The Desert Sessions - Vol V. Poetry for the Masses (Sea Shed Shithead by the Sea Sore) / Vol VI. Poetry for the Masses (Black Anvil Ego)

I started writing about this record last year when I wrote about Volumes 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 but completely forgot to finish it off. Volumes 5 & 6 are a strange bag of things, Vol 5 features a huge opener in the form of You Think I Ain't Worth..., full-on punk-rock on both I'm Dead and an early version of Punk Rock Caveman which found greater fame as a Queens song. But the problem with Vol 5 is that they ruin it with Letters To Mommy, a terrible joke song that doesn't even stand up to being a hidden track on the end of an album. Not only is it shit, it goes on far too long too. I get that they were probably high when they thought it'd be worth including but it just ruins the flow entirely. Goin' To a Hangin' is nothing to get excited about either.

Vol 6 similarly has its highs and lows; A#1 is just a classic stoner tune and Like a Drug might be my favourite across the whole series. It's smooth and unlike anything else - if all the experimental songs sounded like that I would be very happy. Rickshaw is quite fun too. But then there are songs like Take Me To Your Leader, which the series would be better without.

One of my complaints about this series of, admittedly slightly shitty, bootlegs/reissues is that the sleeves are paper thin. I've never seen an LP on such flimsy cardboard. However, my copy of Vol 5 & 6 has a further annoyance in the form of a large defect in the vinyl at the start of I'm Dead - it looks like a bit of something got caught in the pressing and has left a dent in a few grooves (see the picture below). It's a shame it had to be there, and not a few millimetres further out and ruined Letters To Mummy instead

If I had to sum up the six volumes of the Desert Sessions that I'm familiar with, I'd say that there is a lot of shit that could be culled easily but you'd then be left with one (long) album of incredible songs; the good songs are so good its a shame that they're surrounded by some really bad ones. The problem is, of course, that on vinyl it's not so easy to skip the bad songs (especially when you're already changing the record so often) so I basically don't listen to these records very often. It's a shame because there really are some great songs and I don't give them the time I should.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 10
Cost: £13 new
Bought: Spillers
When: 04/11/08
Colour: Blue
Etching: None
mp3s: no

The Desert Sessions - Vol III. Set Coordinates for the White Dwarf!!! / Vol IV. Hard Walls and Little Trips

When I first read about The Desert Sessions, one of things I got most excited about (beyond the ridiculous list of musicians) was the artwork for Vol. 3. I still love it. When I bought Vol. 1 & 2, I nearly bought 3 & 4 first just because of that artwork (but I also wanted to hear them in order). Even though it is slightly stretched over 12" rather than 10", it still looks incredible. If this were a legit copy I'd definitely have it in a frame.

Musically, this record did a lot more for me than Vol. 1 & 2. The first two records were stoned jams, but here they recorded actual songs. It's so easy to hear Queens of the Stone Age in these songs, not least because Avon and the great Monster in the Parasol made it onto the first two Queens records. Nova is a great song too. Some of the songs on Vol. 4 were already beginning to tend on the slightly stupid side.

The cover of Vol. 4 has a pen smudge on the top that was there when I bought it, which has always bothered me. Luckily, no one is ever really looking at that side of the record.

Format: 12", a4 insert
Tracks: 9
Cost: £13 new
Bought: Spillers Records
When: 04/11/08
Colour: Orange
Etching: none
mp3s: no

The Desert Sessions - Vol I. Instrumental Driving Music for Felons / Vol II. Status: Ships Commander Butchered

On a Tuesday in 2008, just over 7 years ago, I nearly crapped myself with excitement whilst in Spillers Records. I was flicking through the racks, as I did every Tuesday that year, and found copies of the first six Desert Sessions. I'd read about them before and Vol. 7 & 8 and Vol. 9 & 10 had been released on cd gathering a lot of attention (and had been on frequent rotation in my friends' cars). I knew the first six were originally all on 10" but I'd read somewhere about them being paired up on 12". Either way I was excited. I'd long been a Kyuss fan (but never that big on QOTSA) and was mostly just really keen to hear the music on there. A part of it was definitely the idea of hearing music that was considered quite rare.

I should have, of course, been suspicious. Why would Spillers, a shop that only stocks new music, be selling copies of long out-of-print Desert Sessions? Many years later, a few quick internet searches proved that these copies are from a series of bootleg reissues from around that time. A better question might be why were Spillers selling bootleg reissues? I even asked the girl in the shop if she knew much about the pressing, but she didn't. I assumed I'd stumbled across some unearthed old stock and excitedly bought Vol. 1 & 2. A week later I bought the remaining two 12"s, despite the idea of the year being one record a week. I skipped the following week knowing I'd basically stuck to my rules. It's worth noting that at £13 a pop, I don't feel too ripped off.

What about the music? Well, of Vol. 1 & 2 I was mildly underwhelmed initially. Now I can listen to it as what it is - some stoner jams from some excellent musicians, but at the time I was expecting more. Maybe it's because I was hoping for Kyuss but instead got Queens (quite literally on later records). As the title suggests, the music here is mostly instrumental (except for Cake (Who Shit on The?)). There are some pretty good moments and I wish a lot of them lasted longer; any of the proper songs on Vol. 1 could have been twice as long. The only exception is Screamin' Eagle, which goes on for too long (there's no pleasing some people).

Expect posts about the other two 12"s to follow sometime soon.

Format: 12", a4 insert
Tracks: 7
Cost: £13 new
Bought: Spillers Records
When: 28/10/08
Colour: Purple
Etching: none
mp3s: no