And The Circus Leaves Town

Kyuss | Format: Vinyl

Product Details

• Vinyl (July 11, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B000005IT4
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  | 
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #457,782 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Vinyl pressing. Elektra. 2001. --This text refers to an alternate Vinyl edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably as close to "refinement" as Kyuss gets, February 17, 2006

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Reviewer (Near Columbus, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: And the Circus Leaves Town (Audio CD)

When this album was first released it seemed as if it was missing an unknown ingredient that is found in "Blues for the Red Sun" and "Welcome to Sky Valley". As the years passed I found that I would grab one of the other two albums before I would grab this one (never mind "Wretch" - that album is more of a trophy for Kyuss collectors than anything else, not as good as the others, but still a keepsake). Not that this album isn't good... it's amazing... just different than the others. Perhaps there is a sense that the band is on its way out, perhaps the unity that was in the other albums doesn't come out of the music like it once did. It's hard to place.

And then a few years ago I popped this CD into my car stereo one morning... and left it there for weeks. I listened to it every time I was in the car, enough that people started to notice. It was just too good to take it out. It was one of those great moments when I "rediscover" a CD from my collection, when I remind myself how cool an album is.

This album takes everything that the members of Kyuss built over the previous albums and puts a 400 grit sandpaper polish on it. It's not shiny, but for Kyuss, it's polished, where they are taking on a dull sheen that comes with exposure and experience. Josh Homme has learned a lot by this album, exploring more of the guitar neck than he had in the past. Like other albums, Homme still uses the technique of layering octaves over one another to create depth in the sound, but he has acquired more courage to use the higher notes, the frets above number 7 and the strings lighter than .032 gauge. Homme never attempts wailing solos, probably because he doesn't like them (he tried on "Wretch", but he was young and inexperienced then).

The instruments don't blend together as much as they do on other albums, meaning that the mixing is perhaps cleaner than before. Each track is more distinguishable. "Phototropic" is a reminder of what Kyuss can do, a 5 minute studio jam of octaves layered on one another, blending in and out of melody and heavy rocking, and Garcia's vocals don't start until half way through the song. It is a beautiful thing.

"El Rodeo" is definitely one of my favorite songs. I remember my freshmen year of college, listening to this album in my dorm room and picking out the touch of Spanish guitar in the lead riff. When I finally nailed it, it wasn't hard to pick up the rest, and then I kept rocking to it for probably a week. Its the same Kyuss formula... find a riff, built on it by expanding on the key, bring it to crescendo, and then rock it out. And it always works.

"Size Queen" is a grooving rythm that is more funky than things Kyuss has done in the past. Again, it is based on a single riff created by Josh Homme that is distinctly his own, but they build it well. One gets the feeling that much of Kyuss' music is built on riffs that Josh discovered while messing around with his guitar, but every song is inevitably a masterpiece.

"Catamaran" is beautiful. It uses much less distortion, much more reverb (and maybe some chorus?), and is much more expansive than any other song on the album. Again, Kyuss shows the odd talent to blend metal with melody, because it isn't long before "Catamaran" takes on the low dirge of metal riffs, but falls right back into the melody. It is sad that it is only a 2 minutes and 59 seconds long.

"Catamaran" is followed by "Spaceship Landing", an appropriately long jam that ends the album, fades into silence after 11 minutes until 32:15, when a slow melody arises, a combination of many layers of Garcia's voice accompanied by only guitar and bass.

