Welcome to Sky Valley

Untitled

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Daily Republic	(A-)
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Welcome to Sky Valley (also known as Sky Valley) is the third studio album by American rock band Kyuss, released in June 1994.

Album information

Welcome to Sky Valley was recorded in early 1993 and scheduled for release in January 1994. They sneak-previewed the completed album at Foundations Forum 93 and contributed the song "Demon Cleaner" to the sampler disc. Due to mild success from their previous album, Kyuss had been promoted from their subsidiary record label "Dali" to the main label "Chameleon." On November 11, 1993 Chameleon Records abruptly shut down. Their joint-venture partner Elektra quickly picked up the band and scheduled the album for release in March 1994. The album was then delayed for another three months after that, eventually being released almost a year after being initially recorded.

This is the first Kyuss album to feature bassist Scott Reeder, who replaced Nick Oliveri in 1992. Welcome to Sky Valley was the last to feature founding member Brant Bjork. The song "N.O." was originally recorded by Across The River, a band fronted by Mario Lalli and featuring bassist Reeder. After Reeder left The Obsessed and joined Kyuss, Bjork suggested they record "N.O." as a tribute to Across The River.

On compact disc, Welcome to Sky Valley was originally released with its ten total songs contained in three tracks, with an additional, fourth hidden track. It was later re-released with all ten tracks separated individually. However, most commercially sold versions of the compact disc contain the three tracks, a setup which is meant to encourage listeners to experience it as a full album instead of as a collection of separate songs. Guitarist Josh Homme claimed in an interview that the band "just wanted it to be like hell to play on a CD player". The album's liner notes instruct the listener to "Listen without distraction".

The band Tool covered "Demon Cleaner" live twice (albeit with slight lyrics changes with bassist Scott Reeder joining them onstage during the performances:

• 03/27/1998 - Los Angeles, CA, USA @ Hollywood Palladium.

• 03/29/1998 - San Diego, CA, USA @ The Rimac Theatre.

The song is also contained in the video game Guitar Hero: Metallica and The Crew.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Josh Homme, except where noted

I

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Gardenia" (Brant Bjork)	6:54
2.	"Asteroid"	4:49
3.	"Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop"	6:04

II

No.	Title	Length
4.	"100°"	2:29
5.	"Space Cadet" (Homme, Scott Reeder)	7:02
6.	"Demon Cleaner"	5:19

III

No.	Title	Length
7.	"Odyssey"	4:19
8.	"Conan Troutman"	2:12
9.	"N.O." (Reeder, Mario Lalli; originally performed by Across the River)	3:47
10.	"Whitewater" (Bjork)	8:00

No.	Title	Length
11.	"Lick Doo" (hidden track)	0:57
Total length:		51:55

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.

Kyuss

• John Garcia – lead vocals, producer
• Josh Homme – guitar, backing vocals, producer
• Scott Reeder – bass guitar, acoustic bass in "Space Cadet", backing vocals, producer
• Brant Bjork – drums, producer

Additional performers

• Peter Moffett – additional percussion on "Asteroid"
• "Madman of Encino" – backing vocals
• Mario Lalli – lead guitar on "N.O."

Production

• Chris Goss – producer
• Joe Barresi – recording engineer, mixing engineer
• Jeff Sheehan – assistant engineer
• Wade Norton – assistant engineer
• Alexe Campbell – assistant engineer
• Brian Jenkins – additional engineering
• Eddy Schreyer – mastering engineer

Artwork

• Alex Solca – photography
• Skiles – art director