I have absolutely no information about this track, when it was recorded, or for what reason, where, how, etc. All I know is that Obelisk attendee David sent me an email with a link in it to Soundcloud (to answer your next question, yes, I follow every link that gets sent to me in emails because I understand nothing about how the internet works), and it’s a Queens of the Stone Age cover of Tom Waits‘ “Going out West” that kicks ass. It’s nigh on 1AM, and the player says it was uploaded four hours ago, so there you have it. Thought I’d share, so here it is:

…Or December if you, like me, are of a more CD-buying persuasion. Queens of the Stone Age‘s first album — hard to get considering the massive success the band had after it — is one of the heftiest slabs of buried treasure I’ve ever come across. I’m sure Josh Homme‘s decision to reissue the album through his Rekords Rekords imprint (with subtly changed artwork and extra tracks, no less) comes in no small part as a response to the people who’ve been paying considerable amounts of cash for the self-titled on eBay, Amazon, etc. It’s worth whatever they’re charging.

Vinyl’s out Black Friday with CD to follow shortly thereafter. The PR wire has this:

The track listing for Queens of the Stone Age, a reissue of Queens of the Stone Age‘s critically-lauded 1998 self-titled debut, reflects the band’s original vision for the album with three tracks that were initially cut from the record reinstated.

The sought after and long out of print album arrives in-stores on Black Friday (Nov. 26) via Joshua Homme‘s own Rekords Rekords as a special bundled package featuring the album both as a 180 gram double-gatefold, double LP and a digital download card (a straight CD release will follow on Dec. 7).

The three additional songs are “The Bronze,” “These Aren’t the Droids You’re Looking For,” and “Spiders and Vinegaroons.”

Queens of the Stone Age track listing:
1. Regular John
2. Avon
3. If Only
4. Walkin’ on the Sidewalks
5. You Would Know
6. The Bronze
7. How to Handle a Rope (A Lesson in the Lariat)
8. Mexicola
9. Hispanic Impressions
10. You Can’t Quit Me Baby
11. These Aren’t the Droids You’re Looking For
12. Give the Mule What He Wants
13. Spiders and Vinegaroons
14. I Was a Teenage Hand Model

Dear Mr. Homme,

I’d be remiss if I didn’t start off saying thanks for the many years of ass kickery. Having never spoken to you either in-person or via telephone (the closest I’ve yet come was being blown off in 2005), this feels an appropriate avenue to mention that, although there’ve been highs and lows, hard rock probably wouldn’t be the same in 2010 without your having been in it for about two decades now. So yeah, much appreciated.

On to the business at hand: By now I’m sure you’ve seen the video of your former Kyuss cohorts, Nick Oliveri, Brant Bjork and John Garcia playing together at Hellfest in France during a Garcia Plays Kyuss set. If you missed it, here it is:

Pretty badass, I know. Now, the thing of it is, I can’t imagine you haven’t watched that and thought to yourself, perhaps more than ever before, that maybe it’s time to get Kyuss back together. I’m not going to urge you not to do it. Rather, the purpose of this letter is to ask that, if you do decide it’s time for a Kyuss reunion, to do it the right way.

By that I mean no shows. Think of all the reunions going on; bands get back together and they’re all so excited to be playing again — or they’re just doing it for cash — that they book a tour, and yeah, it can be great, but it’s a nostalgic thing. If Kyuss‘ music has proved to be anything, it’s timeless, and to see a reunion come about that’s just based on, “Hey, let’s trot out ‘Allen’s Wrench’ for the folks who didn’t get to see it,” would be disappointing and lame. I think that’s also why it hasn’t happened yet.

That’s not a slag on Garcia Plays Kyuss. I saw them in April and it was great to hear him sing those songs. But if you’re going to revive a band like Kyuss, whose popularity came after their breakup, the way to do it is to put out an album first. I know the music is a lot different, but the best-handled reunion I’ve ever seen was that of Celtic Frost (until it fell apart, anyway). They announced they were back together, and immediately started writing. They took as long as it needed to take to write — in their case it was about five years — and they put out a killer album in Monotheist, and only then did they start booking tours. It was a triumphant return, the shows sold out, the record was great, and most importantly, fans had a context for who Celtic Frost was in the present, instead of who they were when they put out Into the Pandemonium or To Mega Therion.

