Them Crooked Vultures CD Review

Posted on November 10th, 2009

Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures (CD 2009) ****

Supergroups are vogue and hot on the heels of The Dead Weather and Chickenfoot come ‘Them Crooked Vultures’ – an unholy alliance between Foo Fighter Dave Grohl, Stone Age Queen Josh Homme, and one half of Led Zep’s rhythm section, John Paul Jones. QotSA geetarist, Alain Johannes, is The Fourth Vulture drafted in for the live shows.

TCV have been in the making for four years and finally saw the light of day with the self-titled album showcased to the world via YouTube on November 9th, a week before the official release. Respect.

Grohl has worked with Homme in the past; to great success during a brief stint with Queens of the Stone Age. The addition of JPJ has formed a triumvirate of star potential. We know that supergroups have soporific tendencies and often disappear up their own egos, so are TCV any different?

Yes is the answer. There is no doubt that Grohl has the midas touch and he’s done it again here. However, TCV has the undoubted brand of Josh Homme stamped through it like Blackpool Rock.

Filling vocal duties meant this was always going to be the case and there is a tendency to stick to the trusty QotSA formula of chugging riffs and frequent pace changes. Grohl’s drumming shines through and Homme’s laconic vocals waft over proceedings interspersed with the familiar falsetto. The general absence of keyboard means a more stripped back QotSA-esque sound; less rounded but more immediate.

Homme battles against the Led Zep classic rock grooves and generally wins the fight. But when JPJ has his way the result is a complex melding of established styles, giving a fresh dimension to what has gone before. ‘Elephants’ is an example of this – is it Led Zep? I think so but I’m not sure.

‘No One Loves Me & Neither Do I’ is a tentative opener that finds its feet midway through and opens up the album like a tin of beans. The rest is bread and butter and many of the tracks sound like they were given birth during Homme’s Desert Sessions.

As one would expect, there are the ubiquitous wanky moments of experimentation that put the brakes on and have us hovering over the forward button, but not for long. The album soars during Dead End Friends, Mind Eraser No Chaser, Spinning in Daffodils and Bandoliers; and it really doesn’t get much better than Gunman.

With no new QotSA material on the horizon due to Homme’s Eagles of Death Metal hiatus, Them Crooked Vultures is a welcome release and if early reviews are anything to go by the winter live shows should go down a storm. Tickets sold out long ago, Ebay here I come.

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Them Crooked Vultures CD Review

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