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.