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Classic Album Review

Retro review: The Zephyr Bones – Secret Place

Um hello, if the Secret Place is an actual place then it’s a place I wanna be! This Zephyr Bones album is only two years old, but it definitely has that classic indie sound that can be hard to come by these days. This is a great album that will absolutely stand the test of time for several reasons; perhaps I shall make a list:

  1. That cover art. Sheesh. Wowza. What a cotton candy dream. Of course the album cover doesn’t affect sound quality but it’s what caught my eye in the music library and helped The Zephyr Bones stand out against thousands of other artists we have music from at KNC. If you aren’t looking for a specific artist’s work when you’re shopping around for some new music – then what will catch your eye? That cover babie! Before you even hear it, you see it, and the artwork for Secret Place is the perfect illustration. You can’t tell what it is. The landscape drawn out appears strange and feels hidden, as a secret place should.
  2. Lets hear it for the boys! Indie rock has always gotta be rooted in ‘rock.’ I know it. You know it. The skater kids know it. Fortunately, Secret Place fits the bill! It’s definitely on the right shelf in the music library. The foursome combine all the right elements in just the right way, making a mellow, beachy sound that isn’t missing any of the great parts of rock we all love. These guys seriously know what they’re doing.
  3. I’ll take those tunes with a twist – a modern twist. A great album sets out to do something different, which is not an easy task when so much music already exists. The Zephyr Bones do a great job of showcasing their individuality in Secret Place. Psychedelic soundscapes back up their already solid foundation and gentle vocals bring everything together in a way that just works.

If you’re looking for some indie rock to set a relaxing mood that isn’t lacking in genuine talent, this is the album for you.

 xoxo

your trusty music librarian

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Classic Album Review

Album Highlight: Highway to Hell – AC/DC

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The title track to this record is a rock-‘n’-roll / hard rock anthem! It’s opening riff is recognizable instantly! And stadiums, arenas, and ballparks around the world play this great song! Highway to Hell, unlike AC/DC’s previous five albums (and one LP), was produced by “Mutt” Lang, a legendary producer even at this early stage in his career. It was recorded at Chalk Farm, North London in March 1979, and released July 27, 1979. Mutt and the band changed just about everything the band was doing up to that point. AC/DC had been touring all over Australia and Europe by this time, but their evolution (even Bon Scott’s vocals) transformed into something they had never even thought about. Imagine, Mutt giving Scott vocal lessons!! Or Angus (Young) guitar lessons! Yet, that’s what happened, and it formed one of the greatest records of all time. Atlantic Records hated the album name, and the album cover released in Australia (the worldwide released cover, with addition of flames and a bass guitar neck) was no different (see Australian album cover above)!

The record had a less than serious theme: Love Hungry Man, Girls Got Rhythm, Beating Around the Bush, Touch Too Much, Walk All Over You, Get It Hot, and Shot Down In Flames are all metaphors (or otherwise insinuating) sex. The three remaining songs are stand alone themes: Highway to Hell, believe it or not, is about the band’s life on the road. If You Want Blood (You’ve Got It) is a titled borrowed from the band’s previous live record and it speaks to the fact that AC/DC will always give you everything that they have when they play live. And Night Prowler became quite controversial quickly! The serial killer, Richard Ramirez, nick-named “The Night Stalker,” was a huge AC/DC fan, and the song and the maniac will forever be intertwined. The band says that this song, too, is about sex, but that doesn’t explain the lyric, “…And you don’t feel the steel till it’s hanging out your back!”

The record was certified 7X platinum by RIAA in 2006. Tracks from this album are featured in eight movies, as a soundtrack for a video game, and as a theme song for the WWE SummerSlam (1998). The record peaked at #17 on the US Too 100. And it is the second highest selling AC/DC album of all time (right behind Back In Black, released a year later).

Within months of the release of Highway to Hell, Bon Scott literally drank himself to death, dying of alcohol poisoning on Feb. 18/19, 1980. AC/DC remained Angus Young – lead guitar; Malcolm Young – rhythm guitar, backing vocals; Phil Rudd – drums; and Cliff Williams – Bass guitar, backing vocals with the addition of Brian Johnson taking up vocals soon after the tragedy.

