Lullabies to Paralyze

Infobox Album
Name = Lullabies to Paralyze
Type = studio
Artist = Queens of the Stone Age


Released = March 21, 2005 (Europe)
March 22, 2005 (U.S.)
Recorded = August–November 2004 at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California
Genre = Hard rock
Length = 59:26
Label = Interscope B0004186-02
Producer = Josh Homme, Joe Barresi
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:75o20rjaq48b~T1 link]
*"Alternative Press" Rating|5|5 May 2005, p.130
*"The Aquarian" (A+) [http://www.theaquarian.com/reviews-cds.php?id=70 link]
*"E!" (B+) ^{dead link; view archive [http://web.archive.org/web/20050914114748/http://www.eonline.com/Reviews/Facts/Music/RevID/0,1107,3425,00.html here:]}
*Kerrang! Rating|2|5
*"NME" (8/10) [http://www.nme.com/reviews/queens-of-the-stone-age/7626 link]
*Pitchfork (7.5/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/21178/Queens_of_the_Stone_Age_Lullabies_to_Paralyze 3/21/2005]
*Playlouder Rating|4|5 [http://www.playlouder.com/review/+lullabiestoparal/ 3/19/2005]
*PopMatters (6/10) [http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/q/queensofthestoneage-lullabies.shtml 3/25/2005]
*"Q" Rating|4|5 Apr 2005, p.112
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|3|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/6864851/queensofthestoneage?pageid=rs.Artistcage&pageregion=triple1 3/24/2005]
*Scene Point Blank (7.5/10) [http://www.scenepointblank.com/reviews/392 link]
*"Stylus Magazine" (B+) [http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=2849 3/22/2005]
*"The Guardian" Rating|4|5 [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/fridayreview/story/0,,1439861,00.html 3/18/2005]
*"Uncut" Rating|4|5 [http://uncut.co.uk/music/queens_of_the_stone_age/reviews/8566 link]
Last album = "Stone Age Complication"
(2004)
This album = "Lullabies to Paralyze"
(2005)
Next album = "Over the Years and Through the Woods"
(2005)
Misc = Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Alternative cover
Type = studio

---

Lower caption = Cover of the LP release

"Lullabies to Paralyze" is the fourth studio album by hard rock band Queens of the Stone Age and was released on March 21, 2005. [ [http://qotsa.com/discography/ QOTSA Discography] ] Debuting at number 5 on the Billboard chart,cite web
url = http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/queensofthestoneage/articles/story/7225493/50_still_attacking_chart
title = 50 Still Attacking Chart
publisher = Rolling Stone
date = 2005-03-30
accessdate = 2007-06-18] the album sold 97,000 copies in America during its first week of release, eventually topping over 342,000 copies as of March, 2007 according to Nielsen Soundscan. [cite web
url = http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003558815
title = QOTSA Rocks Hard, Fast On 'Era Vulgaris'
publisher = Billboard
date = 2005-03-15
accessdate = 2007-06-18] The album has been certified gold in the UK, where it has sold over 100,000 units. The second song on the album, "Medication", was included in the video game Motorstorm.

Background

The album title "Lullabies to Paralyze" was intended to bridge "Lullabies" with its predecessor "Songs for the Deaf" by naming it after a line in "Mosquito Song", the final track on "Songs for the Deaf".cite web
url=http://www.vertigo.fm/main.php?site=artist_texte&artist_id=1639
publisher=Vertigo
title=Queens Of The Stone Age Interview
accessdate=2005-05-18
quote =I also like that the title bridges this record and the last record in that it’s a lyric from “Mosquito Song”. (Homme)] The "deluxe limited edition" of the album includes a bonus track and a bonus DVD containing "a look behind the scenes and special bonus footage". Videos were produced for singles Little Sister, In My Head and Burn the Witch, as well as "Everybody Knows That You Are Insane" and "Someone's in the Wolf". [ [http://music.yahoo.com/ar-288023-videos--Queens-Of-The-Stone-Age QOTSA Yahoo videos] ] The "Everybody Knows That You Are Insane" video was broadcasted frequently for a number of months on MTV during 2005,Fact|date=June 2007 while the video for "Someone's in the Wolf" was featured on the bonus DVD of "Lullabies to Paralyze".

