Josh Homme first made a trip down to Rancho De La Luna in Joshua, California, with his band of the time, The Acquitted Felons, in 1997. Three days on magic mushrooms led to an epiphany and a return to the site with other bands and individual musicians. With songs being written during the session and often performed on odd instruments and recorded by employing unique methods, these pilgrimages have become legendary and the albums essential listening.
This, a re-release of the seventh and eighth volumes of the Desert Sessions, one titled Gypsy Marches and the other Can You See Under My Thumb? There You Are, originally appeared in 2001. The album features appearances from Mark Lanegan, Alain Johannes, Natasha Shneider, Chris Goss, Brendon McNichol, Fred Drake, Nick Eldorado and, naturally, Josh Homme. What makes the release especially interesting, this time round, is the chance to look back on songs that have since become iconic.
Take ‘Hanging Tree’, for instance. Here, it features Mark Lanegan’s dour, embittered vocal going solo which gives the track real gravitas. Of course, you’ll instantly recognise it for the reason that Homme, Lanegan and the rest of the band, Queens Of The Stone Age, later re-recorded it to use on their album Songs Of The Deaf. In fact, although it is virtually unrecognisable, the main riff from the wickedly jazzy ‘Cold Sore Superstars’ also appears on that album as ‘No One Knows’, so this was a doubly productive session!
Other stand-out tracks are the Middle Eastern-flavoured belly dance and plod of ‘Don’t Drink Poison’, the stoned rock stagger of ‘Polly Wants A Crack Rock’ and ‘The Idiot‘s Guide’, as well as the simplistic purity of ‘Making A Cross’ – a track that crackles with a curious tangibility.
Some things don’t quite work – all good innovative projects tend to have a bit of ugly. There’s the bizarre minute-long, speaker-swapping mash of ‘Winners’ and the car crash as several concepts come together for ‘Interpretive Reading’ (whose words are, apparently taken verbatim from a children’s book). Then, of course, there’s the Barry White ‘Covousier’ piss-take and the grotesque comedy ‘Ending’ to take into account.
Now out of print the re-release has been well-timed but whether it’s a must-buy, when you consider a ‘Best Of‘ is due out this year, is debatable. It’s certainly one of the most song-heavy Sessions and whilst it’s cleverly mainstream it does retain enough that is off-beat to deserve at least a little attention again.
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Probably the best of the sessions.
Yeah, I really enjoyed this. Better than the last 2 QOTSA albums I reckon…
I wish they’d hurry up and re-release Queens Of The Stone Age.
First album? Best thing they ever did I reckon (though I do like Rated R).
The first Kyuss/QOTSA EP was something else.
That’s like gold dust that EP. First QOTSA album is fantastic though, surely ripe for a re-release by now.
That is some seriously iffy artwork.