by Jonathan Sexton. Ahhh. The “supergroup.” A term for music groups formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields.

I remember when the guys from Rage Against The Machine teamed up with Chris Cornell of Soundgarden to create Audioslave. I thought this band had great songs, which is really what matters in the end, and even though I wasn’t really a Chris Cornell fan (and I’m still not), I think it worked. I would give them a “B+”. If I had to choose between and Rage  Against The Machine album and an Audioslave album, I would pick the RATM 100 out 100 times. Such is the crux of the matter with supergroups (more to come on this).

 Another notable supergroup was Oysterhead, which consisted of Trey Anastasio (Phish), Les Claypool (Primus), and Stewart Copeland (The Police). I remember being so super pumped about this because I loved Phish and The Police. Many would wager their life that Anastasio is the greatest guitarist alive, and the same goes for Claypool and Copeland, however I remember being sorely disappointed when (important life lesson alert) when the reality of  situation didn’t live up to the idea. In fact remember listening to just a few songs and thinking “man this sounds like Les Claypool jamming with Trey Anastastio, and a great drummer, imagine that.” Sorry guys: “D”.

Before I move on to the world’s newest supergroup- Them Crooked Vultures, there is one more to mention: Velvet Revolver. Now this is when Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots) joined forces with Slash and Duff (Guns N Roses). This supergroup lived up to the hype in almost everyway; drug abuse, ugly break-ups, legal disputes, and a most importantly a couple of really good songs.

I always loved both of these bands and I still pop this album in every now and then when I’m wanting to rock out. Thanks VR because you have come closest to living up to the hype on and off the stage, and because I love Slash and still think he got the raw end of the deal via Axel Rose, I’m going to give out my only supergroup “A”. Even though I still like all of their original bands better.

Them Crooked Vultures: bassist and keyboardist John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), drummer Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana) and vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal.) formed in 2009. This album offers a lot of technical variety, and it’s clear they aren’t trying to write three minute pop songs.

My favorite track, “Elephants”, is an experimental epic type of jam that could easily be broken into two or three songs. Although Homme’s guitar playing isn’t what I would call super sophisticated, his guitar sounds different on almost every track. This is a particular highlight of the album when “Scumbag Blues” kicks in. He sounds as if stole the guitar out of the hands of Vernon Reid (Living Color) right before he was about to rip into the opening riff of “Cult of Personality”, and ran over to Jack White’s house to write the rest of the song. As far as the influences I hear in this album, there is a lot variety. However, my father said it best: “It’s almost like a modern classic rock album, the new guys playing the old stuff.”

“Bandoliers” starts off like it could have been on Pearl Jam’s newest effort “Backspacer” for the first minute or so and then some sort of hybrid Stone Temple Pilots/Alice in Chains chorus kicks in with a pretty good hook, definitely a fun track.  “Reptiles” is the next track and I think the go-to track on the album. It just sounds different than the rest of the album, the intro guitar riff sounds like some sort of alien language, and Homme’s vocals almost take on a middle-easternesque quality that is rare in rock n roll.

“Interlude with Ludes” really compliments the rest of the album cause it is not a super rocking hard tune, it’s more like a psychedelic lounge song or something. One more notable track is “Warsaw etc.” with it’s White Stripes meets David Bowie sound and some really excellent Abba-esque background vocal production.

So the litmus test: If I didn’t know who was in this band would I like it? On first listen, no. However it is growing on me.

I just don’t really have an affinity for Homme’s voice. I guess that’s why I never liked Queen of the Stone Age either. To his credit, he is very “chameleon-y” He sounds like a different person on every song, sometimes I think he sounds like Scott Weiland (who I love) and other times I think he sounds like Lane Staley from Alice in Chains (who I never loved). I’m not real sold on the songwriting either. It is structurally sound, its great musicianship, but I haven’t found that song that I want to hear over and over again.

Even so, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones are killer. I love how they lock up. It’s easy to forget what a ridiculously amazing drummer Dave Grohl is, in fact I think he has improved dramatically since Nirvana, and John Paul Jones plays almost as many instruments as Prince. It is also important to note that every time I here Dave Grohl’s voice come in the background, the song improves. If it were up to me, He would be singing. But if that were the case, wouldn’t you rather just listen to the Foo Fighters? Or Zeppelin?

I think this album is neat, well-produced (by themselves), creative,  full of variety,  and dynamic; given the choice- I’d rather listen to the original bands (of course for Homme it would mean Eagles of Death Metal because that’s the only band of his that I like).

Such is the crux of the supergroup, rarely can the reality of the situation live up to hype, but the Them Crooked Vultures debut album does come close.

Jonathan Sexton is an avid music lover, longtime member of the Knoxville music scene, and Seymour High School class of 1999 graduate. He is the lead singer and founder of his own band Jonathan Sexton and the Big Love Choir, which can be found at www.jsblc.com. Sexton can be reached at Booking@jsblc.com

Reviews by Jonathan Sexton are sponsored by The Disc Exchange, Knoxville.