Two questions: 1. Why do so many rock supergroups suck?
Honestly. After all, from short-lived moments in time like The Quintet at Massey Hall to modern-age combos like John Zorn's Masada, nearly every second great jazz band is a "supergroup" of some kind—a union of highly respected and talented stars thrown together into a band because, well, it seems like a good idea. But jazz is a style of music wherein its best players uniformly require the ability to truly listen to each other and collaborate to be successful. You could argue that in rock n' roll, some of the biggest stars succeed because of an entirely opposite trait—that being a rampaging ego that trumps all others in the room. Take three or four of those personalities and shove them in a room, and the end result is sadly inevitable.
2. Why do Them Crooked Vultures not suck?
The short answer? As much as all the parties involved would balk at the suggestion, this is really just another Queens Of The Stone Age album. It's guitarist/singer Josh Homme's ship to sail or wreck, but that's okay, because the man has made his name on collaboration. And as usual, he has chosen well. Nearly every QOTSA album relies on a heavily rotating lineup of guest musicians orbiting around Homme, and that's not even getting into his highly eclectic Desert Sessions albums. In this case, the unit is tight and perfectly well-balanced. Grohl is hardly a new face, of course, being the man behind the skins on QOTSA's most punishing and satisfying album to date, 2002's Songs For The Deaf—in short, Homme and Grohl have already proved that they click.
That makes some dude named John Paul Jones the only real wild card, and it does take some time to pick up how he fits in here. At first listen, TCV is all Homme and Grohl's show, and they are absolutely locked; it's a visceral thrill to hear these two in a studio again. But Jones was always the least conspicuous member of Led Zeppelin—surrounded by three of rock's most outsized personalities of all time, he understood his role perfectly. And so it is here. Jones' playing is not only the ideal foil to Homme's fiery axework, it's also an understanding companion to his often gentle singing voice.
Them Crooked Vultures have caught a little flak for being unoriginal/sounding too much like QOTSA/underusing Jones, etc. Forget that. These are simply three extremely talented men who enjoy playing hard rock together. And they definitely don't suck at doing it.