DJ Soviet Panda: Favorite Albums of the Decade

My top five Queens of the Stone Age albums from the 2000s:

#5) Over the Years and Through the Woods (2005): Seeing Queens of the Stone Age live is generally better than listening to their albums, usually because any dud songs can be cut from a setlist. Unfortunately, the 2005 London shows that make up this album heavily feature songs from Lullabies to Paralyze (and virtually nothing from the following Era Vulgaris), and don’t fully translate the experience of seeing Queens in person. Thankfully, some of these versions, in particular “Regular John,” give a worthwhile insight into the way Queens rework their songs live, twisting riffs in and out of time, with new build-ups and breakdowns, like a DJ set. And while the line-up here may not include Dave Grohl, Mark Lannegan, or Nick Oliveri, it does feature the frequently over-looked talents of guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen and drummer Joey Castillo. [Purchase]

#4) Lullabies to Paralyze (2005): Lullabies was Queens’ first release after band leader Josh Homme kicked out Nick Oliveri, the band’s bassist, part-time vocalist, and until that point, only other full-time member. Some expected the album to be much softer in tone as a result, and while some of the band’s harder metal flashes and sicker bouts of humor are missing, it doesn’t sound all that different. Nevertheless, Homme unfortunately seemed to compensate by going overboard with one of his usual production gimmicks, the creepy background oooh’s and aaaah’s. In fact, I think the concept behind this album is “more ghost vocals.” A lot of the songs here just don’t hold up to repeat listens, including the jam out with one of the ZZ Top dudes, “Burn the Witch.” There is still some great standard Queens stuff here though, especially the woodblock-driven lead single, “Little Sister.” [Purchase]

#3) Songs for the Deaf (2002): Songs for the Deaf was the band’s breakthrough album, and is considered by many to be their best. Leading up to its release, reviewers were sincerely hailing it as the best rock album of the decade, in spite of the “rock revivialism” popularized by the White Stripes and the Strokes at the time. Needless to say, it’s not the best rock album of the decade. Nevermind the forced album concept of flipping through radio stations—what really gets old is the hyper-compressed, volume-constant production. Outside of those qualms, the album is excellent, with relentless, gigantic songs, backed by Dave Grohl’s enormous kick drum. It’s just not my favorite. [Purchase]

#2) Rated R (2000): Rated R, the band’s second album, found the Queens transitioning from the heavy drone of their first album into the more accessible rock sounds that would follow. As such, it gives off a kind of experimental vibe, as sounds shift between heavy pop, screaming metal, hazy psychedlcs, coked-up glam, and other touchstones. Thanks to Homme’s oversight, it all coalesces into a really fantastic listen. Plus “The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret” should’ve been much bigger than “No One Knows.” [Purchase]

#1) Era Vulgaris (2007): Queens of the Stone Age have been active during the entire decade, driven by Josh Homme, who, perhaps unsurprisingly, mainly works within a few of his own well-worn song-writing formulas. QOTSA albums all follow similar ebbs and flows, showcasing a number of signature Homme riffs, flourishes, scales, solos, and the like, alternately giving in to and subverting those expectations. What ultimately differentiates the albums, besides a quantifiable amount of track sucesses and failures, is the overarching theme or tone that eventually seeps through the production and song-writing. Era Vulgaris is a bright, sickly neon pink. It’s robotic, growling, druggy but not dazed, and serves as Homme’s lackidasically viscious skewering of this decade’s pursuit of willfull desensitization and information overload. It has some of the band’s least memorable songs, but also conatins most of their best: the brutally precise “Misfit Love,” the burning “3′s and 7′s,” and “Sick, Sick, Sick,” Queens’ best single, and their most singular execution of their entire concept. When it comes down to it, it’s my favorite. (Also worth seeking out is the b-side cover of Brian Eno’s “Needles in the Camel’s Eye.”) [Purchase]

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Also: Rage Against The Machine, Queens of the Stone Age & the Coup @ Alpine Valley Music Theatre