Queens Of The Stone Age - Queens Of The Stone Age LP

Reissue of the debut with Frank Kozik art and original sequence.

Upon the dissolution of the criminally overlooked Kyuss, guitarist Josh Homme pulled up stakes from the California desert for the pacific northwest to work on a new project concurrent with spending time on the road as second guitarist in Screaming Trees.

Seeking a new sound, Homme discarded the sludgy low-end expanses of his former band for much tighter song structure (for the most part) and honest-to-goodness capital 'H' hooks and what was originally christened Gamma Ray was quickly changed to Queens of the Stone Age shortly after birth.

Homme returned to his old stomping grounds and reunited with latter day Kyuss drummer Alfredo Hernandez to record as a fake trio (bass player 'Carlo von Sexron' is a nom-de-boom for Homme) and Queens of the Stone Age came into full bloom. Regular John introduces Homme as a smooth and assured vocalist with great melodic instinct.

Tracks like Avon and Walkin on Sidewalks lock into heavy riffs that are in entrancing in their repetition and subtle shifts. And it's hard to believe that insistently catchy How to Handle a Rope didn't make a greater impact on mainstream radio upon its initial release. Amidst the mid-fi riffage and wilful experimentalism of an artist forging a new sound for himself are some killer guitar melodies that could have easily come from 1971, 1991 or 2011. And that's part of the timelessness of this unassuming debut album.

Queens can only truly be classified as a 'rock band;' any attempt to narrow that down further would be to neglect the scope of Homme's broad body of work and the band's wide-reaching appeal.

Tracklist:

1. Regular John
2. Avon
3. If Only
4. Walkin on the Sidewalks
5. You Would Know
6. The Bronze (Bonus track)
7. How to Handle a Rope (A Lesson in the Lariat)
8. Mexicola
9. Hispanic Impressions
10. You Can't Quit Me Baby
11. These Aren't the Droids You're Looking For
12. Give the Mule What He Wants
13. Spiders and Vinegaroons
14. I was a Teenage Hand Model

About this product: this reissue is the Indie Stores Exclusive pressing on orange vinyl. Includes an Obi strip.