I Wanna Make It Wit Chu

Ever since the end times of the Palm Desert's metal behemoth Kyuss, I have been a fan of all that Josh Homme touches. The man has talent, and has the right friends with similar talent, there's no denying that.

Of course there's Kyuss, and Queens of the Stone Age, and the Eagles of Death Metal, but then there's the Desert Sessions. What a great fucking idea! Get a bunch of your friends together out in the middle of the desert with power generators and amps, and just jam. Maybe the results are just enough for a 10-inch EP, or maybe there's a full-length in there. I'd be willing to bet that there's enough unreleased Desert Sessions material to put out several more records even though they've already put out ten of them. Actually, I think I read something recently about another installment due out in the coming year.

I don't know where I was going with that, I just like the idea behind the Desert Sessions.

Anyhoo, I just got my hands on the latest from Mr. Homme. It's the Queens of the Stone Age live DVD/CD, "Over the Years, and Through the Woods."

One disc is fourteen songs spanning Desert Sessions and regular QOTSA albums (unfortunately no Kyuss covers) performed live in London. There isn't much new here as far as songs, although the songs were new to the concert-goers at the time. The sound is very clean, there's a minimum of crowd noise (thank fucking god, I hate that shit on a live album), and everything is tight. What's impressive is how the band is able to replicate a lot of studio guitar trickery onstage. There are a few things that are done differently because you can't do it all live, and it all works out really well. As a live album, this works, the average fan will probably have all of this music already, and the band is so tight that it's almost hard to believe it's live.

Somehow, I've managed to never see QOTSA live, so here was my chance. The live footage is intercut with shots of Homme playing an acoustic guitar by himself in some dark alley as well as shots of the band doing typical tour things. Like checking out the local scene or riding the tour bus or whatever. It's nothing groundbreaking, but it's enjoyable. I watched it all the way through and liked it.

Overall, worth it for the average fan, or the completist.

The other disc is a DVD of live footage put together in one cohesive performance. You can tell it's all the same tour, but I think it was shot on a couple of different nights.