FDF Volume 1: Issue 59: Kyuss - ...and the circus leaves town

Album ...And the Circus Leaves Town
Artist - Kyuss
Key Players - John Garcia - vocals, Josh Homme -guitars and bkg vocals, Scott Reeder - bass, Alfredo Hernández - Drums
Produced By - Chris Goss


Release Date July 11, 1995


What caused me to blow off the dust? - Not even really sure what caused me to grab this. Going back and listening all over again each of the Kyuss cds have gotten fresh spins.

Overview - This was the final studio release from Southern California "stoner rock" band, Kyuss. The band would gain critical acclaim with each release and slowly gain a more mainstream audience. The band would have a revolving door of members for most of their existence.


FDF Comments (aka the songs) - "Hurricane" doesn't keep the listener in suspense long as to what their sound is about. Quick drum work on the kit followed by heavily distorted bass and guitars bring the track up. Garcia has a voice that meshes well with the songs. A flashy vocalist he is not, but that would not fit well with what is going on behind him in the band. Reeder shines on this track with some John Entwistle like bass riffs. "One Inch Man" (John Garcia/Scott Reeder) - 3:30 the closest thing to a "radio single" you'd hear from Kyuss. The bass riff on this track is a lot of fun, you may even find yourself singing just that part of the song. Homme unleashes a trade-mark riff as well on guitar. "Thee Ol' Boozeroony" is an instrumental track and Homme is in great form here. The band shows their chops at their respective instruments. The bass swoops with rock bottom authority really letting the crunchy guitar work pull to the front.. Personally a whole album like this would be great. . "Gloria Lewis" comes up with tom-tom drums and a swampy guitar. The sound hearkens of course from Black Sabbath but you can see where Soundgarden got and shared some it its sound. The vocal track will change speakers from time to time giving the listener a sense of imbalance. "Phototropic" fads slowly up with a mash of delay/chorus effect on the instrument. It has a haunting feel before the drums drop in to give it the back beat. The bass hits a nice groove carving its own place. The song almost remains and instrumental but the vocals come in over 2 minutes after the song as started. "El Rodeo" has Homme doing what feels like "noodling" on the guitar. After a few bars Reeder comes in on bass and sets a swooping groove down. Homme and Reeder do a little tag team and then Alfredo comes in. After a few bars the bands drops the hammer and the song just erupts. "Jumbo Blimp Jumbo" is the second instrumental on the album. The guitar almost sounds like Homme can't get the connections right but the bass comes in and the guitar snuggles underneath that and the drums. "Tangy Zizzle" opens up with what sounds a lot like and answering machine message. This song is very heavy when the band comes in. Its the classic Kyuss sounds of crunch meets fuzz meets metal. "Size Queen" is pretty slow for a Kyuss song. The song slowly churns along with very subtle and muffled vocals from Garcia before the band takes it down a level to bass rumbling sub bomb dropping level. This bass will shake your soul. It repeats the formula and the latter half of the track just freaking bashes you to bits. The track fades down and then right up to "Catamaran". This appears to be a light and airy song with less "heaviness" at the outset, but don't let that fool you it gets heavy all over again. The album closes with a 34 minute long track. The first song or part is called "Spaceship Landing" and would be the perfect album closer. It has all the elements of the great Kyuss sound and it could have ended here..but... this is followed by 22 minutes of silence. So if you are in a rush to hear the "last" track hold down the FF button to about 32:15 for "Day One". On the way to "day one" there is a few second "musical chant" of some sort that is hardly worth stopping for. Finally you are greeted with a booming bass riff. The vocals are very computerized as well as heavily processed but it has a cool sound. The song is just bass, guitar and vocals, it is a drum free track


Where are they now? Of all the members Josh Homme has had the most prolific and mainstream success. Josh went on to form
Queens of the Stone Age and they have just released their 5th album Era Vulgaris. John Garcia formed Slo Burn and since then has worked as a collaborator on some projects and is currently working on a solo record slated for a 2007 release. Scott Reeder formed Unida with Garcia but that lasted only one album. Reeder also auditioned to be the bassist for Metallica in 2002. He continues to write and record with his most recent effort being released in 2006. Alfredo played only on this Kyuss album and also played on Queens of the Stone Ages' debut. He continues to work as a session drummer.


FDF Personal Comments (aka the Live experience) - I'll be first to admit I was a late comer to Kyuss. I never saw the band live.



FDF Overall Take - The band took their name from a Dungeons and Dragons character so you'd imagine it to be dark, mysterious and well..a little geeky. The band is also is seen as one of the groundbreaking acts in the "stoner rock" genre (which most in the genre hate being called). The production is slick, there was some good experimentation on this record but it kept close to the Kyuss sound. It is a great record that has closed out their short, but very important, time together. The band is "supposedly" on just an extended hiatus and rumor has it there are dozens of unreleased tracks that could, one day, see the light of day.

Links
Stonerrock.com has a Kyuss page you can check out here


Curious? Check out some MUSIC!


******MP3's HAVE BEEN REMOVED August 2, 2007 5pm ET*************

Hurricane
Thee Ol' Boozeroony
El Rodeo

You can buy the cd here
or here


This weeks bonus download.

Kyuss
Circolo Delgi Artisti, Rome, Italy
February 21, 1995

not the best sounding show but gives you an idea of why they had a reputation as a great live band.

Also there is a scan of the front and back art for this cdhere. Resize do your thing..whatever.

This has been removed...

Disclaimer - For the most part songs listed you can find on iTunes or your local cd shop. The idea is to give you a little taste of the music. Please support the artist buy purchasing some of their work. Songs are posted for about 1 week but can and will be removed at the request of the artist, band, band management etc. If you are one of those persons contact me via the email link in the profile and they will be removed as soon as we are made aware of the request.