Album Review: Desert Sessions I & II

The elusive “Desert sessions” were started in 1998 by a young strapping lad called Joshua Homme, who just left a band called Kyuss. Probably still wondering what to do next, he rounded up a number of like-minded musicians at the Rancho de la Luna in Joshua Tree, California. Ten years later, and Josh Homme is now the front-man of a hardrock-band called the “Queens of the Stone Age”, who are both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. The first and second Desert Sessions show us the birth of this band. On an album that is almost 10 years old, out of print and pretty much forgotten. A perfect time to go back in time and argue why this is not only the best of all the Desert Sessions, but should also be an essential part of any music lover’s collection.

It all starts with a drunken and lone redneck preaching to the lord of darkness. A promotion for Man’s Ruin records it seems. But then the magic starts. A pounding drums and bass-line sets in, with an organ joining in a few seconds later. It grooves itself in your head, an echoing and wailing guitar at the lead. The first thing you notice is that there are no lyrics in this song called “Girl Boy Tom”, which in my opinion only adds to the hypnotic qualities of the music. Slowly the song fades out, announcing the arrival of “Monkey in the middle”. A song which sounds a bit tired, like standing in the same traffic jam every afternoon when you are heading back to work. Slowly we head back again to “Girl Boy Tom”.

Apparently the traffic jam has finally lifted at 7 p.m., and you are heading home at 90 miles per hour. At the time of “Cowards Way Out” you notice that you took a wrong turn, and are driving on a long straight desert road, with no other traffic for miles. Your Tom-tom tells you that in about 20 miles there will be a road that leads back to your original route. You decide to press the gas paddle, since dinner is being served at 8, and you don’t want to be late. But then the car starts to make a sound, which, strange enough, sounds like a “Robotic Lunch”. Probably a little bit of a weak point (understatement) in this, up till now, very impressive journey. But a Desert Session wouldn’t be a Desert Session if it didn’t have its little f*cked up moment in it.

Maybe you should just skip to the next track, “Johnny the Boy”, one of the two absolute highlights of this record. This track is pure groovin’ Rock ‘n Roll. The best point is at two minutes and four seconds exactly. I think they call this point a “break”, where you only hear the magnificent riff, with the rhythm section joining in soon after. This is immediately followed by the ghostly “aaaaah’s” in “Screamin’ Eagle”, the second highlight of this album. Again great riffs, which sound just like god (or the devil) intended them to be: massive. Around two minutes the song leads you to a magnificent climax, followed by a lot of groovin' you seldom hear these days in popular rock music.

The last song is “Cake (Who shit on the?)”, which is a great end to this album. Again this is a track divided in sections, just like the two preceding it. It might be a strange comparison, but this reminded me of the time-changes that lot of progressive rock bands (Pink Floyd, Genesis) used to make in there music. The song has a great 70s loose jamming feel to it. Slowly however, this trip is coming to an end. On the radio you hear that redneck preaching again, telling you not to buy any products from Man’s Ruin records. I think that speech ruined them. Luckily you still have the internet.

This enables you to get your hands on this gem, which is the most consistent of all the Desert Sessions, and the only one which has a real “album feel” to it. The album already has the groove in it, which I think can be defined as the signature sound of the Queens of the Stone Age this present day. Also, with Johnny the Boy and Screamin’ Eagle, it has two tracks which define Rock `n Roll in my dictionary. Hopefully these two tracks, and the whole album, will be discovered by a new generation when the old Desert Sessions are re-released in 2008. It deserves to be.