-- Kyuss - Welcome to Sky Valley | (Audio CD) MSRP $ 11.98 Amazon Price $ 10.99 Savings $ 0.99 | |  Release Date: 22 June, 2006, Elektra / Wea
TRACK LISTING - Gardenia
- Asteroid
- Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop
- 100 (Degrees)
- Space Cadet
- Demon Cleaner
- Odyssey
- Conan Troutman
- No
- Whitewater
Usually ships in 24 hours | | | Enjoy your stay. | Ok, it`s official. This is the best Kyuss album. No doubt about it. Josh Homme`s low-tuned riffage, Scott Reeder`s Geezer-ish bass lines and fills, Brant Bjork`s energetic drumming, and the stoned voice of John Garcia all combine into one energetic groove of an album.
From the opening notes of "Gardenia," this album grabs you and never lets go. There are different atmospheres throughout the whole cd. With songs like "Supa Scoopa" and "Whitewater," the feel is agressive, yet mellow too. Other songs like "Space Cadet" feels like a calm wind blowing by. Other tracks like "Conan Troutman" and "100o" are pure agression. Yet there is a cohesive flow to the whole record.
While some people might complain about the album being tacked onto 3 tracks, I love it. I think that each part has a powerful beginning, a cool middle, and an explosive ending. It works on that behalf.
So, if you`re interested in entering the world of Kyuss, get this album, or their other masterpiece, Blues For The Red Sun. You can`t lose. | | | | AN ABSOLUTE CLASSIC FOR THE GENRE | Kyuss are the pioneers of "stoner rock", and this recording not only represents the pinnacle of accomplishment for Kyuss, but for the whole somewhat obscure, certainly unappreciated, and ill-named genre. However, personally I would not purely categorize Kyuss as stoner rock, and Welcome to Sky Valley is just great rock, period.
I would describe this album as down-tuned guitar distorted thick and sticky molten hot groove riff-laden badassness! If you listen to this CD and don`t get how good it is do yourself a favor and listen to it a few more times, it grows on you quick, and as is recommended in the CD booklet listen without distraction.
One blow till I`ll take ya` down, I`ll take ya` down
One smoke and your head spins around and around
Chrome mags, a million drags, and never lags
An ol` transport queen momma you`ve never seen
Hear the purrin` motor, and she`s a burnin` fuel | | | | Listen Without Distraction | On the inside of the CD jacket there is a quiet suggestion that says something to the effect of "listen without distraction". When I first heard this album nearly ten years ago, I sat down to give it a try, and as "Gardenia" began to build I found myself slipping away into a familiar state of ultra peaceful contentedness that I rarely get with albums anymore. Even though I had never heard this album before that moment, it felt like I had been listening for years.
"Welcome to Sky Valley" is a 1994 release from Kyuss, a united effort by John Garcia (later singer for Slo Burn and Unida), Josh Homme (yes, QOTSA Josh Homme), Nick Oliveri (also in QOTSA) and Brant Bjork. Kyuss is raw in a simple (and beautiful) way. Many bands have a distinguishing characteristic that separates them from others, usually a single item that makes them stand out. *Everything* about Kyuss stands out. They are (were) a raw, rockin, metal, jamming kind of band that blends many styles seamlessly into something new. Gardenia, for instance, breaks out into a 2+ minute jam where Josh Homme overlays two tracks of wah with his guitar, one to keep rythm, the other to harmonize. With judicious use of his ride cymbals, Bjork keeps a continuous thread of heavy drumming which weaves it all together.
One thing that stands out about Kyuss is the low, gritty, gain-all-the-way-up-on-a-tube-amp sound of Josh Homme`s guitar. "Welcome to Sky Valley" is a bit more refined than the powerful "Blues for the Red Sun", but the often drop-D tuned melody is still there, a modern shadow of Black Sabbath, except better (?). A bold claim, I know... but possibly true. Rumor has it that Homme played his guitar through a bass amp to get that sound. I learned guitar while alternating between Zeppelin and Kyuss, and one thing I picked up fast was Homme`s technique of using the low octaves of the key to add space to the sound. Playing "E" in the seventh fret while resonating the open "E" on the low string adds much more to the chord than simply playing an "E" chord in the second fret, and this simple techinque is the basis for much of Kyuss` sound.
Throwing Kyuss into the CD player never disappoints. I especially enjoy it while driving (fast). | | |
-- zzzz
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