Queens Of The Stone Age Songs For The Deaf CD

"Go With The Flow" was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. "No One Knows" was nominated for the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance.

Chinese version contains a Pal format DVD, "Real Number 1", which features live footage recorded at the L.A. Troubadour with singer Mark Lanegan and drummer Dave Grohl. SONGS FOR THE DEAF includes the bonus tracks "The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret" (Live), "Everybody's Gonna Be Happy", and "Mosquito Song" (Hidden).

Chinese version contains the additional track "Everybody's Gonna Be Happy", as well as a bonus CD-ROM that features a video for "No One Knows" and visual footage of the video production process.

When one speaks of supergroups, alternative rock has seen its share of shining moments, from 1991's Temple Of The Dog to 1995's Mad Season. In 2002, the wheel spun around to Queens Of The Stone Age with SONGS FOR THE DEAF, their bid to save hard rock. While QOTSA founders Nick Oliveri and Josh Homme have often used a variety of players to round out their lineup, having Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) make his return to the drum throne is cause enough to stop the presses. If that weren't enough, add former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan and you've got all the ingredients for hard-rock greatness.

Classic rock fans may recall with fondness the car-radio opening from Kiss' DESTROYER, paid tribute on opening track "Millionare" (SONGS is strung together with a series of similar radio station interludes). The vibe is set with fierce impact; requisite Sabbath-like riffs and T. Rex-from-hell swagger are the weapons of choice. Grohl sounds quite at home behind the drums, leaving double-bass drummers scratching their heads with his single-kick mastery in "First It Giveth." Be it undeniable vocal harmony ("Another Love Song"), balls-out psychedelic rock ("Song For The Dead"), or moody alt-rock grooving ("The Sky Is Falling"), SONGS FOR THE DEAF makes a strong case for rock album of 2002.

Certain people would have you believe that Queens of the Stone Age's third album, Songs for the Deaf, is the return of real rock -- a bonecrushing work of boundless imagination, the cornerstone in a new era of great rock, much like Nevermind was a decade beforehand. These people, coincidentally, happen to be in the same group that criticizes the Strokes and the White Stripes, claiming that those two bands are nothing but hype, while shamelessly indulging in breathless hyperbole whenever they speak a single word about QOTSA. Anybody who heard Songs prior to its release claimed it was the greatest rock album in years, at least the greatest since Rated R, setting up expectations impossibly high for this very good album. To begin with, this ain't accessible -- not because the music is out-there or unfamiliar (lots of Cream filtered through garage rock, prog-metal, album rock, and punk does not make one a Borbetomagus, nor does it make it "imaginative," either), but because it is so insular, so concerned with pleasing themselves with what they play that they don't give a damn for the audience. This extends to the production, which sounds like a stoned joke gone awry as it compresses and flattens every instrument as if it were coming out of a cheap AM car radio. Sure, that might be the point -- the album begins with radio chatter, and there are lots

Features guest appearances from Dave Grohl, Gene Ween, Case Chaos from Amen and more.

Includes a bonus DVD disc.

Additional personnel includes: Dean Ween (guitar).

Recorded at The Site, San Rafael, California and Barefoot Studios, Hollywood, California.

Producers: Josh Homme, Eric Valentine, Adam Kasper.

DJs: Chris Goss; C-; Twiggy Ramirez; Blag Dahlia; Dave Catching; Casey Chaos.

Audio Mixers: Adam Kasper; Nick Raskulinecz.

Recording information: Conway Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA; Sound City Recording Studios, Hollywood, CA.

Photographer: Nigel Copp.

Unknown Contributor Roles: Dave Grohl; Mark Lanegan; NickRolling Stone (12/26/02, p.108) - Included in Rolling Stone's "50 Best Albums of 2002"
Rolling Stone (9/5/02, p.70) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...This is prog grunge for the unpretentious....Whether the ace metal is speedy or onerous, it is always deployed in the service of the eccentric song structures, and every track becomes a splendid, mysterious thing."
Spin (1/03, p.70) - Ranked #8 on Spin's list of 2002's "Albums of the Year" - "...A feast for metal lifers who [can] no longer stomach Korn."
Q (12/02, p.67) - Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 2002"
Q (9/02, p.104) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...This album mixes melancholy and might to a rare degree..."
Uncut (1/03, p.95) - Ranked #31 in Uncut's "100 Best Albums of the Year"
Uncut (9/02, p.104) - 5 stars out of 5 - "...(a) breathtaking, virtually flawless album."
CMJ (12/30/02, p.11) - Ranked #10 on CMJ's "Top 10 of 2002"
CMJ (9/2/02) - p.6) - "Queens of the Stone Age get better with age....QOTSA's music is a comfort zone, thanks to its readiness to rock all night and party every day..."
Kerrang (Magazine) (p.52) - "SFTD was a vision of dark-hued rock brilliance louder than a bomb."
Mojo (Publisher) (1/03, p.73) - Ranked #3 in Mojo's "Best Albums of 2002"
Mojo (Publisher) (9/02, p.95) - "All the elements which made its predecessor so great are here, but in excelsis...the thrill of these ensemble performances is downright scary."
NME (Magazine) (8/17/02, p.32) - 9 out of 10 - "...All of what you might want from them and their music is here. There are great titles, displays of extraordinary rock'n'roll and great disturbing pop..."