Rawk - Them Crooked Vultures and Nirvana - Live at Reading

This has been a great month for my ears.  Not only did a new live Nirvana album drop, but the much-anticipated supergroup Them Crooked Vultures released their self-titled album.  Here's what you need to know.

Them Crooked Vultures is a musician's album. And it rocks.

I use the term "musician's album" loosely, but it's essentially true: Them Crooked Vultures is for those who trip out on insane musicianship, originality, and balls. Big balls. But it's not necessarily as mainstream-friendly as even a band like Nirvana (who sacrificed very little of their heaviness for the masses).

For the uninformed, Them Crooked Vultures is the culmination of members from 4 unparalleled groups: Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age, Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters, and John-Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin. If you dislike any of the aforementioned bands, you may not like this album. If you like any of them, you will probably appreciate it. If you like all four, you need this album.

First and foremost: every single note that John-Paul Jones and Dave Grohl play are gold. I'm not trying to diminish Josh Homme's contribution - I just think that the rhythm section of this band is the best currently out there, and possibly the best ever. These two know how to groove and rock harder than any band I've heard or seen, and if you want to challenge that just listen to the funk of "Gunman".

The epicness of this album is felt inexorably in the music, but also in the lyrics. Josh Homme seems unleashed by the power of his bandmates, and offers an amazing range of lyrics. Puns intermingle with the most epic of phrases, and the only thing you can do is smile when he croons:

• "don't hold it against me unless it gets hard"
• "you get what you give, I give good bye"
• "well if sex is a weapon then smash bang pow, how you like me now?"
• "hold me real close/then do it again/I ache for the touch of my dead-end friends"
• "she said I have a beautiful place to put your face and she was right"
• "know that I wanna be your dangerous side effect"

You can't argue with that.

I have very much love for Josh Homme, and this album is one of the highlights of his career.  This album explores largely new space for Homme. Most of the songs were written in the studio (unusual for him) and the melodies are both insanely epic and unforgettably original. A few tracks on the album retread some of the same (but not bad) ground as Queens of the Stone Age. I don't hold it against Homme, but it certainly makes songs like "Interludes with Ludes" and "Warsaw Or The First Breath You Take After You Give Up" less engaging.

I'm happy to blame Alain Johannes for a lot of the familiar territory here; he's been a frequent contributor on Queens of the Stone Age albums, and his presence as the invisible member of Them Crooked Vultures suggests that Homme was more inclined to stay true to his roots. Again, I'm not complaining - but I'd be interested to hear what a Them Crooked Vultures album would sound like without Johannes.

Regardless of my gripes, this is an album I can't stop playing, and the live show was just as intense. The joy of seeing Dave Grohl smash the drums with reckless, happy abandon while Josh Homme belted and riffed and John-Paul Jones kept a relentless bassline rolling was enough to make me want to chug Ketel One out of the bottle while playing epic rock'n'roll (as Josh Homme did during the show).

Nirvana - Live at Reading is a concert goer's album. And it rocks.

My other purchase this week also included Dave Grohl, which is a testament to his rockness. If you don't like Nirvana, go home now (and don't talk to me). If you are a hardcord Nirvanaphile and have a bunch of bootleg recordings, this isn't going to do anything for you. But if you haven't heard Nirvana live and want a peek into their greatness onstage, Live at Reading is perfect for you. How can you not love the out-of-tune singing, laugh, and "screw it" affectation at the start of "Sliver"?

With any deceased artist it's hard not to see things in their art that might not be there. I found it impossible not to feel a twinge when the audience is singing along to "today I found my friends/they're in my head" during "Lithium". Perhaps it's just a well-produced piece of concert mastery, but for a moment you feel like Cobain had the friends he had been searching for.

The setlist is great, hitting all of the major songs but also some less-popular gems like the "Blew", "Aneurysm", and "Lounge Act". But what fascinated me most were the changes to the singles. There's the intentional or subconscious middle-finger of screwing up the two-note signature riff of "Smells Like Teen Spirit", an anthem that Cobain thought had jumped the shark (before the phrase existed). There's the change of the "All Apologies" lyric from "everyone is gay" to "all my birds are gray"...perhaps out of guilt for the negative connotations?

Regardless of on what level(s) you enjoy this record, Live at Reading is just plain fun. After an hour of screaming, cracking snare drums and thumping bass, the set ends with a totally destroyed rendition of the national anthem, which seems to wrap up the vibe of the show: "welcome to our united states of insanity".