…Like Clockwork

Artist: Queens of the Stone Age
Label: Matador
Released: 2013
Runtime: 45:59
Rating: 4.5/5

Another genre-bending piece from the hands of the quasi-biblical Homme, or a desperate last-minute effort that slightly misfired? Judging by what I’ve heard, hard to say. …Like Clockwork comes with a bizarre common thread, a »star-studded« cast of performers and ear-splitting production. This time another one of the »gods« of the modern music scene (Dave Grohl) rode to the Messiah’s rescue, as did some older, quasi-Olympian figures (e.g. Elton John). Sure, once again we find innovative, mind-bending structures and sounds. Just like we could on Era Vulgaris. And on Lullabies to Paralyze. So is the innovation in the record, and our take on it, the result of combined forces, or merely of a reputation that by itself evokes the bizarre and so thins out the end product?

Going by the arrangements, no. The songs throw interesting twists at us that draw question marks around our heads, like: »how on earth did they come up with that?«. You can spot twists like that on I Sat by the Ocean and Keep Your Eyes Peeled. The stuff we get through those songs is tangibly concrete. Elsewhere, certain add-ons and tricks only get indifferent sighs out of us. The guest musicians, like Dave Grohl, have the biggest influence on that factor. Of course, the band has worked with him before, and we all remember the energy-charged Songs for the Deaf. You have to understand that that collaboration worked for its time. …Like Clockwork is a different kind of record. I Appear Missing or Fairweather Friends show the point of collaboration with the frontman of Foo Fighters best. Structures and arrangements we can hear in all the earlier collaborations. Trademark sound? Maybe, but it spills into an awkward clot of what could have been a beast of a song. Fairweather Friends is especially obvious about kicking into the dark like a child, with Elton John at the helm.

The real opposite are the songs that come out of the »core« collaboration. The heavyweight Keep Your Eyes Peeled literally pounds the speakers and the listener into the ground, that »stay right there and listen, move and I’ll grind you up« kind of feeling. The shift after the first chorus of I Sat by the Ocean works similarly: a break and then smooth grooving again. Alain Johannes’ ever-present fingerprints are clearly audible in the production, in the raw way the sonic material is delivered. Gems like these, scattered across the whole territory of the record, sprout up as you walk through the ten songs of …Like Clockwork. The record comes with details that few artists can recreate. At some points the details are deftly woven into the aforementioned bizarre common thread, which can be interpreted in a linear way. The songs carry notes of nostalgia that tug a little toward the band’s earlier periods. The nostalgia is most obvious in My God Is The Sun, a retrospective song that, together with the aforementioned Keep Your Eyes Peeled, draws parallels with the ideology of the first record, while stringing together elements of modern Queens of the Stone Age: polished details and twists in the arrangement of the songs (and the record). The songwriting works as a complement to all of the above.

The reason the record is so enigmatic lies in the songwriting; the hard times Homme was facing adorn every verse on the record. Listening to individual songs, …Like Clockwork paints a rather confusing picture. The real message is found by reading the lyrics as a whole. A whole in the sense of the songs’ linear progression, flowing into one single work; starting with decay and ending with unfinished catharsis. As a result, the record can be perceived from several angles: as a series of pictures, or as one single, eternally cyclical song.

The opening question can be answered in two parts. Bringing in so many guest musicians points to creative stagnation (looking at the period when the record was made) and an easy way out of a creative Bermuda Triangle. At the same time, the songwriting and the linear nature of the record bend our sense of genre logic and put the exploration of one’s own downfall front and center, rather than discontent with the modern world. The record is multilayered and quietly showcases the complexity of Queens of the Stone Age (not just Homme), a variable that keeps serving up something different every time.

Lineup

• Josh Homme-lead vocals, guitar, drums, slide guitar, percussion, bass guitar, production
• Troy Van Leeuwen-backing vocals, guitar, percussion, acoustic guitar
• Michael Schuman-backing vocals, bass guitar, cymbals, guitar, synthesizer, percussion
• Dean Fertita-keyboards, guitar, backing vocals, slide guitar

Additional contributors:

• Joey Castillo-drums and percussion
• Dave Grohl-drums and percussion
• Nick Oliveri-backing vocals
• Jon Theodore-drums and percussion
• Mark Lanegan-backing vocals
• Trent Reznor-lead vocals, percussion
• Jake Shears-lead vocals, percussion
• Alex Turner-backing vocals
• Elton John-backing vocals and piano
• Charlie May-piano
• Phillip Sheppard-strings and arrangements
• James Lavelle-arrangements and production

Production

Josh Homme, James Lavelle

Tracklist

1. Keep Your Eyes Peeled
2. I Sat By The Ocean
3. The Vampyre Of Time And Memory
4. If I Had A Tail
5. My God Is The Sun
6. Kalopsia
7. Fairweather Friends
8. Smooth Sailing
9. I Appear Missing
10. …Like Clockwork