Favorite songs: Highway to Hell; Girls Got Rhythm; Beating Around the Bush

Rating: 10/10!!!

Stay Metal,

THE SAW 

Categories
Classic Album Review

Album of the Week: Metal Church – Metal Church

Metal Church shot out of the gate with their self-titled debut, Metal Church! Although this record is from the early `80s, squarely in the upswing of Glam / Big Hair Rock, it sets the pace for what Thrash Metal would become. Originally released on independent label, Ground Zero, in 1984, the album sold so well that Elektra Records signed the band and reissued Metal Church in 1985. It was recorded in `84 at Steve Lawson Productions in Seattle Washington. The record weighs in at 42:00 minutes long, exactly. And there is never a dull moment!

David Wayne, inspired by the likes of Rob Halford (Judas Priest) and inspiring folks like James Hetfield (Metallica), does a masterful job on every song (with the exception of the lone instrumental, of course). With a powerful voice, Wayne is an excellent frontman for the powerhouse musicians behind him. Kurt Vanderhoof is the founder of Metal Church, writing all lyrics on this record, except the instrumental and the cover song, and he is menacing as he shreds through riffs on this record. Craig Wells plays opposite Vanderhoof and is a great compliment. Duke Erickson rounds out the strings, nicely, and Kirk Arrington shows his skills on the drums.  

The track listing (as mentioned above) includes a cover of Deep Purples Highway Star, which the band handles with ease. The instrumental is aptly named, Merciless Onslaught(written by Vanderhoof).Beyond the Black, the title track, Metal Church, Merciless Onslaught,and God’s of Wrathconstitute side one; while Hitman, In the Blood, (My Favorite) Nightmare, Battalions, and Highway Star rap up the record with side two. I’m telling you, there is not a moment of rest on this whole album!

Favorite Songs: I literally love every single song! But Metal Churchwill always be my favorite!

Rating: 10/10!!

*Special note: David Wayne died on May 10, 2005 from complications due to a car wreck.

Stay Metal,

THE SAW 

Categories
Classic Album Review

Album of the Week: Melissa – Mercyful Fate

Melissa is the first studio album by the Danish band, Mercyful Fate. The record was recorded July 18-29, 1983 at Easy Sound Recordings in Copenhagen, Denmark and released October 30, 1983, by Roadrunner in Europe (the record company’s first release), Music for nations in the UK, and Mega Force in the USA.

Interestingly, the album (and the band) are, obviously listed in the Heavy Metal genre, but also the Black Metal genre. Like Slayer (listed as Heavy Metal / Death Metal), from the same era, it is not the lyrical delivery that determined the category, but the lyrical content. Mercyful Fate (and Melissa) are renown for the occult – demonology, witchcraft, and Satanist – subject matter.

The (now) legendary King Diamond, with his operatic vocals (notably, his usage of falsetto) and death mask face paint, wrote and performs all lyrics. The band is solidly rounded-out by the awesome Hank Sherman (guitar; composer of all songs), Michael Denner (guitar), Timi Hansen (base), and Kim Ruzz (drums). Melissa clocks in at 40:09 long, while containing seven tracks.

It was planned to be an eight song record, with a cover of, “The Immigrant Song” (Led Zepplin), but the band decided it did not fit well with the theme and feel of the rest of the record. Included in the seven track selection, clocking 11:23, is the epic, “Satan’s Fall.” The song, according to the band, contains 16 different riffs, and took “forever" to learn because Sherman kept adding parts! It was the band’s longest song for many years. One single was released for the record, “Black Funeral,” with a B-side, “Black Masses" (a song recorded during Melissa, but not making the final cut).

In 1985, the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) cited “Into the Coven" among their Filthy Fifteen (their list of objectionable songs) because of its occult content. In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked Melissa at 17th on their list of ‘The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time’.

1983 Track Listing:

  1. Evil
  2. Curse of the Pharaohs
  3. Into the Coven
  4. At the Sound of the Demon Bell
  5. Black Funeral
  6. Satan’s Fall
  7. Melissa

Favorite Songs: Melissa; Curse of the Pharaohs; Satan’s Fall

Rating: Definitely a solid 10/10!!

Melissa is simply one of the best Metal albums on the market and a MUST HAVE for the serious metalhead! BTW, Mercyful Fate have reunited and are touring during the 2019 season! Catch them if you get the opportunity!

