Already extracting acclaim from music critics, on November 17th the super group “TCV” will be dropping the sky on the heads of rock music lovers everyplace. Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Probot), vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss, Eagles of Death Metal) and bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin, Diamanda Galas, Butthole Surfers) conspire to produce an album that’s not your standard bland détente but rather for something a bit more out there.
For over a year now, the rumors of jam sessions between the self-appointed “bros” Grohl and Homme, as well as former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, have progressed from the category of incongruous rumor to striking reality. When the trio took to the stage on August 9, at the Lollapalooza after-show in Chicago it caused a wildfire of bootlegs through YouTube and torrents alike. The band has obvoiouly been held in comparison to the members previous projects. From the red and black cover art to the interlock between distorted bass and Grohl’s drumming, the trio can come off a bit like the Queens of the Stone Age’s sick cousin. But the arrangements embody something that’s been missing in rock music: placement. Each member of this “Super Group” is precisely where they should be, offering their best side to each others’ talents in a mesh of classic rock and modern tact.
For over a year now, the rumors of jam sessions between the self-appointed “bros” Grohl and Homme, as well as former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, have progressed from the category of incongruous rumor to striking reality. When the trio took to the stage on August 9, at the Lollapalooza after-show in Chicago it caused a wildfire of bootlegs through YouTube and torrents alike. The band has obvoiouly been held in comparison to the members previous projects. From the red and black cover art to the interlock between distorted bass and Grohl’s drumming, the trio can come off a bit like the Queens of the Stone Age’s sick cousin. But the arrangements embody something that’s been missing in rock music: placement. Each member of this “Super Group” is precisely where they should be, offering their best side to each others’ talents in a mesh of classic rock and modern tact.
All three heavy-hitters have spent years indulging impulses for the subtlety, strange and examples of this are laced throughout the album. “Elephants” runs the listener through a sonic gauntlet, forcing slow stomp rock into jerky ghost beats, only to deposit you to a psychedelic pondering what exactly just happened. “Scumbag Blues” with its driving beat, and descending scale utterly reeks of Lead Zeppelin drive and Cream vocals upon opening but less than a minute in the unapologetic, sweaty, self-satisfying rock music takes a fragrance like unlaundered underwear and carries the musty funk of decades of guitar smashing, over driven outsider fusion to its logical conclusion. Josh Homme delivers something not routinely heard in modern rock music; Sensuality. There’s a wit, and style mixed with shockingly naked statements in the vocal delivery, almost like he recorded from the patient couch. In “Dead End Friends”, he proclaims “I follow the road at night just hoping to find, which puzzle piece fell out of me.” over slick, dirty, guitars and Jones’ insistent bass. “Gunman” mixes driving verses with ethereal choruses all while showcasing Grohl’s panache for ghost beats, and hesitant start-stops making the listeners head bob involuntarily from side to side. Jones’ evens out this trio’s recording, adding touches of texture with slide guitar on the wickedly cheeky “Reptiles” and the classic piano on the closer “Spinning in Daffodils”.
“Warsaw or the First Breath You Take After You Give Up” server up raw and dirty, then builds in ostentation with carnival organ and backing choir, only to race off with Jones’ bass and Grohl’s drums running after Homme’s guitar. The bands crest “Making the possible, totally impossible” is best served with the follow up: “For anybody else to follow” and once it’s over, you can’t wait to start it all over again. This stomping, panting, sweaty monster of rock is truly a fantastic, unforgettable, listen.