The album was delayed during 2004 because of some changes to the line-up: bassist Nick Oliveri was fired and on-off vocalist Mark Lanegan went on tour with his own band. [cite web
url = http://www.vh1.com/news/articles/1484974/20040211/queens_stone_age.jhtml
title = Nick Oliveri, Mark Lanegan Leave Queens Of The Stone Age
publisher = VH1
date = 2004-02-12
accessdate = 2007-06-18] Lanegan can nevertheless still be heard singing on several songs of the album, as well as contributing lyrics. Because of this turmoil, there had been rumours that Lanegan had left the band, which Josh Homme eventually clarified in several interviews, was never the case.Fact|date=June 2007 Nevertheless he encouraged these rumours to draw the attention off the band by giving the press "something to focus on while I was just making the record".Fact|date=June 2007

Critical reception

The album received generally positive reviews, however slightly lower than its predecessor, the average score being 78 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 31 professional reviews. [cite web
url = http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/queensofthestoneage/lullabiestoparalyze?q=queens%20of%20the%20stone%20age
title = Lullabies To Paralyze by Queens Of The Stone Age
publisher = Metacritic
accessdate = 2007-06-11]

Kevin Forest Moreau awarded it 3rd best album of the year 2005, Billboard magazine ranked it 7th best album, Magnet magazine ranked it 9th, and Filter magazine considered it 10th best album of the year 2005. [cite web
url = http://www.metacritic.com/music/bests/2005.shtml
title = Best of 2005: The 30 best reviewed albums of the year
publisher = Metacritic
accessdate = 2007-06-11] Lullabies To Paralyze was certified gold in the UK on April 15, 2005 with sales excessing 100,000 copies. [cite web
url = http://www.bpi.co.uk/platinum/platinumright.asp?rq=search_plat&r_id=32177
title = QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE , LULLABIES TO PARALYZE , Gold , Fri Apr 15 2005
publisher = British Phonographic Industry
date = 2005-04-15
accessdate = 2007-06-11]

Track listing

All the tracks were written by Joshua Homme, Troy Van Leeuwen and Joey Castillo, except where noted. All the lyrics were written by Homme, except additional lyrics on "Medication", "Tangled Up In Plaid", "Long Slow Goodbye" by Mark Lanegan.

# "This Lullaby" (Homme, Van Leeuwen, Castillo, Lanegan) – 1:22
# "Medication" (Homme, Van Leeuwen, Castillo, Lanegan) – 1:54
# "Everybody Knows That You're Insane" – 4:14
# "Tangled Up in Plaid" (Homme, Van Leeuwen, Castillo, Lanegan) – 4:13
# "Burn the Witch" – 3:35
# "In My Head" (Homme, Van Leeuwen, Freese, Castillo, Johannes) – 4:01
# "Little Sister" – 2:54
# "I Never Came" – 4:48
# "Someone's in the Wolf" – 7:15
# "The Blood Is Love" – 6:37
# "Skin on Skin" – 3:42
# "Broken Box" – 3:02
# "You Got a Killer Scene There, Man..." – 4:56
# "Long Slow Goodbye" (Homme, Van Leeuwen, Castillo, Lanegan) – 6:50
#* Includes a "Hidden Finale" which comes up at – 5:16

Bonus tracks

* "Like a Drug" (Homme, Bjork) – 3:15
** Included on the deluxe edition and the UK, Mexican and Japanese versions. The song was a new recording, originally on The Desert Sessions .
* "Precious and Grace" (Beard, Gibbons, Hill) – 3:23
** Included on the UK and Japanese versions.
* "Infinity" (new version)" (Homme) – 3:59
** Included on the Japanese version, older version (4:40) available on the Heavy Metal 2000 soundtrack.

