“THEM CROOKED VULTURES” (DGC) ****
Them Crooked Vultures is a ‘super group’ that actually lives up to that title.
TCV is Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age)- guitar/vocals, Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) on drums, and John Paul Jones (Led Zep) on bass. Initiated by Grohl after a proposed Led Zeppelin reunion tour failed to materialize, this rambling, beautiful mess isn’t the second coming of Zep, it’s more like QOTSA. It’s the sound of three skilled musicians having fun. Jones and Grohl are surprisingly adept at locking in together on any given groove, and Homme’s riffs wander from workmanlike chunk to hypnotic psychedelia. “Them Crooked Vultures” is a throwback to sprawling 70’s rawk. As John Paul Jones has famously said “I didn’t need the work, but I needed to play”. Thank God for that!
KEY CUTS: “Elephants”, “New Fang”, “Warsaw Or The First Breath You Take After You Give Up”