Gretchen Goes to Nebraska (©1989 Atlantic)

1: Out of The Silent Planet 2: Over My Head 3: Summerland 4: Everybody Knows a Little Bit of Something 5: The Difference (In the Garden of St. Anne's-on-the-Hill) 6: I'll Never Be the Same 7: Mission 8: Fall on Me 9: Pleiades 10: Don't Believe It (It's Easier Said Than Done) 11: Send a Message 12: The Burning Down

Well, after years of hearing about these guys I decided to plunge in and grab the majority of their catalog in one fell swoop. Not wanting to go too horribly out of sequence I organized my CDs into a nice pile and proceeded to start at the beginning (mostly).

First off, I had no idea what to expect. I'd heard a couple of samples here and there, but samples do not an album make. So I stuck on the first CD, and let it spin around a couple of times. Considering that this came out in 1989, it's pretty fresh for a new to me CD.

Doug has a pretty amazing rock voice for a skinny dude, and Ty has more chops than is natural, and lends his softer voice to the more pop oriented songs. The crisp pounding of Jerry the drummer anchors the whole shebang. One of things that struck me was that this was rock without succumbing to the glam of the day, and it's prog rock without getting too pretentious. Well maybe, there were a couple of times the layered vocals summoned images of Styx (really). Hell, it's good old-fashioned riff rock.

There are enough moments here to make me go "ooh" and "ah" and wonder how come I'd not picked them up earlier. Budget? Yeah, that's it, I only have so much money. Where the heck is my free stuff? Still this is a really good album, and here's hoping the rest only get better.

Reviewed April 6, 2004

Faith, Hope, Love (©1990 Atlantic)

1: We Are Finding Who We Are 2: It's Love 3: I'll Never Get Tired Of You 4: Fine Art Of Friend Ship 5: Mr. Wilson 6: Moanjam 7: Six Broken Soldiers 8: I Can't Help 9: Talk To You 10: Everywhere I Go 11: We Were Born To Be Loved 12: Faith Hope Love 13: Legal Kill

So much for listening to stuff in order, I bought this one after getting a bunch of the other discs. So I'd listened to the first few albums, except for Faith Hope Love quite a bit, before giving this one a spin. Moving back and forth through this discography is kind of fun. These guys are pretty versatile. I'll admit to enjoying their more melodic pop songs, but they can rock the funk out too, and Doug low slung bass is a kick to hear cranked.

I've been listening to this one off and on for a few months, and I figured it was time to get some thoughts down. There are some beautiful moments the boys pull off without resorting to Barry Manilow saccharinisms - I'll Never Get Tired of You. In fact there are a whole bunch of really good songs here. Mister Wilson is good too, but the kids voices wore thin for me after, oh - THE FIRST LISTEN. Musically the guys aren't above pulling off some glorious tongue in cheek moments - the never ending ending of We Were Born to Be Loved had me practically laughing out loud.

These guys are pretty freaking good.

Reviewed September 5, 2004

King's X (©1992 Atlantic)

1: The World Around Me 2: Prisoner 3: The Big Picture 4: Lost In Germany 5: Chariot Song 6: Ooh Song 7: Not Just For The Dead 8: What I Know About Love 9: Black Flag 10: Dream In My Life 11: Silent Wind

I liked Gretchen, but this one is even better. Doug the skinny guy with the bad hair must have lungs like a set of bellows. He's got a huge voice. Ty has more chops than a really big pig, and Jerry pounds on the skins like a guy who's really good at pounding on stuff (yeah, that was weak).

The songs are killer this time around, with The Prisoner is so good I can't believe it wasn't all over the rock charts at the time. Lost in Germany is so stupid lyrically it's hard to listen to with a straight face, but the guy's have wrapped it in such a great riff it's hard not to like. One of the other stand out tracks is Not Just for the Dead.

Musically these guys are more than just generic hard rock. Oh they can rock all right, it's just that they're bigger than a single pigeon hole.

I must say I'm enjoying what I'm hearing so far. Well, it's on the the next course in my King's X smorgasbord.

Reviewed April 10, 2004

Dogman (©1994 Atlantic)

1: Dogman 2: Shoes 3: Pretend 4: Flies And Blue Skies 5: Black The Sky 6: Fool You 7: Don't Care 8: Sunshine Rain 9: Complain 10: Human Behavior 11: Cigarettes 12: Go To Hell 13: Pillow 14: Manic Depression

I've been listening to this one off and on since April, and I have to say that it's not my favourite of the King's X CDs to date. I guess the first thing that stands out is that this is a much more aggressive collection of songs, and Doug handles the vocals for the entire album. Not a bad thing, considering the kid is a hell of a singer. It's probably the most challenging CD they'd released to date. Oddly enough when I first put it on, I thought it sounded an awful lot like Extreme's Waiting for the Punchline - but a quick look at the credits shows that Dogman came first.

There are some killers here - Pretend is probably the strongest song on the album, and one of their best in my humble opinion. Flies and Blue Skies is a close second. The album closes with a pretty solid cover of Manic Depression. In all, there really aren't any real dogs on the album, and truthfully this one gets better and better the more I listen to it.

Reviewed September 4, 2004

Tape Head (©1998 Metal Blade)

1: Groove Machine 2: Fade 3: Over And Over 4: Ono 5: Cupid 6: Ocean 7: Little Bit of Soul 8: Hate You 9: Higher Than God 10: Happy 11: Mr. Evil 12: World 13: Walter Bela Farkas

There’s nothing really wrong with Tape Head, it’s just that there really isn’t anything especially appealing about it either. It’s got all the ingredients, but it’s just so much of the same thing at the same tempo with the same sounds. In short it’s a King’s X album. On the plus side, the guy’s are consistent – except that it’s going in one ear and out the other. Nothing really stood out or grabbed me by the wedding tackle. It’s enjoyable while it’s playing, and there aren’t any stinkers (you can’t count the little live teaser at the end, that’s bad on purpose) but once it’s on the shelf it’s pretty much going to stay there.

Of course, knowing me, I’ll keep buying their stuff.

November 24, 2004

Manic Moonlight (©2001 Metal Blade)

1: Believe 2: Manic Moonlight 3: Yeah 4: False Alarm 5: Static 6: Skeptical Winds 7: The Other Side 8: Vegetable 9: Jenna 10: Water Ceremony

The band continues along it's pseudo progfunkpop path, and I'm finding less and less to get my rocks off. It's not like the guys are cutting musical ground, or have lost their chops. I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's like there's something missing, and the lads are merely playing by the numbers. There is the occasional flash of brilliance. Yes, brilliance - when these guys get the right combination like they do on False Alarm and The Other Side they they are absolutely fantastic. Sadly such moments are in the minority here so far as I'm concerned. Although, Static is really cool, and a song that really grew on me.

I know I'm being somewhat unfair, but I was so blown away by their earlier stuff, it seems that as they went along the bar had been set so high, that they were their own worst enemies. I suppose if I'd started at random with their catalog I'd be writing a different review.

So what the hell am I saying anyway? Does it suck?

No.

After all, any album that ends with a belch can't be all bad.

Reviewed September 5, 2004