QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
Highly acclaimed hard rockers from the California desert who update old-school riff rock without overloading irony or slavish imitation. 
Formed from the ashes of stoner rock icons Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age reunited the group's singer/guitarist Josh Homme, drummer Alfredo Hernandez, and bassist Nick Oliveri along with new guitarist/keyboardist Dave Catching. The project's origins date back to Homme, who in the wake of Kyuss' 1995 demise relocated to Seattle to tour with the Screaming Trees; he soon began working with a revolving lineup of musicians including the Trees' Van Conner, Soundgarden's Matt Cameron, and Dinosaur Jr.'s Mike Johnson, recording a series of 7"s originally issued under the name Gamma Ray. After rechristening the group Queens of the Stone Age, Homme recruited Hernandez to begin work on their self-titled debut LP, issued in late 1998 on Loosegroove; after the album was completed, Oliveri left the Dwarves to rejoin his former bandmates, with the subsequent addition of Catching rounding out the roster. In addition to extensive touring, Homme put together a series of albums for the indie label Man's Ruin; the various volumes of the Desert Sessions feature Homme's collaborations with a loose-knit lineup of like-minded musicians, some from bands like Soundgarden, Fu Manchu, and Monster Magnet.

"QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE"
tracklisting
Side A: REGULAR JOHN - AVON - IF ONLY - WALKIN' ON THE SIDEWALKS
YOU WOULD KNOW - HOW TO HANDLE A ROPE
Side B: MEXICOLA - HISPANIC IMPRESSIONS - YOU CAN'T QUIT ME BABY
GIVE THE MULE WHAT HE WANTS - I WAS A TEENAGE HAND MODEL
1998     LP     MAN'S RUIN  RECORDS      mr 151
PRINTED IN U.S.A.    ORIGINAL PRESSING
LIMITED EDITION     BLACK VINYL
GATEFOLD COVER
NOTES: Edition of 2500 copies on black vinyl out of a total pressing of 3000 copies for the first pressing. Issued in a gatefold sleeve.
Tracks are listed sequentially, regardless of sides.
Inner gatefold photo from 'The Pin-Up', a modest history by Mark Gabor, © 1972 Universe Books, NY.
COUNTERFEITS: This album has been heavy bootlegged since 2003. All counterfeits also issued in a gatefold sleeve.
Differences can be determined by looking at the gatefold sleeve (see image) or the runout-groove etchings. Original copies have
 the MR-151-A on one side of the runout at the 6 o'clock position and L-50953 at the 12 o'clock position.
Some bootleg copies have no run-out groove etchings at all. 
Other versions have "MR-151-A/L-50953" written all together on side A and "MR-151-A/L-50953X" on side B.
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Barcode: none
LABEL: MAN'S RUIN - BROWN LABELS w/ARTWORK - WHITE TEXT & RIM
Catalog on cover: (inside left panel) mr151
Catalog on labels: (Side B only) mr 151
Matrix / Runout (Side A, Etched): MR-151-A   L-50953
Matrix / Runout (Side B, Etched): MR-151-B   L-50953X
On labels: (Side A) qotsa
On Inside left panel: it's basically all josh and alfredo, limited to a single pressing of 3000
under license from loosegroove records and released by man's ruin records. copyrights apply.
Inner Gatefold photo from 'The Pin-Up', A Modest History by Mark Gabor, © 1972 Universe Books, NY.
On Back Cover: man's ruin records
grading
RECORD EX but (please, read above description)
SLEEVE EX but (please, see pictures and read above description)
Hearing Queens of the Stone Age's long out of print debut many years after its initial 1998 release does pack the shock of revelation: Josh Homme’s tightly wound blueprint for QOTSA was in place from the very beginning. Where Homme’s previous outfit, Kyuss, were all about expansion, Queens of the Stone Age were about compression, Homme stripping stoner rock to its essence -- riffs as heavy as granite, solos as spacy as the desert sky. The songs on Queens of the Stone Age are shorter, pulled into focus by grinding fuzz riffs that anchor the proceedings even when the instrumental sections begin to drift into the ether. Another distinguishing factor in Queens of the Stone Age is that Homme writes full-blown songs -- pushing their two best songs, “Regular John” and “Avon,” to the front, giving them room to float later on -- so the album isn’t just about instrumental interaction, but the crucial difference is that this isn’t music solely for disaffected males. There is sex and swagger to Queens of the Stone Age, there’s a swing to the rhythms, there’s a darkly enveloping carnal menace buttressed by muscle and lust that keeps the album from being an insular stoner headpiece. Certainly, there’s enough sinewy force to suggest the mighty brawn of Rated R and Songs for the Deaf; Homme retained enough of the desert spaciness of Kyuss to give Queens of the Stone Age an otherworldly shimmer, a hazy quality he later abandoned for aggressive precision, so this winds up as a unique record in his catalog, a place where you can hear Homme’s past and future intertwining...(AllMusic)