''Them Crooked Vultures'' is the debut
studio album by American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
supergroup Them Crooked Vultures
Them Crooked Vultures is an English-American alternative rock supergroup formed in Los Angeles in 2009 by Josh Homme (of Queens of the Stone Age and Kyuss) on lead vocals and guitar, John Paul Jones (of Led Zeppelin) on bass and keyboards, and ...
. It was released on November 13, 2009. The first single from the album, "
New Fang", was released on October 26, 2009, followed by "
Mind Eraser, No Chaser" on November 3. The album debuted at number 12 on the
''Billboard'' 200, selling 70,000 units in the US in its first week.
Release history
The first single from the album, "
New Fang", was released on October 26, 2009.
[ ] On November 3, 2009, they released their second single, via free download on iTunes, entitled "
Mind Eraser, No Chaser".
The album was first released on November 13, 2009, in Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Australia. It was then released by
DGC/
Interscope in the United States on November 17, 2009;
it was released in the United Kingdom by
Columbia a day earlier.
Prior to release, the album could be viewed on the band's
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
channel.
The song "Scumbag Blues" was released as a playable track on the 2010 video games ''
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock'' and ''
Gran Turismo 5
is a 2010 racing video game developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was released for the PlayStation 3 on November 24, 2010 in Europe and North America, and November 25, 2010 in Japan and Australasia, and ...
'', while "Dead End Friends" is playable in ''
Rock Band 3
''Rock Band 3'' is a 2010 music video game developed by Harmonix. The game was initially published and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts, respectively, in late October 2010. Mad Catz took over both roles and re-released the title on N ...
'' and featured in ''
Skate 3
''Skate 3'' is a skateboarding video game, the third installment in the ''Skate'' series and the sequel to 2009's '' Skate 2'', developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts. It was released worldwide in May 2010 for PlayStation 3 a ...
''.
Reception
The album received a Metascore of 75 from review aggregator
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, based on 23 critics, indicating generally favorable reviews.
Rhapsody
Rhapsody may refer to:
* A work of epic poetry, or part of one, that is suitable for recitation at one time
** Rhapsode, a classical Greek professional performer of epic poetry
Computer software
* Rhapsody (online music service), an online m ...
deemed it the 19th best album of 2009.
The 25 Best Albums of 2009
Referenced July 31, 2010 ''Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...
'' reviewer Greg Kot
Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...
was particularly complimentary of the album, giving it a rating of 3.5/4, he said "Nasty riffs and sticky melodies are everywhere". He also praised multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency.
Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where ...
John Paul Jones
John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites ( ...
, saying his "mastery of texture, whether on funky Clavinet for 'Scumbag Blues,' classical piano on 'Spinning in Daffodils' or slide guitar for 'Reptiles,' is the band's secret weapon".The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
s Steven Hyden said the group's album "doesn’t equal the considerable awesomeness of its ancestors (the aforementioned Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...
, Nirvana
( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
and Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout mul ...
); it sounds like a second-tier Queens Of The Stone Age record", and that it "could have fit comfortably under Homme’s usual banner". He did however, commend it for being "a hell of a lot of fun" and awarded it a B+, adding "The biggest pleasure of ''Them Crooked Vultures'' is hearing three supremely gifted players fall together quickly and easily on songs built on simple riffs that sound like they were made up on a lark five minutes earlier."David Quantick
David Quantick (born 14 May 1961) is an English novelist, comedy writer and critic, who has worked as a journalist and screenwriter. A former freelance writer for the music magazine '' NME'', his writing credits have included ''On the Hour'', '' ...
of BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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...
gave the album a highly favorable review saying "Their debut album is very good indeed. Released, rather oddly, at virtually the same time as
-esque touches. From 'Scumbag Blues', which could have fitted loudly on the second Zep’ album, to the superb single 'No One Loves Me & Neither Do I', which is a distant cousin to '