What I’m saying is, it’s been 13 years since Kyuss ended, and a lot has happened in that time. If you decide to bring Kyuss back, don’t just do it to play the greatest hits, do it as a creative endeavor. That way no one on either side, fan or artist, goes into it thinking things will be just like they were on Blues for the Red Sun, which is a ridiculous expectation but a prevalent one nonetheless. Write first, get Chris Goss to produce, and put out a Kyuss album. Then tour. You’ll find that what Kyuss was is entirely preserved, and what Kyuss is today can honor that while at the same time offer a glimpse of how time has changed you guys as players. As a fan, I just think Kyuss deserves more than the usual “one more go” reunion, and felt compelled to share my thoughts. On the off-chance you see them, thanks for reading.

Sincerely,
Some Dude You’ve Never Heard Of
Heaping Pismire Taskmaster

Here in the States, today is Memorial Day, which is basically yet another excuse for everyone to get their jingoism going and glorify war, blow fingers off with fireworks and blah blah blah. What it means to me is the official start of grilling season. True, I hate the heat and I have in fact been grilling all winter, but now it’s the season, which means eating outside, which means grilling music. Killer.

Because I’m all about sharing, here are my seven favorite barbecue records, presented in the order in which they should be played:

1. Black Sabbath, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. What this says is, “I am here to grill. I don’t care what else happens in the universe, I am going to have a good time and that is that. Now rock with me as I cook this meat.” Perfect starter album.

2. C.O.C., Wiseblood. Like Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, it’s a fun collection of songs, but Wiseblood is a little thicker sound-wise. It’s great to sing-along to, and the groove seems to run throughout the whole album, so it’s consistent too. A definite necessity.

3. Greenleaf, Agents of Ahriman. By now you’ve had a few beers and it’s time to let loose. Greenleaf‘s Agents of Ahriman is catchy, rocking and has a freedom to its sound that seems to be made for the outdoors.

4. Queens of the Stone Age, Songs for the Deaf. I confess, I love this record regardless of the food and/or climate surrounding. I try to take it everywhere, so it comes out for grilling for sure. “Go with the Flow?” Come on, man. Can’t beat that.

5. Fu Manchu, King of the Road. The last of the real rockers on the list, it’s great to finish the meal with some righteous fuzzery, and for that, there’s nowhere to go but to Fu Manchu. If you’ve got ice cream for dessert, this’ll work with it.

6. Monster Magnet, Spine of God. You’ve rocked, you’ve stuffed yourself, you’re probably more than a little intoxicated and you feel like if you ever even see another burger, your heart will explode in your chest. Clearly you’ve yanked on the spine of god and it’s time for some penance.

7. Masters of Reality, Flak ‘n Flight. This is for your cleanup. When you’ve drunkenly insulted all your relatives or friends and they’ve left and it’s just you and the mess. You put this one on and sing along as you throw away paper plates, beer bottles and the bloody packaging that once contained the meat now blocking up your colon. It’ll help ease the pain.

I’ve also found that Enslaved‘s Ruun album is great for cleanups, so if it persists longer than Flak ‘n Flight lasts, you might want to have that on-hand for reinforcements. Or maybe you just want to sit on a plastic chair in the dark for a while. It’s good for that too.

Of course, if you’re in it for the full-day barbecue experience, you’re going to need more than seven albums, but hopefully this is a decent start. If you have any longtime favorites, leave a comment and let me know about them. You can never have too much grilling music.

Here’s why I like the internet: Like probably countless others who’ve posted it, I got this story from Blabbermouth. They, in turn, attribute it to The Pulse of Radio, who say it came from NME. The spread of information is fantastic. No wonder they call it “viral.”

