Long Live the Queens

You know that out-of-print Queens of the Stone Age debut lp that you really wanted but either couldn’t find or couldn’t afford? Well, good news: it’s been remastered, reissued and expanded by three tracks. Here’s the official word on the release from Rekords Rekords, the label formed by Josh Homme:

Queens of the Stone Age – self-titled debut album

“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 QOTSA came into full bloom. If this re-issue doesn’t document “hour zero,” it’s only a few minutes past. “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 willful 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. QOTSA 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.

This Rekords Rekords re-issue, in conjunction with Domino, has been fully remastered from the original tapes and has been expanded by three tracks. “The Bronze” & “These Aren’t the Droids Your Looking For” (from the split EP from ‘98) and “Spiders and Vinegaroons” which was part of the posthumous Kyuss/QOTSA split EP.”

Iggy’s Kill City Remastered

by Raul

With the remaster of Iggy Pop’s Kill City due to be released on October 19th, I felt that we at Streetlight Records should give this album the credit it deserves. In my opinion Kill City is an under-appreciated piece of rock ‘n’ roll history. It segued Iggy from the Stooges’ Raw Power to his Bowie-produced solo LPs The Idiot and Lust For Life.

When the Stooges called it quits in ‘74, Iggy was battling drug addiction and depression. He checked into a mental institution to rehabilitate himself. Upon his release, a clear headed, sober Iggy hooked up with James Williamson—who played guitar on Raw Power and was rumored to have played a big part in the inner conflict that led to the demise of the Stooges—and the two began to work on demo tracks for the album that would become Kill City.

Though not the sonic in-your-face attack that was Raw Power, Kill City is a stand up rock ‘n’ roll record. Armed with a couple of Stooges left over tracks (“Johanna” and “I Got Nothing”) and a hand full of Stones-influenced tunes, this album delivers. It will please any rock ‘n’ roll fan looking for a good time.

The Bomp Records reissue of this sleeper is packed with informative liner notes and the LP is pressed on green vinyl like it was originally pressed. Come in and check it out. It will be in our listening post and we’ll be carrying both the CD and LP version.