Stay Metal, 

THE SAW 

Categories
Classic Album Review

Album of the Week: Heartwork – Carcass

What a melodic metal masterpiece! The fourth studio album from Carcass, Heartwork was recorded at Parr Street Studios in Liverpool on May 18 – June 21, 1993, and released by Earache Records on October 18th, 1993.

Old school fans of Carcass, at least initially, were not too pleased with the band’s departure from the format and sound of their first three records, but the song structure – a pure dissection and reanimating of traditional structure – is nothing short of genius. And vocalist/bassist Jeff Walker continues sprinkling his trademark lyrics taken straight from a medical dictionary. Michael Amott (Arche Enemy) and Bill Steer (Napalm Death) are incredible as they tear through some of the greatest riffs and leads ever intertwined into metal melodies. Ken Owen (Blackstar) is not outshined by the duo with his speed and groove on drums, while Walker’s base playing rounds out the sound wonderfully. Every track is blazingly fast, with break-neck tempo changes of melody and harmony. Walker uses a drier, harsher voice (than the over-modulated sound of earlier albums) which bring a borderline thrash, grindcore, death metal sound to every song.

In May of 2013, Heartwork was inducted into the Decibel Magazine Hall of Fame, the 100th album inducted (and the 2nd album to be inducted for Carcass – Necroticism). In 2017, Rolling Stone listed Heartwork at #51 of ‘The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time’.

It is difficult to name favorite songs from this record because, literally, all 10 songs are awesome! But, if I’m forced to pick a few at the top, for me:

Favorite Songs: Heartwork; Buried Dreams; No Love Lost

Rating: 10/10!!!

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Classic Album Review

CLASSIC REVIEW: SCRATCH ACID- Berserker

CLASSIC REVIEW: SCRATCH ACID- Berserker 

 Mary Had a Little Drug Problem, For Crying Out Loud, This Is Bliss

I may be going out on a limb here when making the grand proclamation that music is a particularly potent form of communicating emotion, an expulsion of abstract human experience into material and social reality.  These emotions aren’t necessarily the basic happy, sad, mad, etc., but are more closely reminiscent of attitudes that reflect an environment which the musician can interpret and which is relevant to their audience.  For example, the first wave of the British Invasion was centered around teenage angst and generally pubescent themes, which spoke to a world of youth who were incredibly frustrated and confused. Punk was a fit of anger at systemic injustice, whether this is political or highly personal; and bands like the Smiths or The Cure tackled robust melodrama.  Of course, these are just a few examples in an infinite pool of artists and movements, which are by no means rigidly separated in their capacity to feel and create. I bring up this fundamental requirement of music, though, to emphasize both the genius and eccentricity of Scratch Acid. As stated above, the relationship between music and its audience demands communication, however abstract. It implies a shared connection between the two.  With this in mind, it makes sense that Scratch Acid has simultaneously remained critically important while missing from the canon of classic American acts. And what’s the feeling that they so effectively make digestible for their audience? Pure discomfort: the sensation akin to the shell of your skin being constantly irritated by the red goop moving beneath it. They sing of constant anxiety which permeates every facet of a being whose existence is an inherent offense.  With their EP, Berserker, Scratch Acid melds young noise experimentation with punk’s insistence on efficacy. Rather than using noise to experiment with everything that could be made, Scratch Acid limits themselves to only what is necessary to explore a life filled with a pressing, constant discomfort. I don’t want to act as if I understand Scratch Acid, or that the pain I have felt in my life has been particularly bad by any means. I have a really difficult time listening to Scratch Acid.  Rather, I want to emphasize that their goal as musicians is to deliver a message which is drastically different from most any other band.  

