Album Review: Eagles of Death Metal's new covers record

Eagles of Death Metal, the garage dance-rock side project helmed by Jesse “Boots Electric” Hughes and Josh Homme of Queens of theStone Age have been burning up dance floors for over 15 years now, and after a four-year break, have returned with an album of cover songs, a rock tradition of its own for many years. While some may see a release of this kind as a space-filler between proper albums, it’s actually more of a vanity project for Hughes who performs the entire album on his own or with members of recent live line ups of the band, which often does not include Homme. Aside from the childishly drawn album artwork, Homme appears nowhere on this new release, which leaves the album feeling less produced and less engaging than it should.

Start with the title of the record: Eagles of Death Metal Presents Boots Electric Performing the Best Songs We Never Wrote. It’s notable that the EODM name would be used when exactly one half of that band (Homme) does not play on it. Hughes had little success with solo releases under his own name over the past decade or so, and it seems the title of the album is a clever way to make it both a solo album for him and part of the EODM catalog simultaneously. Certainly, the production style, overall tones, and themes remain consistent here as most of these cover songs fit right in with EODM’s excellent, original material, but they’ll probably feel better shuffled into the live set rather than being collected on the side as this album does.

Half of the tracks feature Hughes completely on his own, multi-tracking himself on vocals, guitars, and performing along with a drum machine or computer, which leaves a fair number of songs sounding like unfinished demo recordings that haven’t yet been cut with the band, proper. Some of these, including a medley of AC/DC’s “High Voltage” and “It’s a Long Way to the Top” and Ramones’ “Beat on the Brat” were previously released as bonus material on import versions of other EODM albums, and while both tracks sound good, they are lacking the punch of “official master takes” that make up their other records. Covers of “So Alive”, by Love and Rockets, and “Abracadabra”, by Steve Miller Band, work well but also lack the fully realized sound of a professionally produced recording.

Most of the other songs were recorded with players Hughes has collaborated with in recent years on tour and in the studio and include “God of Thunder” by Kiss, “Careless Whisper” by George Michael, and “Trouble” by Cat Stevens. Ironically, while those songs sound better produced and more complete, they are the less interesting covers compared to the others that sound like unfinished demos. The best of the recordings that sound more complete is “Just Dropped In (to See What Condition My Condition Is In)”, originally by Kenny Rogers & The First Edition, which rocks and rolls in all the right places. The George Michael song is well produced but the changes in arrangement might turn off fans of the original recording. Strangest of all is the inclusion of Mary J. Blige’s “Family Affair”, a 90’s R&B classic co-written by Dr. Dre, which comes across as a joke at first, then seems like kind of a bad idea, and then becomes funny again. It includes most of the notable elements of the original version, including Hughes singing from Blige’s perspective and referring to “Mary” in the third person twice. It's either the best or worst thing on the album.

The two tracks that stand out for reasons other than their quality or performance include David Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream”, recorded in an antique, Voice-O-Graph recording booth during a tour stop at Third Man Records in Nashville a few years ago and a cover of Guns N’ Roses’ “It’s So Easy”, not to be confused with the EODM original of the same name from their 2004 debut LP. The sound quality on the Bowie cover is very poor, owing to the unique recording experience with antique equipment. The G’N’R cover is comically notable because of EODM’s history of having opened for one of Axl Rose’s alternate modern versions of the group, only to be kicked off the tour by Rose after just two shows due to poor audience reception. He famously dubbed them, “The Pigeons of Shit Metal”, which EODM printed on a t-shirt that is still for sale on their website. In spite of that tough history, the cover version of “It’s So Easy”, originally from Appetite for Destruction, doesn’t come across as particularly disrespectful, though it is certainly arranged more in the style of an EODM song, which is probably just as offensive to Rose anyway.

Overall, Eagles of Death Metal Presents Boots Electric Performing the Best Songs We Never Wrote is an enjoyable enough album that fits in well with the band’s other records, but it doesn’t contain the same level of charm and engagement as their other releases. The band’s four albums of original material are far stronger, and for someone new to EODM, this collection of cover tunes can wait.

