Pitchfork

This might look like Just Another Live Album (complete with ugly cover art), but don't think the Queens of the Stone Age are just mailing it in with this release. What at first seems to be nothing more than a contractual obligation thing is actually an embarrassment of riches. In addition to the 20-track concert film featuring the latest incarnation of the Queens performing at the Brixton Academy in London, there is bonus footage of various band configurations and a 14-track live CD culled from the London show featuring tracks that aren't on the DVD. Not content with just giving folks straight-up concert footage (complete with hi-tech A/V jazzhanding-- more split-screen!), the Queens opt to have director Chapman Baehler interweave shots of the band frolicking around Europe (with and without animal masks), as well as some old studio and live footage.

The film's intro-- Josh Homme on a poorly lit cobblestoned street, playing "This Lullaby" on acoustic guitar, with various archival Queens footage interspersed throughout-- is the high point of the non-concert footage. Unless, that is, you're fond of WTF skits involving a guy in a wolf mask being harassed by drunk British yobs, or grainy black'n'white clips of the Queens frolicking in Europe. Instead, give me more of Homme on stage calling a pissant heckler a cocksmoker, please. The archival footage is great as well, although the trips down memory lane can be distracting. Hearing the current Queens charge through "Song For the Deaf" and "No One Knows" is great, but cross-cutting that with footage of Dave Grohl doing damage (on the former) and Nick Oliveri dropping down low (on the latter) doesn't do right by Homme's current posse.

For those of you still sighing for what once was, there's also the bonus material, a handful of live tracks from each Queens lineup. First album-era Queens is represented by grainy footage of the group performing "Mexicola" and "The Bronze" at an outdoor festival. The Rated R Queens get three tracks-- "Autopilot", "Better Living Through Chemistry", and "How To Handle a Rope". The Queens that MTV learned to love receive a whopping five full tracks: four from Songs For The Deaf, and "Quick and to the Pointless" from the previous album. Finally, nu-Queens fans get to watch ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons join in on a Mark Lanegan-lead cover of the Top's "Precious and Grace", as well as some wicked "Burn the Witch" solo action. It's all great stuff, despite the dodgy quality of the audio and video.

Oh, and the actual reason this thing exists-- the Brixton Academy concert footage-- is great as well. There are some speed bumps-- "Feel Good Hit of the Summer" hits more like the novelty its naysayers claim it is, and some of the longer tracks from Lullabies to Paralyze live up to the name of their originating album in the worst way possible. Don't mind the guitar/drum solos/piss breaks, either. Those duff moments are easily offset by the rest of the set. In addition to hitting all the high points of the Queens catalog, this set includes some Desert Session cuts (like the fuck-friendly "I Wanna Make It Wit Chu") and the previously unreleased "The Fun Machine Took a Shit and Died", a long and winding circus jalopy that would've been a welcome addition to Lullabies. As an extra special secret bonus, there's a performance of "First It Giveth" by Homme & Oliveri hidden after the credits that tugs at the We Want Nick heartstrings. But that was then, this is now, those Queens are dead, long live these Queens, blah blah blah. As a tribute to what once was, and a testimonial to what now exists, Over The Years is the good stuff.

 

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