But yes, Queens of the Stone Age are reportedly going to reissue Rated R this summer. One can only assume it will be the feel good hit thereof, and show up before the Rekords Rekords version of the self-titled, which I think was supposed to be out sometime last year. So it goes. Was Rated R even out of print? I don’t know. If nothing else, this story proves I’ll go to any length to get all girly over another Josh Homme video. Such a sucker:

The Pulse of Radio reports that Queens of the Stone Age will reissue their second album, 2000’s Rated R, this summer, according to NME.com. The re-release, which will probably arrive in July, will include B-sides and live recordings. Frontman Josh Homme said, “Am I surprised Queens have survived to the point where we have reissues? Yes! And that all the people (other players) on Rated R are alive too.”

I’ve been knee-deep in a semester-ending term paper the last couple days, which should hopefully account for the relative lack of posts. It’s just about done (and by that I mean I’m ready to say “fuck it” and walk away), but I thought in the meantime I’d share this badass video of Queens of the Stone Age doing “Avon,” a song which has been playing over and over on my mental jukebox since picking up Desert Sessions Vol. 3 & 4 at Roadburn. It’s the band probably when they were at their peak, in 2002, with Dave Grohl on drums and Nick Oliveri on bass.

Taste my pain:

As I said yesterday, Diane Kamikaze‘s DJ set at the Iron Man show has me on a big kick for the first, self-titled Queens of the Stone Age album. I was initially just going to post the studio version of “Mexicola,” maybe with some homemade picture slideshow or whatever I could find, but then I came across this excellent live version filmed for the From the Basement tv show in the UK last year. Killer stuff. In case you’re wondering who’s in the band, other than Josh Homme, it’s Joey Castillo, Troy Van Leeuwen, Michael Shuman and Dean Fertita. Enjoy.

I?ve tried my damnedest to not give in to the viral hype machine that has been at work for months promoting Them Crooked Vultures, leaking snippets of songs via YouTube and quietly putting the word out about secret shows and the like. The band just showing up places and playing; a luxury afforded to the trio by their celebrity status and respective built-in fanbases. That said, if there?s anything Queens of the Stone Age?s Songs for the Deaf taught us it?s that good things happen when Joshua Homme and Dave Grohl get together. Throw John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin in the mix on bass and, well, it?s at very least an interesting proposition.

The resulting album, the product, released on maybe the most major of labels (Interscope/Geffen, both subsidiaries of Universal), is a 13-track romp through the rigors of modern commerciability, toying with our single-based culture even as it conforms to it. There is no coincidence that ?No One Loves Me and Neither Do I? is among the catchiest songs on Them Crooked Vultures; what?s really interesting about it is the fact that it?s also among the most ?stoner rock,? which, if you?re paying attention, quietly affirms the untapped commercial potential of the genre at large. Likewise, that follow-up ?Mind Eraser, No Chaser? features prominent vocals from Grohl along with Homme?s lead is clearly purposeful. Someone, be it label or band, thinks these are the strongest tracks, and so they?re up front, catching our limited, fickle attention. Cynicism is everywhere.

Stoner rockers will no doubt link Them Crooked Vultures to the 1998 self-titled Queens of the Stone Age. I will, anyway. Like that album, there is a full, natural sense of room in this recording. You can almost feel the mic being pulled just a little back from the amps to open up the sound. It?s high-tech garage with Alan Moulder and Alain Johannes recording, but nonetheless at work is a precision in songwriting the likes of which could only come from pairing the likes of Homme and Grohl — and that?s not to downplay Jones? considerable contributions either vocally or on bass. As to the individual members? contributions to each part of each song, I don?t know and refuse to speculate, but in listening, pieces of highlight tracks like ?Dead End Friends,? the appropriately stomping ?Elephants? (one of the album?s longer cuts at a bold 6:50) and the danceably handclapped, mellotronned ?Caligulove,? shades of personality leak through the songs that could be attributed more or less as the listener chooses.

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