Scratch Acid was formed in the Austin, Texas of 1982.  They consisted of Steve Anderson (vocals), David Sims (guitar), Brett Bradford (guitar), David Yow (bass), and Rey Washam (drums).  Before recording their first album, Anderson was kicked out while Yow took over mouth duties. There is little information out there about the band’s career (beyond their status as a precursor to noise legends Jesus Lizard) other than their notoriety for highly chaotic performances.  Thrashing loosely on a stage clad in aggravatingly unassuming street clothes, Scratch Acid forwarded a movement focused on transferring the spirit of punk’s alternative bluntness into a new direction. Noise experimentation replaced disciplined hardcore, and punk’s natural decadence became a pragmatic nihilism.  Through lyrical subject matter centering around unstable emotional fits and sludged bursts of screeching feedback, the band affirmed libertine attitudes of romantic validity while also remaining grounded in harsh, modern realities. Their 1987 EP Berserker is caustic mayhem which is as brief as it is intense. It stands at only 16 minutes long with pounding headaches of songs which thud against the front of the head in agonizing marches. Yow’s voice is frighteningly clear in a disturbing showcase of guttural pain; Scratch Acid does not sacrifice recording quality for aestheticism.  Berserker’s quarter-hour is determined to massage every crevice of an incredibly detailed offense. 

“Mary Had a Little Drug Problem” is, I guess, the poppiest song off the EP.  Yes, it does feature compressed chunks of dissonance bouncing between Yow’s strained and extended syllables, but the song ultimately falls into a semi-accessible groove.  It’s with the second track, “For Crying Out Loud” that Scratch Acid fully employ their talent of sonically describing discomfort. A grimy and uneven chord progression disorients a listener who is, at the same time, bombarded with a drum solo interspersed with unnaturally long bleats held by Yow. He sounds as if he’s writing on glass as his voice slithers unbroken over his band’s succinct bedlam.  “Moron’s Moron” finds no natural center in its tottering bassline which Yow stumbles over in a quasi-spoken word delivery. “Skin Drips” adopts a rockabilly uneasiness which mocks the camp of The Cramps with deeply disturbing imagery and commotion, while “This is Bliss” contrives descending guitar and bass riffs with a meandering shred of Yow’s throat. It often sounds incredibly unpleasant. Getting through this EP might be the longest 16 minutes of your life. But Scratch Acid know what they’re doing.  It’s a construction relying on complex, often unspoken truths about the disgusting reality of everyday life.

Scratch Acid was always destined to provide a link between alternativism and exploration of more nuanced emotions.  By shifting focus from simple anger and alienation to more abstract concepts of constant disgust or suffering, the band validated and manifested the human experience in ways unique to only them.  Berserker is most representative of their work.

 -Cliff Jenkins

Categories
Classic Album Review

Album of the Week: Reign in Blood – Slayer

Recorded in June – July (at Hit City West Studios, Los Angeles, CA) and released on October 7th, 1986, Reign In Blood was Slayer’s third studio album. Yet, it marked major changes for the band. It was the first time they worked with producer Rick Rubin, who drove them to play faster and harder than the band’s previous records. Def Jam Recordings, who primarily worked with Hip Hop artists, pushed the record out to a mainstream heavy metal audience. And this collection of tracks, clocking in at under 30 minutes in length, was the major contributor to Slayer becoming one of “The Big Four" (with Metallica, Megadeth, and Anthrax).

Slayer (at this point) was Tom Araya (bass; vocals), Jeff Hanneman (lead guitar), Kerry King (lead guitar), and Dave Lombardo (drums). They released Show No Mercy in 1983 and Hell Awaits in 1985 on Metal Blade Records. They enjoyed a cult following, with lyrical content dealing with (obviously) Hell and Satan. The band is credited as being the first Death Metal act, not because of gutturals and growls, but because of their song lyrics. But it was Reign In Blood that solidified Slayer as a premier Thrash/Death/Heavy Metal band, with lyrics adding to the two previous subjects concerning war, murder, Nazis, the Holocaust, death, religion, and anti-religion.

Reign In Blood is a masterpiece! It contains no fluff and no fillers. You get the beating of a lifetime in just under 30 minutes! Then, you just start the record over! In `86, the cassette tape of Reign In Blood featured all 10 songs on each side! Just flip the tape and start again! Hanneman is quoted as saying that Slayer was bored with the repetition of riffs on a loop and decided to write a couple of verses and end the song. King has said that cutting it down to bare bones is simply intense, and this record is nothing if not intense.  You’d be hard-pressed to find a serious metalhead that doesn’t love this record, and proof of that is it going Gold in 1992.

Rating: 10/10!!

Favorite Songs: Angel of Death; Raining Blood; Criminally Insane; Postmortem

*Special Note: on May 2, 2013, the “Riff Master" and legend, Jeff Hanneman, died at the age of 49. R.I.P.

