There must be something in the sand of sweltering Palm Desert, a California town that has birthed
Kyuss and
Queens of the Stone Age, as well as
Fatso Jetson. Like
Kyuss/
QOTSA,
Fatso Jetson built a name for themselves by putting their own unique spin on the
Sabbath sound, but unlike their counterparts, larger than life singer/guitarist
Mario Lalli's true love lies in both
jazz (
Thelonious Monk,
Eric Dolphy) and
experimental rock (
Frank Zappa,
Devo). On paper, this conglomeration of different styles sounds like the perfect recipe for a train wreck, but it somehow all comes together on disc, as evidenced by the trio's 2003 offering,
Cruel & Delicious. Issued on old pal
Josh Homme's label,
Rekords Rekords, the trippy songs perfectly fit the feel of the album's cover (a sun-bleached photo of a long stretch of desert highway), especially such standouts as the saxophone free for all
"Drinkin Mode," the melodic
"Light Yourself on Fire," the bouncy instrumental
"Heavenly Hearse," a barely recognizable cover of the
Devo obscurity,
"Ton O Luv," and the jazzoid freak-out,
"Pig Hat Smokin." Cruel & Delicious is an enjoyable slice of
hard rock, well off the beaten path. ~ Greg Prato