LP version

The LP version of the album was released by AntAcidAudio and contains a different cover to the CD version. The sides are named "Once", "You", "Were" & "Lost", after a line from "Someone's in the Wolf", with each containing a mixture of the CD's album and bonus tracks.

ide one: "Once"

# "Lullaby" – 1:23
# "Medication" – 1:54
# "Everybody Knows That You're Insane" – 4:14
# "Tangled Up in Plaid" – 4:13
# "Burn the Witch" – 3:35

ide two: "You"

# "In My Head" – 4:01
# "Little Sister" – 2:54
# "I Never Came" – 4:48
# "Someone's in the Wolf" – 7:16

ide three: "Were"

# "Infinity" (new version, see above) – 3:59
# "The Blood Is Love" – 6:38
# "Like a Drug" – 3:18
# "Skin on Skin" – 3:43

ide four: "Lost"

# "Broken Box" – 3:00
# "Precious and Grace" – 3:24
# ""You Got a Killer Scene There, Man..."" – 4:58
# "Long Slow Goodbye" (contains the hidden track) – 6:54

Outtakes

* "The Fun Machine Took a Shit and Died"
* "'Til Tomorrow"
* "I Wanna Make It wit Chu" (Later featured on their next album Era Vulgaris with the shortened title Make It Wit Chu)

Bonus DVD

# "The Way Finds You" – 27:20
# "Someone's in the Wolf" (Castillo, Homme, Van Leeuwen) – 7:24
# "Josh's Session" (starring Josh Homme and Sarah Silverman) – 10:24

Limited Tour Edition Bonus UK CD

Live from Earthlink in Atlanta, GA March 19 2005.
# "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret" – 3:54
# "Little Sister" – 2:56
# "In My Head" – 3:56
# "No One Knows" – 6:48
# "Song for the Dead" – 6:24
# "Regular John" – 9:48

Most online retailers list the songs on the bonus CD as coming from the March 19 2005 show in Atlanta, but at least "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret" and "Regular John" are actually from the show in Washington, DC on March 27, 2005.Or|date=September 2007

The final item on the song listing (located behind the CD in the normal version, or inside the booklet in the deluxe edition), below "Long Slow Goodbye" reads::"The Fun Machine took a shit and died – Was lost or misplaced. (There is a reward for the return of said tapes)"

During that time, the band assumed that the tapes of that song were either lost or stolen. A live version of this song can be found on the DVD release "Over the Years and Through the Woods". Homme: "The tapes got lost. Actually, they were just at another studio, but we falsely accused everyone in the world of theft." [ [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/7600105/queensofthestoneage Josh Homme, 09/2005 interview] with [http://www.rollingstone.com RollingStone.com] ]

Personnel

As common for Queens of the Stone Age recordings, "Lullabies" does not feature one single line-up but rather a core group of Homme, Castillo and Van Leeuwen that would also form the tour line-up, as well as other contributors, mostly close friends to the band.

Band lineup

* Josh Homme – vocals, guitar, bass, piano, drums, percussion
* Troy Van Leeuwen – guitar, bass, lap steel, piano, keyboards
* Joey Castillo – drums, piano, percussion

Guest appearances

* Alain Johannes – guitar on tracks 5-7 and 11, bass on tracks 3, 4 and 9, flute & marxophone on track 9
* Mark Lanegan – lead vocals on "This Lullaby" and vocals on "Burn the Witch" and "You Got a Killer Scene There Man...".
* Chris Goss (Masters of Reality) – vocals on "You Got a Killer Scene There Man..."
* Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) – guitar and vocals on "Burn the Witch".
* Dave Catching – opening guitar on "The Blood Is Love".
* Jack Black (actor/musician) – hanclaps and stomps on "Burn the Witch", and is also seen contributing the same for "Broken Box" during the bonus DVD.
* Jesse Hughes (Eagles of Death Metal) – flute part on "Someone's in the Wolf".
* Shirley Manson (Garbage) – vocals on "You Got a Killer Scene There, Man..."
* Brody Dalle (The Distillers and Spinnerette), – vocals on "You Got a Killer Scene There Man..."
* Joe Barresi – triangle on "Tangled Up in Plaid"
* The Main Street Horns – tubas and baritone trombone on "I Never Came", "Someone's in the Wolf" and "Skin on Skin"
* Josh Freese (A Perfect Circle, The Vandals, and The Offspring) co-wrote "In My Head".

Charting positions

Album

ingles

References