| CD REVIEW King's X |
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Band : King's X Although I'm reviewing this release as a double live CD (because that's the promo we were allowed to download, see?) the actual release is a standard DVD box, the double CD version a bonus release for those not into DVD's, but also available in a slipcase set with the DVD. In essence, this is the first official DVD the band's had in it' entire career! And that it was recorded in London has a very specific meaning for the band. You see, in the first couple of years that the band was around, they were looked down upon by their own American peers and media, and the concert goers (small clubs throughout the US, mainly) kinda followed suit...and the band was beginning to doubt their choice of music. Still, there was some positive response, so eventually a European tour was organised, and the trio suddenly saw their choice in musical style gratified in a most dramatic way as, during the first show on that tour...'twas at the sold-out Marquee in London, me lads...the kids sang along at the top of their voices with each and every song that was played! In my review of the band's last studio album XV (posted 27/04/2008) I mentioned indie label Molten Music had released material by the band in 2005 (Dogman Demos, Rehearsal CD Vol.1, and the 2-disc Live & Live Some More, recorded during the Dogman Tour) and 2006 (a 2-disc demos anthology by Ty Tabor), remember (if not, you can always look it up)...well, it now turns out they also released the live DVD Gretchen Goes To London in Nov. 2008, the disc featuring a 1990 London show (the same perhaps?). At any rate, the release must've given the band the idea to get their first official DVD out, with the thought of recording it during the tour they were about to undertake for the XV album, and in that same city which had received the band so warmly all those years ago. And so, On January 22, 2009, the band's performance at the Electric Ballroom in London's suburb Comden, was audio-visually recorded for posterity. The track-list contains no less than 3 songs [the ground-breaking “What Is This?” (as far as Europe was concerned) and the additional hits “Goldilox” (brought here in a version completely sung by the audience – so beautiful...) and “Visions”] of the band's debut album, and 4 (in order of appearance: “Alright”, “Pray”, “Go Tell Somebody”, and “Julie”...and why am is slightly disappointed to nót find “I Just Want To Live” on here?) off their last...the rest of the songs spanning the band's complete career. A real crowd-killer was the extra-long (12:48) with its expansive crowd participation parts. For a couple of songs (“pleiades” on disc one and “It's Love” on the second, as best as I can remember at the moment), the microphone omiter is switched to allow one of the other guys (other than usual frontman/ bassist Dug Pinnick, so either drummer Ty Tabor or guitarist Jerry Gaskill, both of whom also provide Dug with vocal backings throughout the rest of the album) to come to the vocal front. Push comes to shove, you get a total of almost 140 minutes of music. Personally, I wasn't too hot about the sound quality at first (there's a kind of hollowness...coming perhaps from a wrong mix?), and also it seemed like Dug's voice had already suffered somewhat from previous shows. But after listening to the album as a whole a couple of times in a row, it certainly made me wish to be able to see the images that go with the whole. Live album, so a compilation of sorts, also means I do not have to rate the album, and I'll let you know that the only reason why this release will nót be featured in my year-lists, only has to do with the sound quality...as far as studio recordings go, this band cannot fail to please me! Tony. |