Stay Metal,

THE SAW 

Categories
Classic Album Review

CLASSIC REVIEW: DEAD KENNEDYS- Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables

CLASSIC REVIEW: DEAD KENNEDYS- Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables 

BEST TRACKS: Kill the Poor, Holiday in Cambodia, California Uber Alles, Ill in the Head

“Just when you think tastelessness has reached its nadir, along comes a punk rock group called ‘The Dead Kennedys’” read a San Francisco Chronicle article from November 1978, “they will play at Mabuhay Gardens on Nov. 22, the 15th anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination.“  Geez, what kind of chutzpah do you need to mock America’s most tragically iconic family on the anniversary of its most notable horror? Well, the Dead Kennedys were all chutzpah; in fact, they were practically bursting at the seams to brutally mock any American institution guilty of abhorrent injustice (and of course, there are many).  Though not attacking the Kennedy family directly so as to twist the magic bullet (I’m sorry), the apparent curse upon the 20th-century clan of American idealism was a perfect brand for a group whose entire existence hinged on a sardonic articulation of anarchist paragons. The Dead Kennedys were the first explicitly political American punk band.  Bands like X or Black Flag may have been indirectly political in their focus on youthful alienation, but the Dead Kennedys, specifically lead singer Jello Biafra, were completely committed to calling out by name each and every faceless establishment villain who was unfortunate enough to find themselves caught in Biafra’s latex-coated crosshairs. It was not introspection; it was full-fleshed Juvenalian satire. While Black Flag was screaming about being a skate-punk burnout in LA basements, the DKs were hammering Pol Pot, Jerry Brown’s “zen fascists”, privileged college students, unmitigated capitalism, and police brutality in San Francisco’s, well, basements.  Their sound was an absurd combination of screeching feedback, overly laid-back surf rock, spoken word, and performance art. Biafra, always keen on any form of the alternative spotlight, was never at a loss for intentionally aggravating pranks which furthered his desire for total demolition of post-war America. These included illegally using warped pictures of other bands for liner notes, abrasively declaring that then-Governor Jerry Brown was actually a hippie Nazi, or running for mayor of San Francisco on a platform of outlawing cars and demolishing all Government buildings. Whatever cliched pattern that today’s alternative rock falls behind in their lazy conviction of powers-that-be (ahem American Idiot) is derivative of the Dead Kennedy’s extremely meticulous establishment of punk rock as a political force.  They were ideologically consistent, absolutely non-partisan, and, perhaps most importantly, fully committed to an absurdist approach to music that highlighted the very serious realities of injustice. 

In 1978’s San Francisco, 20-year-old guitarist Raymond Pepperell put out an ad in “The Recycler” for bandmates for form a punk group.  Two people responded: bassist (and banker) Geoffrey Lyall and poet/singer Eric Boucher. The three were rechristened as East Bay Ray, Klaus Flouride and, of course, Jello Biafra.  Their first shows around the Bay Area garnered significant attention (both positive and negative) for somehow being in worse taste than even the raunchiest American punk acts. Cartoonish, catchy, and absolutely confrontational, Biafra gained infamy through his highly animated stage presence which included often dousing the audience in beer or destroying pieces of the stage.  It is important to note, however, that the Kennedy’s performative violence was not out of angst, but rather part of a tongue-in-cheek attitude towards the establishment. A typical snapshot of a Kennedy’s live performance saw East Bay Ray hammering away at distorted spaghetti western riff while Biafra bellowed out how much the government wanted to kill you while kicking at the walls with a massive grin on his face. Declaring himself the band’s primary songwriter, Biafra would tape record melodies using only his voice which his band would later transcribe onto their respective instruments.  Of their early written material, one song stood out for being particularly catchy and scathing. “California Uber Alles” was released Summer of 1979 as the Dead Kennedys’ first single. With military-esque drumming, bastardized surf guitar, a cheeky flamenco melody, Jello’s typical outrageous bellow, and lyrics condemning then Democratic Governor Jerry Brown as a hippie fascist, the band distilled everything in within the DKs essence into their very first recording. And while their embrace of non-power chord guitar lines and heavy political overtones was enough to set them apart from any American contemporary, it was “California Uber Alles’” subject matter which is most representative of while the Dead Kennedys were such a unique and integral group.  Attacking Jerry Brown, at first, is incredibly confusing. Ronald Reagan, Brown’s predecessor as California’s governor, had just been elected president and, unsurprisingly, was incredibly unpopular among punks. Why would they go after California’s new “cool guy” Democrat as opposed to Ronald fucking Reagan? Well, simply put, the Gipper was too easy a target. Jello Biafra wanted confrontation, an interruption of American organization beyond partisan attacks on low-hanging fruit. Of course Reagan was terrible, but so was Brown. The Dead Kennedys were anarchists; attacking Reagan would be redundant and a lazy cash grab for a band whose entire ethos hinged on a dismantling of the state. And ultimately this decision was imperative for the band eventually signing a deal with independent British label Cherry Red; the DKs now had the chance to record a full length album.  A whole album was given to Biafra and his band to yelp and screech about international injustice in the most sarcastic manner possible. As one would expect, it’s a lot to get through in one sitting; and as one would expect, it’s an amazing album. 

“Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables” opens with a fitting introduction to the listeners next 40 minutes of acerbic, macabre, and ludicrous fun: “Kill the Poor”.  The song begins with massive chords reminiscent of over bloated 70s arena rock laid on top of Biafra’s lyrics concerning a government who has discovered the neutron bomb and will subsequently use it to kill all of their nation’s poor.  A blistering surf-punk riff tears down its introduction and the song instantly transforms into a breakneck bounce of sing-along melodies that wouldn’t be out of place in a Disney movie. “Kill the Poor”, despite its placement at the top of the tracklist, is a pinnacle only matched by two other tracks. One of these is a crisp re-recording of “California Uber Alles” while the other is, well, probably pretty familiar to a lot of you readers.  The Guitar Hero Classic: “Holiday in Cambodia”. The angst-infected alt-classic opens with an atmosphere, echoed guitar chaos lightly strewn over the unforgettably chunky, descending bass riff before erupting into the bone-chillingly excellent main riff. Churning like an unpleasant halloween acid trip, the song is undoubtedly Biafra’s most scathing performance on the album. As he attacks privileged Americans by contrasting their life with victims of Pol Pot’s Cambodian regime, the other Kennedys lock into a terrifying groove filled with bastard surf motifs and disgustingly sweet distortion. The chorus, as with any classic Dead Kennedys track, is incredibly catchy.  It entices the listener to sing it to themselves when they’re aren’t even thinking of it, as if to trick them into condemning very basic pieces of American civilization. There’s a reason “Holiday in Cambodia” is still the DKs most well known song: it’s haunting, brutally honest, wholly subversive, genius, ear candy. 

“Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables” is the album most people immediately associate with the Dead Kennedys, and this is by no means something to complain about.  Hosting three of the bands best songs and even providing insanely smart and concise parody in its filler, the album is a perfect representation of punk rock’s potential as a force of American political commentary.  No punk band before the DKs came close to explicitly tackling horrendous societal hypocrisies and I don’t believe any band that has come since has done this nearly as well. In an alternate timeline without our anarchist heroes, the landscape of all American music would be undoubtedly changed.

-Cliff Jenkins

Categories
Classic Album Review

CLASSIC REVIEW: X- Los Angeles

CLASSIC REVIEW: X- Los Angeles 

BEST TRACKS: Your Phone’s Off the Hook, But You’re Not; Nausea, Johny Hit and Run Paulene, Los Angeles

