The Album Review Club - Week #196 (page 1316) - Aja - Steely Dan

The Album Review Club – Week #64

X -- Under The Big Black Sun (1982)

Selected by FogBlueInSanFran

XUnderTheBlackSun.jpg

X is my favo(u)rite LA band after Van Halen (The Minutemen don’t count – they were from San Pedro).

For those of you that dislike punk, I think you'll hear something different here. Early on the punk scene, and early to leave it behind, X was both highly-influential as an alternative pioneer and a critical darling for I think two reasons.

First, their tunes have punk energy and speed but brought in outside influences like country and rockabilly and even Tin Pan Alley, so they sound unique, and the lead singers are effectively a duet – unusual for pop let alone punk.

And second, the band explored mature themes quite unusual to punks: relationships, marriage, fidelity, and trust – songs that seem to sound more earnest because a duet sings them.

In its best line-up, the band consisted of Billy Zoom (guitar), D.J. Bonebrake (drums), and at-the-time-of-this-record married lead singers Exene Cervenka and John Doe (also the bassist). Quiz: one of those names ISN’T a stage name. Without looking it up, see if you can guess which one.

While one of X’s records is on Rolling Stone’s list of the top 500 ever made (their debut “Los Angeles”; their second “Wild Gift” is on older versions of the list; they're both great), I’ve chosen their third record and major label debut “Under The Big Black Sun”.

This record is a bit more rockabillyish than their first two, a fair degree less punk, and a little (maybe even a lot) more accessible. In theory I don’t like rockabilly, but in theory, I shouldn’t like born-again Christian guitar players or lead singers who later turn into conspiracy kooks, and X has both of these.

Besides energy and terrific songs that stick in the ear, I also chose this one of their catalogue for another reason.

Rather than anarchy, class warfare, destruction, how fucked over some punk got when his girl dissed him, or some other well-worn punky themes to write and sing about, about half this record concerns something else sadder and darker: how Exene felt when her sister died in a car crash on the way to see an X show. These songs (numbers 3-5, and later a cover of “Dancing With Tears In My Eyes”) don’t have any punk posing – they tell the story in order of shock, pain, sadness/depression, and ultimately recovery.

The more familiar X themes of couples getting along amid the challenges of coupling occupy the rest of the record, including “The Hungry Wolf”, “Motel Room In My Bed”, and “Because I Do”. Taken together, the record moves through a variety of styles and topics more eclectic than X had done before, and more eclectic than most punks would ever dare. In fact “Come Back To Me” and the aforementioned “Dancing” aren’t punk at all – I’m not even sure they are rock to be honest.

My personal favo(u)rites here are “Blue Spark” and its kick-fucking-ass riff, and the closing “The Have Nots”, an appreciative thank you to (and a long list of) dive bars and their denizens all over LA. This one sounds like a punked-up REM.

I admit I deviated from a different choice because I was a bit put out by our esteemed host’s earlier off-the-cuff (and – to be fair - later retracted) comment that “punk” bands can’t play, or can’t write. And even though I just said less than a week ago that I don’t like poetry set to music, Exene was – professionally – a poet before joining X, and later on in life too. The lyrics here are worth a look.

In the end, what I love about this record is that it turns a lot of conventional wisdom on its head, even my own. Yes – a punk band can join a major label without “selling out”. Yes – punks have real human emotions beyond anger. Yes – grown-ups (married couples!) can write, play and sing punk music. Yes – a poet can be a lead singer and I can love it. Yes – a skilled session guitarist can join a band and leave all the songwriting to the singer and bass player.

And yes – a 40+ year-old record can still sound like it was recorded not so very long ago . . .

Hope you enjoy it! Happy listening.
 
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FogBlueInSanFran said:
The Album Review Club – Week #64

X -- Under The Big Black Sun (1982)

Selected by FogBlueInSanFran

View attachment 66378

X is my favo(u)rite LA band after Van Halen (The Minutemen don’t count – they were from San Pedro).

Early on the punk scene, and early to leave it behind, X was both highly-influential as an alternative pioneer and a critical darling for I think two reasons.

First, their tunes have punk energy and speed but brought in outside influences like country and rockabilly and even Tin Pan Alley, so they sound unique, and the lead singers are effectively a duet – unusual for pop let alone punk.

