THEM CROOKED VULTURES DIDN`T QUITE HAVE THE MAGICAL MUSICAL DNA

Just a quick blog tonight, and actually for once i mean it because
the album i wanted to write a quick review of hasn`t got a lot of
things going for it, for want of a better term i think it is really &
truly `diffrent`, maybe not quite weird but just not convincing
anyway. I am actually referring to the supergroup by the name
of Them Crooked Vultures, made up of Foo Fighters foundation
member Dave Grohl, Joshua Homme from the Queens of The
Stone Age and veteran Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones.
Their self titled debut, and i am led to believe it will probaly
be their last one too, which was released in 2009, is a rather
unholy mixture of experimental blues and alternative rock
not to mention totally ambigous lyricism which doesn`t at
any stage make a lot of sense. Without any doubt the best
thing that Them Crooked Vultures has going for it is some
of the best power drumming that Dave Grohl ever cooked
up, better than anything he has done in both the Foo Fight-
ers and Nirvana. The problem with the album is terminal,
and it is Joshua Homme. His leanings towards stoner rock
just didn`t gel with the trad blues of Jones or the obvious
melodic grunge leanings of Grohl. Grohl did his very best
to make the album a respectable diversion from his nor-
mal style, it is one of those rare occasions where a drum-
mer seems to be more musically resourceful than a lead
guitarist. The albums saving graces might be the groove
laden and funky `Scumbag Blues` or the decent opener
`No One Loves Me & Neither Do I`, and a couple of oth-
ers are OK i guess be it only to hear Dave Grohl at the
top of his craft on drums, but really i have to say that i
think this is one supergroup who misfired. A bit like an
australian band of the early 70`s who also released one
album, their name was Mighty Kong. Mighty Kong was
led by Daddy Cool frontman Ross Wilson. Just like this
band, Them Crooked Vultures seemed to have every-
thing it needed in star studded membership but there
was just some DNA missing somewhere. A great band
in theory but just lacking that magic spark. I`ll have to
write a blog about Mighty Kong now, but not tonight.