keepers 6
keeper avg .462
Though several tracks, including the opener, sound exactly like Queens of the Stone Age (though slightly less serious), this is a completely separate band; lead singer Jesse Hughes' writing partner Josh Homme insists yes, this is his second band, not a side project. But with a blazing, stripped-down main riff and high vocal style so similar, it's easy to mistake "I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)"**** for being by that other band (Homme does play drums and bass on most of the songs). The same could be said for the stomping riff of "Cherry Cola"**** (which features Homme's one guitar lead), "I Gotta Feelin (Just Nineteen)","Don't Speak (I Came To Make A Bang!)", and "Eagles Goth", an accurately described though derivative dirge whose lyrics also provide the title of the album. Other songs take a decidedly Stones-y direction, the best of these being "I Like To Move In The Night"*****, with guitar playing the current Stones wish they could muster the balls of. "Keep Your Head Up" is also decidedly Keef-friendly, "Poor Doggie"**** is in the AC/DC direction, and "Shasta Beast"**** combines QOTSA and Stones-y riffs. Also, as mentioned before, Hughes has no reservations about playing the clown, as on the jokey bluegrass of "Solid Gold"****, punctuated by Hughes squealing "Sweat!" at the end of each verse. The nonsensical "The Ballad Of Queen Bee And Baby Duck" takes Hughes's detours to the mind space of a demented child, but the charming closing track "Bay O' Miracles" lends some credibility to Hughes' folk-country dabbling.
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