And second, the band explored mature themes quite unusual to punks: relationships, marriage, fidelity, and trust – songs that seem to sound more earnest because a duet sings them.

In its best line-up, the band consisted of Billy Zoom (guitar), D.J. Bonebrake (drums), and at-the-time-of-this-record married lead singers Exene Cervenka and John Doe (also the bassist). Quiz: one of those names ISN’T a stage name. Without looking it up, see if you can guess which one.

While one of X’s records is on Rolling Stone’s list of the top 500 ever made (their debut “Los Angeles”; their second “Wild Gift” is on older versions of the list; they're both great), I’ve chosen their third record and major label debut “Under The Big Black Sun”.

This record is a bit more rockabillyish than their first two, a fair degree less punk, and a little (maybe even a lot) more accessible. In theory I don’t like rockabilly, but in theory, I shouldn’t like born-again Christian guitar players or lead singers who later turn into conspiracy kooks, and X has both of these.

Besides energy and terrific songs that stick in the ear, I also chose this one of their catalogue for another reason.

Rather than anarchy, class warfare, destruction, how fucked over some punk got when his girl dissed him, or some other well-worn punky themes to write and sing about, about half this record concerns something else sadder and darker: how Exene felt when her sister died in a car crash on the way to see an X show. These songs (numbers 3-5, and later a cover of “Dancing With Tears In My Eyes”) don’t have any punk posing – they tell the story in order of shock, pain, sadness/depression, and ultimately recovery.

The more familiar X themes of couples getting along amid the challenges of coupling occupy the rest of the record, including “The Hungry Wolf”, “Motel Room In My Bed”, and “Because I Do”. Taken together, the record moves through a variety of styles and topics more eclectic than X had done before, and more eclectic than most punks would ever dare. In fact “Come Back To Me” and the aforementioned “Dancing” aren’t punk at all – I’m not even sure they are rock to be honest.

My personal favo(u)rites here are “Blue Spark” and its kick-fucking-ass riff, and the closing “The Have Nots”, an appreciative thank you to (and a long list of) dive bars and their denizens all over LA. This one sounds like a punked-up REM.

I admit I deviated from a different choice because I was a bit put out by our esteemed host’s earlier off-the-cuff (and – to be fair - later retracted) comment that “punk” bands can’t play, or can’t write. And even though I just said less than a week ago that I don’t like poetry set to music, Exene was – professionally – a poet before joining X, and later on in life too. The lyrics here are worth a look.

In the end, what I love about this record is that it turns a lot of conventional wisdom on its head, even my own. Yes – a punk band can join a major label without “selling out”. Yes – punks have real human emotions beyond anger. Yes – grown-ups (married couples!) can write, play and sing punk music. Yes – a poet can be a lead singer and I can love it. Yes – a skilled session guitarist can join a band and leave all the songwriting to the singer and bass player.

And yes – 40+ year-old record can still sound like it was recorded not so very long ago . . .

Hope you enjoy it! Happy listening.
Click to expand...
That's a good introduction. I know you've mentioned X - before that I'd never heard of them, and then a few weeks later, they were mentioned in a book I was reading (can't remember which one).

Anyway, it's sounds like it's at the interesting end of punk, so I'll look forward to seeing what I make of it.

(and sorry for making you deviate in your choice!)
 
Cool...im pretty well up on my US punk/hardcore bands...but i have to admit i dont know of these guys. The description sounds good...will give it a listen this evening.

Kinda sounds like you are describing psycho-billy...would that be right? Or am i off?
 
AlexWilliamsGloves said:
Cool...im pretty well up on my US punk/hardcore bands...but i have to admit i dont know of these guys. The description sounds good...will give it a listen this evening.

Kinda sounds like you are describing psycho-billy...would that be right? Or am i off?
Click to expand...
No, there's no "horror" element in X whatsoever. X came from the same primordial ooze as the Cramps but were never "hardcore" and grew out of the old punk scene fairly quickly. The band worked with The Blasters quite a bit so more like that. A lot more a function of Billy Zoom, the guitarist, who dressed and looked and often played like a 50s idol.
 
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This is a superb album, only fault is it isn’t long enough. I listen to it often and will look forward to listening again and again over the next week, not to familiarise myself but to try and put together a review that does it justice
 
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