How do you choose the song to open a film like Penelope Spheeris’ seminal survey of LA’s emerging punk wasteland: “The Decline of Western Civilization?”.  Among a pool of bands like Black Flag, the Germs, Fear, or Catholic Discipline, how could you possibly choose a single artist to represent the chaotic atmosphere of west-coast degeneracy? Well, there is one band that explicitly embodies the death of 60s counterculture optimism; a group that built their sound and vision off of repurposed American ideals rather than being representative of their disintegration.  So, as the vital documentary begins, viewers are forever introduced to “Nausea”, an atonal masterpiece off Los Angeles, the debut album from California’s most culturally significant punk act: X. Even as the song runs over footage from fellow band’s writhing around on stages glazed with broken glass, X can be immediately identified as an entity which hovered above simple brutality. It’s hard to concisely process what it is about X, their sound, image or attitude, that simultaneously exists apart from all of their LA contemporaries, yet is undeniably instilled to the bone with punk rock.  They were sophisticated poets obsessed with old western sounds and sensibilities; they had a magnetic affinity for Chuck Berry riffs and frequently covered the Doors; they looked more like disgruntled greasers than bobby pinned brats. But they were punks. In fact, they were probably the most important punks to ever come out of LA. In a time when the question of civilization’s decline was represented in Los Angeles’ rotting metropolis by a primal, anarchist musicianship, X was the one band who actually stepped up to answer it. In other words, while Black Flag and the Germs were rejecting Americanism in their baseness, X was a purely American unit whose subverted guitar leads and poetry addressed the massive failures of post-war suburbia and 60s counterculture utopianism.  Los Angeles is likely the most ambitious and holistically representative work to capture the decrepit reality of the country’s former golden pride. 

The legend of X’s formation is an almost laughably perfect story of artists fully enamored with living on the mythical edge of society.  Guitarist Billy Zoom met fellow Illinois expatriate John Doe through a guitar ad in the free LA weekly: “The Recycler”. Both musicians were immensely talented, a practical anomaly in the typically brutal punk rock code.  Zoom (born Tyson Kindell) descended from a family of woodwind players who primed to him to pick up a variety of instruments such as the clarinet, alto sax, accordion, and banjo. By the time he had met Doe, Zoom had moved to LA to attend technical tube repair school and was working as a session guitarist.  Doe (born John Duchac) was a country and western music fanatic. With his pompadour and knack for a wrenching croon, Doe’s ability to locate vocal harmonies granted he and Zoom’s group the ability to embody haunting longing, perfectly conveying the lost paradise of late 70s LA. DJ Bonebrake, a Bay Area passenger tapped to join Zoom and Doe as their drummer, shared his bandmate’s affinity for technical prowess, quickly establishing himself as a jazz-loving wunderkind obsessed with polyrhythm.  And so with these three unlikely champions of counter-culture became an entity known as X. If their formation had ended here then they probably would have still been tight, popular, and maybe even a culturally influential band. But it wasn’t Zoom’s plastic rockabilly enamel or Doe’s dirty folk croon that placed them completely in their own musical domain. No, in fact, the amalgamation of all of these factors was only, at most, half of the reason why X became so atypically beautiful. When Doe initially began practicing with Zoom, he brought along his then-girlfriend Exene Cervenka.  Cervenka, a poet, would often write and recite her poetry for Zoom and Doe, who decided that she would be a perfect singer and lyricist. Sharing lead vocals with Doe, she became the only member of X lacking a classically trained musical background. Acting as the ingredient which pushed them from a tongue-in-cheek power folk trio to California’s most scholastic punks, Cervenka’s dissonant harmonies which delivered lyrics of alienation, sublime anxiety, and life after destruction acted as a microcosm of LA’s disgruntled youth. As they began performing in clubs like Whiskey a Go Go and The Masque, X gained traction in local zines which had emerged to cover the largely underground congregation of anti-authoritarian musicians. Upon reading a particularly positive review a live performance (specifically of the song “Johny Hit and Run Paulene”) Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek was compelled to produce the band’s debut full-length.  Aptly named “Los Angeles”, the album is a confusing digestion.

