JOHN GARCIA: Self-Titled Album
People either love or hate John Garcia’s voice. I have no evidence to base this on, but I
always suspected that Josh Homme broke from Kyuss and formed Queens of the
Stone Age because he felt that John’s voice was limiting. Some great singers have impressive
multi-octave ranges (Rob Halford, Freddie Mercury, Geoff Tate*) but there are plenty
of examples of singers with limited tonal quality or vocal range that are still great singers
(Brian Johnson, Ozzy Osbourne, Chris Cornell).
I would argue that Unida, Hermano and Vista Chino all made excellent use
of what John brings to the table. The
way they recorded him really capitalized on his voice far more creatively than either Kyuss or Slo-Burn had. Love or hate
John’s voice however, I think it is hard to argue with the fact that John has
always surrounded himself with top-notch rock musicians. Take any track from any album John has
recorded on and you will find a well-written tune with a raunchy, honest hard-rock
sound. John is not the feature component
in any of these bands, but rather an appropriate complement to an all-around
talented band. John’s solo album is no
different, featuring guest appearances from Danko Jones, Tom Brayton, Marc
Diamond, Nick Oliveri and to top it all off, the Doors’ Robbie Krieger (John
was also the first artist to record in Robbie’s new studio, “Horse Latitudes” in LA). The album is impressively cohesive
considering the range of influences it contains. Some of my early favorites are “My Mind”,
“Rolling Stoned” (a Black Mastiff cover), “The Blvd”, “Saddleback” and “All
These Walls”. This is a high-quality
album cover to cover, with a good dose of diversity without being scattered. Over an impressive time period now, John
Garcia keeps resurfacing to give us great stoner rock. Check out the official video for the album’s
first track, “My Mind.” -Ultra
(*for Grownman)
John Garcia:
Love it man, you know how hardcore of a Kyuss fan I am. SWEET. I gotta get my hands on this.
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