...And The Circus Leaves Town 1995 Album

Kyuss

Even though the title hints at this, I’m not sure the band themselves thought it would be the last proper studio album. I think they thought it was business as usual. However, there is no getting around one simple fact about this CD – it’s a heavy, lumbering beast, more like Black Sabbath and early 70’s sludge rock than any Kyuss effort thus far. The dual opener of “Hurricane” followed by “One Inch Man” comes at the listener like a flying ton of bricks. “Hurricane” is neat because the band brings back the old punk-infused energy that was a big characteristic of Wretch, with Garcia howling like mad against the current of fuzz (“I can’t feel nothin’ at all all all!”). Then “One Inch Man” follows like a tongue-in-cheek version of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”. From this rousing start takes a more mercurial path, generally relying on Josh’s heavy guitar tones to lead the listener through the rest of the affair. The dank dungeon-ready thump of “Gloria Lewis” – a real showcase for some of Garcia’s greatest screams ever – sets the tone for a mid-section of a CD tailor-made for fogged-up marijuana smokers and bong hitters. The mazes of passages where the band takes you are revelatory (“El Rodeo”), with only “Jumbo Blimp Jumbo” making the mistake of being static. Then the ending section picks up with another punk-influenced track (“Tangy Zizzle”) followed by a couple of interesting asides – “Size Queen”, which is reggae-meets-metal, and “Catamaran”. Finally, Homme’s showcase “Spaceship Landing” is a throwback to the multi-part madness of Sky Valley, but does not feel as essential as anything from that album, I’m afraid. The other thing which annoys me mildly here is the actual track runs for over 34 minutes with added oddities tacked on which are quite unnecessary to hear. Overall, a pretty nice way for Kyuss to go off into the sunset…at least, this is how I prefer to remember them going off into the sunset. I don’t get the general critical downturn of opinion – …And the Circus Leaves Town is worth price of admission, and then some.