Unlike their contemporaries, X was not fixated on blistering volumes or ridiculous speeds. Rather, they demanded a thematic subversion of American classics. Los Angeles is raw, shellacked guitar tones or well-mixed drums certainly absent, yet rock’s distant folksy and rockabilly forefathers are not trashed for the sake of complete rebellion. The album’s first track “Your Phone’s Off the Hook, But You’re Not” is instantly reminiscent of British glam with it’s sliding, chunky power chords.  In fact, isolating the instrumental would honestly produce an unremarkable T-Rex era romp. But, again, Cervenka’s lyrics and delivery are X’s crucial tipping point. She and Doe double each other for the majority of the track, with Doe remaining (boringly) on key while Cervenka’s atonal shout punches the listener with lines like “Someone clean to chew on a wife that no one likes/ He called and they said all of New York Is a tow-away zone”.  It’s both abstract and mundane; her lyrics epitomizing the daily horrors of a decaying nation filled with excess.  “Johny Hit and Run Paulene” centers around an over driven Chuck Berry riff, declaring itself the postmodern extension of the most classic essentials of Rock and Roll.  When Doe sings he sounds overly self-contained, compressing a bellow into more of a pained whimper. Through this suppression, the listener can make out “He bought a sterilized hypo/To shoot a sex machine drug/He got twenty-four hours/To shoot all Paulenes between the legs” before Cervenka joins in for the slithering, eponymous chorus.  It’s insanely dark, grotesque, and despondent lyrics are juxtaposed by this utterly American, swung guitar lead.  Adding to their commitment to a kitchen sink, twisted rockabilly attitude is their cover of the Doors “Soul Kitchen”.  It’s more acerbic than the original, but it isn’t done mockingly. You can tell that X has a deep respect for their LA outsider predecessors and it’s this appreciation which sets them so definitely apart.  “Nausea”, is a resigned, monotonous conviction of an environment which was so suffocating in its distress. Cervenka and Doe synchronously deliver a chorus which details a body betraying its master while Zoom’s fat power chords are supplemented by occasionally meandering licks. It’s an anthem to pissed of kids forced to live in a supposedly ideal putrid wasteland. 

X is one-of-a-kind in their commitment to a holistic delivery of an America in decline. When individual bands competed in decadence in order to largely constitute the panic of a new generation, X was able to verbalize that discontent while maintaining a love for previous traditions that were too rich to do away with entirely. Los Angeles is the only album I’ve heard to come out of the first-wave punk movement that was not only a product of its environment but did everything in its ability to address and critique it.

-Cliff Jenkins 

Categories
Classic Album Review

Album of the Week: Powerslave – Iron Maiden

Their 5th studio album, Powerslave was recorded at Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas in winter/spring 1984, and was released on Capitol Records on September 3rd, 1984. Iron Maiden formed in Leyton, East London in 1975 by (the extraordinary) bassist Steve Harris. Credited as the pioneers of the “New Wave of British Heavy Metal,” the band’s discography boasts 39 albums, including 16 studio records. Along with Harris (who also plays keyboards), Iron Maiden is Dave Murray (guitar), Adrian Smith (guitar, vocals, keyboards), Janick Gers (guitar), Nicko McBrain (drums), and Bruce Dickens (vocals).

1980 saw the band’s self-titled album, Iron Maiden. Killers followed in `81. 1982`s Number of the Beast introduced us to (the mighty) Bruce Dickens, and the band experienced some fame, though it was because they were being associated (falsely) with “devil worship" because of the record’s title and album cover. Piece of Mind in 1983 brought the band moderate success, and widespread touring. But it was their next record, Powerslave, which brought them worldwide fame, and fast!

The record cover and the subsequent World Slavery Tour featured an Ancient Egyptian Theme. The tour props were multiple storied platforms, a huge pyramid, and statues of Pharaoh Eddie (the band’s beloved mascot), and a sandy landscape. Speaking of Eddie, the stage show also featured a giant mummy Eddie who made an appearance over the drum riser. Two singles were released for this record: 2 Minutes to Midnight and Aces High; both fast moving tracks that, in normal Dickens style, give historical narrative (the latter, of the British Royal Air Force fighter pilots). But it is the title track (IMHO) that separates this album, moving the band beyond their previous recordings. The chorus is incredible, while a story is told from the perspective of a Pharaoh. Harris’ trademark gallops lead the way and the drums keep pace, while the guitar section rolls along with dueling riffs and solos. A notable mention, however, is Rime of the Ancient Mariner; a 13+ minute masterpiece based on the poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. With several time and signature changes, this song is one of Maiden’s best! Fans (and the band, themselves) still love this song live and, during the 84-85 world tour, the stage shape-shifted for this song, from the Egyptian scene to that of a massive wooden ship! And, also, during this world tour, 4 dates were recorded live, the results of which would be 1985’s, Live After Death. The two albums were #1 and #2 on the charts the end of that year.

 This record is a must for the serious collector in general, and the true Metalhead specifically.

Rating: 8/10

Favorite songs: Powerslave and Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Stay Metal, 

THE SAW