The Kyuss triumverate, "Welcome to Sky Valley", "Blues for the Red Sun", and "...And the Circus Leaves Town", are a must-have set for anyone looking for unique and pleasurable music. The first album, "Wretch" will disappoint anyone familiar with Kyuss' later work, but it is an extra piece to add to the collection, just to say you have it.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Josh Homme>>>>>God, October 18, 2003

By 

Wheelchair Assassin (The Great Concavity) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: And the Circus Leaves Town (Audio CD)

Before Kyuss splintered and Josh Homme went on to form the equally brilliant Queens Of The Stone Age, the band released the excellent valedictory "And The Circus Leaves Town." Although this album doesn't quite live up to the lofty standard established by the utter masterpieces "Blues For The Red Sun" and "Welcome To Sky Valley," it still showcases the creativity and instrumental virtuosity the band was known for. At the same time, it's perhaps Kyuss's quietest album, turning down the raging sandstorm of sound that characterized "Blues" and (to a lesser extent) "Sky Valley." For the most part, "And The Circus Leaves Town" is the kind of album you could play while kicking back with a beer on your porch and not annoy the neighbors. And since it's predecessors had more of a "play it in your car at full blast with your window rolled down so everyone in a quarter-mile radius can hear it and know you have better taste than they do" vibe, that's a pretty big departure. It's still stoner rock, but stoner rock of a somewhat different and less fearsome stripe.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Kyuss album without a few slabs of headbanging metal, and the opening "Hurricane," "Tangy Sizzle," and the concluding epic "Spaceship Landing" all fill the bill quite nicely in that regard. Kyuss could lay down a groove with the best of them, and these songs just provided final, convincing proof of that fact. Featuring Josh's pounding riffs and John Garcia's signature wail, these songs all rank right up there with "Green Machine," "Allen's Wrench," and a few sections of "Sky Valley" among Kyuss's most infectious moments. Likewise, the woozy, sludgy quasi-psychedelia of "Thee Ol' Boozeroony" and "El Rodeo" fits in snugly with the band's prior instrumental output.

It's elsewhere than Kyuss stretches out their sonic palette. "Blues" and "Sky Valley" did have their share of quieter moments, but not to the extent found here. Josh's guitar wattage isn't as abundantly evident as before, and John's ratio of singing to wailing actually gets to right around one-to-one. "One Inch Man" and "Gloria Lewis" do contain the sun-baked riffage that Josh has made a very nice career out of, but they're more notable for two of the most relaxed and easygoing tempos of the band's career. "Phototropic," "Size Queen" and "Catamaran" also contain a few heavy moments, but they're still remarkably mellow for Kyuss songs.

In the end, I can't endorse this album as heartily as "Blues" or "Sky Valley." However, those albums were such classics that they established an incredibly high target, and I'm not sure "And The Circus Leaves Town" was intended to "match" them anyway. Viewed on its own, this is still a remarkable album with the potential for hours of fruitful listening. So I say kick back and enjoy it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The toughest listen through, but its still KYUSS., May 5, 2005

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The Velvet Tomahawk (MO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: And the Circus Leaves Town (Audio CD)

What that title means, is that this album is worth listening to, many times, and at a very high volume. This album follows down the road that Kyuss started down with "Welcome to Sky Valley". But they are much further down the road. If you want something that resembles the intensity of "Wretch" or "Blues for the Red Sun" you probably aren't going to find it. In my humble opinion, this is their least 'metal' album. That being said, Josh's guitar seems to be tuned down even more, and John sounds as gruff as ever (though he does pull off some nice harmonies, showing the softer side of his voice-think demon cleaner). Scott Reeder returns as bassist for this album, as he did Sky Valley, this album's predecesor. Brant Bjork is gone from the mix, and the new drummer is Alfredo Hernandez. The album seems to strip down the feeling from Sky Valley, which had 6-7 minute epic songs, and turning them into 4-5 minute rock masterpieces. It took me the longest time of all the Kyuss albums to get completely addicted to "...And the Circus Leaves Town" but now it is the Kyuss album I listen to the most.

And as a final note, the band on this album, is pretty much the band Josh used for the first Queens record. subtract John Garcia on vocals, give Josh vocals and guitar, and throw Dave Catching in the mix on guitar/steel guitar and you pretty much have the Queens of the Stone Age that did their self titled album.