Editorial Review: Beastie Boys Book

(by Michael Diamond & Adam Horovitz/ Spiegel & Grau/ 575 pages)

The Beastie Boys Book arguably shouldn’t exist.  Late in the anthology of colorful essays, monologs, photographs, and creative showcasing of memorable moments from the lives and career of the legendary group, co-author Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) explains their last album was only their last because Adam Yauch (MCA) got sick (with cancer), and that otherwise, they’d still be writing, recording, and performing.  Instead, the surviving core members put together a book to reflect and reminisce with one another and to share select stories with their many fans. While Yauch’s voice is noticeably absent from the book itself, his spirit fills nearly every section and story. Along with Michael Diamond (Mike D), Yauch founded the band in New York City in 1981 after groups of mutual acquaintances met at a Bad Brains show. The book opens and closes with specific tributes to Yauch and recognition that without his unique, unpredictable, and often motivational words and actions, the group would have never even recorded much less performed, got signed, became famous, and eventually had the opportunity to do essentially anything they wanted to do artistically, musically, and even to have some amount of social impact regarding issues about which they felt passionate. Beastie Boys Book is an intimate and often hilarious look into their experiences from their own eyes and often with a bit of perspective wisdom.

To say Diamond and Horovitz are not writers in the professional sense is beside the point. Their voice is the same in conversation as it is in their songs, and the short stories, reflective essays, and detailed geek-outs that fill the book make it something for readers with short attention spans and something that can be enjoyed by those interested in a certain time and place in culture and recent American history as much as it is a revelation for fans. The first sections that discuss the early days of hardcore punk and hip hop in New York would be engaging to music historians and cultural documentarians whether those individuals enjoy Beastie Boys’ music or not. Discussions of the bands who influenced each member of the group, and their circles of friends, eventually takes up nearly 20% of the book, and they are a music nerd’s dream. Horovitz’s descriptions of the high esteem in which he and his friends held home-made cassette mix tapes paints a romanticized but wistful picture of early ‘80s life that millennial (and younger) readers can only learn about second-hand. Stories of the band attending concerts by The Clash, Black Flag, and many others explain how the group started as something very different compared to how they eventually became known and slowly (if not awkwardly) evolved into the hit-making headliners they became in the early 1990s.

Stories about writing their first songs, making their first recordings, and performing for the first time give way to dramatic tales of replacing and dropping early members of the group, especially as the others became progressively interested in hip hop music and culture and befriended producer, DJ, and co-founder of Def Jam Records, Rick Rubin. This led to friendships with Russell Simmons, Run-D.M.C., LL Cool J, and to their own recording contact with the label, which released the Beasties’ debut LP, Licensed to Ill, in 1986.  Stories of the writing, recording, release, touring, and promotion for that album take up a large chunk of the early to middle section of the book with anecdotes about random events and unforgettable situations that became part of their daily lives. Subsequent album eras are also covered, but in fewer pages and with less detail. The section about their less-successful second LP, 1989’s Paul’sBoutique, focuses more on the fun they had living and working in Los Angeles than it does on the songs themselves, though the stories are equally funny and engaging.

Within the book itself are several other short pieces or cutaways to other types of writing and storytelling, sometimes by guests who contribute a few pages in their own words. A story about a memorable tour stop in 1987 is told in the form of a graphic novel. Actress/comedienne Amy Poehler  reviews the group’s music videos (editorializing in the first person), celebrity chef, Roy Choi, steps in with a short cook book of dishes inspired by The Beasties and their songs, and Andre Leon Talley provides a retrospective (and critique) of the group’s fashion over the years. While this may seem strange at first, these choices perfectly reflect their music and style. Beastie Boys Book is almost like one of their albums, changing topics, tones, and tempos every few minutes (most “chapters” are short stories of 1-4 pages each, compared to a 3-5 minute song on a record), and with the inclusion of guest authors and creative sections between tons of photos and stories from Ad-Rock and Mike D, even the heavy variety of influences and styles present on most Beastie Boys albums becomes a big part of the presentation throughout the book. Enjoy it all at once, in smaller segments, or even one story or song at a time.

Beastie Boys Book will be best for the group’s biggest fans, but there is enough variety, comedy, and history throughout that even non-fans could enjoy it a great deal. Considering the amount of time Beastie Boys wrote, recorded, and performed, it’s clear the book probably could have been twice as long, or that a second volume could someday be published, but the pacing keeps the book engaging, especially when read 1-2 stories or anecdotes at a time.