on 2000’s Muchas Gracias: The Best of Kyuss, the second under the title “Flip the Phase”) were the last of Kyuss‘ studio output. So yeah, something of a landmark. It was more the grooves of the thing itself than the historical aspect that made me want to round out the week with it, but I figured if the thing can be appreciated on multiple levels, that rarely hurts the actual listening experience.

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Kind of an odd bit of symmetry to the week by the end of it, right? One day, there’s an interview with Mike Scheidt about the Lumbar record, and the next, a live review of Scheidt playing in Providence. Then today, there’s a Black Thai track premiere and a live review of a Jim Healey set. Just a bit ago today, too, some Clutch news about a new live album, and tonight I’m going to see Clutch in New Hampshire as well, so there’s that to add to it. Strange but kind of cool. I wish I could say I planned any of it out, but I couldn’t be that coordinated even if I had mild interest in trying. Which I honestly don’t.

Next week, look out for a new podcast, a review of that Clutch show and hopefully one for It’s Not Night: It’s Space, Olde Growth and company on Sunday night in Boston — I’m going to Connecticut during the day, but provided I get back in time will hit up the show — and then a look at the new Horisont and Sandrider albums, as well as more in the “10 Days of Stoner Hands of Doom XIII” coverage, including a video premiere provided it comes together as scheduled and some words about the new Druglord tape, which is duly fucked up-sounding. I also took a poll today on Thee Facebooks to name a new vinyl column, so On Wax will start next week too.

Much to come, in other words.

Hope you have a great and safe weekend. See you back here Monday and in the meantime, please check out the forum and radio stream.

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Tags: California, Kyuss, Kyuss Queens of the Stone Age Split, Man's Ruin Records, Queens of the Stone Age

This entry was posted on Friday, October 25th, 2013 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.