Review Summary: Desert Night Fever
It was 1997 when Josh Homme and some partners in crime then called The Acquitted Felons (members of Monster Magnet, earthlings? and Soundgarden to name a few accomplices), set course for El Rancho de la Luna in the desertic lands of Joshua Tree National Park (California) for the first time. It was also soon after the demise of legendary stoner outfit Kyuss (although Nick Olivieri and Brant Bjork also took part in the early sessions of the infamous and aptly named by NME, “jamathons"). The idea was basically and essentially get ***faced and jam like frenzy maniacs from dusk until dawn, then rinse and repeat while recording everything that trasnpired in said remote location. The results had such an impact on Josh Homme that he decided to reprise the idea with several musicians and artists also touched and fathered by the spirits of the desert. Big names like Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees), PJ Harvey, Josh Freese (A Perfect Circle), Chris Goss (Masters of Reality) or Troy Van Leeuwen (QOTSA) were some of the folk that, at one point or another,made their presence felt and immortal in one or more of the volumes compiled as what later would become known and published under the name "The Desert Sessions".
Volumes 7 and 8, respectively called "Gypsy Marches” and "Can You See Under My Thumb? There You Are", constitute probably the most exotic of the sessions created by the collective, with some tracks making heavy use of unusual instruments like the mandolin, the tamboura (an Indian pluck string instrument with a long neck used to sustain and support other melodies) or the balalaika (a three string triangular shaped guitar from Russia). The introductory “Don’t Drink Poison” features all these tasty morsels of music over a droning beat and the ceremonial voices of Homme and co. singing in a rapturous mantra. The foreign affair soon gives way to more familiar sounds with the now classic bass line of “Hanging Tree”, a track that would be later released in Queens Of The Stone Age’s
Songs For The Deaf, although here is delivered beautifully by Mark Lanegan’s mournful voice. “Hanging Tree” is not the only track that would make it to a QOTSA album though, as it’s the case with the main riff of “Cold Sore Superstar”, which would later become QOTSA’s celebrated “No One Knows”. The furious drumming of Samantha Maloney (Hole, Motley Crue, Eagles Of Death Metal) leads both tracks in a pre-QOTSA fashion, outlining an early version of what years later would become one of the most successful rock bands in recent history.
But the Dessert Sessions not only served as a breeding ground for Homme’s hit factory band. Fourth track "Polly Wants a Crack Rock” would later be mutated into Eagles of Death Metal’s “I Only Want You”, but here is given life by the voice of the literally credited Nick “Meth McMasters” El Dordado, the Indian Waterfall Chopstick Tweeker Type Guitar of Masters of Reality’s Brendon "Mandolin Too Long” McNasty, the intense beating of engineer and studio co-founder Fred “Dollar Drink Night” Drake and Josh “Yeah? What?” Homme on piano duties. Speaking about nonsensical credits, the tone of these sessions is quite clear when reading through said titles or names like Natasha The Great, the Russian voice featured in "Nenada", and my all time favourite, the illustrious sax of Cole Jontrane . There is a joyous, relaxed and careless mood throughout these two volumes as clearly displayed in the two closing tracks “ Ending”, an 80s metal band grand finale parody and "Piano Bench Breaks” which I am sure it speaks for itself. There are moments of complete psychotropic delirium, hereby represented by interludes “Winners” or “Interpretive Reading”, late night borderline karaoke misbehaviour as in the hilarious ballad “Cavousier”, and even acoustic heartfelt little gems like “Making A Cross”.
But make no mistake, the playing is tight, their chemistry boils and simmers, and the production is outstanding. This is not an spontaneous assault to your old high school at night after a few drinks with your drunk old schoolmates just to stumble upon some old rusty guitars and cheap drum sets, no, this is a carefully planned plot of rock music and beyond by an impossible patrol of mastermind musicians with no label ties and with the time, means and freedom to do whatever they see fit, all under the watchful eye of Josh Homme and the final and legit seal of approval of the Californian desert.
